Weylin’s jaw ground back and forth, but Queen Stelara looked to her husband, who stared back at her for a moment. I was caught off guard by the looks in their eyes. This wasn’t a loving couple having dinner with their children, I realized.
No, their eyes contained a calculating glint. I realized that this was a war, one of words and politics, and I was completely out of my depth here. The king and queen appeared to be on opposite sides of something I didn’t understand, and Weylin clearly resented his elder brother. I thought of Whina’s warning of Cyrus’s siblings. Did Weylin want to take his brother’s place as heir?
I was watching a game in motion, except I didn’t know the rules or even the players. Was every court like this? I watched with a keener eye as the conversations continued around the table.
One of the courtiers whispered to Weylin, eyeing Cyrus all the while. Another came over and leaned down to whisper in Cyrus’s ear, eyeing Weylin. Kian was watching them all, his eyes going back and forth between his brothers. Only Vikal didn’t appear to be paying attention, focusing on speaking to his sister.
Daneiris, though, was focused more on whispering to the woman next to her. She and Kian both seemed to take in what was happening and were filing it away for later use.
Old Gods. This wasn’t a family. This was a power-tripping bloodbath waiting to happen. I’d heard the stories before, of course. Even before Whina’s warning, I’d heard the tale of what happened in Sunset Kingdom—the siblings who killed one another for the throne, attempting to usurp those they should have loved and supported, to instead grasp for power.
I’d just never seen it in action before.
Chapter 6
Cyruswas in a mood the next day, snapping at everyone and pacing back and forth while muttering to himself. I tried to stay quiet and out of the way as much as possible. I curled up on a chair in the corner reading a book, not wanting to draw his ire towards me. I sighed as he snapped his head toward me—clearly, it was inevitable.
“Asteria! Come here. I need you to write this down.” Cyrus bit out, his beautiful face set in harsh lines, while the light coming through the window cast shadows across it. I tried not to notice how it highlighted the burning blue of his eyes as they drilled into me.
I forced myself up from the chair, stretching out the aches and pains from sitting too long, and walked over, taking the seat at his desk. I grabbed the ink and quill, ready to notate whatever nonsense he was working through.
“Write exactly what I say. Understand?” He raised a brow, and I nodded. He gave a single nod in return before he resumed his pacing.
“Weylin needs to be taken down a notch. I want to send him to the South Gate where King Calix is most likely to attack to get into Dusk. I’ll phrase it as an act of trust, wanting his support. He will likely be overrun, and we can blame the defenses failing on him. He’s eyeing my spot, and I will not let him take me out.” He growled, sending goosebumps trailing up my arms.
I dutifully wrote down the plan as he worked through it, a plan for him to send his own brother into danger and possible death. My thoughts returned to dinner last night and the tension between the siblings. Weylin apparently wanted to be heir and didn’t care who he had to step over to do it. But Cyrus—he wasn’t going to let his crown go. I could see the fierce determination in his eyes as he maniacally set out his plan.
Would he really follow through with this? Maybe it was just anger talking. I had to hope that was the case and he wouldn’t set his brother and people up for disaster. That would only hurt his own kingdom. Surely, he’d calm down and realize that.
I debated if I should ask, but curiosity won over my caution. “How do you know the defenses will fail? Or that King Calix will attack?”
“Oh, yes.” Cyrus confirmed, looking over to me, and I swore he smiled slightly before continuing. “We’ve done everything we can with our defenses, but Calix overwhelms us every time. He has fierce fighters and—” Cyrus sighed, a petulant frown crossing his face.
“He’s the most powerful Fae in Celesterra. Plus, he can shift into a Shalim damneddragon. Shifting into a pegasus won’t do much against that.” His voice was wry, but I could almost taste the bitter resentment under it. Cyrus clearly despised that King Calix was more powerful than he was when it came to magic. Thefact that his animal was much deadlier too only aggravated him further.
I shivered, not liking that idea much either. I didn’t want to be attacked or, Old Gods forbid, die, just for some cruel Fae king to—what? What was King Calix’s goal? I turned to ask Cyrus, who gave me a pitying look in return.
“He wants what we all want: power.” He speculated, though I didn’t know enough to guess if he was correct. “I don’t know why he’s capturing and killing humans. It seems quite pointless to me.” My fury sparked at his words, but I forced it down. I must have vocalized it in some unconscious way, however, because Cyrus cocked his head and studied me for a moment. Gauging the warring emotions on my face, Cyrus cupped my face between his large palms.
“I will ensure he does not get his hands on you.” He promised with a protective kind of possession lining his words. “You’remine. And you will not be taken from me.”
His words carried an unspoken threat—if I tried something to remove myself, he would ensure my failure. He didn’t see me as my own person, but as something belonging to him. He would chase me to the ends of Adamah if I tried to run. I swallowed hard, trying not to think too hard about what the future held for me. Misery and ruin seemed the most likely.
“I haven’t agreed to be yours.” I dared to remind him, raising an eyebrow. I tried to wiggle out of his embrace, but he held onto me tightly, fingertips abandoning their soft hold in favor of digging into me. As much as I didn’t desire to have his anger directed at me, I refused to yield to him.
A phantom smirk appeared on his face as he released my face and brushed the hair from my eyes. A mockery of tenderness.
“You will.” He stated plainly, no doubt in his mind about it.
Old Gods damn this overconfident prince. I will not!
“Now, keep writing.” Cyrus abruptly demanded, finally leaving my personal space. I returned to the desk to write out the missives carrying his directions. “King Calixwillattack, and when he does, I will put Weylin right in the line of fire—of failure. That should get the little foal back in line. Kian and Daneiris also need to be watched. I will have several servants loyal to me assigned to them for a while, in addition to the current servants watching Weylin. We will see if I can’t find out what their plans are. I’ve clearly given them too much latitude, but with the increased attacks from the Night Kingdom, we can’t afford the liability. I need strong allies.”
Cyrus paused as I quickly wrote down everything he had dictated. My hopes he was just overreacting began to fade the more he spoke. It sounded like he would do this—let King Calix come through and slaughter humans…just to get his brother in line.No. No, it wasn’t possible.No one would do such a thing. When I glanced up at him, he seemed to be deliberating something with himself as he tipped his head back and forth lightly. “Also, take note that I may need to pay a visit to Dawn Kingdom. They generally ally with Dusk as our balanced kingdom.”
That made sense, since they had to balance one another to survive, they would naturally ally with one another when necessary. While each kingdom experienced the full celestial cycle in a day, their magic came from their namesake—and just because the time of day had passed, it didn’t mean their magic could no longer be accessed. Magic was in the land itself, making it available to those who knew how to draw from it at all times. For the land and its magic to remain balanced, the kingdoms must do the same. It was all tied together.
Sunrise and Sunset generally stuck together while Dawn and Dusk did the same. Only Day and Night seemed to be the exception, but that was a fairly recent occurrence in terms of aFae lifetime. King Calix withdrew from the other kingdoms, and their long alliance with Day fell to the wayside. But despite not being as strongly allied as they once were, they weren’t fighting either. And I hadn’t heard of the Night Kingdom attacking the Day Kingdom at all. Whatever had set King Calix on his current path had also severed the bonds with Day, and I wondered what the ultimate result might be. Without the two kingdoms in balance, would the continent be in danger? Was King Calix putting us in an even worse position than I originally assumed?
