“Treason would mean I was ever loyal to you in the first place,” I said, my voice grave with the weight of truth. “I was raised to be loyal to my sister.”
“Yoursister,” he growled, swinging hard at me. I parried his blow with ease. Father had grown lazy over the years, preferring to send others to fight his battles for him. “She is an abomination!”
“Abomination?” I scoffed, shaking my head at him. “That’s exactly why the gods warned Mother about you. She had to give up herdaughter, all to protect her fromyou.”
Father paused mid-swing, his sword falling as he breathed deeply, as if something had finally punctured the shell he kept around himself at all times.
“Your mother’s betrayal truly is the deepest,” he murmured quietly, a look on his face I would almost call pain if he wasn’t who he was. “My own wife. My own queen. My ownsoulmate. How does the other half of one’s soul betray the other in such a way?”
His tone grew from reflective to demanding as he went on. His agitation was like a balm to my soul after the years I spent biting my tongue.
“They say that the love a parent feels for a child is greater than any other.” I smiled tauntingly.
“A failure of a son in more than one way, then,” he said, clearly trying to turn the tables on me. “You were denied by the gods for a little girl, and you just step aside and let her walk over you to the throne?”
“She’s not walking over me.” I rolled my eyes, blocking his angry, sloppy swing. “The throne is hers by right. She’s the elder twin, and the gods chose her for a reason. You’re the one who’s denying the gods will, Father. What is so bad about a queen ruling?”
“Argh!” Father swung left, and I brought my blade up to parry, swinging to the right and bringing my blade back up quickly. We began to dance back and forth, but I held myself back. We had a conversation to finish after all.
“Women,” Father spat as he panted for breath, “are weak, feeble creatures. They have no business making big decisions or leading armies.”
“And yet, your own wife has been making plenty of big decisions for years, right under your nose. Splitting your court apart without you even realizing it. Turning them to my sister. Whose leading armies just fine.” I smiled proudly, pointing my sword toward where Asteria was going after Cyrus.
I rolled my eyes as my cowardly father tried to attack me while I was distracted. I quickly met his sword, preventing him from taking my head. I noticed Bellin approach from behind my father, giving me a questioning look.
Ever loyal.
I shook my head. I didn’t want help with this one. I wanted to kill him myself. Whatever that may mean for the future and my relationship with my mother.
“Mother never wanted things to end this way, you know,” I told him quietly, feeling like the words needed to be said. To be acknowledged. “It hurt her to have to do this. You’re her mate, after all. But she knew you’d kill Asteria to gain a male heir, and she would never allow that to happen. Even if it meant strangers raised her child. She’s the type of parent who would do anything to protect her children. While you, on the other hand, would do anything to protect your throne.” I sneered at him.
Aelius laughed, and it wasAelius. He didn’t deserve the title of father anymore. He never had.
“Children are meant to continue a house’s legacy. And you and your sister are the worst sort of legacy to leave.” He smiled nastily. “I refuse to letthisbe my legacy. So, I’ll just have to get rid of the baggage and start anew. Your traitorous mother will have to go, too. I’ll find myself a new young wife to give me a proper heir. Along with a proper spare to marry off. Gods know no respectable woman wants the unchosen prince.”
He could say what he will about me. I was more than used to it, after all. But to threaten my mother… that I couldnotabide.
I flew at him in a flurry of strikes, letting my rage fill me and drive me onward. Faster. Harder. Sharper. And I needed every bit of it.
Aelius might have grown lazy over the past couple of centuries, but he was still older and more powerful than I was. He met my blade strike for strike, and then sent a beam of sunlight straight at me.
I fell backward, blinded by the sun for a moment. It wasn’t nearly as hot or bright as it should be, however.Chaos had gotten to him.I smirked at the realization, even as I rolled out of the way of his downward swing, jumping up and meeting him with a much brighter beam of sunlight.
It sent him spiraling away, where he crashed down onto a pile of scorched debris. He panted, looking up at me in shock as I sauntered toward him.
“How?” he demanded, shaking his head to clear the remaining orbs I knew would still be obstructing his vision from the light. “There is no way for you to be more powerful than I am!”
I laughed dryly, raising a brow at him. “You threw your lot in with chaos,Father. This is the result of your own megalomania. Chasing power has done nothing but drive you farther from it.”
“That’s—that’s impossible!” he protested, pulling himself up from his inelegant sprawl, dusting off his shiny golden armor to ensure the wreckage didn’t leave any traces that would tarnish hisimage.
“The tighter one clings to power, the faster it slips through their fingers,” I told him, unable to help the smile growing on my face. Which only served to enrage him further. “And you,KingAelius, clung to power, forsaking all else. You tossed aside yourfamilyfor the sake of it. It seems poetic that it will be your downfall now.”
“You thinkyouwill be my downfall?” Aelius scoffed mockingly, but I was immune to his attempts to belittle me by now.
“I know I will be,” I growled, and lifted my hand, sending a blast of sunlight right at his damn face.
He dodged at the last moment, making me curse in frustration. We circled one another, ignoring the blasts of fire, water, wind, lightning, darkness, and even starlight flashing and swooping from all directions. The battle was a hodgepodge of powers, and every kingdom’s royals were here, making for a show I was sure hadn’t been seen in Celesterra since before the six Fae kings of old had signed the treaty.
