Did you save me, Father?
Why had he asked that? Did he hope it was so? It seemed the only explanation. Unless Aquilan had somehow sensed the danger he was in and reached out… but no. The Sun King was near, but not that near. It was almost like Aquilan was facing away from him. His whole attention elsewhere.
So it had to have been Vex.
Perhaps, Vex answered softly. Or perhaps you saved yourself. He sounded almost tired. Weary.
With my magic? The magic I don’t have? Declan let out a bitter laugh.
You are my son, Rahven. I can assure you that you have magic. Great magic. Greater than the world has even known… other than me, his father answered.
Perhaps that is true. But I do not know how to use it, Declan answered.
In time you will. But somehow there was a threat in those words.
Will you give me that time?
I do not know.
Why do you want to kill me? I’m no threat to you! Not now and not even ‘in time’, Declan asserted forcefully. I don’t want your throne! I want nothing at all from you! If you had not sought me out, I would never have known whose son I was!
That was true. And it was also true that he didn’t even want answers any longer. They didn’t seem important. If Ashryn was dead… Well, there was nothing left of that prior life that he cared to know or remember or connect to.
And Vex?
Declan couldn’t feel anything about the Night King. He was a stranger who evidently was considering killing him. Not exactly the father-type figure anyone would want. When Declan thought of a father, he thought of two men: Tyler Wilde and Michael Baston. Tyler had raised him, loved him, and, perhaps, died for him. Michael had opened his house and heart to Declan, had taken him under his wing and offered all the guidance that Declan needed to be a good person.
He did not need Xelroth Vex. He did not want Xelroth Vex. Not the version he had found here.
There was a sigh or maybe it was just the wind. Some would say your very existence is a threat to me, Rahven.
Only if you choose to believe that! Declan shot back.
Why did someone as powerful as Vex care about what anyone else thought? There was truth and there were falsities. And he was not a threat to Vex unless Vex was a threat to him. Perhaps not even then. Their brief “dance” had told him that his father was stronger and more skilled with a blade than he was. And that didn’t even get into the fact that Vex had magic. Magic that could vaporize him where he stood. What threat could he possibly pose?
You make it sound so simple, Vex sighed again, but there was a sense of… wanting to be convinced. Maybe. But you are young–
Or perhaps the fault lies with you, Declan sent.
There was a long silence before Vex asked, softly and perhaps dangerously, How do you come to that conclusion?
Declan swallowed. He knew he was going to be walking a dangerous line if he said what he truly thought. But lies were useless with Vex. And besides, his father would know anyway. These might be his last moments of life. And Declan would not be scared off from standing straight during them.
He spoke simply, which was the best he could do. By your own words, you have told me that Ashryn hid me from you, because she believed you would kill me simply because I existed, he said, recalling the story Vex had just told him very clearly. She loved you, but she planned a coup against you not to take your throne, but to save my life.
That is the theory, Vex breathed.
It is what you believe, right?
Yes, it is, his father admitted.
Declan licked his lips and swallowed deeply once more. Then there is only one conclusion.
I’m fascinated to hear it, Vex replied dryly.
I think you already know it. I think the rage I felt from you earlier is not directed at me or at her betrayal, but at yourself, Declan forged on.
Such a tale you tell, Rahven! I am most intrigued! But though his words were cutting, Declan felt something from the Night King again. Worry and pain.
