“I mean Rahven. That name he bears now is ridiculous! Declan Wilde, indeed! That is the dream. Not Rahven. And to think he wishes to keep living in the dream!” Vex’s hands suddenly flew up into the air. “Wants to pretend he’s not my son! That he’s not the Night Prince! That he’s just some–some bartender!”
“There is nothing wrong with being a bartender. And he appears to be a very good one,” Aquilan protested.
Vex gave him a narrow-eyed look, but then he laughed. “Well, working for Hein is likely a good job. I might work at the Dawn to sample his malt beer or eat his roast beef. Yes, I suppose there is something to be said for working under his roof.”
“Helgrom. You mean Helgrom. Hein’s grandson,” Aquilan corrected gently.
Vex just smiled at him, but then went back to his rant about Declan, “You know that he–he turned his back on me. He just… walked away. And he had no regrets.”
Vex was staring off in the distance. There was almost a comical look of shock and dismay on his handsome face. He clearly had not been denied anything in quite a long time. But Declan had not cared to bend the knee. Aquilan was not surprised. Declan was a leader in his own right. He gave respect only after it had been earned. He imagined that if Vex had demanded Declan accept his demands… Well, Declan would have rejected him. Evidently, had rejected him.
“Where is Declan? Is he all right?” Like with Vex, Aquilan believed he would know if Declan were gone.
He cannot be gone.
Declan’s beautiful face flashed before Aquilan’s mind’s eye. That moment in the palace when Declan had been close enough to kiss… as Declan told him to make his home in the rising Sun…
“Oh, he’s fine.” Vex waved a hand as if that were no nevermind that his son was wandering somewhere in the Under Dark on his own. But, then again, seeing how Declan fought against the Leviathan that was likely true. “You know earlier when I said he was cross with me?”
“Yes, you did–”
“That was a lie!” Vex let out a sharp laugh. “I don’t believe he is! Because I don’t matter enough to him for him to be angry with me! Can you believe that? I am his father! I am–”
“Who he didn’t know about until today,” Aquilan gently redirected the Night King.
Vex stared at the plinth. “It shouldn’t matter. All boys need their father.”
“He had one, I believe. A human who… who died. And there is another who loves him… He was hardly without male guidance and love in his life,” Aquilan pointed out.
“But they are not me!” Vex snapped. But there was more bewilderment than anger in his voice. “They are not me.”
“No, they are not. But you are not you to him yet either,” Aquilan pointed out. “You are a stranger to him, King Vex.”
Just like you are a stranger to me. And yet…
He kept studying that face, expecting memories to rise, but they stubbornly did not.
“He claims to want nothing, Ailduin.” Vex’s bewilderment grew. “No power. No title. No money. No family history. Nothing.”
Aquilan did not correct him on the name. “And you believe him?”
“If I did not, he would not have left that crater… Ah, well, he… he perplexes me!” Vex let out a tight laugh and once more those hands rose in the air.
Aquilan wondered what Vex had left out of that statement. “We were talking about my parents.”
“Yes, yes, who killed them. All the alternatives to me!” Vex chuckled. “Believe me when I say this, Ailduin, that you do not want to know what happened in the past. Because if you do, you’ll have to act.”
“Against you?” Aquilan stiffened.
“Against your own nature,” Vex corrected. “And that… that doesn’t work so well.”
Aquilan’s mouth opened and shut half a dozen times before he said lamely, “But my parents… cannot be unavenged.”
“Can’t they?” Vex challenged.
Aquilan stood there and thought of the blind hatred that had allowed him to strike down the Kindreth who had come to the Lieran Plane. He still did not know why. To warn him? Of his parents’ bargain with Vex? Did Vex still want to collect on that bargain? Was that why he was here in part? Not just to collect his son, but to collect Aquilan? He was the Sun King now. His life was not his own.
Unless I cede the throne to Vesslan…
