“You’d rather the realm believes you’re a second-born prince of Autumn than the heir to the Onyx Throne. I expect your reasons must be complicated, if not well thought out, to choose to hide. Something you once accused me of doing, if you remember.”
“The Midnight fae have lived one purpose these last years, and that is to wait and fight for the Chosen One.”
“And your crown? What is the purpose of hiding that?”
“Duron would have killed me had he even the slightest inkling.”
Her brows lifted. “You mean he didn’t know?”
“And neither does Callan,” I said.
She stared at me, eyes wide. “To protect your people,” she murmured.
I nodded. “And to protect you.” At her furrowed brow, I went on, “The oath I swore to fight at your side came before anything else, even my own title or crown. If I’d been found out and killed or imprisoned for it, I would have failed you before we’d even begun.”
“And now? Here we are. Fighting together. Allies. Friends. And something more?”
I shook my head. “Nothing more than that. For your own sake.”
“After everything, you refuse to let me decide what’s best for me.”
I swallowed hard. “Your father already did.”
She blinked. “My father?—?”
“I promised him,” I said quietly. “The night I took the oath.”
“Wait. You took the oath from my father? From Ire himself?”
“Yes.”
“I thought— All this time, I just assumed it was a figurative oath. One passed down from your queen.” Her eyes widened. “Your mother, I guess,” she murmured as if realization had dawned. She shook it off. “But you saw him. Spoke to him.”
“Bled for him,” I added quietly.
She stared at me.
I swallowed hard, forcing the words out before I could think better of it. “I swore that, when the time came, as he had foreseen that it would, I would die for you.”
The color drained from her face. “No.”
“I was meant to be your shield, Aurelia. Not your equal. Not your choice. It’s why I was gifted this power. Why my people were preserved, protected. Set aside for the time you would need us all. Your father saw it and made provisions so that you might live.”
She shook her head, stepping back. “You can’t mean that. That’s not fate—that’s madness.”
“Before we met, I might have agreed. But now… it will be my honor to trade my life for yours should the Fates demand it.”
Her voice broke. “And what if I refuse to let you?”
“You are becoming more powerful than any fae to walk Menryth in a thousand years,” I said, unable to quell the sadness in my soul. “But even you cannot stop Fate’s wheel from turning.”
I watched as she fought for control, refusing to accept what I’d told her.
“Do you remember that Obsidian, the one in that farmhouse in the Broadlands? He said Heliconia sees what she fears most. The prince and I united—to her destruction. I thought it was Callan, but…”
I didn’t respond.
“You knew it wasn’t him,” she finished.
