Then… her father’s marriage to Delphi had not been rooted in betrayal but out of political necessity to bind Argyle to the Midlands.
But then Calveron came for their bloodline. With her mother already passed and Delphi wed, that left Zinnia. Yet they had gone after her.
Alora glanced at the sharp thorns on the table. Perhaps they preferred a fight they could win.
“So, Rihan also carried the blood of the Mortal God in his veins,” Alora said. “Enough to threaten war on Argyle?”
Zinnia nodded. “Your father had no choice but to agree the prince would marry one of Thalion’s daughters, but Rihan was spared when the Sleeping Curse took him. Then somehow, Thalion learned of you.”
Alora propped her elbows on the table and dropped her spinning head in her hands. All of this was too much to take in at once.
So many secrets and lies.
“How could my father agree to the engagement?” She muttered. “No—how could you send me back to Argyle knowing what danger I was in? You promised my mother to keep me safe.”
Lady Zinnia lowered her head, her pink cheeks flushing a darker shade. “Forgive me. We thought perhaps this could be the answer to saving you. I had hoped perhaps the danger passed when the Blood Moon arrived on the 20thday of your birth without catastrophe. My wards kept the Abyss at bay. But then your powers began to manifest, and the Sleeping Curse now presses against the Midland’s borders.”
The world seemed to tilt, her breath catching painfully as cold spread through her chest.
“And now,” Zinnia continued quietly, “the next Blood Moon approaches. I cannot be certain my wards will hold again.”
Alora’s fingers tightened in her sleeves. Her godmother had risked letting her go … for the sake of the borough.
“Thalion did not know you carried the blood of two gods when he assured King Laurent that your magic could be siphoned without harm.” Zinnia lifted her gaze. “I believed that if your magic were taken, then when the darkness returned, it would fall upon Calveron instead of you.”
The anger and resentment coiled in her stomach, but Alora supposed her reasoning was logical.
She swallowed, clenching her hands. “The Sleeping Curse… did it begin because of me?”
Lady Zinnia saw the dread on her face and returned to the table, placing a gentle hand over hers. “I don’t know. Whatever ritual Salvia performed at the ruins, must have allowed imbalance into our world. Eventually, it will take over the kingdom. The answer to breaking the curse lies with the one who made it.”
That meant…
“It will end when you kill him,” Caelum said from the doorway of her cottage. “He rules the shadows. It’s his curse.”
Alora’s heartbeat drummed against her ribs, a frantic flutter like a bird trapped in glass. “But why would he put Argyle to sleep when he could merely set his demons upon them?”
Rune certainly could have done that anytime when night fell, yet he kept them contained in the mountain.
“Because he knew it would turn you against him.” Caelum stepped inside. “Once he devours your magic, he would be free to rise and spread his darkness across every realm. Do you think he would stop with Argyle? You have seen what he’s capable of. Imagine that power, unleashed on the world. Nothing would be safe.”
Alora stared at him. “How do you know all of this?”
Caelum’s expression became emotionless. “Only a god can create his own undoing, Alora.”
A chill crept up her spine, her skin prickling as though the air itself had turned watchful.
Had Rune created her?
Lady Zinnia’s pink eyes narrowed on Caelum. “Who is this?”
“This is Caelum,” Alora answered absentmindedly. “The childhood friend I once told you about. We often played together in the castle before I was sent here.”
“Boy?”Zinnia said, arching an eyebrow as she studied him. “Mortals cannot come here, Alora,”
She sighed, rubbing her face. “I know. He won’t stay long.”
“Eldrik wants the same thing Rune wants,” Caelum continued. “Your power.”
