I entered the room where they’d gathered.
“I have a lot to do, my time is limited. What do you have to say?” I asked, all brusque business.
All three of them rose from where they’d been sitting, only to collapse to the floor, heads bowed, prostrating themselves.
“We wish to apologize, dear son,” my mother said, voice muffled by her face to the floor.
I’d expected something like this, but not quite to this degree. I took only a half-a-second to enjoy this show of supplication. I wasn’t a petty man.
“Get up and say your peace. I’m listening.”
All three picked themselves up and sat once again, still looking contrite, though… for my brother at least, I sensed more than a little resistance to this process.
“We have seen the error of our ways,” my mother said, speaking for all of them. “We see now, your queen, Izzy, to be the one true royal and we wish to… serve her as you do.”
I caught that slight hesitation, as well as the look of ambition behind my mother’s blue eyes.
Time to set some expectations.
“I’m glad you’ve come around, but let’s be clear: I will not do anything to elevate you in any way. If you want to serve Izzy, you’ll do so like the rest of the seraphim, by helping with the war effort. I plan to fight, and if you aren’twilling to do the same, there will be no place for you in this new world.”
Their hopes were dashed. The only reason they’d gone through this farce of an apology had been to get back the positions of privilege they’d once held, using my connection to the queen to do so.
Before they could complain or push for more, I went on. “The new queen is all about equality and freedom. If you come, if you fight, you will be equal to every other person who does so, not above them in any way, but also not below them. And if you wish for more than that… this new regime will be based on merit. You’ll have to show how you can help, what you can do, then do it well, to earn any place of authority. There is no easy route to power. Understood?”
“But you’re her right hand, are you not?” my father blurted. My mother threw him a scathing look and he shut up.
My brother missed that look and kept pushing. “You have a position of power, and all you’re doing is fucking her, from what I’ve heard. Maybe if I shared her bed, she’d see what a real man could do.”
It was everything I could do not to throttle the man.
“I have done far more than share her bed,” I whispered viciously. “I betrayed Saldrea and endured torment the likes of which you’ve never known, both physical and mental. I have stood at Izzy’s side through all her trials. I’ve fought with her, bled for her, given her everything I have, sharing my spirit with her when she needed it most.That’swhat’s earned me my place of power. If you wish to endure the harshest torture an elf can dish out, leaving you on the brink of death, then suffer at the hands of a psychotic sylph, your mind twisted against you over and over, all in service of our new queen, then by all means do so.”
I took a breath and smiled as I finished with, “And by the way, Izzy would kick you out of her bed in an instant. You are no man. You’re a leech, and she’d know that the instant she saw you.”
My brother lurched to his feet ready for a fight.
“Kinlastriel Stop!” my mother shouted and my brother, seething, slowly sat once more.
“We will fight,” my mother said stoically. The next bit she said directly to her husband and my brother. “After the war, we shall see how best we can help and make ourselves useful.” Then back to me. “Shall that suffice?”
“It shall,” I said, just as formal. “Prove yourselves in this fight, and I will rescind my disownment of you as my family.”
That was as far as I was willing to go, for now.
“Thank you, Vyns, we shall do our best,” my mother said.
I nodded then left.
They hadn’t learned, not yet. A part of me still hated them for everything they’d put me through growing up, and not supporting me when I’d come to them initially. And yet… I had to give them a second chance. Everyone deserved one. Izzy had given me one, a chance to leave Saldrea — though the cost had been high — and serve her. I’d been through hell and back since, and perhaps, once my family had gone to those lengths for Izzy and this new world, I could begin to see them as family once more.
I truly hoped they could change, even if a part of me doubted it was possible… well for Kinlastriel at least.
I spared no thought for them after that. They were doing their part, like every other seraph, and all would be judged equally. But first I had to get all these angels to Seial, a mammoth task. I had a lot of work to do, and little time to do it.
IZZY
The realmof dwarves was nothing like I’d expected. An ex had once forced me to watch a Lord of the Rings marathon. I’d ditched him and the evening after the first four-hour slog of a movie. From that, I recalled something about dark caves of rough stone with a few massive halls held up by great pillars.
