“Our parents are close with them,” Sidrick offered.
I took a moment to wrap my head around this new family tree and how things were infinitely more connected than I’d assumed. Replaying everything that just transpired, my focus shifted back to Artton. “So, it was nepotism, not a fetus for a fetus?”
“Seriously, where is this fetus thing coming from?” Kaelun sulked, but no one answered him.
“Neither,” Artton said. “Even though Kaelun isn’t of age, his unara makes him invaluable as your personal guard—as you’ve already witnessed.”
“Unara?” I repeated, thinking I’d misheard.
“Why don’t we take this conversation inside?” Caius said, reopening the door to the guest suite.
“What about the human?” Artton countered.
“Myron already put a sound barrier up. Probably why he didn’t come out himself to see what all the commotion was, we were in the living room.”
I bristled at the way he’d saidhuman, but I let it go in favor of getting answers. That, and I wanted to check in on Tarrin. Besides, Artton and I already had enough to fight about without bringing bigotry into it.
Entering the suite, I ignored the familiar sitting area that the others filtered into and made for Tarrin’s room, instantly feeling the sound barrier tug at my senses as I stepped through the door—the feeling eerily similar to the border.
“Good morning,” Myron said with a bright smile. “I was just finishing a session.”
I opened my mouth to respond in kind, but words abandoned me as I took Tarrin in, his gray pallor like a beacon for Father Death.
Eyes burning, I stepped to his side, unable to stop my imagination from flitting through the horrors he’d faced. “Is he…” I choked, running my fingers through his freshly cleaned hair, the luster absent from his silken strands.
“He’s fighting.” Myron’s low, calm voice indicating it was the best we could ask for.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, eyes scanning Tarrin for any indication that proved as much. He was clean, and his heartbeat was a little stronger, but the only physical sign of improvement was the state of his lips. They were still cracked and angry, but the crusted evidence of dehydration was gone, and there was no denying they were fuller than yesterday. It wasn’t much, but I was so desperate for hope that I’d cling onto anything.
I pulled my focus to Myron, holding his gentle spring-green eyes as I said, “Why help him? You don’t owe me—or him—anything. In fact, you owe us less than that given how deceitful we were during the solstice even though you only showed kindness.” My chin wobbled a fraction with shame as I continued to hold his gaze.
“Sweet child,” he said with heartbreaking gentility, “I harbor no resentment toward you. You may have lied with your words, but your soul sings to a melody that could never utter anything but truths, the ones that make you worthy of the spark.”
I swallowed hard, trying to choke down his words. “During the solstice,” I I said, “you believed this court was made for me—did you know then what I was?”
He shook his head. “We’ve discussed you at great length, but the truth is that until yesterday the spark was nothing more than a mythical ideology—not to mention you were human. In hindsight, I suppose deep down a part of me knew. The part that’s always tethered to the Mother. Maybe it’s why my powers kept trying to go deeper when I healed you, either for answers, or to get closer to its own source. There was something special about you—that muchwas clear—but I passed it off as an unusual kinship between you and the Mother. That is until Caius explained everything.” Myron released a small breath, his smaller frame slumping a fraction with the exhale. “I felt the fool once all the pieces had been laid out.”
“If it helps, I feel that way every day. Actually, scratch that, it’s hourly.”
“I’m sure you do,” he said, his words honeyed with amusement.
Kaelun popped his head in through the door. “Oh, hey Uncle Myron, good to see ya. Any chance I can steal this one away? The guys have to get going soon.”
“I think you’ll have to ask her, Kaelun,” his uncle said with a raised brow, indicating the kid had been raised with better manners.
“Right, sorry.” My new shadow shook his head. “Mind if we borrow you? I mean, it’s not like he’s going anywhere, right?” He gestured to the bed.
“Kaelun,” Myron chided.
“Sorry, was that rude? I’m not used to someone being bedridden.”
“It’s insensitive at best,” his uncle offered.
“It’s fine,” I said, unable to stop my lips from tipping up when Kaelun winced at the admonishment. “I’ll join in a moment.”
“Right-o,” he said with a mock salute before making to leave.
“Kaelun,” Myron called after him.
