I thought for a moment. “War broke out again though, right?”
“As it often does. Peace never lasts.” Using the tip of his finger, Onyx circled my kneecap through the material of my pants. The featherlight touch quickened my pulse. “While in the garden, I also heard you ask Koga about how the war began.”
“Not my proudest moment,” I said, mimicking him from earlier.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” He arched a brow. “Though the execution leaves much to be desired.”
I snorted.
“Before you came here, you were told many stories depicting me as a ruthless warlord.” He returned his gaze to my leg. “Yet, none of the people spinning those tales know what truly happened. Allow me to tell you a story.”
I silently waited. Barely breathed. I was finally going to get answers.
“Centuries before my birth, my grandsire signed an accord with the humans. They had recently made their home in Bremloc, you see, and wished to encroach on our territory to build their kingdom. Territory was distributed, and the two kingdoms agreed not to cross over into each other’s land. Then my father took the throne. Peace continued and all was well. He married my mother, and I was born.”
The more he talked, the less that earlier smile glinted in his eyes. I almost regretted mentioning the war. I liked the atmosphere better when he was teasing me for being a pest.
“One day, a human child wandered into the dark wood,” he continued. “The girl was mauled by a lower-level demon and later found by a party of knights who were patrolling along the perimeter. King Paris of Bremloc took her death as an act of war, despite the human child having been at fault. An unintentional breach of the treaty but one nonetheless. My father met the king’s ire with his own and started preparing his army.”
“Did his army attack Bremloc then?” I asked.
Onyx shook his head. “He wanted to march on the kingdom, but my mother convinced him otherwise. She said there had been peace between us for centuries, and she didn’t wish for that peace to end because of a misunderstanding. Knowing my father’s temper, she offered to meet with King Paris in his place, hoping it’d help dissolve further tensions. Though reluctantly, he agreed but insisted she take a small force of guards with her.”
The distant look in Onyx’s eyes faded as something menacing took its place. So much so that my insides tensed.
“My father felt it the moment they killed her,” he said, voice rougher than before. “I was in the courtyard studying when I heard a scream that chilled me to the bone. I found him on the front steps, on his knees and clutching his chest with tears streaming down his face. It was the first, and last, time I ever saw my father cry. He jumped on his horse and took off into the woods. Koga and two other commanders followed him.”
My cheeks were wet, and I wiped at them, not having realized I’d started crying.
“I recount the story of how my mother was killed, and you’re the one who cries.” Onyx replaced my hand with his, softly brushing away my tears. His eyes had lost the menacing gleam and seemed so gentle right then.
“Because it’s heartbreaking,” I said, then wrapped my arms around him.
He went still. “What are you doing?”
“Hugging you.” I tightened my hold on him. “Hugs help you feel better when you’re sad.”
“You’re the one in tears, Evan, not me.”
“You don’t have to cry to be sad, Onyx,” I said, my eyes stinging with a fresh round. A deep ache gathered at the top of my stomach, but the pain didn’t feel like it belonged to me. As I hugged him, I could’ve sworn I felt his soul crying out. That little boy who’d had his mother taken from him, only to then lose his father in a brutal and bloody war that followed.
No wonder he feared our fated bond. If our love ended in tragedy like he believed, it would just be another person he lost. Another blade shoved between his ribs.
Onyx rested his head on mine and seemed as though he was about to return my embrace before quickly pulling away. He stood from the couch and put more distance between us.
“I didn’t tell you the story to gain your sympathy,” he said, emotionless once again. I hated it. “You wished to know how thewar began, and I told you. King Paris killed my mother and her guards the moment she arrived for the meeting, claiming her death was needed for the sake of peace. A life for a life, with her guards simply being necessary casualties.”
“That’s awful,” I whispered.
“It was a farce, of course,” he continued. “King Paris wished for war and knew her death would be the spark to ignite it. And he was right. My father marched on Bremloc and slaughtered every human he came across. The war spanned several years, taking countless lives on both sides. Once I reached my sixteenth year, I asked to fight alongside him.”
My heart broke a little more. “Koga said you used to skip sparring lessons to read.”
“Yes, well. That was before the humans killed my mother. Her death awoke an anger deep inside me. One that hasn’t fully died.”
It explained his hatred of the royal family. Also gave me another person to add to the list of assholes in my family tree. Paris. Eidolon. Cedric. All had done horrible things.
“So you became a warrior at sixteen?”
