Her mother pressed her lips together, but before she could reply, her father’s gaze shifted, and he spat, “You.”
Nya whirled, finding Morgen leaning in the doorway, his hands in the pockets of his pants. His hair was pulled back from his face, accentuating the sharp angles of his cheeks and the shadows beneath his eyes.
“A ‘you’re welcome,’ would be appreciated, but I’ll take not getting skewered immediately by you for now,” Morgen said, a single brow raised. He was breathing normally and had changed out of the bloody armor, but Nya couldn’t tell if the wound had healed fully.
“You little fuck,” her father seethed, trying to stand before her mother hissed something in his ear, and he settled for sitting on the edge of the cot with a glare.
“You should probably listen to your wife, given you lack the range of healing abilities I have,” Morgen said. “I’ve no intention of inadvertently killing anyone at the moment.”
“You…” Her mother trailed off, eyes narrowed. “You are Kronos’ son?”
Nya looked between them, entirely unsure of what was happening, especially as Morgen dipped his chin and said, “I’d say it’s nice to see you again, Sora, but it seems, once again, we are not meeting under very pleasant circumstances.”
“Sora?” Nya’s father said.What’s going on?
I had no idea he was Kronos’ son,her mother said down the pathway.
Morgen cleared his throat. “Look, I know we all have the ability to speak silently to each other through various channels, but I think it might be less confusing if we clarify all of this aloud.”
“Fine,” her mother said shortly, her eyes still on Morgen.
He nodded once, pushing off the wall and sitting on a small woven chair closest to Nya. Their eyes met briefly, but she couldn’t quite read his closed-off expression.
“Would you care to explain, or should I?” he said, glancing at her mother.
Sora cleared her throat. “What I saw, it was barely for a second, and…” She shook her head. “After I was reborn, I always thought it might have been an odd trick of my brain in those last moments, some strange image my mind tried to conjure as a distraction from the pain.”
Nya did not miss the way the torches flared slightly, or that her mother casually slipped a hand into her father’s.
“I saw a child,” her mother explained. “Just for a flash before I was gone, near one of the pillars off the side of the throne room. A young boy with eyes…” She trailed off, looking at Morgen. “A boy with eyes both silver and gold. It was you, wasn’t it?”
Morgen’s jaw tensed, and Nya felt sick at the realization of her mother’s words.
He dipped his head in a shallow nod, a dry, humorless laugh slipping past his lips. “I wasn’t supposed to be out of my room. But, for once, my disobedience actually worked in my favor.”
“They would have destroyed you if they found you,” Nya’s father said flatly. “So, I presume you escaped the palace before they arrived.”
“Who would have?” Nya asked before she could stop herself.
Morgen lifted a brow. “The other half of the council. Your parents had just taken care of their problem. Do you think they would have let the potential of another one live?”
“How old were you?” Nya’s mother asked quietly.
“Almost thirteen,” Morgen replied, the ghost of a smile on his face as he added, “My birthday was the next day. Truthfully, the best present I’d ever gotten, waking up knowing he was dead and would never be coming back.”
Nya couldn’t help glancing at the scar on his throat. She knew Morgen noticed, but he didn’t acknowledge her for more than a moment.
“Why then?” her mother asked. “Why try to take the throne if you knew what Kronos was like once the power went to his head?”
Nya resisted the urge to sit up straighter when Morgen sighed and muttered, “Right. Of course. They never told you.”
Ever since she’d been brought here, Imeria, Carus, and even Morgen himself had been referencing some important factor that explained why he needed to take the throne, but no one had bothered to explain it. To her relief, Morgen didn’t try to skirt around it this time, instead leaning forward on his elbows as he said, “There is a reason Sol gave the embers to Kronos in the first place.”
When no one stopped him, he continued, “The embers are not only the source of Life, but the basis to this world. All the principal gods were born with a piece of them, but Sol eventually made the decision that, spread thin amongst them, the embers were not strong enough to hold the realms together. The council came to an agreement: one of them would hold the embers alone in a concentrated form and in a specific place, though Sol didn’t make clear who. They all assumed it would be him, but then he gave them to Kronos, by whom they were held until he was destroyed.”
Morgen paused, the gold flaring in his eyes as he glanced at her parents. “I presume you know the reason heirs exist, given you are both named as such.”
“The realm would become unstable if one of the principals was permanently destroyed,” her mother said hoarsely, her voice almost shocked, as if she was realizing something she hadn’t before. “They aren’t just gods, but manifestations of elements central to the world itself.”
