Did he know? Was that where his magic came from?
“Every few seasons, Erissa would have to return to the ocean to rest and recover her abilities,” Lyssandra drawled, forcing my attention away from Lukas. “This time away was brief, but of course, any time away was far too long for Ikelos. Three seasons each year with his love were not enough. He wanted more…”
Our surroundings dimmed once again, but this time, when the light returned, we were in a small, dusty-smelling, windowless room. Tall bookshelves extended up to the ceiling as Arenn, Lukas, and Lyssandra stood on either side of me.Gathered in the centre of the room, huddled around a large bubbling cauldron, were both Arenn and Lukas’s parents, each one a perfect younger copy of themselves.
“The ritual is not a difficult one,” the young Faery Queen explained, swirling her hand over the cauldron’s mysterious purple liquid, “but be careful, dear, and remember what I said.” She shot a nervous glance at Erissa. “If you accept the potion, you will change drastically. You will be completely human. There’s no going back from this.”
Erissa swallowed, shaking her head. “Thank you, but I’m afraid this has been a waste of your time.” With trembling lips, she turned to Ikelos. “I’m so sorry, my love, but I cannot do this. If I become human, I will have to say goodbye to my sisters forever. I know both yourself and dear Lukas miss me terribly every time I leave, I miss you both too! But I can’t give up this part of me, not even for our son. I’m so, so sorry.” She clutched his hands as her quivering features brimmed with heartbreak.
“I don’t wish to see anymore of this!” Lukas’s voice stole my focus away from the gathering. “This is all a trick anyway. That woman is not my mother.”
“Isn’t she?” Lyssandra grinned. “Then I suggest you stay for a little longer, or you’ll miss the best part. Let me show you what our heroic king does next.” Her smile faded as the world dimmed for a final time.
When our vision returned, the scene had changed again. We were back in the Steel Palace, this time standing by the fireplace in the King’s bedchamber. It was late at night, the dying embers of the fire casting an orange glow over the huge darkwood bed in the centre of the room. Resting on top of the pure white sheets was Erissa. Even while fast asleep, she still looked just as radiant as she had on the beach. The soft colourful waves of her hair pooled effortlessly around her shoulders.
“I’m so sorry, my love…” A whisper cut through the darkness.Out from the shadows, Ikelos stepped forward, holding a vial of shimmering purple liquid in his trembling hands. “I have to do this. You can’t keep leaving us.” He drew closer to where Erissa slept. “For the sake of our son. I love you.”
The King used his fingers to force her lips apart as he tipped the vial into her mouth. My heart shuddered. I could feel the cold shift in the air the moment the violet liquid touched her tongue.
“No,” I muttered, smacking my hands over my wide-open mouth.
And then the screams started.
It was as if Ikelos had just dragged a spear through her heart. She arched her back, writhing and twisting her body in such intense pain while her screams tore along the walls of the bedchamber. Ikelos stumbled backwards, collapsing to the floor. He shouted the words ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again, but his panicked shouts could’ve been whispers as they were drowned out by her wretched screams. As she continued to wail, the warm glow faded from her hollowing cheeks. All her otherworldly beauty drained away along with the bright colours in her hair, leaving behind a lifeless, white-haired wraith of a woman.
“Do you recognise her now, boy?” Lyssandra hissed over the awful sounds of Erissa’s wails. Her glare landed on Lukas, who stood frozen by the dying fire. His face was completely blank. Just like his mother, all the colour had drained from his skin too, and I almost didn’t recognise him. His jaw was clenched so tightly to stop it trembling. I’d never seen him look so conflicted, so… afraid. It made my heart ache.
Without caring about the consequences, I rushed towards him.
“Not so fast, Princess.” Arenn’s hands caught my wrists before I could move any further.
I screamed with rage. “I swear to the Ancients, Arenn – if you don’t let me go!”
“Are we done here?” he called out to his sister, ignoring me as I struggled in his unrelenting grasp. “Surely by now we’ve seen enough of this spectacle?” He jerked his chin towards Erissa, who still wailed in between pained, sobbing gasps.
“How could you—” But the world began to fade away before I could finish my sentence.
CHAPTER 41
There was nothing until, with a gasp, I blinked my eyes open.
We were back in the very real faery palace. All of us had returned to our seats, my back still pressed against Arenn’s chest as I was held securely on his lap. Across the table, Lukas glared at his father, but the intensity of his gaze was so fierce it could’ve burnt the frail man’s skin.
“Is it true?” he demanded. “Did all of that really happen?”
The King’s chest heaved as he croaked out a weak response, “Yes.”
Lukas slammed his fist against the quartz table. “All this time, Father! All this time, you told me she was ill! Never thought to mention why? Never thought to mention that she… my own mother wasn’t even born human?” He slammed his fist down again. “You lied when you told me she was ill. And then you lied again every time you told me she would get better!”
“I did it for you,” Ikelos replied in a strained voice. “I justwanted you to have a mother. Ryntook is so far away, and she’d be gone for an entire season. The servants told me you cried for days the first time she left and that you never really stopped until she came back. I couldn’t bear to put you through that again. I—”
“You could have been there for me! I was a baby and you were my father. When I cried, you should have held me!”
“I had a kingdom to run,” Ikelos scoffed, sending a cloud of dust onto his tunic. “I didn’t have time for children. That was precisely why I married your mother. You were her responsibility, but she was too busy frolicking in the ocean. So that’s why, when the faeries presented us with a way to fix all this, I made the decision for her. And I made the right choice.”
Lukas’s jaw tightened as a heavy silence fell over the table.
“You may as well have murdered her,” he seethed. “I will never forgive you.”
