A golden alicorn entered the room. I figured he must’ve been Cameron’s Familiar, because the stallion stood across from Oberi and bobbed his horned head. The alicorn and unicorn faced off, stomping their hooves and letting out snorts that were far from friendly.
Cameron looked on the verge of tears, so Emperor Cassiel spoke for him. “As I said before, Cameron ran away from Forevermore nearly twenty-five years ago, to Kinpago. He rebelled, and found Charlie’s mother while living amongst the Elementai.”
“I didn’trebel. I had no interest in being Emperor,” Cameron said spitefully.
That’s the same fucking thing, I thought with irritation.
Cameron took a breath. “But that’s all in the past now. Let me explain it to him, Father.”
Emperor Cassiel fell silent, and Cameron went on, speaking directly to Charlie. “I was half-Hawkei, so I believed that Kinpago could be my home. I didn’t intend to find a wife when I arrived. Kelly was… a brilliant Nivita. I was enchanted by her. We fell in love, and she knew of my past, but I wanted no part of my legacy to take the Elven throne. I thought that we could live a life of secrecy amongst the Elementai, and avoid my father. I knew if he found us, I would be forced to return to Forevermore. So Kelly and I married in secret, and tried to live a quiet life amongst the tribe. No one knew I had Elven blood. Then Kelly had you, Charlie, and we knew we had to be even more careful— interhouse children were seen as an abomination among the Hawkei. Your mother loved you so much, the thought of losing you gutted her.”
Charlie said nothing, and Cameron gave a heavy sigh. “I knew my father was searching for me, but the Hawkei Elders found us first. Interhouse relationships were illegal at that point in time, and since I was Yapluma, and your mother was Nivita, we were guilty as charged. At the time, Air and Earth were not allowed to be together. I’m sorry to say that your existence proved our guilt, Charlie. The trial they put us through was a farce. You were taken away from us, and we didn’t know where they sent you. Your mother was put to death, the penalty for bearing an interhouse child, and I was made to watch.”
Cameron’s voice cracked, and I put a hand on Charlie’s arm. He felt so stiff and cold. I couldn’t imagine what Cameron had been forced to endure, but it seemed like what Charlie had gone through was even worse. He’d been so still since the mention of his mother, as if her name wasn’t something he could bear to confront.
Charlie’s father came closer, and I got ready to protect Charlie if need be. But he didn’t move to grab Charlie again. He just kept talking. “After the execution, I was dragged off to a Hawkei prison within the tribal grounds, given a life sentence for being in an interhouse relationship. But my father had finally located me by this point, and sent the Emperor’s Guard to free me. Once they broke me out, I was forced to come back here, instead of being allowed to search for you. When I returned, a prophecy was given, stating my son would one day come to Forevermore.”
Cameron frowned. “It wasn’t enough. I attempted to find you, but your adoption record was sealed, and you were moved so many times from foster home to foster home that by the time I located you, you were already gone. Once you left the system at eighteen, it became impossible to find you. It was like you vanished.”
“I moved across the country, to get the hell away from California,” Charlie said. “I wanted nothing to do with that place.”
“I can understand, but it made it harder to find you.” Cameron appeared wary. “After all my efforts, I still could not locate you. So I left it up to fate. And I’ve been here ever since, waiting for the day my son would return.”
The silence was so thick in the throne room that it was nearly suffocating. Charlie didn’t say anything, and Cameron tried again. “I’m sorry that I left you alone all these years—”
“Sorry?” Charlie sneered. “Sorry isn’t good enough. Why didn’t you come back for me?”
“I wasn’t allowed to leave,” Cameron said. “Due to my previous bout in Kinpago, I was guarded night and day. The security of Forevermore is imperative, and my foolish actions had nearly exposed the Elves. I was not allowed to cross through the Mirror of Ingress to get to the surface world. I am not only a prince, but I am also a refugee, and therefore wasn’t permitted to leave Forevermore. I attempted to escape several times to look for you, but I was always stopped.”
“He speaks the truth, Charlie,” Emperor Cassiel said sadly. “We wanted you here with us, but by the time the Hawkei tribe had given you up to the foster care system, we could not find you, and continuing to search for you would put our entire city in danger of being exposed to the supernatural world.”
“That’s a bullshit excuse,” Charlie snarled. “If my son was out there, I’d doanythingto get him back. I would’ve torn down this whole city to find him, crown or no crown.”
Then, Charlie took a sharp breath. “I can somewhat understand your reasoning, Grandfather. You are an emperor, and have a whole city to protect.”
Charlie’s voice was raging as he directed his anger at Cameron. “Butyou.There’s nothing that can excuse what you did to me. You could’ve snuck out, found a way, but it wasn’t important to you. You had twenty years to do so, and you never even triedonce. You sure didn’t have any hesitations about leaving Forevermore when it was to suit your own selfishness, but when it came to rescuing me, you sure left me to the wolves.”
Cameron’s attempt to soothe Charlie was worthless. “I wanted to find you—”
“I wasstarving!” Charlie cried. If the whole kingdom hadn’t heard him shouting before, they did now. His voice echoed through the throne room, shaking the walls. “Nobody gave a fuck about me! I had nowhere to go, no one who loved me! Hell, I had to prostitute myself just to get a warm place to sleep most nights!”
Kallie’s and Marcus’ mouths dropped open. He’d never told them that. My heart twisted and fell into my gut as he brought up that painful memory. I could feel his rampant emotions smashing through our bond. He was angrier than I’d ever known him to be. I just wanted it all to stop, so I could take his pain away. I’d take the painfor him, suffer every day, just so he wouldn’t feel like this. Enduring a broken heart was nothing compared to watching Charlie be in agony, but this was beyond my power to fix.
Cameron had gone completely pale, appearing horrified. Charlie gave a harsh, cold laugh. “But you wouldn’t know that, huh? You weren’t around. You didn’t care.”
“Ididcare,” Cameron insisted. “I did the best I could to find you!”
“Yeah, right. You’re a coward. You ran away from your duty, and you ran away from me.”
The floor beneath us began to shake, and cracks rippled through the gold walls.
Charlie’s Earth magic was going to crumble this castle to the ground. Oberi gave a nervous nicker, and I rubbed Charlie’s arm. I had to calm him down, if I didn’t want us to be crushed beneath the rubble.
“Charlie, it’s over now,” I reminded him softly.
He flinched at my words, but at least the ground stopped shaking, and the palace remained standing. Charlie was breathing so hard I thought his throat might rip in half. Cameron, bastard he was, decided to keep talking.
“I can’t make up for the mistakes I’ve made,” Cameron said heavily. “I can only try to fix what we might have now. Charlie, please, look at me.”
