Why would Tzuriel care? He never had before.
It wouldn’t serve him to fight Malakel. He should have remained subdued on principle. When he was old enough to speak, Queen Mirah made it clear not to challenge any of her children. “They are purebloods, heirs to the Realms. You are nothing.”
Tzuriel took a step toward him. “Cassiel—”
“Get out.”
Tzuriel paused as though to say more, but he sighed and slipped into the dark corridor, his wings the last to disappear.
Malakel was many things but Cassiel had to agree it was stupid to bring the human and her werewolf cousin to the castle.
Why tell Dyna about The Decimation and The Fall of Gamor? He knew his father had been involved in destroying that city, but it was not spoken of until this day. And he chose to share it with a human.
Cassiel picked up his flute and walked out onto the balcony. A thick blanket of clouds crept across the stars, filling the crisp air with the taste of imminent rain. He climbed onto the broad stone banister to sit facing outward leaving his legs to dangle above the castle gardens hundreds of feet below. Beyond the summit descended the skyline of the Hilos Kingdom outlined in bioluminescent flora glowing in the night.
His mother’s spirit lingered in this spot. She had often come to this balcony to play music or to read him stories when he was a child. Her soft voice came to him, carried by a current of memory.
“A pirate named Captain Rozin Ida ruled the seas centuries ago, little one. He ravaged and thieved as he collected gold and jewels. He favored artifacts infused with terrible magic for their power made him unrivaled on the land and sea. One day, Captain Ida stole a Sacred Scroll containing a great secret. It led him to a great volcanic island in a perilous region of the ocean. There he gained the Unending. Because of it, no one could ever oppose him. He dubbed the island Mount Ida, turning it into his fortress as he plundered to his heart’s content.
“He polluted the island with so much magic it became alive and served him in all he desired. Even the desires that were hidden in his heart. Captain Ida feared others would try to steal from him, and he soon grew suspicious of his crew. The island, wanting to please its master, did away with them and marooned his ship. It cloaked itself in magic to protect the treasures, trapping the pirate for all eternity. Mount Ida has since never been found, but I promise you, little one, I will find it.”
Cassiel wondered if his mother ever did. Was Mount Ida as beautiful and treacherous as the legends say? He quickly pushed the question out of his mind. He had to.
If he gave it too much thought, all he could imagine was the island swallowing her whole.
Chapter 12
Cassiel
Not sure how long he had idled on the balcony, Cassiel tensed at the sound of soft knocking at his door. He didn’t answer but approaching footsteps followed, regardless. By not waiting for admission, it could only be his father. He altered his position on the banister so the dried blood on his nose and his torn clothing wasn’t visible.
“The nights are beginning to chill,” King Yoel said as he stepped outside, his breath swirling in the air.
Cassiel frowned, confused as to why his father had come to discuss the weather. They hardly ever spoke so any conversation outside of formal matters was unusual. This entire day was unusual.
The High King leaned on the banister and looked out at the kingdom. The lack of his obnoxious crown took away the regality that made him appear younger than he was. “Our guests have settled for the night.”
Wherein, Cassiel assumed, trusted guards must have been placed outside their door. How safe could they be in a castle full of Celestials that would rather see them dead?
“Zev’s ability to shapeshift at will is astonishing,” his father commented.
The were-beast was peculiar. Once Cassiel got a good look at him, he had tried not to stare at the many scars that snaked over every inch of him in haphazard lines. Bracelets of scarred flesh circled his wrists, and the skin pulled around them, appearing as though he’d been cleaved in pieces and stitched back together.
“Half-breed werewolves are called Lycans. Once they mature, they develop two forms: the wolf and the Other. They are rare, for the mothers often will not rear them.”
Other?
Cassiel sighed. He didn’t want to think about the beast or anything else for that matter. He wanted to be alone.
“And Dynalya, she has a brilliant soul. You saw it for yourself, did you not?”
Of course, he did. But what was the purpose of having the ability to see and feel the souls of humans?
The first time Dyna touched his cheek was brief, but when she held his injured hand, he had seen everything. Her soul was a luminous, blazing green with the light of a thousand thunderstorms. The entirety of it was beautiful. The sense of it almost familiar, as though returning to a place he once knew. It was her soul that convinced him he made the right choice to save her, but it carried tremendous grief that left a burden on him. After hearing about her past tonight, he learned why.
The High King tilted his head, a wistful expression on his face. “Soul Searching can be overwhelming. To see and touch something so phenomenal leaves one almost at a loss for words.”
Yes, Cassiel would put it that way. At that moment he had willingly surrendered himself to Dyna’s soul, basking in the glorious sensation.
“You don’t have experience with this, and I imagine your first time was unsettling. Seeing a soul comes immediately upon any physical contact with humans, but it is easy to control. Simply decide not to see.”
That was a rather vague explanation.
His father broke out into a playful grin. “I have almost forgotten the feeling of Soul Searching. It’s been quite some time since a lovely human has passed through my forest.”
Irritation ignited Cassiel’s nerves. “How can you jest of such things?”
The High King’s smile fell. “Forgive me, I did not intend to slight your mother’s memory.” He nodded to the flute. “Is that hers?”
Why ask questions he knows the answers to?
“Elia was never more beautiful than when she played it.”
The sound of his mother’s name slammed into Cassiel like a chilling ocean wave.
“I was there the day she crossed into our territory playing her flute,” his father said, his voice as far away as his dreamlike state. “Her melody filled the forest with something akin to magic. I had to find the source, and when I laid eyes on her, all rationality left me. I granted her immunity and escorted her home to North Star.”
Cassiel straightened. North Star was Dyna’s village.
“She was a novelty, your mother. Her features. Her voice. The fragility of her life. All of it allured me. I shouldn’t have had anything to do with a human, but I was inexplicably drawn to her. I often flew to her village, and she was always waiting, as though she sensed I would come. She knew from the beginning that I was hers, and she was mine.”
This was the most Cassiel’s father had spoken to him in years about anything, and he chose this moment to speak about her.
“You should have let her be,” Cassiel seethed. “You stole her life when you had the audacity to think you loved her.”
His father stuttered, taken aback by his outburst. “I did—”
“If you did, you would never have brought her here as your consort when you already had a queen!” His shout echoed over the summit, and the words kept rushing out of his throat. “You assumed Hilos would accept a human because their High King willed it so. You assumed she could ever have such a thing as happiness here. Her life had been insufferable and it drove her mad. Your meeting spelled her end!”
Cassiel turned away as the last of his words faded into the night, bracing himself for the repercussions of his disrespect.
His mother’s suffering was the deepest resentment he held against his father. But it was pointless to reveal it now.
“Perhaps I should have let her die,”
his father said, surprisingly tranquil. “But I could not turn my back on her, as you could not turn your back on Dynalya. Why did you save her?”
“I haven’t the answer,” Cassiel mumbled the lie.
It had angered him that the Watchers would kill her for being human. She had trespassed, but it wasn’t to do any wrong against them. Listening to her cry and beg had filled him with an insatiable need to protect her. So he did. That infuriating need followed him each moment after. Granting her immunity had been done on impulse and spite when his father had questioned him, but he struggled to understand why he was so compelled to save her.
“You do,” his father insisted.
If they would have a conversation, Cassiel didn’t want to be impeded by royal propriety. “May I speak freely?”
“Have you not been doing so?” he responded with a chuckle.
Cassiel looked out to the cove, watching the waves crashing on the shore. “I ask you not to patronize me, Father. That human is a foolish peasant who found her way here unknowing of our laws. I saved her out of pity.”
“Peasant? She is well-spoken and literate. Deny it if you must, but I believe you care what becomes of her.”
“Not in the slightest.”
His father shrugged and continued smiling. “Say what you will.”
Cassiel scowled. “Are you mocking me?”
“I am not.”
“Then I do not pretend to know what you’re insinuating.”
“I touched her soul as well, son. It is too much like yours to deny that your fates are not intertwined.”
Cassiel narrowed his eyes as he absorbed the meaning. A new suspicion arose about the purpose of tonight. “I feared you may be mad to bring a human and a beast here, but I should have known it was with intention. You assumed I had taken a liking to her.”
“Why else would you save her life and grant her immunity?”
“Because it was right, nothing more,” he replied tersely. “Is it so questionable that I spared someone that did not need to die?”
“I said the same when I spared your mother, but there was a reason for our meeting as I believe there is a reason you met Dynalya. She has not once questioned why you are unique.”
That was true.
Did she not realize he wasn’t a pureblood? It was clear that he was not like the others, but she didn’t treat him any differently.
“You told her of The Decimation and about the half-breeds of Gamor. Misbegotten sin, was it?”
“That is not how I see you, son. I said it to provoke her, and she reacted unexpectedly.”
Cassiel frowned, recalling Dyna’s tears glimmering on her cheeks. Tears for the loss of those she never knew. “Yes, well, you misled her to believe they were put to death.”
“I will leave it to you to tell her the truth if you wish.” His father shrugged. “She would be glad to hear it, I’m sure.”
“Why lie at all?”
“I wanted to know her opinion on the matter.”
Cassiel scowled, something hot rising in his chest. “You wanted to know what she thinks of me, you mean.”
“I believe she would not judge you for being different.”
“I do not care what she thinks nor do I want anything to do with that human,” he snapped. “I will not repeat your mistakes.”
His father turned to him, tone sharpening. “I have made many mistakes in my life, but your mother was not one of them. You will never refer to her as a mistake again.”
Cassiel grimaced and looked away to the kingdom below. He hated this place. Her memory was embedded everywhere. He couldn’t stand it any longer. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“When have I dismissed you? Less than a month has passed since you have returned home from Hermon Ridge.”
“Hilos is not my home. I would not have returned if you had not commanded Lord Jophiel to send me back.” Cassiel swiveled on the banister to face him.
His father’s wide eyes roamed over his appearance. “Who has done this to you?”
“I do not belong here. I choose to live in Hermon Ridge. No one there despises me for being half-human.”
His father sighed. “I understand that life here has been difficult, but you are a Prince of Hilos. You must fulfill your duties to the Realms. At nearly twenty-winters old, you have come of age to be bonded.”
“I do not want that.”
“Our lives are long. We are not meant to be alone, and I will see to it you will not be.”
Cassiel leaped off the banister, clenching his fists. “I will not be forced into a marriage I do not want. You may be miserable with your wife, but I will not endure the same.”
He knew he misspoke when his father’s face hardened with fury.
“You forget who you are speaking to!” the High King thundered. Cassiel winced and reeled back a step, bowing his head. “I am allowing you to air your grievances, but do not disregard your manner of respect.”
“Forgive me, sire. I have forgotten my place.”
His father turned away, muttering to Elyōn to give him patience for his impudent sons. He exhaled heavily before speaking again. “It is the responsibility of the High King to choose the life-mates for his children. Strong unions ensure strong Blood Bonds, which provides measured strength to guide the Realms.”
Cassiel held his tongue before he misspoke again. Blood Bonds were a perpetual promise, but it never instilled love. That was something that couldn’t be forged. Proven by how much his father and Queen Mira loathed each other.
“My father was rash in his choice for me, given the circumstances,” King Yoel said as if he read Cassiel’s mind. “I will not be. I have taken great care in choosing Malakel’s life-mate, and he is pleased with her, as is Tzuriel with his intended. You have my word it will be no different for you.”
“Please.” Cassiel hated the pleading tone he could not keep out of the single word. Whoever became his bonded would suffer. Why couldn’t his father see that?
“You will do as you are bid.” It was a command. The matter was closed. “Meanwhile, continue to accompany the Watchers to the border.”
“You trust me to guard the borders after I spared an intruder?”
His father leaned on the banister as a soft mist fell. “Dynalya posed no threat. You were right to spare her. Humans of the past have wronged us, but those of the present are not to blame. That is something our people do not understand. Our misguided beliefs have put us on a path from which we may not return if we do not change. Jophiel predicted that after the Fall of Gamor and wanted no part in it.”
At the mention of his uncle, Cassiel glanced north to the Realm too far to see.
“I did not agree with my brother’s ideals at the time. I was too invested in my anger and hate. It took half a millennium to see what Jophiel saw in humans. The answer lies in acceptance. It is the foundation of his Realm and I wish to have the same here.”
Cassiel didn’t understand how that could happen. Hermon Ridge was the opposite of Hilos in everything from its citizens to its politics.
King Yoel raised a hand to the sky as though to grasp something out of reach. “‘There is a time for everything under the Heavens; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.’ One day, this kingdom will accept humans again.”
Cassiel squinted at the ludicrous speech. His father had been acting strange since meeting Dyna, and now he was quoting consecrated parables from the Sacred Scrolls written in the First Age. Of the thousands of Scrolls that once existed, there were three in the castle kept locked in a chest.
His father motioned to his black plumage. “Who you are, and what you are is exactly what the kingdom needs. Your hands are clean. You have not killed a human nor do you hate them. That alone makes you worthy.”
“Of what?”
“My reign is ending, son. I must think of what is good for our people and leave a much wiser ruler in my stead. One who will be the epitome of change in our future. I believe th
at is you.”
Cassiel stared at him in disbelief. The idea was so bizarre he wanted to laugh. His father truly was mad. He pointed to the kingdom below. “Their hate is rooted in their bones. Celestials hate humans for what they have done, and they hate me for reminding them of that. They would never accept me as the High King. I’m a half-breed bastard.”
His father scowled. “Do not call yourself that. You are my son, and I have proclaimed you as such.”
“It matters not. Malakel is a pureblood and your first trueborn son. He is the rightful heir.”
“I decide who takes my throne.”
Cassiel shook his head and backed away, searching the shadows for spies. Queen Mirah would have him killed in his sleep if she received word of this. The King may desire change for Hilos, but it won’t happen. Not during his lifetime. “This place sent Mother to her death, and it will be the death of me if I stay.”
“Cass—”
“Why did you hide the books from me?” he demanded.
His father grew pained. “You know why. If I had let you have them, that island would have taken you from me as well. I had to protect you.”
Protect him?
He reached out but Cassiel jerked away. “You turned your back on me when she left. Where were you then?”
His father lowered his gaze.
Cassiel clenched his shaking fists, furious with himself for divulging his resentments again. He was so angry with them, and the life they gave him. The anger suffocated him. It was far too late to protect him from anything.
His father’s shoulders sank under an invisible weight. “I was mourning your mother. You have her likeness and I … couldn’t be near you because of it. That was not fair to you. I see that now, and I will always carry the guilt of the grief I have caused you. I am so very sorry, son.”
As a child, he had craved to hear those words. Craved for some sliver of hope his father hadn’t abandoned him. But he didn’t care for it now. His heart was a cold rock in his chest. It may as well have been dead inside of him.
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