A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(83)

He crossed his arms over his chest, a gesture I’d never seen him do, and then uncrossed them just as quickly. He ran a hand through his raven hair.

I reined in the urge to physically choke the answers out of him.

“In my defense,” he finally said. “You had been drinking.”

I waited for that to make any sense.

“It didn’t feel like the right time to tell you, in the wine cellar. And,” Kane sighed. “I didn’t want to scare you.”

His words had the opposite effect, as fear coiled in my gut, but I kept my gaze neutral.

“You remember the rebellion, led against The Fae King,” he said, and I nodded. “It was orchestrated by a small group that wished to save the realm. To bring down the impenetrable walls, and free those within them. The attempt… It was led by Lazarus’ son.”

“The Fae King’s son tried to overthrow his own father?”

“Both of his sons did, actually. But yes, the rebellion was led by his youngest.”

A tiny, spindly, talon of dread scraped gently down my spine. “And how does that relate to what I saw?”

Kane clenched his jaw, a flicker of shame in his eyes, “It was me. I’m Lazarus’s son, Arwen.”

But I couldn’t hear him over the roaring in my ears.

“Arwen?” Kane said, studying me.

Kane was Fae?

The beings I had feared as a child. The stories intended to scare and shock, told over a bonfire. The thing I had been sure—so sure—did not exist at all until two nights ago was now standing right in front of me?

The words fell out of my mouth, “You fought against your own father?”

Kane’s eyes watched mine fiercely, searching for something. “I tried to. But failed.”

His expression was unreadable. I twined my shaking hands in my loose skirt.

“It was the worst mistake of my life. It cost me, and those closest to me, everything they cared about. It cost most of them their lives.”

His bitterness, his rage, seeped out like ink in water.

He had said he hurt those he loved, but this... This was—

“I hate Lazarus more ardently than I fear you can even fathom. I will avenge those we lost and save this mortal continent, Arwen. I have to. It is not a question of if— only when.”

I dipped my head in a nod. I believed him—how could I not? I had never seen anyone more steadfast about anything.

But I was also still absolutely reeling.

“Do your men know what you are? Does your kingdom?”

He took a shuddering breath as if to calm himself, before shaking his head.

“So what I saw when I was…” I swallowed the word dying. “That was lighte?”

“Yes. Each Fae has a different variation of it, so it won’t always look like that. There is something… dark laced within mine. Something I inherited from my mother’s witch ancestry. I try to use the power as little as I can manage.” Kane’s face barely concealed his disgust.

“But you used it last night. On me,” I said.

“To silence your pain, your suffering. Yes.” He looked at me, eyes clear. “And I’d do it again. A hundred times over.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He only nodded.

I rubbed at my temples and stared ahead at the sprawling hedges before us. A slight summer wind blew my skirts around my ankles.

It was just dawning on me that Kane was probably over a hundred years old. The onslaught of information of the last few days mixed with my fragile physical state was teetering me toward a mental breakdown.

“You’re taking all of this surprisingly well,” he offered.

I turned to him, inspecting his youthful face, smooth skin, strong jaw. “How old are you?”

He covered a smile with his hand, rubbing his stubble. “About two hundred and fifteen.” My mouth fell open. “To be honest, I’ve lost track over the years.”

I shook my head, trying to rattle my thoughts around. “When was the rebellion? How long have you been ruling the Onyx Kingdom?”

“I left the Fae Realm with the few I could get out fifty years ago. I took over Onyx from the King at the time, an older monarch with no living heir. Part of the ‘persona’ as you had called it—the mystery, the foreboding—I’ve crafted with my closest advisors for that very reason.”

“So nobody will know how you look, or notice when you don’t age.”

“Correct,” he said.

“What about your allies? King Eryx and Princess Amelia?”

“They know. Both of my lineage and Lazarus’s intent. They plan to fight against him. For Evendell.”

The reminder of the impending doom of the entire continent was like ice water running through my veins. There was truly nowhere to run. No way to save everyone.

No matter what happened, who won, so, so many were fated to die.

He grimaced, as if following my train of thought. “There’s not much time left. The mercenaries from the Fae realm are coming for me, while Lazarus prepares for war.” Kane swallowed once. “That’s who attacked you in the forest.”

I froze mid-step. “The wolf was a… Fae mercenary?” The thought that I had killed a Fae felt like a sick joke. “That’s not possible.”