Page 29 of Immortal Alliance

It’s a truth I’ve always known but one I don’t want to face. Not now. Not then. Not ever. “You should have told Aima. You should have told her the truth about how you felt rather than pretending otherwise and then treating her like she was a carrier of the plague. And leaving her in the dungeons to be tortured after everything she’s sacrificed for you and her people?” I feel my anger growing. “There’s no way to forgive you for that, Theren.”

Theren winces and meets my gaze once more. “I wasn’t in my right frame of mind,” he says. “I was being controlled by Morrigan, as you know. I would never have harmed Aima—you know that.”

“I hope you speak the truth,” I answer.

“I don’t want to argue with you.” He takes a breath. “I need to fix something I didn’t have time to set right before the balance shifted...” He takes another breath and then runs his fingers through his hair as he faces me and his expression is one of pure seriousness. “There’s a Cockatrice after Eilish.”

“What?” I ask, shocked. Cockatrices are expert killers. Although they look like small dragons, they aren’t related. Instead, they have the scaly body of a lizard, the face and beak of a vulture with feathers and horns that run the length of their spines. They stand perhaps six feet tall but the length of their tales is easily double their height. Their wings look like those of a bat.

“One of Abedon’s executioners,” Theren continues.

“You mean to tell me one of Abedon’s executioners is looking for her?” This is bad. Very bad.

Theren stands and nods his head solemnly. “Eilish’s mother kept her hidden in the glade for a reason. But when Eilish killed Yanhir, his father went to Morrigan and asked the Midnight Queen to kill her. Morrigan was too busy casting her spells on Variant to be bothered with some succubus-angel hybrid in the mountains, so she sent a Cockatrice in her stead.” He pauses. “By the time he located her home, the balance had already shifted.”

“Was the glade completely untouched by the war?”

“The glade was well hidden by magic, and you’d already wiped Eilish’s memories long before the Cockatrice found her living in the glade on her own.”

“Then you know about that?” I ask, surprised to know Theren is aware I wiped her memories.

“Yes, there is little I don’t know about the past,” he admits with a shrug.

“I didn’t mean to clear her memories,” I say.

“We will get to that in a moment,” Theren says with a cryptic nod.

“How did Silvanus play into all of this?” I ask, wanting to change the subject.

“Silvanus was well acquainted with Eilish before you ever wiped her memories. And when he realized she was in trouble, he came out of hiding to help Eilish, but by that point, Morrigan had learned of Eilish’s importance and she interfered.”

“Morrigan interfered how?”

Theren nods. “Morrigan knew Eilish was the key to the ritual of freeing Abedon and, simply put, Morrigan got to her first. She guided Eilish away from Silvanus and the Cockatrice so she could earn Eilish’s trust.”

“It worked,” I answer with a grunt. “We freed Morrigan and all but pointed her in the right direction to find an unspeakable amount of magic in the Veil.” I shake my head as I realize how prettily we worked into Morrigan’s plan. “With the energy Morrigan already took from the fae and the power I believe she intends to steal from Pyre, she’ll have everything she needs to kill Silvanus and take back her magic. After that, there’s no stopping her and Variant from taking over all the realms entirely.”

Theren nods. “Then all Morrigan needs is Eilish to act as a conduit.”

“A conduit for what?” I insist.

“The ritual.”

“Tell me what you know of the ritual,” I say.

“No. First, tell me what happened when you took Eilish’s memories.” Theren glares at me as he moves toward the door. He pulls it open and watches the corridor for a few seconds before closing it again. “I don’t have much time before I’m thrust back into my mind by the spell that still keeps me hostage.” Theren exhales. “Tell me the truth and do so quickly, brother.”

“I’m more interested,” I start but he interrupts me.

“Remember, I’m not theonlyone who needs to prove his loyalty.”

My spine straightens and I wonder how much I should tell him. I decide to tell him the entire truth. Maybe because I need to get the truth off my own shoulders. “When I arrived in time to see what had become of Eilish’s family, I realized I couldn’t tell her I failed to uphold our agreement, that I failed to protect her family,” I explain. “But Eilish returned before I could clear away the bodies. She was distraught, and I made her return with me. Then I used a spell to erase her pain...”

“A spell?” Theren repeats, eyeing me suspiciously.

I nod. “One of our father’s. It was only supposed to make her forget my failure. It wasn’t meant to make her forget… everything.”

“What else?” Theren hisses. “There must be more to this story.”

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