Page 117 of Shadows Lost
“Owe, what the fuck, Chin? I am still your General here. I could make you pay for that.”
I heard Xi snort. “Then don’t be an insensitive dickwad.”
“Dickwad you say?” Tyr growled low. “You won’t be saying that later Chin.”
“Quivering with fear, General.” Xi said dryly.
I shook my head. I should have thought harder on what it would mean to have Tyr, Xi, and Riley all in one place.
But Tyr was right. This place was in need of some vast improvements. The outpost had once been a gateway manor into the mountain ranges and was flanked by two soaring towers. Standing atop one of those towers, one could overlook Finlandia and even see a bit of the coastline of its white sandy shores.
It was in much worse shape than the last time I was here. A dreadful task that I never wanted to relive again, nor come back to again.
The others were quiet behind us. We were all on a precipice. The moment we stepped forward everything would change. Looking at my soulmate's silhouette backed against the bright red of the mountain ranges, I realized I had been foolish for holding back for so long. She had a right to know.
“Remnant…” She turned, her brow arched. My mouth opened and closed. Where the fuck did I begin?
“Speak from the heart.”Ethereal said gently.
“Daemon?”
Remnant spun back around at the sound of the gruff voice coming from the manor’s entrance. I dragged my eyes to the source, my gaze sliding over the tall imposing fae that took up most of the doorframe, his eyes the exact replica of my own, wide with alarm.
I straightened and nodded cordially. “Father.”
“Goddess, it is you!” He gasped and took a hesitating step forward. “My son.”
Chapter 58
AsherWindswiftStrider,formerking of The West Isles, thought to be killed by my hand five hundred years ago, stood alive and well in the large doorway of the manor.
I knew the stories they told. That he had become a mad king after the death of his wife, my mother, and that I took advantage of his grief and killed him in cold blood for the throne.
And I had let those rumors spread, encouraged them to spread. Fear of the murderous shifter king that killed his own father kept my court safe but also kept my father safe as well, except that wasn’t the truth of it.
Even at his most blood thirsty stage, I was devoted to my father. He was my role model, my idol, I wanted tobehim. I obeyed his orders, sent shifters to their deaths under them and I told myself that it was justice for us, for our family, for my mother. But deep down I knew that she would have never wanted to see innocent fae being slaughtered in her name.
It wasn’t until my father commanded our most powerful ancients and master healer to pick up his retired sword, that I knew he had to be stopped. Jarquinn had vowed after his wife died in the blood wars, that he would never kill again but the master healer was also fiercely loyal to my father. When I found Jar unsheathing his blade with tears running down his kind and beautiful face, something in me snapped.
That day was the day that I invoked the ancient and archaic shifter law called Bloodlust Rights. A challenge to death…a law made specifically to protect the shifters when their ruler became lost to bloodlust.
But by doing so, I invoked the rage of another fae…who joined my father in the fight against me. The swordmaster, Bane Steelhead.
Most believed the swordmaster had earned his right to live within shifter lands from sheer skill alone, but that wasn’t the true story.
What was true, was that Bane Steelhead had grown up with my mother Skyler, on Inquus Islands, a small grouping of tropical isles off the coast of our mainlands. Bane had been my mother’s closest friend growing up and at one time they were even lovers. Except, their time together came to an abrupt end, when my father visited the isles and met my mother for the first time. Their soulmate bond snapped into place immediately and they were inseparable ever since.
Call it unrequited love or just a coveted infatuation, but Bane Steelhead never stopped caring for my mother even then and spent much of his time visiting her after his travels to become the best weapons master Faerie had ever known.
My father, wholly in love with his wife, respected and acknowledged their friendship, and awarded Bane Steelhead the rights to live among the shifters of The West Isles. The first elemental to ever do so.
He was a happier fae then, from what I was told. Until I was born. I was a very glaringly obvious symbol of something he would never have with my mother, even though he loved her fiercely. Just like my father, when my mother was murdered, a piece of Bane did too.
Both of their devotional love for the same woman was almost an unstoppable force the day I fought them both in the arena. I had barely walked away with my life that day but instead of finishingthem both off, I banished them. For the sake of my mother’s memory and the two fae that loved her so fiercely.
I hadn’t been back here since…until now.
My thoughts slipped back into the present as my eyes slid over to Remnant and froze. The mixture of disbelief and betrayal in her stare gutted me.
