Page 95 of The Call of Crimson
“I don’t believe it,” I whisper.
“No?” Ayden’s brow quirks. “Think about it, love. Has Aurelius ever done something he shouldn’t have been able to? Displayed stronger than possible Gifts or abilities?”
I bite my lower lip, hesitant to travel down this path. “He shredded through my leathers like they were made of paper.”
Aurelius smirks at the memory. “I’ve always been strong.”
“You smell and hear things that others don’t,” I add.
“Like what?” Rowina asks.
“Nothi—”
“I can smell when she’s aroused,” Aurelius says unashamedly.
I rub my temples to assuage the growing headache this male creates for me. “Among other things,” I mumble, avoiding eye contact.
“Face it, brother, you are related to Elythia,” Rowina says.
“But how do you know she’s my grandmother?” Aurelius asks.
Ayden drums his fingers against the polished wood table. “Call it an educated guess.”
A beat of silence passes.
My brow furrows, a memory of something I read resurfacing. “The third child?”
“Ah, not quite,” he replies. “That child was also named Elythia, and she died in Prudia nearly four hundred years ago.”
Confusion mars both my and Aurelius’ faces.
Then I remember the book on the Mordet family lineage. “Her name was in The Genealogy of House Mordet.”
“Yes,” Ayden confirms. “Not much is known about her, other than at some point she returned from Tierna and ended up marrying the prince of Prudia, to then later become queen.”
“So, then you two…” My eyes dart between Ayden and Rowina. “Are also part Fae.”
Ayden nods. “Less so than Aurelius, but we do have Fae blood.”
“How do you think we got to be so beautiful and charming?” Rowina asks, waggling her eyebrows.
“That explains so much.” I laugh.
“Yet I still have so many questions,” Aurelius says.
I page through Elythia’s journal. “This altered history, is it why the Fae disappeared?”
“This is why Elythia left, but I do not believe that is why all Fae vanished,” Ayden says, flipping the book in front of me to anew section. “If I had to guess, I would say it had more to do with this.”
“The prophecy of crimson and shadows,” I read aloud.
“Born of blood and bone
A son of two kingdoms
Forged of sorrow and shadow
A daughter of secrets
