Kai Drakon's Arc

Chapter 26 of 30

The next morning Kai found Seraphina in the castle dungeon. She stood at the iron door with the stone relic in her hand. The stranger sat inside, wrists still bound. Kai had followed her down because he did not trust that hard set in her jaw. "He talked," Seraphina said. She did not turn. "I asked who paid him. He gave me a name." Kai waited. She turned the relic over once, then went still. "My sister," she said. "She paid the thief. She sent him into my forest for this stone eight years ago." Kai knew only pieces of her past. He knew she was more than a midwife. He knew she hid what she was. Now he heard the rest in her flat voice. "You have a sister." "A younger one. She wears our mother's crown. She took a throne that was mine." Seraphina finally looked at him. Her green eyes were steady and cold. "She did not just take it. She has been reaching for me ever since. This stone is how." Footsteps came down the stair. Ire arrived first, her amber tail low, her green eyes sweeping the cell. She ran the tavern and knew every stranger who passed through Mosswood. Behind her came Sable, goggles pushed up, and two fairies Kai had met at the gate: Obsidian, blunt and armored, and Sylvara, small enough to fit in a cupped hand. "Word travels," Ire said. She leaned on the wall, easy as ever, but her eyes stayed on Seraphina. "A stranger in my town, a stolen relic, a secret elf. I like to know who I'm serving drinks to." Seraphina lifted the relic so they could see it. "This belongs to my people. My sister paid to have it taken. That means she knows I live. That means she will send more men than one." Sylvara's wings stilled. "Wait. You’re royalty?!” Her eyes widened. Seraphina nodded. "Don’t kneel. Not yet at least.” Seraphina added as she looked down at the relic in her hands. Obsidian spoke without softening it. "You mean to go home and face her." "I do." Seraphina slid the relic into her dress. "I have hidden for ten years. That ends today. I ride to the Elven Kingdom." Kai thought of the debt now closed between them, and of the danger she walked toward alone. "You can't take back your throne by yourself." "I don't plan to." She started up the stair. Sable moved to block her. "You delivered my daughter. You shielded my husband." Her voice stayed calm but her stance did not. "You are not going into that alone." Ire grinned, and it had teeth in it. "Aye! Family goes with family, love." Seraphina stopped on the step. For once she had no measured answer. She only nodded, and Kai watched the hunt change again. It was no longer hers alone.