Reign Shadowfell's Arc

Chapter 14 of 29

Reign kept his hand on the closed ledger. The portrait watched him from the desk. He needed more than a name written under his father's last line. He needed the shape of the woman behind it, and the blood she came from. He turned to the imp still standing by the shelf. "Lux," he said, "what is my mother's name?" The imp lifted his chin. His eyes were still wet, but his voice held. "Merida," he said. "It means prism in witch lore. Light broken into every color at once." He looked at the portrait, then at Reign. "She was named for what she was." Reign turned to the old retainer in the doorway. Johan had not stepped into the study. He stood at the threshold with his hands behind his back, the way a soldier waits for an order. "Johan," Reign said, "what is my father's name?" The old man met his eyes. "Count Inzti," he said. "Count Inzti Shadowfell. He signed every page in that book with his own hand." Reign sat back in the chair. He set the names against each other in his head. Merida. Inzti. A witch-born daughter of the demon king. A count who ruled every vampire in the realm. He touched the red stone at his chest through his shirt. The silver raven pressed into his palm. He had a house on one side and nothing on the other. His mother's line was still a closed door. Vixen watched him from the desk's edge and did not speak. Lyla stood by the wall with her hands folded low. The imp waited. "Lux," Reign said. "Does the demon king know I exist?" The imp's ears flattened. He did not answer at once. Reign leaned forward. "Answer me." The imp swallowed. "Thanos was told your mother was killed," he said. "He was not told about you. Your father made sure of it. He thought the inquisitor would find you faster if the demon court came looking. So the court was never told there was a child." He paused. "Sixteen years, my lord. Your grandfather does not know his daughter left a son." Reign was quiet for a long breath. Then he opened the ledger again. Under grand inquisitor, Church of Light, he wrote a third line in his father's pen: Thanos, demon king — send word. He closed the book. "Then he will know," he said. "Before the inquisitor does." He looked at Johan. "I need a rider who can carry a sealed letter into the demon lands and come back alive." Johan's jaw worked once. "There is one," he said. "He will not like the road." "Wake him," Reign said. Johan bowed and went. The portrait stayed on the desk, facing out, watching the room fill with what came next.