Page 20 of When Day Breaks

"It's not going to be that easy, Rivian. For me or for the rest of my coven. Especially now that they know they're free. They're still angry. Rightfully so. And you're the king now so in their eyes, there's only two people left to blame. You andhim." Her response is one I expected. The deal we made protected us from the wrath of the witches only until I called on them for help, which is precisely what I just did.Foolishly, some might say.Proactively, is my defense.

I hear the light whistle of wind between the trees and the harsh waves against the cliffs. The smell of late October layers the air as leaves of every color gently scatter the compound grounds. It won't be long before the Faction decides that they will punishmy brother for crimes I can't even be sure he committed. But the smell of death still lingers in the air, and I know that no matter who the culprit is, the blood is on my hands.

"Have you seen him?" I turn to Nathaira to make for light conversation before focusing my mind on the other issues at hand.

"Not since that day." She lowers her lashes, closing her eyes as if to remember the day that changed everything between the witches and our Society. Madness and chaos drawing a line between the two and thus the need for the deal we made. Assurance that no more lives would be lost.

Hesitation lingers in Nathairia's words for no more than a few seconds before she snaps her eyes open and charges her words with more discipline. "And if we both know what's good for each other, it'll stay that way." Her tone turns cold, maybe laced with some sort of animosity or anger. I get it, I do. I won't say that I took her side back then—both parties were at fault—but I've been in her shoes. I know how it feels.

"Aren't you curious?" I only push it, because maybe I can form some kind of thaw between Hollows Trace and Lunarnyx. Maybe we can move past the history here and form some sort of alliance. But even I know the day may never come.

"Not even love is worth the torment of a thousand hearts." Her answer confounds me. This witch is wise, there's no doubt in that. But I know exactly what she was willing to do for love so for her words to hold truth to a belief that love is simply . . . worthless is something that has me thinking about my own thoughts of the matter.

I once believed this to be true. Maybe I still do. After all, I forced my belief in love to rot in the deepest layer of my soul, seeping away into extinction because I felt that love would be my demise, just as it was my mother's. But something in Nathairia's tone hints at a deeper meaning to her idea of destruction inlove than what I believed it to be, and I can't help to remember the promise I made to my mother. Though, how could I listen to a word she said when love made her nothing more than a forgotten soul, forced to live in the shadows for the rest of her mortal life.

"You love her." Nathairia changes the topic to the subject of my heart. The reason why I am in this mess to begin with.

I think about how I let my release out on Lucynda earlier, the rough need I craved to have filled, would have sufficed. And it did, but only until she mocked me for my greed and then my sister showed up and let me have a piece of her mind. It's the monster inside me that felt power in my hunger for the darkness inside Lucynda. I know it was wrong. But in that moment, all I cared about was us and eradicating one strong desire with another.

"We've been watching and let me tell you, you have a whole other battle to fight in that head of yours. Your head says you need to keep your distance and that you should only allow her so much access to your soul but your heart…" she trails off. And I don't need her to finish her thought for me to know where she was going with it.

It's something I've been at war with since the moment I laid eyes on Lucynda. Sometimes, Nathairia is a little too observant and I wonder if she could do right by singing to her own melody.

Love was never supposed to be a subject I studied on much, having known all the answers I needed before I even knew what love was. But I was cheated out of my own test when mother nature decided that I should be granted the burden of ananima vinculum. A burden that I obsessed over, craved. I felt her in my fucking bones.

I know what that means and I can't keep denying myself of the only thing that I feel a loss for when I close my eyes at night. I might have known just a few short nights ago that my destinywas painted with the very thing I deemed a weakness. But now, the damage has already been done. The damage she's done to my reprieve.

"You talk as if you know me, Nathairia." I sigh and slide my thumb against my bottom lip, remembering how it felt to first be kissed by Lucynda. "So, what if I do?" I ask.

"We have more in common than you think, Rivian." Nathairia smiles, probably not expecting the stubborn Dark Prince—now king—to admit to his weaknesses and surrender to something like a diminutive, little four-letter word.

"Like I said, not even love is worth breaking a thousand hearts. All love does isdestroy." It stirs further confusion in my head. Truth I fed myself once when I swore I'd never subject myself to trivial sentiments. But why Nathairia sees fit to project her apparent heart-broken thoughts onto the likes of anyone else is beyond me. "But maybe if you let someone believe they are worthy of love, then whatever light they have left might be able to stand a chance against the darkness they were born with."

Her words get lost on me—typical witchy banter. And whatever she says, it doesn't seem to help me with my current predicament. So I do my best to not overthink her words as I decide it's time for me to map out the next step in the plan. A plan that I am surely unaware of at the current moment, but I have to move on from this tangle with Nathairia to figure it out.

I turn on my heel, the blood-stained leather of my shoe digging into the dirt as I do so. But before I make it too far, I'm met with a request.

"Do me a favor?" Nathairia asks. I simply bow my head, not turning back to her direction, and I wait for her to speak further.

She takes a deep, saddened breath. "Don't bother telling him I stopped by." Her tone holds layers and layers of unmarked territory pained with an affliction that she hasn't been able to resolve.

Before I can make any promises I can't keep, something steals my attention as deep, angry roars reverberate from somewhere in the upper level of the castle. Echoes of something crashing and breaking follows right after. I know immediately who it is and can damn well clearly picture exactly what he's doing in order to cause that much of a scene. Another shout reaches my ears as I lower my head and turn it to the side slightly, only offering the witch my profile.

"I think he already knows."

8

of secrets and convocations

Rivian

"How long do you plan to keep her there?" Troian is at my back as I enter the castle a few hours later. I had to make sure the Society was brought back to safety in their prospective housings before the sun rose knowing just how destructive that could have been on its own. I also wanted to avoid the confrontation I knew I was undoubtedly going to meet.

I walk deeper into the castle, too hopeful that I'll be able to escape to my room without being bothered, but alas, my sister keeps up with me.

"Rivian?" She reaches for my elbow to stop me from continuing further, and I huff at her knowing that I have to answer for my actions. "You can't keep her there forever."

"I understand that, Troian. But until I have something figured out, I can't risk her pulling another temper tantrum like the oneat the Gilded Hollow. I need to find out how to cure the curse running through her veins." I'm conflicted. I don't want to keep my wife locked up. I want to help her. But right now, keeping her locked up is the only way I can help her.

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