Page 80 of Crown of Wrath

“It isn’t…” My mother sighs. “You’re right, Maeve. I should have done something else. You’ve proven to be more than capable of escaping my traps for you. I’d thought that by taking away your power to wield shadows, I’d have easily trapped you, but you surprised me by wielding Earth powers as well as Roderic.”

She pauses again, but I don’t say anything, letting her speak and really taking it in that my mother is alive and has been right here this whole time. I’d gone to war with her.

My mother smiles at me. “I’m so proud of you, Little Star,” she finally says. “You’ve grown into the woman that I dreamed you’d be and so much more. I’ve talked to your friends in Aerwyn, and not only have you become powerful enough to stand against Gethin, but you’re kind and compassionate. You’re the best of humans and Immortals, and you did it all without your father or me to guide you.”

I stand up a little taller. “Vesta was always there, and Da taught me kindness and compassion when I was small. And Aunt Prudence was never as cruel as she could have been. She was hard, yes, but she was hard on Hazel as well. Then I met Cole…” I turn to him, and my mother finally seems to see him.

And Casimir.

“Prince,” she says with a very formal nod. “Thank you for fulfilling your oath and for protecting my daughter before she could protect herself.”

Before Cole can respond, she turns to Casimir. Without saying a word, mist appears around him, slowly swirling like a storm, beginning at his feet and climbing his body.

A grimace appears on his face as he stares at Brenna. “Casimir Cyrus, you are the reason for the death of hundreds of my House. You are the reason that I could not help Roderic. You’re why Nyth was almost destroyed.”

The mist climbs higher, crossing his waist, and his grimace turns into an angry snarl. The normally white fog that swirls around him turns pink as Casimir responds. “I did what I believed was the best way to save my House. If you’d been there—if you’d answered any of my correspondence instead of hunting for that stupid book—then I wouldn’t have faced the impossible option to ally with Gethin or to fight a losing war against him. There was no way I could have won against him, so I chose to protect mine rather than yours.”

My mother’s anger wavers for a moment, and the mists stop swirling around Casimir momentarily. “I was there. I was…”

“You were consumed with your search, Brenna. You were just as lost to the shadows as Roderic and Gethin were lost to their powers. Roderic became isolated. Gethin became power hungry. And you, dear Brenna, got lost in the forgotten. How long did you stay in the void listening to the Darkness to find that book? Days? Weeks? Months?”

“Years,” she whispers. “Years to find the answer to questions that I didn’t dare believe were true.”

He nods. “Questions that could have been answered after Gethin had been forced to return to the Throne. How long would you have stayed the Queen of Shadows? How many more secrets would you have ferreted out as an excuse not to return to the void? All of you were lost, and maybe I fell for my House’s curse? Maybe I gave into destruction rather than cleverness. We are the Conduits, Brenna, and we’ve been Conduits for too long. Ifyou need to destroy me, I won’t fight you, but I think that my temporary survival will help your cause.”

My mother hesitates again briefly, and then the mists around Casimir disappear. “You did your best to eliminate the House of Shadows. That isn’t something that I’ll easily forgive.”

“And you ignored my pleas for help,” he responds before glancing down at his lower body. The clothes that had covered his legs are gone, along with most of the skin, showing muscle and bone. “Do you have another pair of pants?”

His words are at odds with the carnage, and I can’t help but laugh a little at the comment. My mother was going to turn him into one of the corpses that people would find when the Nothing left this area of the world behind. Flayed and barely recognizable other than bits of his clothing.

Brenna and Cole don’t smile, but Da and Hazel do. Which is a little surprising since I’d expect them to both be disturbed by the blood and gore. Maybe they understand more than I’d expect humans to.

Already his skin is regrowing, and my mother warns in a tone wholly meant to frighten, “One wrong move, Casimir, and I will finish what I started.”

He huffs at her. “Do you have a map? A rulebook?” Anyone else who’d just experienced what he did would be afraid of my mother following through with torture and execution. Casimir seems to be less worried about that than the fact that his dress pants are ruined and I can see his thighs.

“You know exactly what I mean,” she growls, and I’m reminded that once upon a time, she was the Queen of Shadows. “Don’t try to hurt anyone here. This place is a sanctuary for those who can’t protect themselves. If you came here to disturb their safety…”

“…then you’ll flay the skin from my bones. Yes, I understood that the first time. I’m on your side. I’ve alwayswantedto beon your side, so you don’t have to worry about me murdering random villagers like some kind of bloodthirsty monster.”

He says it all so flippantly, as though being flayed was nothing to be afraid of. Then again, other than an initial grimace, he hadn’t reacted very much at all. I glance at Cole, and through the bond, I ask him, “Would you have been able to withstand that much pain without crying out?”

“No,” he says quietly in my mind. “I’m realizing that I might have underestimated my father in more ways than one.”

“He’s not what I’d thought he’d be.”

Cole’s focus is still on his father and Brenna, but he responds, “He’s not who I thought he was, either.” His response is cold, but there’s an air of interest.

Brenna’s expression changes in an instant, and she slowly looks at the rest of us. “Well, now that you’re all here, why don’t we show you around? There are quite a few people who can’t wait to see you both. We should probably start with a certain goblin. He keeps mentioning that I should have used a net to catch you. ‘Like you catch birds,’ he’s insisted for months.”

I chuckle at the thought of Bog the goblin, and when my mother walks away, Da comes up beside me. “You recognized the song, didn’t you? That’s how I knew it was her.”

With a smile and nod, I follow my mother, and both Hazel and Cole move with us. Only Casimir lingers behind for a few moments before following us. Something has happened to him in the past twenty-four hours, and I don’t understand what it is. I know he’s trying to make amends for the way he treated Cole since he’s accepted that Cole will sit on the Throne of Flames when we take back Draenyth. It’s more than the way he’s treating Cole, though.

It's like a mask of anger has been removed, and he’s not forcing anything. He was happy in battle. He seemed serious, yet somehow cheerful when his skin was being flayed from his body.This is decidedly not the King of Flames that even his own son knew.

So what exactly is the difference?

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