Page 60 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
Aurelia barely suppressed a smug smile. “The Merkhov textdoesmention something like that might happen. Were the two of you…”
Harlow glared, cheeks turning bright red. “Mother.Please. I am not going to discuss this with you.” Behind her, Finn snickered. She shot the glare over her shoulder to apply to him as well. He just laughed harder.Arrogant prick.“Finn needs to see the illumination.”
Aurelia nodded, sniffing to hide her smile. “Of course.” But she did not move. Her eyes went to Finn and they narrowed, appraising and cold.
Finn bowed his head slightly. “It is so nice to meet you, Archchancellor Krane. Officially, I mean.”
Aurelia held out her hand and Finn took it, kissing the ring that marked Aurelia as presiding Archchancellor of the Order of Mysteries. “Be welcome in my home, Finbar McKay.”
“Thank you,” he murmured so softly, and with so much emotion that Harlow saw her mother’s eyes narrow, assessing him.
“Go upstairs please. I’ll find Mama and the book.”
Harlow took Finn’s hand and led him up the stairs, taking him into Aurelia’s study. The room was small, lined with crowded bookshelves stained a dark green hue. Mother’s mahogany desk was piled with neat stacks of notes and a small brass lamp cast a cozy glow. A heavy antique library table sat in front of the enormous windows, natural light flooding into the room through the leaded glass.
“Why does every room of your parents’ house feel so much like home?” Finn murmured as his eyes flew over the spines of the books on the shelves. His voice was painfully wistful. Harlow wasn’t sure what to say, so she pressed a kiss to his hand, which she still held.
Selene cleared her throat. “Aurelia is making tea. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Finn’s hand shook in hers. He understood immediately. Aurelia was politically the most powerful Krane, but Selene was the heart of the family, the ultimate test he would have to pass. Harlow’s eyes widened in shock when he fell to one knee, bowing his head. This was a position of fealty the Illuminated only took when swearing oaths. It was an ancient custom, one she had not expected to see from him, especially not today.
“I promise you,” he swore, taking Selene’s outstretched hand. “She is safe with me. Nothing my parents want will come to pass. I will protect her with my life.”
Harlow took a sharp breath in. Her heart raced, as her shadows sang with pleasure. She wanted to shush them—this was binding. He was swearing an oath to her mother. Nothing like this had even seemed possible just a day ago.
“I accept you at your word,” Selene said, her voice smooth and regal. “The next oath you take will be to her.”
Finn nodded, his head still bowed. “If she will have me, I will swear any oath she asks.”
A lump rose in Harlow’s throat, coated with fear.This was all moving too fast, wasn’t it? Or was this the natural place for their path to take them, given all the years between them?She tried to dismiss the feeling of the walls closing in on her. None of his promises required her to make any in return, not yet anyway.
When Selene pulled Finn gently from the floor and kissed his cheeks, the claustrophobia dissipated, realization dawning on her. This wasn’tjustabout her. Finn wanted her family to trust him. No, heneededthem to trust him, because so few people in his life ever had before, except maybe Alaric. Trust wasn’t a part of his relationship with his parents. Finn had always wanted a family like hers, and given what he’d grown up with, she couldn’t blame him for that.
Harlow slipped her hand into Finn’s and he squeezed it hard. “Thank you,” he said, and she wasn’t sure who he was thanking, or if he was simply grateful.
As they settled into chairs around the library table, she wondered what it would be like to live with parents who you could not trust, and who did not trust you in return. She wondered if anyone in his family had truly loved him. From the slump in his shoulders, she thought he might be thinking the same thing.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, as Selene rose to help Aurelia with the tea tray and Thea entered behind her with the Merkhov text.
“Me too,” he answered. There was an unmistakable tremor in his voice. This was as important to him as she’d suspected it might be.
As Selene arranged the tea tray, Aurelia opened the book in a cradle on the worktable. “I believe this is the illumination you wanted Finn to see.”
He leaned forward. Thea had done more work on it. The image was close to being fully restored, with the coloring on the snakes’ bodies showing in brilliant hues, while the egg and sphere still looked a bit dull, but much easier to make out. The most stunning improvement was the way the light and shadows coming off the snakes were interacting, twisting together. This was eerily reminiscent of what they’d experienced in Finn’s bedroom just hours before. His eyes narrowed as his body stilled, his focus winnowing in a way that Harlow knew probably intimidated people who worked with him.
“Where did you get this?” No one had a chance to answer Finn. He continued speaking, his words coming out in an excited rush. “This is representative of a union between a Strider and one of the Knights of Serpens, isn’t it?” He looked closer, seeing the egg, as if for the first time. His usually healthy coloring paled. “Oh.”
“The Knights of Serpens?” Harlow asked, gripping his knee under the table.
He nodded, glancing at her, but only for a moment. “A sect of Illuminated warriors. They came in the original envoy to protect the ambassadors. Our history tells us they fought against the Striders in the War of the Orders.”
Harlow had never come across any such history of the Great War, but she understood the lower Orders and a contingent of humans had risen up against the Illuminated, attempting to force them back to their own realm. Obviously, it hadn’t worked. Though the Illuminated were struggling to reproduce, they were as powerful as they’d ever been, and there hadn’t been a war on Okairos since. Shortly after the war, poverty was eradicated and the strict regulation of human life began. It was a steep price for peace, in Harlow’s opinion, but of course that was not the tone history took on the matter. It was practically treason to even think such a thing.
“The Striders and the Knights of Serpens were enemies?” Harlow asked, trying to understand how her people had actually fit into things.
“So the Illuminated would have us believe,” Thea replied, giving Finn a pointed look. Harlow noticed the way his eyes flicked quickly away from her sister’s. “But the Knights haven’t been seen or heard from since the war ended. Effectively, they don’t exist.”
Finn shifted uncomfortably under Thea’s gaze. The two of them shared some secret, Harlow realized, her stomach turning at the thought. He stared at his hands. “That’s not exactly the case.”
