Page 37 of Empire of Wrath and Ruin
"But she refused," I said, understanding beginning to dawn.
"More than that," Aytara said sadly. "She was terrified. Terrified of the magic, of what Sayven had become, of what it might mean for you. And I... I told her he was dead. I thought it was kinder than the truth."
So my mother had grieved for a man who was still alive, locked away in madness beneath the very place where I nowsat. She had raised me believing my father was a hero who died protecting us, when the reality was far more complicated and terrible.
"Can I see him?" I asked.
"Perhaps," Aytara said. "But you must understand—there is nothing left of the good, honourable man he once was. What remains is consumed by darkness and rage. He loved your mother desperately, loved both of you, but that man is gone."
I looked at Taveth, this brother I had never known existed, and saw my own grief reflected in his pale eyes. We had both lost our father, in different ways and at different times, but the loss was shared between us.
"How long has he been..." I couldn't finish the question.
"Eight years," Taveth answered, his voice hollow. "Eight years since the madness took him completely."
"He had been fighting the madness for decades, longer than anyone expected,” said Aytara. “But when it finally claimed him..." She shuddered slightly. "It was violent. Sudden. He killed seventeen of our people before we could contain him."
I felt sick. The father I had dreamed of, the heroic figure my mother had described in her stories, had become a monster who murdered his own people. And somewhere below us, in those care chambers I had heard whispers about, he still existed in whatever form the shadow magic had left him.
"Does he remember us?" Taveth asked quietly. "Does he know who he was?"
"Sometimes," Aytara said. "The madness comes in waves. There are moments when glimpses of Sayven surface, when he remembers fragments of his old life. But those moments are rare, and they're becoming rarer."
I looked over at Taveth, still struggling to process everything.
"We both lost him," I said quietly, the words feeling strange on my tongue. To have a brother, to discover this connection thatshould have shaped my entire life—it was overwhelming in ways I couldn't begin to process.
Taveth nodded, and for a moment the shadows around him stilled completely. In that brief respite from the darkness that seemed to follow him everywhere, I caught a glimpse of the man he might have been without the curse of his magic. The resemblance between us was even more striking when his face wasn't twisted with supernatural fury or lust.
"I dreamed about you," I said suddenly, the words spilling out before I could stop them. "I saw you with Livia. I thought it was just my fears, but it was real, wasn't it? There was a connection, because of the mate bond, but it was stronger, because we’re twins.”
Taveth nodded slowly. “That would explain it. I felt a presence that night, I felt… I cannot explain… like she and I were already one, already mated. It was what pushed me to claim her. But it was your mate bond I felt, not ours. I was wrong. But she is still my mate, and I will not give her up.”
"She's our mate too," Sirrax said, his voice carrying quiet steel. "We're bonded to her. Have been for months."
Something flickered across Taveth's face—surprise, calculation, maybe even recognition. "I can see that," he said slowly. "I can see how devoted you both are to her, how you would die to protect her."
"Then let us see her," I said. "Let us know she's truly safe."
Taveth was quiet for so long I thought he wouldn't answer. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Someone will need to care for her when I lose myself to the darkness."
The casual way he said it, as if his own destruction was already decided, hit me like a physical blow. "What do you mean?"
"The same madness that claimed our father will claim me," Taveth said. "Soon. The magic is burning through me faster thanusual because..." He glanced at me, then away. "Because strong emotions accelerate the process."
"How soon?" I demanded.
"Months. Maybe less."
I stared at him, this brother I had just discovered, and felt my world crumble all over again. "There has to be a cure. Some way to stop it."
"The temple elders have been searching for centuries," Taveth said. "If such a thing exists, we have not found it."
The unfairness of it crashed over me like a wave. To find family, real family, only to learn I was going to lose him almost immediately—it was too cruel to bear.
Without thinking, I stood and crossed the space between us. Taveth's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't move away when I pulled him into an embrace. For a moment, he was stiff against me, uncertain, but then his arms came up to return the hug.
He felt solid, real, warm despite the coolness that seemed to emanate from his shadow magic. This was my brother. My twin. The missing piece I had never known I was searching for.
