Page 409 of Fated to be Enemies

“My dear boy,” he said, looking at Kol who was certainly no boy, “do you know the history of Princess Portia?”

All this time, Kol had said nothing, hadn’t even looked in my direction. “All Morgons do.” His voice was rough and strained. “We’re taught it from our earliest years.”

“Well, let’s hear it then,” said Petrus.

Still stroking Seerie in his lap, he lifted his voice and told the tale that had haunted me all my life.

“When Princess Portia set out with her handmaidens and attendants to visit her sister, the queen of the dragonlands in the North, she had no idea she’d arrive to find blood and death. She’d sent messenger after messenger with letters. None of them returning. No word of what had happened. Knowing something was wrong, she armed a band of warriors and journeyed north to discover what had happened.”

Kol paused and angled his body toward us, stretching his arm along the low sofa-back before continuing the story.

“Portia found her sister in her bed, death marking her cold body. When her husband, King Radomis, was killed by Larkos, their soulfire bond demanded that her heart stop beating as well. She’d lingered for a day after Radomis took his last breath, finally expiring with the setting sun. It was the way of dragons and their mates, and now Morgons and their mates, those bound by soulfire. One could not outlive the other. When Larkos entered his mother’s chamber to say his final farewell, his heart seized at the site of beautiful Portia mourning at Morga’s bedside. Though she was his aunt, he hungered for her so desperately that he wanted to bond in that unbreakable way of soulfire. Repulsed at the thought, Portia saw only one good if she could bear to tie herself to Larkos. She accepted the heartbonding of soulfire, the elixir to synchronize their hearts, allowing him to sate his burning lust on her body. When he had finished, the bond complete, she stabbed herself in the heart with his own dagger, ridding the world of the tyrant, Larkos.”

Entranced by Kol’s rolling timbre and heartfelt words, I jumped when Petrus finally spoke. “Well done, my boy.” Petrus turned his gaze on me so fixedly, it was apparent he understood why I was devoted to Saint Portia.

“You know, don’t you?” I asked in a whisper.

“Know what?” demanded Kol.

“What most Morgons don’t know,” said Petrus, his white brows pursed. “Princess Portia was married to the human prince of the west intended for her sister, Morga, before King Radomis took her as his bride. When Portia set out to visit her sister, she left behind a young son, knowing the journey might be dangerous for a human boy. Besides, her husband would not permit him to go. Princess Portia was extraordinary in the eyes of humans, not only because she sacrificed her own life for the good of others, but she did so knowing she left her son motherless. A true selfless act. Her son was the first of many in the powerful Kadenstar dynasty. Their descendants would shorten the name, when monarchies fell, to the surname Kaden. And about five centuries ago, one eccentric and rather racist descendant changed it altogether to Cade, desiring to distance his family legacy from the humans tied to dragon and Morgon lineage. My dear boy, you are sitting beside the ancestral granddaughter of Saint Portia.”

Silence, except for the soft hiss of flames flickering. Petrus passed me the medal. I felt Kol’s eyes heavy on me as I reclasped the chain around my neck.

“You even have the tell-tale ebony hair and fair skin,” added Petrus, setting his tea cup down.

I swept my hair over one shoulder. “Yes. My brother and sister do as well.”

“Lucius never told me this.” Kol had finally found his voice, sounding almost strangled.

“He doesn’t know. I only discovered it recently in an ancestry class when we had to trace our heritage.”

“You’ve not told your own family?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think my father would receive the news very kindly.” Any attachment to the Morgons rubbed my father wrong. I had no desire to remind him that our own ancestors mated and bonded with dragons. “And Jessen and I haven’t had much time alone the past few months.”

Kol frowned, seeming to know I was telling half-truths.

“You know?” Petrus glanced between Kol and I. “That means that you two are distantly related. By marriage of course. Not by blood.”

Kol stiffened.

I sat up straighter. “Um, excuse me? What do you mean exactly?”

“You don’t know the story of how the Moonring clan came to be?”

I shook my head. He ignored Kol’s jaw-clenching silence.

“Ah, well. Diokles Nightwing was a very famous Morgon. He was the one who founded the Obsidian Games several centuries ago. You’ve heard of the Obsidian Games?”

I nodded.

“Good. Well, his wife bore him seven sons. When she was pregnant with the seventh, there was a festival just before the games beneath Mount Obsidian in Singing Wind Wood where all the clans had gathered. While fetching a pail of water, she went into labor at the pool, giving birth right there beneath the full, blue moon, glowing in the glassy pond. It is said she focused so hard on the image of the moon in order to distract herself from the labor pains, that the moon itself imprinted on her unborn child. The son she bore had dark blue wings and blue eyes with the exception of a pale ring circling the inside of his iris. A magical mark given to him by the forest itself. Perhaps that is why this place seems to respond so well to Moonring clan members. Even today.”

I glanced at Kol with Seerie curled in a warm ball on his lap. Again, he avoided eye contact with me, as if he could ignore his heritage, the magical mark in question stamped directly onto his bright eyes.

Petrus mused. “How interesting that your sister and Lucius should find one another. That another Nightwing descendant should find a mate from the Kadenstar line.”

He was right. It was as if fate had bound my sister to her Nightwing mate. Even my brother, who had once despised Morgons—a fault learned from our father—fell in love with Shakara despite his determination not to. In the end, Fate had her way. And I’ve never seen him happier. Did Fate have something similar in store for me?

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