Terran

‘Come forward.’

I hated the throne room. It was cavernous and cold, lit by flickering braziers. The floor was as imposing as the throne itself, carved from a single block of dark stone, embedded with bloodstone and onyx.

None of it compared to the king who sat upon it, his brown eyes appearing almost black. They blazed with anger, which I’d anticipated.

He had ceased being my father years ago. This was the King of Gyoria, and I was its failed prince. Kael had warned me many times after he’d aided Isolde of Hawthorne and was disinherited for it that our father would never forgive, not even his own sons. But I’d clung to a different vision. One of the man whose knee I sat upon, on that very throne.

In that, Kael had been right. If not for my brother’s actions, I would likely not be my father’s right-hand man any longer.

‘Report.’

He did not need a report. My father knew already what had occurred at Hawthorne Manor. He knew all that happened in Gyoria and along its borders, his spies everywhere.

‘A man once in Lord Hawthorne’s service seized control in the absence of Lady Isolde with the aid of Gyorian mercenaries from the marches. With support from a contingency of Aetherian warriors and another from the Tidebreaker Fleet, they retook Hawthorne Manor, killed Lord Draven and ran out the mercenaries.’

He waited.

Knowing the last bit would anger him most, I hesitated. My father despised many things, humans among them, but the one thing he hated more than any other? Disloyalty.

‘What else?’

He knew already, as I suspected.

‘Arden is the new lord of Hawthorne. His grandmother was, apparently, a human. A descendant of the Hawthorne family. Lady Isolde signed her inheritance over to him before departing Estmere with Marek of Thalassaria, as his wife.’

Something in my report was new to him, though I didn’t know which part.

‘How have you learned this? I’m told you retreated before the fighting began.’

‘It was not our fight. I retreated, aye, but remained long enough to learn the outcome.’ He was not the only one in this kingdom with spies.

Sitting back, he said nothing. Anger simmered beneath the surface. How Arden was able to keep such a secret, I did not know. Likely it was that betrayal that angered Father most since I doubted he cared about the fate of Hawthorne Manor. While it was true it bordered Gyorian land, even he could not claim that southeastern part of Estmere had been anything but Aetherian before it was bequeathed by King Galfrid to the humans. We had no claim to it.

‘Kael in Aetheria, partnered with Galfrid’s daughter, who came through the closed Gate. A new Thalassari queen. And now this. These events are connected, and I will learn how.’

‘Thalassari leadership does not concern us.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘You are ignorant to believe as much. When is the last time the Tidebreaker Fleet defended a human holding?’

‘Marek—’

‘Enough,’ he bellowed, standing. ‘Call the Council. Immediately. War is coming to Elydor. And I welcome it.’

I hated the throne room. And Terranor forgive me, I hated my father. Yet, he was my king, and I was no traitor.

‘Aye, your majesty.’

With a fist to the chest he didn’t return, I turned from him and left the hall, cursing my brother with every step for leaving me to deal with the bitter old man alone.

War is coming to Elydor.

I closed the throne-room door, hoping my father was wrong.

……………

Find the completed Heirs of Elydor series here.