Chapter 42

The room’s atmosphere felt like all the oxygen had been sucked out. Liri sat beside her Aunt Ama, holding her hand. Abraham had immediately come over and stood behind her with his hand resting on her shoulder. This couldn’t be happening.

‘It’s not,” Elyas leaned down, put his hands over his face, and then sucked in a breath. He lifted his head and looked at his father, “I can explain.”

Uncle Os continued to stand beside Trendan. Neither had spoken a word. Bastian had been ordered to stay by the door and not speak.

Liri glanced at King Troy, who was behind Elyas’s sofa; his arms crossed over his chest, and looked down at the floor. Beside the sofa, Princess Kara stood there, and she was looking at Elyas, the saddest expression on her face. Liri bit her lip, wondering what the princess was hearing inside her cousin’s head. She’d never been that close to him, but he was family, and she still had a fondness for him.

Aunt Ama inhaled a ragged breath and squeezed Liri’s hand.

Kara wiped a tear from her eye and sat directly beside Elyas. “You need to tell them.” She said it quietly.

Elyas turned to her, and Liri was surprised by the anguish on his face.

“I agree.” Troy straightened and moved away from the sofa. He glanced over at Uncle Os, “You need to know the entire story, Osbert.” Moving over, the king went and stood beside his brother Victor.

“Elyas,” Aunt Ama released Liri’s hand and got up. She went over and sat beside her son. “Please.”

Elyas’ eyes watered as he looked at his mother. “I didn’t want to do it, mother.”

Aunt Ama nodded but didn’t speak.

Elyas looked at his father, “If I didn’t, they would announce it to the entire realm. Our family would have been ruined.”

Uncle Os gave Trendan’s shoulder a squeeze and then went over and sat across from his son. “Start at the beginning, son.”

Elyas looked at his father for a moment and then nodded. He opened his mouth, closed it, and looked at Bastian, “I tried to leave you crumbs to find it all.” He nodded. “I knew you were close and wanted it over with.”

Bastian’s order to stay quiet was forgotten. “What could be so bad that you would be involved in this?”

Elyas studied him for a moment. “I know you’ve found your other and that she’s not from this realm,” he glanced at Liri, and his lips quirked slightly before he sobered. “I found my other,” Aunt Ama sat straighter, “three centuries ago.” Elyas closed his eyes for a moment, “when I was with the guard. Fleur was her name. She was so lovely. I adored her.”

Liri looked up behind her to Abe, but she couldn’t see him because of the tears. He squeezed her shoulder and gripped her hand in his.

Eyas sucked in a breath. “She was human. I was so shocked that I thought it must be some sort of anomaly for our souls to belong to each other.” He took a ragged breath. “I didn’t share my soul with her fully. I was trying to find information or law—a rule that would allow me to bring her home.” He looked at his mother, “You would have loved her mother. She was truly a warm heart.”

Kara got up and walked out of the room. Paisley shook her head to Abe and followed her out.

“What happened, son?” Uncle Os was leaning forward in the chair.

Elyas had to take a moment to compose himself before he could continue. “I didn’t share my soul, and now that soul is lost to me.” He sobbed quietly for a moment. Liri could barely breathe. “She died giving birth to our child. My daughter didn’t survive.”

Aunt Ama sobbed, flung herself at him, and wrapped her arms around him. “You should have come to us.”

Bastian went to the other side of the room and stood looking out the window.

Crissy was up and over, hugging Victor. Liri could barely see but felt Abe’s strong hands grip her shoulders and pull her up into his arms.

Elyas looked at his father, “I have all the records they told me to destroy. The fathers, the abandoned children—those helping,” he released his mother, “the dark-souled ones I had nothing to do with. That was not supposed to be part of it, I swear, Father.” He looked at Trendan, “I thought a human queen would ruin our family.”

“To hell with that,” Bastian blurted out, “you should have brought her home. We would have dealt with it as a family.”

“I was so lost in grief, I—I was in too deep by the time all of registered.”

King Osbert stood up, put his hand on Elyas’ shoulder for a moment, then turned on his heel and went over to Prince Victor.

“Who else is involved?” Trendan’s voice was unsteady.

“There’s few here. The lawless are rogues, and I don’t know who is controlling them.” He took a deep breath and then stood up, “I’ll do whatever is required to correct this.”

“Correct it?” Aunt Ama looked around, “For centuries, we’ve treated our women like cattle, and you could have stopped that.”

Uncle Os turned around, “he couldn’t have. This is intertwined with the mage Arwan and all of it, Ama, we still wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it. The records recovered in Fa Terra go back much further than three centuries.”

“I still want to help.” Elyas looked from his mother to his father.

Bastian exchanged a look with Liri, “You’re going to help by being a watcher again, endless years of service helping souls.”

Elyas’ brows furrowed as he looked at his brother.

Bastian hissed out a breath. “Her soul could be out there, Elyas.”

“I didn’t—I wasn’t there…”

“Doesn’t matter; someone else may have been. You won’t ever know if you never leave this realm. I chased Nova’s soul since I was a young watcher.” He shook his head to the shocked look on his brother’s face, “there’s so much you don’t know. So much you would know if you hadn’t been hiding from your own family.”

“Will he be safe in Interealm?” Aunt Ama looked from Bastian to Prince Victor. “Once they know he’s told us?”

“We’ll take precautions,” Prince Victor assured her, “he’s going to have to have his guard with him at all times, and when he’s not helping souls, he’s in his quarters for the time being.” He turned to Uncle Os, “If he weren’t your son, he would have already been ported away.”

Uncle Os inclined his head for a moment.

Elyas looked at his father.

“Alterealm’s policing has been reinstated, Elyas. Much has happened recently.”

Trendan walked over to him. “You could be in a cell in Alterealm.” He gripped his shoulder, “you should have told us.” He released him and went over to stand by the door. “I need to know who, so we can deal with them right now.”

Abe stiffened and gave Liri another hug before releasing her and going over to stand with his uncles and Trendan. They were going to find the rest today. She sucked in a breath and went over and put her arm around Aunt Ama. She didn’t say it out loud but hoped it was no one she’d ever had contact with.