Chapter 9
Blue
Acornus was several thousand years old. Though no one knew his exact age, all we knew was that he’d been around far longer than any of us. His life was mostly legend at this point.
He’d seen the rise and fall of many empires. Had placed the crown of thorns upon many heads. Apart from coronations, it was said he never left his tower. Acornus was mostly myth now. Which begged the question, why was he here and why to see me, of all people?
I wrapped my cloak in my fingers as I thought of how to get out of this.
“Sit with me, little one,” he said, as he moved to sit on the bench at the foot of Enolo’s statue.
He sat; his movements spryer than I imagined they should be at such an advanced age.
I was smart enough to realize that when someone like Acornus bid you sit, you sat.
With a slight roll of his bony fingers, he called forth a small bit of darkness. I watched as first one moth with shredded wings, then another, and another filled the sky before us. The moths were illuminated with a faint bit of fae light. Oddly macabre and beautiful.
“Now you,” he said.
With a flick of my own fingers, I called my own moths to me. But these were not suffused merely with dark fae light, they also had the blessed light of the goddess and glowed an iridescent blue. Our moths danced through the sky.
He nodded, and I sensed a sudden warmth in him.
“I was there the day your mother gave birth to you.”
I blinked, heart racing, unsure of what he was saying.
He nodded slowly. “I foresaw two visions when I held you. One of fire and pain. And one of destruction.”
I swallowed hard, closing my fist into my lap. My other life. He’d seen that? He’d been there? Why had Mother never told me?
Sighing deeply, he held out a bony finger and waited. It was one of my moths that alighted on the tip of it and it was strange but I swear I could hear a smile in his tone as he spoke next.
“I rejected you that day. You had too much of the light fae in you. I felt their powers all over you, it was obvious their goddess had claimed you from the start. And, in my hubris, I hid just how powerful you truly were. I thought by doing so I’d spare you. Somehow.” He snorted softly.
Was he saying that I might have been taken into the arcane tower if not for the quantity of light in me? I blinked, I’d always imagined that I was considered of such little value to those of the underworld and it’d been for that reason that they’d denied my training.
He sighed. “You were the daughter of a prince. I would not have dared deny you otherwise. But it is to my everlasting shame that I did not follow your path more closely. All of Demonia suffered for my oversight.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, I finally looked at him full on. “Are you saying that—”
Shoving back his cowl he looked at me.
I’d expected nothing but a skull to stare back at me. Instead, I saw the face of a surprisingly handsome male with a sharply square-cut jaw. His horns had long since turned quicksilver blue, but the blue of his irises was bright and sprinkled with hundreds of stars. His long hair was white as freshly fallen snow.
He was beautiful.
“Yes, little one, I remember the other world. And that night, as you lay dying, I heard you cry out to my bride.”
I held up a hand. “Wait. Bride? Are you and the goddess?”
His smile was soft, full of mysteries. “I suppose that’s the easiest way of explaining what Light and I are. We are the first. We are one, but we are separate. She is me and I am her. Two sides, but the same.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to make sense of what it was I heard. “Are you implying what I think?”
“If you’re as smart as I believe you are, you already know the answer to that question.”
I blinked. “But the Dark and Light Fae are at odds with one another. We always have been.”
“Ah,” he nodded sagely, “since the dawn of time there has never been more enmity than that between siblings.”
What he was implying was blasphemy in the dark realm. To imagine that both dark and light sprang from the same loins, would be anathema to the nobility. And yet, Acornus was claiming to be none other than the great Darkness himself. How could the Darkness blaspheme himself?
I eyed the handsome, but elder male studiously. His power was beyond any I’d been around before, but nowhere near the level of a god.
Brushing his bony hand down his front he said, “This isn’t my true form, only one of many I’ve used throughout the ages. I grew rather bored, you see, sitting upon my lofty but lonely throne.
I could sense I’d get nothing more on that matter.
I shook my head. What and who he was, was more than I was capable of focusing on at the moment, what I really wanted to know was why I’d been called to him this evening. “So, the goddess did spare me then?”
“If she had your new path wouldn’t be what it is today,” he said simply.
It took me a moment to understand what he meant.
My fingers twitched. “It was you that brought me back.”
He gave just a brief tip of his head. It finally hit me that I truly was in the presence of the Great Darkness. All I could do was blink and gaze at him in stunned surprise.
He grinned and the moths scattered in a frenzy, their dark light burning even brighter. Lighting up the night in a sort of fantastical wash of colors unknown to this world.
“I did not reveal myself to you for worship or to make you fearful. I merely wish to be on equal footing with you this night. Ask me whatever you will, my daughter.”
“Why? To what end? Will you now tell the emperor that there is a traitor amongst you?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. I’ve kept my eye on you in this life. Studying you. Seeing if your plea was true. If you truly meant what you’d vowed.”
Clutching my hands in my lap, I sat perfectly still.
“And what conclusion have you come to?”
“You are once again planning to overthrow the empire.”
Digging my nails into the palm of my hands, I squeezed my eyes shut. I’d not considered this possibility. To be found out before I’d even had a chance to truly enact my plan for revenge. What if he’d had a change of heart? What if he demanded I no longer alter this time? Could I back down?
I wasn’t sure I could.
Not even for the Darkness himself.
Tossing my moth off his hand, he then turned to me and grabbed my hand in my lap. Giving me a gentle, bony squeeze.
“You are right. Claude’s reign must soon end, for the sake of all Demonia. I’ve always known Mikael was the rightful successor. He failed last time. And now I know why, he did not have you and thus he could never have succeeded. I know what you did for your father, all that you sacrificed to seat him upon that throne.”
“Why didn’t you stop me? If you knew what would come from Father’s reign, why didn’t you stop me then?”
He shrugged and then sighed, releasing his hold on me as he stared broodingly into the night. “Though I am The Darkness, I am not omniscient. Would that I were. My arrogance led you down a path I was unable to stop. The wheels of time had been set into motion and there was nothing even I could do. Fate is a fickle beast, she enjoyed watching me suffer for my hubris. But when I heard your prayer, I knew then I could set things to right. I had to make sure this time, you see. I too learned from my past.”
“What you speak of is treason, no mage has ever turned against the empire. You may be the great darkness, but this world knows you simply as the high mage. If the tower discovers your true allegiance, they might attempt a coup. Though I’ve no doubt you’ve the power to stop them should you choose.”
He shook his head, looking down at me with open honesty. “I took an oath many eons ago, Light and I both, that we would only interfere to an extent, but never beyond. It is why we are careful when answering prayer. Only the petitions of those who will in some way leave a lasting impact will feel the touch of our blessing. I will not interfere with your chosen path—”
I frowned.
“—I’ve seen the rise and fall of many nations. At the very core of us, we are no different, past… present… we are all the same in spirit. Beings seem to never learn the lessons of the past, sometimes rules are meant to be broken. Do you understand, Blue?”
Not. At. All. I was not ashamed to own it either. He seemed to speak of matters well beyond my own comprehension. I felt as though he was speaking of riddles that not even Prince Mikael would be able to decipher.
“The mages were created to serve the land and its people, not a bloodline. Somewhere along the way we forgot that simple truth and we became blind protectors of an increasingly mad bloodline. Light spoke this truth to me centuries ago and my failure to heed her warning has led us here. At the end of the day I take full responsibility for where we are now.”
The dancing lights of the moths somehow eased my mind.
I looked at him, kindly blue irises stared back at me.
“I cannot interfere, I will not make any more mistakes, just know that if I hadn’t witnessed your reformation this would have been your last night in this world. But when the time comes, Blue, I will back you. I vow it. Know that the Arcana will stand beside you at the end.”
He did not make his vow to the darkness that binds, that was the usual oath said to relate sincerity in the matter. It was also a binding pact, sealed by magic when uttered. Then again, considering he was the darkness that bound his words were as good as an oath.
Wetting my lips, I dipped my head.
“You’ve already altered the events of this timeline significantly, so I cannot tell you if you will succeed or not, but your path is righteous. Protect the child at all costs, he is the key.”
I blinked, of course, he knew of Erene, but hearing anyone openly speak of the boy made my blood run like ice through my veins.
Elder Acornus stood, replacing his cowl. His eyes once more burned with dark flame. Reaching out a bony hand, he gently scraped his knuckles down my cheek. “The blessings of the Darkness rest upon you.”
I shuddered. Acornus had almost sounded commanding, imperious at that moment. Not priestly at all. I heard the eternal in him, Balmoor—The Great Darkness—had spoken directly to me.
I felt the infusion of darkness fill me. But it wasn’t pain, instead, it was an embracing warmth that almost brought tears to my eyes. I looked up at him.
“You look so much like her. I see her light in your eyes and it’s beautiful.”
I cocked my head. “My mother?”
He framed my face in his bony palm, almost like a lover would. Staring deeply into my eyes something I could not name trembled powerfully through me. Like the beginning and the end and everything else in between. For a moment I could swear I almost felt the very heartbeat of Demonia itself ring in my ears.
“No. My bride.”
And then… the grand elder was just gone. No trace of him remained. A cold wind rolled through the tips of my hair, lifting strands about my face.
A dark moth landed on my knee, and I watched as it slowly turned to ash, scattering in the nightshade-laced breeze.
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