Undying Hate | Book Three

Twenty-one | Apart

"He let the vampires into Evergreen. He tried to kill Sylvie."

He kept his eyes on Kol as Kerensa muttered something and punched the castle walls. He closed his eyes. So dramatic.

"Kian, what happened?"

"Elias and I found you just before you fell, and when I restrained him, he kept chanting. He sounded like he was being controlled."

"What did he say?" Elias asked.

"Kill the girl."

Sylvie gasped and grabbed Elias' arm. "Same as the vampires in Argyncia."

"I know."

"It's all connected."

Kerensa hissed. "This still doesn't help us whether he was controlled or not. Now he's dead. You couldn't have just restrained him, Kian?"

Kian looked at the blood on his hands and shook his head slowly. "He was opening a portal. It was too strong for me to close. I had to kill him."

His hands trembled, and Elias pulled him away from the body, holding an arm around his back as he turned and dropped his head on Elias' shoulder.

"I fucked up.." he muttered softly. "They're going to expect me to take over now."

Sylvies realisation of their circumstance clicked into place so obviously that it hurt Kian to keep quiet.

"No," she whispered, pulling away from them.

Kian lifted his head and took a deep breath. "He was the one letting the Vampires in. I could sense them on the other side of the portal he was making. So whether he planned it or not, he's the reason our mother is dead."

Kerensa sucked in a breath and spun, heading for the main throne room.

"Attention! The King has been found guilty of treason, aiding Vampires in our realm to kill our beloved Queen Katarina, and is now dead. Guards! Take him away and burn him."

The crowd gasped, and some screamed, spotting the body through the door. Guards ran past, taking the body, and Kerensa turned to flee out a nearby door, and Sylvie chased after her. "Kerensa, wait!"

Kian watched them go from Elias' side and grabbed his wrist to stop him from following straight after. Kerensa and Sylvie needed to talk without interruption. They both had to decide on their own without his influence.

"Wait." They stood in silence as Sylvie's stress peaked. "Okay, now." They walked out the door the women had fled from and caught the end of the conversation though he knew exactly what it entailed.

"- Absence from the crowning could be explained away-"

"Kerensa, stop."

Elias' slammed the door to alert them of their presence and brushed his hand across her bicep. "Yes, Kerensa. Stop. We haven't had a chance to talk about what comes next-"

"Well, we don't have time to mourn, do we? We never do."

Kian walked to Sylvie's other side and rubbed his face tiredly. "You're right. Your plan sounds good. Elias will go with you to stone court."

"Wait a second," Sylvie interrupted at the same time Elias said a sharp 'no'.

She turned and took his hands, trying to meet his eyes, but he kept them downcast. "Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about. I know how you feel and what you want, and I won't try to convince you otherwise. I love you enough to let you go, princess."

He closed his eyes against her overwhelming despair and lifted his head to look at his sister.

"You should go now."

He squeezed Sylvie's hands one last time and let them fall before turning and heading back for the door.

"Brother, wait."

Once they were inside, Kerensa pulled him into a tight hug. "When you decide the fate of the crown, let me know."

"I already have," Kian answered, pulling back. "It's your turn to decide, Ren."

She hissed and turned to punch something but let her hands fall to her sides instead. "There's no way to convince you to change your mind?"

"No."

"What if she stays with you? Would you be King then?"

"She won't."

"Give me a few days. Maybe I can convince her."

"No. It's all up to you now. I'll give you two days to decide before I catch up with you. There are a few things I need to do here and people I need to convince."

Kerensa rolled her eyes but nodded. "I'll see you later."

Kian met her eyes in understanding. She would do it.

He turned and headed for the throne room, his- her subjects still darting around like they'd been electrocuted.

"Calm down," he cooed, raising his hands and lowering their anxiety with a gentle lowering of his arms. Then, like turning a dial, they all slowed, their breathing evened, and they stared at him wide-eyed.

"Everything will be fine." He turned to the guards, still coated in his father's blood. "Where is the body?"

"Follow us," they said.

*

Noone mourned, no one sang, no one stood stoically around the burning log pile that held his father's withering body. He would get no death bloom or celebration of his life, no feast, and no reunion with his wife on the other side. The Realm of the Fates would never accept Kol now, not after what he had done. Kian didn't leave until the very last piece of his body had been turned to ash, his eyes burned from the heat of the flames, but it was what he deserved. He killed him, and now he had to watch until he became nothing.

As the distance between Kian and Sylvie grew, so did the pain in his mark. Even miles apart, he could sense her emotions as keenly as his own.

"Will you address the Fae yet?" Cedar asked from the shadows. He was his mother's advisor occasionally but often ended up as her butler. He had already been trying to forge his place by Kian's side since Kol's death.

"No. I have things to do before that event."

"The Sun court will only wait so long. There needs to be a monarch on the Evergreen throne."

"I am aware."

"Then?"

Kian finally turned away from his father's pyre and scowled at the small fae. His species was closer to a rock troll than the humanoid Evergreen Fae, but he had left Stone Court long ago before the Dryads migrated there and took over too.

"Then nothing, Cedar. Leave me be. Tell them they will have a leader, and they will know the details when I am ready to address them."

He shrank back, his grey skin hardening as he took the message. "Yes, sire. I understand." he turned and scampered away.

The very human urge to apologise for being callous struck him, and he sighed. Sylvie was rubbing off of him in the most dangerous ways. Yet, she still apologised all the time for such menial things. He smiled, thinking about her wide eyes and flushed cheeks as she apologised for apologising. "Insufferable," he said with a smile.

A striking pain hit his chest, and he dropped to a knee. What was that? Sylvie's fear made him buckle, and he reached for her across the distance, but his reach snapped back before she could feel his comfort. That's it. He'd waited long enough. With one last look at his father's smouldering embers, he returned inside and called for a carriage.