Page 35 of The Night Prince 6

Don’t do it, Declan!

But that was when Declan took the microphone from Cynda.

And he began to sing…

Queens Of Light And Darkness

His father’s voice was like a blade. It cut away everything that Vex clothed himself in–hid himself in–whether knowingly or not away. The vision it showed Declan had him shaking as if covered in frost. He dragged his fingernails down his clothed arms, but knew he left trails of ripped skin and blood. Krith and Ardreth threatened to spring to life in his hands. It took all his strength to keep them dead on his body.

The players in this shared vision were clear to him. They were, after all, family.

First, the city. The first the Kindreth founded after arriving in the Under Dark. A clot of ragged homes on a windswept peak. Not prepared for this world of unrelenting danger. Not enough walls. Not enough guards. Not enough magic. Or the ruthlessness to use it effectively. And because of that, it was the last city of the old Kindreth. The ones they were before. A young girl’s death cry heralded something new.

Then Vex as a child: magicless, a thin sapling but with an outsized adoration of a heroic older brother, Declan’s uncle. Declan recognized his own face in that face. He recognized the way he fought in those sweeps of his uncle’s sword and his uncle’s dance through his enemies. An uncle he would never know. For his uncle was snatched from his and Vex’s knowledge. Snatched from his eternal life. His goodness and honor were used against him. A dead uncle. No, worse than dead. Enslaved to a weapon as its power source. It’s sole and soul power source.

By whom?

Vex’s father. Declan’s grandfather. He could still feel his grandfather’s old, hard, relentless disdain and hot, putrid, stolen glory. And where was his grandfather now? Did he still live? Where was he?!

Where?!

WHERE?!

Declan would kill him! He would strip the flesh from his body. He would cut him down to the bone. Then he would burn what remained of him to ashes and salt the earth thereafter. There would be nothing left. He would… would… But Vex would have done the same. Once his magic Awakened, the first thing Vex would have done would have been to kill Declan’s grandfather, take revenge for a beloved brother’s stolen life.

For a moment, Declan saw Vex with his first Blood Weapon. Standing, still and silent, his silver hair blowing in the wind, over the fallen body of his father. Declan’s grandfather. A single shaft of light illuminated him from far above. Vex’s expression would be smooth and unreadable. Hatred too great to share or show. Vengeance too pure and overwhelming to do anything other than freeze him in that silent tableau.

The wind blew.

A single drop of blood dripped from the tip of Vex’s downcast sword.

There might have been shouts or screams of fury or shock or horror or joy or maybe all of those. But it was silent for Vex and Declan. Only the wind could be heard. Nothing and no one else existed.

And then, as that last note of Vex’s guitar rang out, the ice around Declan’s heart towards Vex cracked.

He knew this man. He was this man.

It was all clear to him. Why Vex was as he was. Why Vex trusted no one. Why Vex believed he must always be alone. Why family was the most dangerous of all. There were, undoubtedly, a million episodes of cruelty and betrayal that had forged his father into the being he was today. But this one was the moment that had changed Vex forever.

And he shared it.

Why?

Was it an accident? An unknown revelation to a few?

But no.

For those who heard it were the ones that Vex either desperately wanted to or desperately did not want to.

Declan heard Aquilan repeat Vex’s words to them at the Dawn just that afternoon, words that suddenly had greater meaning. Aquilan’s voice was hushed and full of pain and horror as he repeated, “You cannot save everyone. Trust me on this. The best you can do is give people the chance to save themselves even if that blackens their hearts a little bit… or a lot. At least, they are still with us. That is much better than the alternative.”

Much better.

Much, much better.

Aquilan had turned a tear-streaked face towards Declan as he finished that sentence. Those crystalline blue eyes were filled with understanding and shared agony. His empathetic soul bled for Vex. Declan reached up and drew a thumb along Aquilan’s left cheek, wiping away some of those tears. Aquilan covered that hand with his own. Declan leaned in and brushed his lips across the Sun King’s noble brow.

He didn’t want to leave Aquilan.