Chapter 13 - The Man Who Sold His Son
General Corvin Vey had not spoken to Lucan in twelve years.
Now he knelt on an execution platform because Isolde knew exactly which wound to press.
Lucan reached for his sword.
“I’m going down there.”
Tessa blocked him.
“That’s why she put him there.”
“He’s our father.”
“He sold me to the priests.”
Lucan froze.
Mara looked at Tessa.
“What?”
Tessa’s scar pulled tight. “He discovered I was Drakeborn. He chose his uniform over his daughter.”
Lucan stared at her.
“You told me you ran.”
“I did. After he handed me over.”
The bell struck again.
Eleven thirty.
Thirty minutes.
Mara stepped between them. “You can hate him later. We need to know why Isolde wants him alive until midnight.”
Selene nodded. “Corvin guarded the lower vault when Edric was king.”
Rowan understood. “He knows the crown chamber.”
They split.
Tessa and Lucan headed for the square.
Mara, Selene, Rowan, and Elara entered the aqueduct.
Halfway beneath the palace, they found the first body.
A priest.
Burned from the inside.
Then another.
And another.
Rowan drew his sword.
“Varrik?”
Selene knelt beside the corpse. “No.”
“What else does that?”
A child’s laugh echoed through the tunnel.
Mara looked at Elara.
Elara was asleep.
The laugh came again.
Ahead of them.
Rowan whispered, “Tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”
Selene’s face had gone white.
“There was another child.”
Mara’s stomach dropped.
“What child?”
“Before you.”
Selene backed toward the wall.
“I gave birth once before Mara.”
Mara stared at her mother.
“You had another daughter?”
“A son.”
“What happened to him?”
Selene’s eyes filled with tears.
“King Edric took him.”
The darkness ahead moved.
A boy stepped into the torchlight.
He looked about sixteen.
Black scales covered half his face.
His eyes burned gold.
He smiled at Selene.
“Hello, Mother.”
Mara could barely breathe.
May you like
The boy looked at her next.
“And hello, little sister.”
