Crown of Faeries

5 | Depravity

My head swiveled from side to side as I exchanged awkward glances between Kieran, his father, and the man named Lucian.

My lips parted and my shoulders dropped in disbelief. "My father?" I breathed. The air around me seemed evanescent as my lungs felt a sudden pressure and bubble that consumed my blood--turning my veins from their dark blue to a more crystal purple tint. I was dying from shock and the worse shock was the fact that my father had actually known one of these creatures.

But the Firebirds said the king was to keep his promise. I thought anxiously. My eyes fell to the floor and darted here and there as if my thoughts were rustling within the blades of glory. So what was his promise? My conscience spoke and my eyes snapped up.

"Were you the one who made a promise?" I directed my words towards Lucian and his head inclined back, an intrigued and suspicious look consuming his eyes and morphing his face as his expression looked taken aback.

"Yes," Lucian said slowly but didn't lack confidence. I looked at him closely to see if there was even a fracture of a lie hidden behind his eyes.

"What was it?" I asked, and Kieran's father sucked in a breath.

Lucian silenced him with the outstretched palm of his hand. "Once he died, I was to show you his ways and his people's ways."

My eyes widened. "So he's...he was Faerie?"

Lucian nodded his head and my eyes flashed over to Kieran. His earthy eyes shimmered with dread and I could almost note the dull thud of his aching heart. He didn't want me to know something. I felt confused by Kieran's reaction. Everything was becoming so overwhelming as I looked between all three men. The guards still stood in all of their glorious armor, waiting for the signal to wipe me out of existence.

"How did he die?" I was shocked that I hadn't choked on my own words. All my life I wanted to find my father and cuss him out before I beat him to death for making my mother die inside the very day he decided to abandon us. But, now someone, or something, had beaten me to it.

Lucian seemed unsure on how to answer the question. His brow furrowed and his lips pinched in thought as his eyes darted up to the sky briefly. He looked back down at me, his brain churning and clanking within his skull. I prepared myself for the biggest lie I probably would hear.

"It's complicated," he stated simply. "Our kingdom is complicated--that much you will come to understand on your own. Your father's death was a tragedy for us all. He was the leader of most things and almost would have been crowned king, but he didn't have what it took to join the Crown fully."

"The Crown?" I snorted without thinking or really gestating the fact that he had called my father inevitably weak and useless when he died.

"It's the parliament--if you will--of our society. Only I, the King, have the most power over all others." Lucian upturned his nose into the air as he looked down at me.

Kieran yanked his arm free from his father's grasp and my eyes flashed his way. "You only have power over those who live within your walls." Kieran snapped at Lucian.

Lucian chuckled. "My walls reach far and wide. Most human villages don't even realize their corner houses belong to me. How else do we do the swap for the Summer Solstice?"

"The swap?" I choked. I knew what he meant right as he said it, but I couldn't believe that the old rumors of baby snatching faeries was real.

"We take human sacrifices to give to nature and switch them out with fresh Half Bloods." Lucian explained nonchalantly.

I snorted nervously and my brow raised in a giant knot as Kieran met my gaze. "Was I switched at birth?"

Lucian swayed his head from side to side in a very slow and cranking manner. "No," he spoke bluntly. "Your father kept you a secret to the Crown. He only just mentioned you to me seven years back, around the time the Unseelie Court started to rise and attack our boundaries."

My mouth parted as the words soaked deep beneath my skin. My blood rose and caused my heart to pound in a fever. "Is the war over?" I asked and all faces--even those of the golden guards behind the King--dropped.

"Seven years is just the beginning." Kieran whispered and his father nodded his head.

Lucian stepped closer to me, and I took a large step back. "Caelia, your father made me promise the first night they attacked to watch over you. He told me of your blood line and knew the Unseelie Hunters would be after you."

"Why?" I asked brusquely. "Why is everyone so interested in me?"

"Because your father was the prince of the old Seelie court." Lucian bowed his head. "The Crown is a break away from all the old politics and ways of our ancestors. It was created by my father long ago and he had made peace with your grandfather. We lived and worked together side by side, but the mix of the Crown and the old Seelie Court caused friction." Lucian sighed heavily through his nose. Almost as if it pained him to relive those times. "I was just a young boy when the rumors of dark and rebellious Fae were gathering to start a new reform. They called themselves the Unseelie. They use their gifts to harm you and their only goal now in life is to see every last faerie of the Seelie and the Crown die."

My lips widened as I had a hard time even understanding that what I was hearing made perfect sense. But how could... "How could my father be a prince? Wouldn't he have told my mother who he was and why he had to leave?"

"I'm sure he did." Lucian said shortly. "But his past life was done in a way to mate and then, from a distance, take care of the child."

"That's ridiculous!" My voice boomed in rage and my hand fell over my mouth with a quick slap of skin on skin.

"Humans are not to mix in the Faerie realm. It can prove to be a lot more deleterious than you'd expect."

"And yet, you've dragged me out here." I said under my breath and Lucian's eyes narrowed.

"Well I haven't fully accepted you yet." Lucian let his eyes loosen as he bent down at the waist so he was leaning closer to me. Kieran went to shove him back, but his father hooked his arms in his and tugged him back sharply. "While your father has his traditions, we have ours."

[EDITED]

That's it for today on Caelia's adventure!!

Find out what Lucian meant at the end over the weekend with a crazy long chapter!

WC75