Chapter 21

Dane saw red. He got up and slammed his hands on the table. His bowl of fruits clattered, and the wood tremored. "That wasn't funny," he growled through gritted teeth.

Lancel met his eyes with a similar anger, though it wasn't meant for him. He gestured for him to sit down. Dane did.

[I'm not joking]

Clan Song…had Eliana murdered? Why? The Gray Gust had been ever loyal. When the Queen had risen to conquer Ravenheart, Dane's grandfather had been among the first to pledge his loyalty, even before she had become a Sovereign. The Gray Gust had participated in and proved pivotal in dozens of expeditions…and now the Queen had repaid them by stabbing them in the back? It was too much for Dane.

"Explain," he said.

Lancel spoke with his baritone voice drenched in oozing anger, and the successive messages were sent shortly after, allowing Dane to learn why his uncle would level such an outrageous accusation.

Eliana had been stationed at Saint Dire Fang's Citadel. Lancel had been there many times, a dangerous place. Prowling creatures from the Awakened to the Corrupted Rank had all but free dominion over the region aside from the Citadel. The guard over the Citadel was exemplary. Nothing ever breached its walls, nothing. The Saint was said to go hunting every alternate day for anything that could pose a threat.

Yet, this time, a Corrupted Tyrant had waltzed right in. According to reports, the creature had been a Fire Drake, reaping the lives of over twenty men that the Gray Gust had stationed there. Fire Drakes in that region were usually over thirty meters tall, yet none had seen it coming…

Dire Fang, a close friend of Lancel's, only came when it was too late. He had received reports that an army of Fallen under the leadership of an especially nasty breed of Tyrant was swelling far north of the Citadel. Furthermore, the scouts that made the report were seen leaving the Dream Realm just before the Fire Drake struck the Citadel. They had not returned since. Dead, most likely.

The Saint informed the clan that even after killing it, they could not divine a thing about the attack. It was chalked up to the creature possessing an anti-divination attribute. Lancel did not seem to think so. Every single one of those scouts was sworn to no clan but Song. There was no proof with them gone. But why?

"Why would they?" Dane asked. The tension in the room was almost palpable. Nova sat quietly while Nolan tried to make himself smaller.

His uncle sighed.

[I think it's related to what Eliana and I had been planning]

Dane raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What?"

[The thing is. A while back, Eliana came to visit me in the Southern Quadrant. She met a Nightwalker. A scion of one of the ruling families of the House of Night, and they hit it off. She probably didn't tell you, but they had been dating for about two years now…]

A romance? He didn't know what to say. "How does that matter?"

[I am anchored to that Nightwalker family's Citadel in the Stormsea right now, is why. I came at her behest to propose a marriage.]

[I suspect they murdered her to stop her from joining their family since there would be nothing to stop her from Transcending when the time came]

Dane clenched his fists under the table, and he could feel blood. Pain pierced his hands and soul. Bastards.

[That isn't all of it, Dane]

Dane grunted.

[They have…assigned our clan, you, in particular, a sensitive mission. They made it clear that we cannot refuse]

Dane tilted his head. An order…after they assassinated one of theirs?

[They want you to kill Nephis of the Immortal Flame]