Prince of Blood and Shadow

Inias made his way up the hill. Grass had grown again, and leaves were budding on the trees. At the top of the hill, Inias could read the headstone clearly, Cyran Nightfang. “Stay here,” Inias instructed Ashryn, who barked the orders to the rest of his retinue. He and Styx crossed the field to greet his father with a bow. Inias fell to his knees and pulled a pouch from within his jacket. He poured ashes from the pouch over his father’s grave and sighed.

“I couldn’t burn him as an offering,” Inias explained, wrapping an arm around Styx to hug him close. “But I hope you can rest easy now.” He turned and sat beside the stone as he had a month ago, now with Styx laid over his lap. There was so much he wished he’d said before, but now he was ready to face his father. “I know he was cruel,” Inias said. “That’s what Aubron said about you. But you weren’t cruel, you weren’t anything. I would’ve liked cruel. At least I’d know you care that you loved me.”

A hawk screeched above him, causing both to snap their heads up to the bird. “But now I know,” Inias said, watching as the hawk perched itself in a tree, looking at them. “In the end, you chose me. Just like mom did.” That was his father’s last choice, to ensure Inias lived on. Knowing that wasn’t enough to erase the scars it had left behind, but he didn’t have to wonder if he was loved.

“You’re a purist like him, aren’t you?” Inias asked the grave beneath him, resting his hand against the stone. “You hate the hellions just like uncle and the court, but I was your son. I was different.” His father had spent years chasing after Ivaran’s dream. That’s what Inias had always been told, but by the time he was born, the two rarely spent any time together.

Inias stood and placed the golden dagger atop his father’s grave and stepped away from it. That hawk screeched again as the hawk carving gleamed in the sunlight. “If uncle threatens Keira or her family again, I’ll stand with them.” He looked down as a lump formed in his throat, “But I won’t take your blade, I won’t use it fight a battle you don’t believe in.” Inias stepped away, avoiding the headstone as if his father’s eyes were glaring at him from it. “If you reject me for it, I’ll understand.”

“Goodbye father,” Inias smiled and whistled for Styx, who ran to his side. As he crossed the tree line, he heard the hawk’s screech again. “Changed your mind?” Ashryn asked him. Inias followed her gaze to something hanging from his side. The golden knife he’d left behind sat on his side, gleaming in the light of the setting sun. “No, I-.” He looked to the gravestone again to find the hawk perched upon it, tilting its head at them.

“Are you alright?” Lady Redwood asked as she approached. Inias nodded and closed his eyes as a gentle breeze followed the hawk’s screech. He took the knife from his side and cradled it in his hands. A tear fell from his cheek onto his finger as he traced the carving. “I’ll honor our clan’s legacy,” Inias told her, hooking the dagger back onto his cloak, “But I won’t be bound by it. Not if it means losing Keira. Will you stand with me if it means betraying the king?”

Ashryn drew her sword. The sunlight bounced off it onto her red hair, falling in waves like wildfire. She drove the blade into the ground and fell to one knee, nodding. “Ivaran has made an enemy of Varen and brought us close to war. We cannot trust him anymore with the Hallow’s safety.” Inias knelt to lift her, wrapping her in a hug. She threw her arms around his shoulders, then slipped away to retrieve her sword. “First, we visit Lord Varen, then we take Dusk Haven.”