The Sun's Shadow

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Father."

"My son..." The King leaned back at his desk, now fully recovered but expecting this all afternoon. He placed the emptied whiskey glass down so he could swing his legs up to nonchalantly place them on the mahogany, crossed at the ankle. "Come to finish what you couldn't the other night?"

Kaanan locked the door meticulously- Confident no one saw or heard him enter.

Black wings materialized from his back and pooled at his feet as he accepted his true form. Now the King knew of it, so it didn't shock him quite as much as the first time. It still frightened him, though. Kaanan reveled in the putrid scent of his father's fear.

"Ele isn't around this time to save you."

"Mm, and what a shame. Her beauty is a feast for the eyes."

"That it is," Kaanan hated that even his father noted her elegance but couldn't argue it. Except her beauty didn't satiate his hunger... It fueled it. Even now, images of her flitted in his mind and drove him to take action. "She'll be even more so once I restore her wings. I thought you always kept your promises, father?"

"I would have retrieved them, eventually." Jyosith stated dismissively. The look of arrogance on his face would be wiped clean once Kaanan ended him. "Laying siege to a stronghold doesn't happen overnight. I want to kill every last one of those satyroids myself since they threatened my family too."

His lip curled back in disgust. "You made her a promise!"

"You really desired to restore her wings so soon before we unlocked her secrets? I thought I was doing you a favor by delaying it. Why so eager to free your caged pet?"

"She's more than just some prize now. It may have started as such and I may have been willing to allow your grimy claws to toy with her life, but not anymore. It ends today and any secrets you wish to discover can be damned."

"It's unfortunate you think that way, my son. But I'm glad you told me your intentions with the girl before killing me. At least I can be ensured, that even in death, I can keep our bloodline pure."

Had he not heard him? Kaanan growled at the games his father played in his last moments.

"She'll be my mate by morning, to hell with your precious lineage!"

Jyosith's mouth twisted into a smile as he confessed his departing gift to his son. "Not if the assassin I sent gets to her first."

Kaanan dismissed the hollow threats of his father as a distraction. There would be no more avoiding his fate by rambling on. He stalked across the expansive room and didn't hesitate as he pulled down his grandfather's longsword from the mantle above the fireplace. He deemed the weapon worthy of wielding and putting an end to his father. All of it so poetic.

He dragged it behind him, shaving a line in the wood as he approached the front of the desk. Jyosith stood; a trace desire to fight this inevitable outcome battled against an urge to flee. But he needed Kaanan to make the first move before deciding which direction to sprint in.

They stayed like that, and their calculating gazes noticed every bead of sweat and change of breath. It would be Kaanan that acted first. With blinding speed, he raised his foot to kick the back of the considerably large desk and it slid towards his father on the wood floors. It pinned him to the wall as Jyosith never contemplated him making that move.

"Clever boy!" Still he praised the wickedness of his son. He had taught him well. Blood spurted out of his mouth and he counted the moments until his demise. The desk had struck vital organs and pushed into them harshly, relieving none of the excruciating pressure.