GOLDEN STRINGS

CHAPTER NINE

VELARIS

It was the first time in his long life that Aidoneus had slept until late afternoon. He'd been having a wonderful dream.

The sun was at his back as he made his way up a beaten path on a green mountain. At the top stood a sturdy cabin, smoke rising from the chimney. The golden strings that always tied him to Kore beckoned painfully, and he knew that she was waiting for him there.

He caught a glimpse of her long dark braid and beautiful wings. She was holding Aida in her arms, not as Aida was now - a grown female - but as she had been as a toddler. And just in front of the cabin, two winged figures raced after each other.

For a split second he thought it had been Azriel and Cassian, but no - the children were twins. Two boys. His boys. Orion and Nyx.

Aidoneus halted abruptly, suddenly out of breath. His chest rose and fell as he watched Kore lifting a hand in greeting.

He heard a snap of twigs behind him and whirled around. Further down the path, he saw Rhys, his wings were out and he was holding a tiny child of his own. Aidoneus frowned at the familiar face of the boy - it was his face, Rhysand's face - but the blue eyes were not his. Instead he looked at the female beside Rhys, blue eyes and golden brown hair. Tattoos on her forearms, the Night Court insignia. Who was she?

Aidoneus was momentarily distracted by the sight of another Illyrian next to Rhys. Cassian's unmistakable broad shoulders and red siphons glowed under the sun, his teeth flashed as he said something to a serious faced female, rigid as a queen.

The little boy cooed suddenly, his arms outstretched, trying to catch wisps of shadows. Azriel smiled, as he took the little Illyrian boy in his arms.

Rhysand turned, as if sensing his father watching, his violet eyes were filled with tears.

#

Aidoneus had forgotten the dream the moment his eyes snapped open. In a sense of unease he dressed and made his way to the foyer. There it reeked of vomit. And dried blood.

"Rhys?" He said alarmed.

Rhysand was kneeling on the floor, wiping his mouth. He looked up at his father, but Aidoneus had already glimpsed the corpses on the marble floor.

And too late he realized that the golden strings that had forever tied him to Kore, had snapped in two.

#

Aidoneus rushed past Rhysand. 

"Kore!"

He fell onto his knees next to his mate's corpse. He was yelling frantically, his fingers pressing against the wound on her throat. Her dried blood decorated his wrists and arms like scarlet bracelets.

"No!" He whispered, clutching her to him. "Don't. Don't do this. Kore. No. You cannot-" 

Kore remained lifeless, her eyes wide but unseeing.

#

The ground shook under Aidoneus' immense power. Shadows choked Rhys as Cassian and Azriel supported his weight in their embrace. 

Aidoneus was sitting on the ground, the body of Rhys' mother clutched in a white knuckled grip. The tendrils of Aidoneus' throat flashed as he threw his head back and let out an anguished roar at the sky. Tears were pouring down his cheeks as he looked at Aida next, his sweet little daughter, barely an adult, her throat slashed open. He shook his head frantically; no, no, no, no.

His brothers' eyes met over Rhys' head. Cassian broke out in a sob at the sight before him. Rhys could hear his brothers' thoughts in his mind; What do we do? What do we do now? 

Rhys swallowed down his own pain as he extended a hand towards his father; "We have to find whoever did this. You have to let her go. Father, please."

The High Lord bared his teeth at his son and scrambled away from him, half dragging Kore's lifeless body with him. He embraced his mate, breathing hard, his body enfolding hers. The sight made Rhys' heart twist. 

His entire life he'd wished his father would show even a sliver of emotion, a spark of something towards his mother, so that Rhys might forgive him for every pain he'd glimpsed on her face. He regretted those thoughts now.

Aidoneus' body was sharp and ready to strike as Rhys leaned closer, as if afraid Kore would be ripped from his arms. "Who did this?" His father's voice was hoarse with grief.

"The Spring Court." It was Azriel who answered, his voice cold as death.

Aidoneus looked up, rage swirling in his violet eyes. "I am going to kill them all."

His father hid his face in the crook of his mate's slid throat as a sob rocked through him. Aidoneus rocked them, his cries a mournful lullaby. 

"I'll come with you, papa." Rhys said softly.