The Forgotten Light

34. Darksen

Darksen didn't even blink when Kendra, with a trembling hand, finished stitching his brow. The girl was quiet as always, silent tears still flowing from her eyes, swollen from incessant crying. Since the events in the arena, she had been busy removing pieces of glass from Invicta's wounds without a moment of break.

The Prince barely paid any attention to her. He sat upright and looked at some tall skyscraper in downtown San Diego.

He had been making a huge mistake all these years. He had shown a flicker of mercy to unfortunate people, even though he knew he could have been severely punished for it. Now, only now, he has come to the realization that his father was right. People were just waiting for the moment to take advantage of someone's kindness.

For the first time in his life, he knew exactly what he felt. He was betrayed and furious.

His back felt like it was on fire, blood drying on his whip-cut skin. His father had no doubt who was to blame for all that, and took his anger out on him, right after the show was over.

He was the one who had spared her life and brought her carelessly inside the city walls. He might have guessed that a rebel like her wouldn't give up so easily and would give them a rough ride.

And there she was, giving them her best. And as if that wasn't enough, she turned out not to be human.

Fuck, she had the power that could actually destroy them. No one had ever brought his father to his knees.

And she did it in a matter of minutes.

Yesterday in the arena, he first thought he had missed something out. She must have grabbed that sword the moment he turned away and for a moment wasn't looking at the drama taking place in the middle. But then her eyes began to glow with a strange light, and suddenly, out of nowhere, that giant mirror appeared. As if that wasn't enough, a moment later the Invicta ship stood in the arena ready to depart, which for now was just a sketch on paper.

Throughout the night, he couldn't stop thinking about her, his heart beating furiously.

He knew of only two species of creatures that were endowed with supernatural powers - the Invicta and the Aeternals. Which one did she belong to?

He knew that there were Aeterna's survivors hiding somewhere on Earth. He had never seen any of them have such power, but they were, after all, perfectly capable of hiding, as his slave had just proved.

Darksen clenched his hands into fists.

She must have been an Aeternal. Ever since he met her, she did everything to put herself at risk of death. It was as if she wasn't afraid of it. As if she knew it wouldn't be her final end.

There was only one way to find out if she really was one of those almost immortal beings.

At the earliest opportunity, he would end her as he should have two weeks ago in the hut in the desert.

***

He wanted to be alone. Earlier, he had even chased Keiran away, unable to bear the tenderness in the snow leopard's eyes and attempts to get close to his back. Soon after, Caster came for him at the King's command. So he rolled out of bed and put on a black cloak over the shirt that was jagged on his back. The white-haired Invicta led him down the endless stairs. Eventually they reached the castle's underground, where it was dark, cold and there was nothing but long tunnels with prison cells. The glowing stones there glittered faintly and were spaced irregularly in trace amount.

A few meters from the entrance stood Thandor with two guards in black uniforms. The shards of the mirror didn't even touch him, the devoted guard threw themselves in front of him just in time to protect the King from the glass fall.