Astraea - The Lost Crown - Book 1

Chapter 24

After discovering the oracle's true identity, he had made sure to steer clear of her. Nevertheless, she constantly occupied his thoughts. How did Lucian not know who she was? How does he still not know?! He paced anxiously back and forth in his room of the Southwest watchtower, then stopped. Halphus sat on the edge of his bed, his hands hiding his face in shame. How could I have done that to her all those years ago...? My own granddaughter! Iolanthe, Yvaine, please forgive me...

"I truly am a miserable excuse of a warlock... I've let down my entire kind." He mumbled to himself, letting his hands fall away. But maybe it's not too late... He thought of the king's steady leeway in locating the elf girl's whereabouts. The plan was to send scouts to Aurem and Knox to keep lookouts or to pick up their scent, then the king would order troops to retrieve the girl with the crown and interrogate her to find the whereabouts of the dryads. If Dreyana knows the elf, surely she'd know where she and the oryxitral went. I can send her after them to keep the crown safe. Lucian can't be able to find it, not when Carina's blood could activate it. Halphus recalled studying the crown when Lucian had first come into contact with it. The warlock was then able to discover the spell placed on it, with a magic seal that he recognized as his own daughter's. The spell was meant to act as a compass that would lead dryads to Edolas once activated by a drop of their blood. Though there seemed to be another race- one that he couldn't identify, that could use the crown as well. Had I known that my false life spell could lead to the destruction of the dryads, I never would have made it... Hell, I should have just told Seraphine she was meant to be without a child! Carina never should have been born to a fate such as this. I was just so hungry for power... I wanted to prove that the constraints of magic didn't apply to me... The spell had taken him years of study and months to perfect. But in the end, he knew the only reason it succeeded was because the seed he had used- the key part of the spell, was that of a dryad. He had blessed the sprout and implanted it in Seraphine, making the pair believe it would be a human child. The human heir she and Lucian had wanted for years. And for twelve years I've kept this secret, but just like Dreyana, as Carina continues to grow, her markings will appear, proving that she isn't human. Proving I'm a fraud... The king would surely kill me, but not before using his own daughter's life to fulfill a lifelong goal.

"Immortality..?" He chuckled dryly to himself. "Death is a punishment designed to destroy the weak," He mocked. "What a joke," Halphus stood to fetch himself a drink from the table near the window. "The only thing that man is trying to escape is the tortue of knowing that death will force him to meet his demon of a mother again," He poured the amber liquid into a slender handled brass cup, "But I suppose we all have demons we must face eventually..." And took a long sip. As he set the cup down, his hand fell to the pocket in his robe where he felt something. He withdrew the object and recalled the akrulite crystal he had stolen days before. At first he had no real intention of what to do with it- perhaps just his own escape plan when the king discovered his lies about Carina, but now, as he reflected on his actions in life, he knew he could do something right for a change. He had a plan.

He found himself at the king's war room where he was attended by his highest ranking soldiers in the middle of a meeting. It's bizzare to see Lucian in here... After Eventine's death, the boy had avoided the room like the plague.

"Ah, Halphus," Lucian grunted after he noticed the warlock standing in the doorway. "Bout time you showed up. We're finalizing our attack plans."

"Attack plans, your highness..?" Halphus questioned as he drew nearer to the great table.

"Francis and Markus have returned from Aurem, claiming they saw the elf girls partner, the oryxitral. It seems they're getting closer to finding the dryads." The king explained.