Before meeting his fate at the hands of Paedyn Gray, the king warns his son of the threat she poses.
Scrutinizing him thoroughly, as he often does, Edric Azer sees the man who fell in love with Iris Moyra all those years ago. The similarities between the king and his heir are eerie, like looking into a warped mirror to see pieces of oneself fossilized on another’s face. Kitt stares warily at his father from his assigned seat before the fireplace while Edric reclines casually in his worn leather one, as if he hasn’t just metaphorically ripped the floor out from beneath his son’s feet.
“So, really,” Kitt ventures slowly, “you are the leader of the Resistance?”
Edric drums his fingers against the faded armrest. “Technically. Though, it is Calum who is the face of it.”
“And he is one of the Fatals you’ve hidden away?” Kitt confirms.
“Yes. Over the years, I’ve tried to keep their identities as hidden as possible. My Fatals are my most powerful weapons and spies. They are of no use to me if everyone knows who and what they are.” The king meets his son’s eyes, and again, that eerie feeling washes over him. It is as though he’s looking into his own gaze. “Kai still does not know the truth. But you, Kitt, are my heir. It is time you know these things. Know my plans so you may continue to fulfill them when I no longer can.”
Kitt straightens in his seat, a foreign sense of importance washing over him. He has, for better or worse, waited his entire life to prove himself to his king—his father. The boy has wanted for little more than to be needed by the man who has always withheld his affection. Though Edric’s relationship with Kai is strained, Kitt finds himself envious of even the begrudging approval his father feels for the Enforcer. It is pride—praise, even—that the heir finds himself craving. But his role is not one that displays tangible achievements, and this forces him to work even harder to prove himself.
Failure is the word Kitt most fears, and it will plague him still, even after the death of his father. He is not quite sure where the overwhelming need to please stems from, only that it seems to fester with each day the king shoves a book beneath his nose. Disappointment Kitt can bear, but indifference from the man meant to love him drives the boy mad. Nothing is ever good enough—not his studies, or etiquette, or practiced charisma. At least with Kai’s field of physicality, there is some measure of accomplishment. Some death to be doled out or command to fulfill.
A dark thought has always dwelled in the back of Kitt’s mind. Perhaps the death of his mother has tainted his relationship with the king. Even the prince hates himself for her death. When, in truth—one Kitt will never come to know—Edric cannot love something that is impotent. And unlike Kai, the heir is nearly useless until the king’s demise, and that does not sit particularly well with him. Though, if Edric were being honest with himself—he rarely is—he would admit how similar Kitt’s temperance is to Iris’s. This only makes things harder for the king and is perhaps what pushes him to mold the prince into something harsher.
But here, in this moment, the king needs something from his son. And even after all this time, Kitt will do anything to make him proud.
“You want me to show Paedyn the tunnels?”
Kitt says this with a skeptical kind of thrill. Stern, though equally bland, the king elaborates. “She will try to convince you to take her through them, like I said. You will do so, but not obviously. It should not be difficult for you to reminisce on how you have never strayed far from the castle walls.”
This is a sad truth, one that the heir will have no quandary speaking of. There will be no need to put on a facade for this intriguing girl, but rather, lower his walls and let the feelings spew from behind them. Though, that may prove to be more difficult.
“She wouldn’t,” Kitt urges. “You don’t know her like I do, Father. She won’t betray me to—”
“She is nothing!” The king’s hiss has his son wincing. “And those that are nothing will take everything from you. Remember that, Son.” He lifts a stiff finger between them. “Do not make the mistake of feeling for her.”
In this moment, Kitt does not believe his father to be right. He holds hope close to his heart, believing in the goodness he knows his mother would have wished him to.
Later still will he discover the naivety of hope.
Slowly, Kitt nods, ever obedient to his father’s wishes. “And why, exactly, am I doing this?”
The king smiles, and it’s joyous enough to tell the heir it isn’t meant for him. “Because I am finally able to put an end to the Resistance.”
The prince thinks on this. His face slackens with surprise. For the first time since he was a boy, the man before him suddenly becomes just that. Behind the facade of a grand king, a god of Elites, there lies a single-minded man. Kitt has always thought his father strived for more than just the eradication of Ordinaries, more than a single kingdom of Elites.
That perfect, powerful image of Edric Azer begins to melt away, leaving a child who is oddly disappointed by the mediocre sins of his father. He has always expected more from the man who so flippantly raised him. If Kitt and Kai had endured their loveless lives for something truly great, it might have been worth it all.
Because that is the truth of it. Kitt has never learned how to love, and yet, he somehow stumbled into it with his brother. But everything else, every hopeless attempt for his father’s favor, is born of obsession. That alone is what the king has taught him.
“That is all you want, Father?” The heir clears his throat, intensity building behind that green gaze. “A truly Elite society within Ilya alone?”
“What more could I ask for?” the king snaps. “And if I meet my end before it is finished, you shall continue my legacy. Wipe out the Ordinaries for good. As it was always meant to be.”
Kitt blinks sluggishly. That is all his father wants of him? All that is expected of him after everything he has endured?
“Did you hear me, boy?” The king’s booming voice does not make Kitt wince. “I have plans for you.”
The heir nods. He has plans as well.
Kitt will become so much greater than his father. Then, he will have earned his approval. Become worthy of a love he never understood.
Later, Edric will speak with his daughter again, spinning each word to seem as though she is influencing his sons. Each jab is intended to spur her toward spending more time with Kitt—the heir discreetly doing his father’s bidding. Soon that boy would become a king, and with the crown comes a discovery of the truth. The letter Edric leaves his son is a reflection of the one Landan left him. And so the secret of the great Plague is passed on.
As for Kai, well, the king does not care for the budding relationship between his Enforcer and forgotten daughter. Nor does he care for the spare who is not truly his. The king revels in Kai’s power as much as he despises it. Because, in truth, it was not born of him, making Edric hate how something so strong is not his to claim. This is why he pushes the boy so hard, spills his blood in training and hardens the heart that pumps it. He equally loves and loathes his Enforcer’s power, and it drives an immense darkness between them.
Kai does not understand the extent of his father’s indifference toward him or why he suffers so heavily at the hand of his king.
Paedyn does not understand the extent of her birth and how it is connected to the king’s loathing of her.
Kitt does not understand the extent of his father’s hatred toward Ordinaries, but he does not need to. No matter the reasonings, it is inferior to everything the king has put him through. The heir will no longer tolerate being unremarkable in his father’s eyes—he will overwhelm every hope and dream Edric has for Ilya. Kitt Azer determines to be the greatness his father never was.
In time, they will come to see what was hidden from them. Every lie brought to light, every secret unraveled.
But the king, dear Edric, will never know the truth behind that rose on Iris’s jewelry box.
