The elegant corridor leading up to his mother’s chambers on the ground floor of the residential wing was large enough that six men as broad as him could walk side by side. Along the wall, sculptures of great warriors, beautiful maidens, and a naked Adonis had been planted, and in between each priceless piece of art, there was a guard who surveyed him darkly, threateningly, as if daring him to look the wrong way.

Vale wasn’t surprised to see Drake Night come out of the room just as he reached its curved double doors, but he still threw up a little in his mouth.

The issue wasn’t that his mother was having sex, exactly—although, had she been good enough to abstain, it would have certainly helped his nausea. It was that she’d chosen to do it with a male who’d grown up along with Vale and Kal. They’d never been friends—they were too competitive for that—but they’d had each other’s back in battle. Drake had bled to take a hit intended for Vale, and vice versa.

“No need for the grimace,” said the protector. “I was here in my official capacity.”

“Aren’t you always?”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Go on in. She’s waiting for you.”

Of course she was, although Vale had decided to visit her not even ten minutes ago.

“Kal will wish to have words with you,” he told Drake, leaving it at that, as there were far too many ears in the wide-open space.

Drake nodded and took his leave, and Vale passed the doors leading to the queen’s chambers.

It hadn’t changed, at least not in the last seven hundred years. Behind the large heavy doors, there was an impersonal hall that befitted Shea’s rank. A circle of polished white columns supported her bed at the very center of the room. The bed was large enough for a dozen people, and Vale was quite certain that his mother had tested whether a dozen people would indeed fit at one point or another.

The ominous piece of furniture gave him the creeps. Young and beautiful she may seem, but Shea was his mother, and he hated everything that reminded him of the fact that she also happened to be a grown-ass woman very fond of the pleasures of the flesh.

The queen was seated in her study, fully dressed, and Vale couldn’t discern the distinct scent of sex around the room. Thank all heavens, Drake hadn’t deceived him.

“You’re no seer, and yet you often know things well before they occur. How does that work exactly, Mother?”

“A lady has her secrets,” she replied. “And a little bird has whispered in my ears long ago, telling me that I would reveal some of them to you tonight.”

Vale lifted a brow.

“Tell me of the prisoner down in your little playroom.”

Count on her to know of his dungeon. “He’s not saying much yet, but I’ve learned a few things regardless.”

He explained his findings. Shea remained expressionless while he spoke, but Vale saw no surprise in her eyes.

“And you knew everything I just said,” he stated as a conclusion.

She sighed, patting the seat next to hers.

Vale did as he was bid, all the while trying to recall whether he’d ever been invited to sit in his mother’s bedroom. Probably not. As an adult, he’d never remained within those walls long enough to have any reason to take a seat.

As a child…. He allowed himself a smile, imagining the awe he might have felt, had the great and magnificent beauty he called queen asked him to sit in her presence, back in those days before he’d known that he was her son.

“You’ve always been a curious boy. What do you know of ancient history, Vale?”

He frowned. “Are we to discuss my education? Perhaps you could quiz me on dates. I quite like this game.” Shea set her stare on him until he had to point out, “That glare isn’t working on me, Mother. It’s basically like looking in a mirror.”

“If you’re able to keep your tongue in your mouth for a moment, I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

Vale closed his mouth and forced himself to keep it that way as the queen began her tale.

“I’m not talking about your lifetime, or mine for that matter. Have you ever looked into the times before the age of gold, and before the age of kings?”

“I can’t say I have,” he admitted.

He had enough things to worry about in the present. Getting lost in old volumes about the golden days of the past wasn’t his style.

“Shame. Well, I’ll have to run through it quickly. This world was quite different back then. More populous, for one. There was a lot more infrastructure, technology. And war. Everywhere around Ertia, there was war.”

The queen pulled out a map that showed the Isle, the waters around it, and its walls, separating it from the horrors behind them. The bulk of the map was covered by dark patches of lands and sea. But the long parchment also showed other light stretches of land, some larger than the Isle, all fitted with the same golden walls around it.

“There’s more safe land in the world?” he guessed, frowning.

It had been his understanding that the Isle was the last safe harbor of their kind.

“Indeed. There were once five continents, and three remain unaffected. But there’s no time to run through all of this now. I wish to tell you of a bygone era, five thousand years ago. Back then, the world was inhabited by a race of mortals, with short life-spans and a high reproduction rate.”

“Common fae, then,” Vale translated.

Shea shook her head. “No, not quite. These beings called themselves humans. There are some left in the lands of dragons, on the other side of the Dead Waters. Humans had a love for the arts and enough intelligence to build marvelous things, but what they truly excelled at was destroying one another. Among other weapons, they created a virus meant to incapacitate their enemy, but it was more volatile than they’d imagined. That was their doom. Over 97 percent of their population was infected with it. Some survived it, in a manner of speaking. Their bodies would remain alive, and yet their minds were truly gone, leaving nothing but a beastly hunger for any flesh they could find. It was a thing of horror. All would have been lost to this fate, if help hadn’t come to them.”

“Help?” Vale prompted, now quite attentive.

These were some interesting facts he’d never heard before, but part of him grew impatient. He had pressing concerns, and he had no idea how the lesson was supposed to be helpful to him now.

“Yes. Unbeknown to the bulk of their population, the human evolution had been overseen, and often tweaked, by a higher power—creatures who came from another world far in the skies.”

Now he laughed, actually laughed out loud for a long while. Then, seeing his mother’s expression, he added, “You’re kidding.”

“Are you truly egocentric enough to believe that in all of the stars you can see, just with your naked eyes, there could be no other planet with life?”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.

“And yet these creatures came from the skies. To the humans, those beautiful, immortal creatures were nothing short of gods. Over the next years, they battled those we call orcs, those turned humans, until almost none of those foul beasts were left in the Isle. The gods were mighty, but few. A few dozen of them could not hope to defeat billions of vermin and keep the remaining humans unaffected by the virus, so they erected energy walls to keep us safe from what lies beyond. Two continents, and most of the seas, are still swarming with these evil creatures. They’ve depleted their resources by now, eating every living thing around them. Without the mind to farm or gather the food they need, they’re desperate to get to us. Eat our animals, and our flesh, if they can.”

Vale now perfectly understood why children were simply told that an enemy lived beyond the wall. The detailed version would have given any youngling nightmares for years.

Vale had seen orcs. Occasionally, a few made it through the walls and they needed to be put down. Never had he considered that they could possibly have been anything close to fae.

He expressed his doubt. “You say they’re all behind the wall, and yet I certainly have killed my fair share of orcs.”

The queen nodded. “They’re constantly attempting to cross the walls. Sometimes a few pass through. Battling ten, or even a hundred of them is one thing. Fighting against billions would be quite another. The walls prevent an outbreak.”

Vale nodded carefully, attempting to accept this revised version of the history of their kind.

“All right. That’s… a strangely fascinating tale. But the fact remains: I fail to see the point of hearing it tonight.”

“Impatient,” the queen chastised him, clicking her tongue.

He was, which had something to do with the fact that he’d depleted his energy less than an hour ago. He needed food, rest, maybe a fuck too. Not a lesson.

Still, if Shea believed he had to hear it, he had to hear it. “Sorry, go on.”

“Some of the gods remained here on the Isle. They built a stronghold in the cold of the north. You know it. You’ve seen it.” As Vale remained silent, she explained, “The city of crystal.”

His mouth opened and closed again, as he found no protest. The white city with its shining high walls had seemed foreign to him. He didn’t recognize the materials, hadn’t understood the devices and the transports people used. Everything was strange about it—both ancient and too advanced.

He’d always thought of it as a place from another world. Alien.

His mother was still recounting her tale. “For a time, they lived there quietly, but it isn’t in their nature to stay idle. The human population had considerably decreased. Where there used to be billions, there were only thousands. The air had become toxic, changing the very core of the human constitution. Physically, they changed, but that wasn’t the problem. Their previously rapid reproduction rate slowed down considerably. Many young died before they came of age. It was easy to see that the race might soon become extinct. So the gods fixed it.”

“Fixed it?” Vale was confused.

“Tweaked a thing or two on a cellular level. Modified a few genes. Made the mortals longer-lived so they had the time to reproduce again. They didn’t stop there. Some were made prettier, a little more like them. Eventually some could even bind energy and matter, just like them. Others were blessed with wings. Some experiments didn’t go as well, of course….”

Despite his exhaustion, and the slight headache he suffered from, Vale had finally connected the dots.

“You’re talking of the castes. Lesser fae, common fae, high fae.”

Shea nodded. “Imagine a teacher grading a paper. A lesser fae is an experiment gone wrong. A common fae is deemed acceptable. High fae are successful test subjects. Elves were the last creatures they made, once they’d perfected the process.”

Vale couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re saying we were nothing more than lab rats to aliens who played at being gods?” The notion was enraging.

“No, Valerius. I’m saying our people were nothing more than lab rats. You and I are descendants of the gods.”

Spotting a full glass on the queen’s desk, he asked, “Is that alcohol?”

“Water.”

He sighed. “All right. Explain.”

“There were only a few gods in all of Ertia. Fifty, perhaps fewer. No more than a handful chose to live in the Isle. Most of them paired with high fae at some point during their long existence, giving birth to half-bloods. Scions, we’re called. Those children were exponentially more powerful than the fae who’d been genetically modified to have those powers, needless to say. The Blackthorns are one of the first of those lines. There’s perhaps a sixteenth of divine blood in my veins, but it makes me who I am.”

One of the most powerful fae in the Isle.

Vale would have loved to find something illogical in what his mother was saying, but all of it made too much sense. He sincerely wished she’d told him all that when his cerebral capacity was at its optimal level; right now, he just hoped he’d taken in all of it to reanalyze it later.

“So, if there’s a sixteenth of their blood in your veins, that makes me a watered-down version of that?”

But even as the words crossed his lips, he knew how wrong they were. No. If Shea was indeed some sort of demigod, then his father, the overking of the Isle, was just the same.

Or worse.

“Are you telling me my father is one of those gods you speak of?”

Shea inclined her head in concurrence. “Indeed. And most of those who now live in his realm are either gods or their direct descendants. The rest of the Isle call them fae and they laugh at it. They’re right to. Don’t get me wrong, Vale, I can hold my own against anyone in this realm. I can defeat any seelie. I may even bring down some elves. But they’re another matter. The weakest scion is worth ten high fae in battle. As for your father….” She hesitated. “He didn’t wish to get involved in the War of the Realms. Corantius stayed out of it. It was his belief that they’d interfered with our fate enough. That the gods ought to leave mortals to their affairs. The moment he changed his mind, demanding peace, everyone bowed, because his kind could have killed us all with absolutely no effort.”

Vale’s mind went to the fae in the dungeon. Or the demigod. Had Shea said scion? Whatever he was. Kal had told him he’d grabbed a simple foot soldier, and yet Vale had had some trouble reading past his defenses. He’d needed to push hard.

His mother’s words changed everything he knew, and yet explained so much.

Still.

“I don’t get it,” he said finally. “I mean, I understand everything you said. I’ll admit that it makes sense, strangely. I just don’t get why there’s a scion amongst the seelie guard. It feels… underhanded. If they could just kill us all, why the sneakiness? It makes no sense.”

“I didn’t say I had all the answers. I simply wish you to understand what you’ll have to face.”

Silence stretched as he considered everything.

Finally, he concluded, “This doesn’t come from the overking. If Father had wished for war, he’d come at us directly. And by the sound of it, we’d be utterly screwed.”

Shea smiled. “Indeed. Thankfully for all of us, your father believes in peace.”

“But not everyone among his people is the same. Someone from the realm—someone high in the hierarchy—is pulling strings.”

“That is also my belief. Now, son, I have given you much to think about for a night. And you do look quite exhausted. Go and rest.”

“I will if you tell me there’s a plan in place so we come out of it alive.”

The queen chuckled. “You should know me better by now. There’s always a plan.”

He got up and moved to leave, but at the doors, he hesitated.

“Tell me, Mother, where does Devi Rivers stand in your machinations?”

The queen held his gaze. “Well, I never. You do like the girl,” she said, laughing.

“Let us not pretend that it wasn’t your doing.”

“It wasn’t,” Shea replied unequivocally. “And to answer your question, son, Devira is at the very center of it. Just like you.”

He didn’t like that. Not one bit.

“You’d put a youth who hasn’t seen her first century in the way of harm?”

If one thing could be said of his mother, it was that she didn’t hide who she was.

“I’d throw a thousand youths in the way of harm to protect the realm. I am queen, Valerius. One day, you’ll understand what that means.”

Hopefully he never would.