Heph’s mouth flattens as he grimaces. “No. The shadow magic comes from the Underworld.”
Ridiculous, and I scoff audibly. “My father never went to the Underworld.”
“That is correct,” Heph murmurs sadly. “But Jaron isn’t your biological father.”
I stumble backward, and Bastien’s hands go to my waist to steady me. “You lie,” I accuse bitterly.
“I don’t,” Heph says, lifting his chin. “But you said you want to defeat Ferelith, and this is the only way. For you to know the truth and seek your legacy from your real father. While I can teach you how to wield blood magic to amplify your light magic, you don’t have the time to master it to the degree needed to take on Ferelith. Shadow magic is the only way, and even then, I don’t know if it’s enough.”
My head hurts with information overload. I’m entirely confused about the various forms of magic.
Light, dark, shadow, blood.
My throat is so dry, I can barely croak out the words. “Who is my father?”
“A Dark Fae by the name of Amell,” Heph says quietly. “He’s an original fallen dark angel, and many call him the prince of the Underworld.”
Everything spins and my vision blurs before blackness presses in on me. I feel my body starting to fall, Bastien there to catch me, and then everything goes dark.
CHAPTER 24
Thalia
Something strong and peppery hits my nasal passages, and I come out of my faint quickly, growling as I bat away whoever’s hand is in my face.
Bastien looms before me, Heph hovering over his shoulder. I turn my head and see I’m on the bed. My fingers against my temple, I try to massage away the headache I’ve awoken with.
Handing something to Heph—presumably whatever he just had me sniff to wake up—Bastien bends closer to peer at me with worry. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got sucker punched,” I mutter. Straight to the heart. “And embarrassed I fainted.”
My gaze slides to Heph as I struggle to sit up. Bastien’s hand goes behind my back, and he helps me transition to an upright position on the edge of the mattress. “My father isn’t my father?” I ask, not able to help the slightly begging tone in my question. Perhaps I heard him wrong.
“Jaron was, of course, your father in all ways that mattered,” Heph says. “But biologically, he wasn’t.”
“I don’t understand.” I rub my hands over my face before looking back to him. “How did that even happen? Was my mother… was she…”
“Not forced,” Heph rushes to assure me, and I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.
“Did she cheat on my father?” I exclaim, my question woven with a note of hysteria.
“It’s not that simple,” Heph hedges.
“It is that simple,” I snarl, coming off the bed in one fell swoop and brushing past Bastien. There’s not a lick of dizziness within me. Pure fury drives my body. “Explain how she got pregnant with another man while married to my father.”
“She did it for your father.” Heph stares at me, and I can see he believes that.
“She slept with another man for my father?” I ask suspiciously.
“Not a man… a Dark Fae.”
I shudder, knowing there’s something inside me that could potentially be insidious. It makes me sick to my stomach again.
Bastien reaches out and links his fingers with mine. It immediately calms and tempers my frustration. “Tell me the story.”
“Your mother and father tried for years to have a baby, and it left both of them so very sad, particularly your father. He desperately wanted children, while your mom would have been at peace either way. Concerned there was something wrong with her, she hoped to find a magical way to fix it. So she came to me for help.”
“To use blood magic?” I ask, aghast she’d do such a thing.
“She was desperate to make your father happy. She loved him beyond all measure, and if there was a way to do it, she was willing to break the very laws he would be forced to uphold if she were caught.”
“What exactly did you two do?” I whisper, and Bastien squeezes my fingers.
“A spell,” Heph replies uneasily. “A simple one using only a drop of her blood and a scrying pond. She was asking for a way to have a baby. She only wanted information.”
“And she got a Dark Fae instead?” Bastien guesses.
Heph’s nods sadly. “Amell. He runs the Underworld for Queen Kymaris.”
“Kymaris is dead,” Bastien advises him.
“Oh,” he mumbles, taking a few steps backward and shoving his hands in his pockets. His head bows as he considers this. “And Amell… what is he now?”
“I have no clue,” Bastien replies. “Never heard of him before.”
“Can we get back to what happened with my mom and Amell?” I snap irritably.
“I wasn’t there for the conversation. He appeared, said he was responding to her summoning. He told me to leave them alone.”