After two nights in the village that rivaled the skies, we were headed back the way we had come. The others had been updated on what information I had found out from Nanya on our first morning in Whispermere, since none of them were there to hear it other than Nyx. For the most part, they listened and offered their support. There was nothing any of them could do to ease my disappointment over learning my true parentage. There was nothing they could do to erase the anger I felt toward Sirius for raising me as his for a number of years, just to try to have me killed. The only positive thing that had come of the whole experience was learning my lifespan was not as finite as I had originally thought.


    My twenty-second birthday came and went midway through our trek back down the mountain, which was quite the experience. Occurring close to the end of High Star, I was used to celebrating it in the blistering heat of Sera, during peak festival season. This year, it was spent fighting to breathe as a blizzard wind refused to stop blasting me in the face with snow chunks so frigid and biting they nearly tricked our brains into thinking they were hot. I was sure that if we''d been able to hear each other over the weather, Nyx would have been lamenting the lack of festivities. She had always treated me to a night on the town in Sera, which was probably as much of a present to herself as it was to me.


    By the time we finally reached the warmer embrace of the Seran Forest, it was early Red Moon. The trees were slowly getting sleepy with the cooler weather, injecting their leaves with spouts of reds, oranges, and yellows. Even the long grasses had a yellowish hue. Gray skies, thick clouds, and stormy weather became the norm. Other than having to sleep in the rain, I loved the cooler, stormier weather. Red Moon had always been my favorite season. Not only were the colors so vibrant, but the fierce storms of Chairel were abundant with energy for mages.


    The group of us had followed along the edge of the Seran Forest, using the same route back toward Sera as we had taken to get to Whispermere. It was here that I finally decided to break the ice when it came to my plans. I''d had an idea swimming around my head since that second and last talk with my mother, and so far, I''d been pretty vague with my friends on what I felt the future held for us. As far as they knew, my personal mission was over, and we were about to embark on the mercenary life once we broke free of the forests and could find work. It was part of the reason I hadn''t wanted to bring up my idea. It was yet another personal mission, and they had already done so much for me.


    We were sitting around a campfire, eating. It seemed like the most talking we ever did as a group was during these times. There was a break in conversation, a comfortable silence. I decided to blurt it out to get it over with.


    “I''d like to return to Sera.”


    I received four intense stares, three of which stated I was crazy, and one of which was Theron, who seemed intrigued to know my reasons why. Cerin seemed most upset, which I could understand, though it pained me to see the look in his eyes turn to an angered disbelief when he looked at me. While we talked often, he was always reserved, despite seeming to want to befriend me at the very least. He was constantly internally torn between trusting me or not. And now, here I was, suggesting we do the very same thing I said I''d never do.


    “I am not returning to Sera,” he finally spoke, his voice heightened with panic. “You said you never wanted to go back.”


    “I don''t want to go back, but I feel I need to,” I replied, having a hard time keeping eye contact with him out of shame.


    “For what? Your funeral? Mine?”


    “I left two men I love in Sera who both unwittingly do the bidding of a man who tried to have me assassinated,” I said, my voice teetering on the edge of a plea. “I want to take them with us. Or, at the very least, inform them.”


    Cerin didn''t reply. In our talks, I had mentioned Bjorn many times. He knew what the man meant to me. He also knew Terran from his time at the university. Anyone who had seen my brother and I together had to know I adored him. Perhaps my brother''s work ethic left much to be desired, but he had forever been a welcome reprieve from Sirius''s scorn.


    “Kai, you have to know neither will come with us,” Silas said from across the fire, his voice lacking energy. He had been quieter than ever since Whispermere, looking as if he were always treading a fine line between feeling depressed or conflicted. “Bjorn has worked for your father for forty years. He is human and fast approaching sixty. The last thing he needs to do is go on a trek with us avoiding your father''s armies, which he will send.”Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “Sirius knows how much I love Bjorn. For all I know, he could have found out that Bjorn knew of me leaving or even that he is the one who allowed the messenger from Whispermere to meet me.” I frowned at Silas, desperate. “He could have thrown him in the Seran prisons, or worse. This is the man who tried to assassinate me, Silas!”


    “And he is the same man who hired me, is he not?” Silas retorted. “You are assuming that everything your mother told you is correct. Why would he have gone to such precautions to prevent further assassination attempts if he had tried it himself? Why would he have let Nyx live after hiring her? For all we know, Nanya may be trying to get you to pick a fight with Sera.”


    “Sirius knew I didn''t know he was the client, you idiot,” Nyx spoke up in my defense. “It would have been incredibly stupid of me to befriend Kai rather than kill her if I knew her father had hired me. And besides, Sirius is no stranger to the Alderi ways.”


    “How would you know that, if you never know the client?” Silas mocked in return.


    “Because it was after I escaped the underground that I started noticing certain people popping up dead, all of which would have been convenient for him. Do you remember Dali Miri? The protester who was always parading around in Comercio''s square four years ago yelling about how her child died of a simple wound because they couldn''t afford a healer from Sera?”


    I stared into the campfire before me, remembering that woman''s story all too well. “She managed to get an activism group started calling for affordable healing services and lower restrictions on magic licenses,” I said, softly.


    “Yes, she did. Her main target was Sirius. Called him out for things time and time again. Held him responsible. Spread the message. Then—” Nyx swiped a deep purple hand across her throat. “And by an Alderi blade, no less. And I could go on with others, Silas, but that''s not really the point, is it? Kai''s mother was many things, but she was not a liar. She admitted to throwing her daughter out to the wild for the fun of it and to the possibility of helping the other gods come find her in the future. She admitted to not knowing why Sirius tried to get Kai killed before simply using her as a pawn. She admitted when she didn''t have the answers. But that was one answer she gave, and it was one of the things she said that was easiest to believe.” Nyx squinted her black eyes at Silas. “Perhaps if you didn''t have your Celdic nose shoved so far up his ass you would see that.”


    There was silence, then, and my heart was beating so hard I was sure the others could hear it. Nyx and Silas had always had their differences, and sometimes they''d argued, but Nyx had never gone this far. Perhaps she was fed up with him hurting me, no matter how unintentional it was. She had been angry with him for his words to me in the wyvern''s lair all that time ago, that I had told her about after the fact and made her promise not to mention. Maybe not mentioning it had allowed that anger to boil over.


    “Your undying loyalty blinds you,” Silas finally retorted, his voice shaky with held back anger.


    “My loyalty to who?” Nyx asked, genuinely confused.


    “Kai.” When he said my name, I felt my heart drop. There was pain in his voice...along with regret, and rage.


    “If you are not loyal to her, maybe you need to move the fuck on,” Nyx seethed.


    Silas hesitated a moment, thinking through his words before saying them even when this angry. “You are helping her go down a dark path, Nyx, and you will come to regret it. Kai''s decisions will get you killed. She is now a practicing necromancer and going back to Sera is a death sentence. For all of us.” His intense green eyes moved to mine. “You used to want to help people, Kai. I don''t know when you strayed so far from the path of righteousness.”


    Now it was my turn to be angry. “How dare you suggest I have changed, and all for practicing necromancy! It is for the sole purpose of helping those I love that I want to go back to Sera! Don''t you think I''m aware we could be caught? Is it not a selfless act to risk my own well-being to go back? Your opinion of me must be so low as to suggest I''m on a dark path, Silas. Well, let me tell you what I think of you.” I hesitated, before standing. My anger was getting the best of me, and the tinges of my vision were stained a blood red. “You are a pretentious coward who is more concerned with telling me how to live my life than supporting me. I do not ask for your agreement. I ask for your support. It sickens me that you are so concerned for yourself that you would leave Bjorn and Terran to whatever fate Sirius has decided for them.”


    I walked off, then, into the night, leaving the silence behind me. I needed to breathe. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on in my life. Just a year ago, Silas was one of my closest friends and was a staunch supporter of me. Life, then, seemed so much simpler. Maybe I hadn''t known just how good I''d had it. Perhaps I had been in fear of an early death, and avoided dealing with Sirius. But at least I was basked in ignorance to his true intentions, and I wasn''t losing friends, and I could continue fantasizing about how great the mother I''d never met could be. Right now, that seemed like the better alternative.