Page 68 of The Night Prince

The more I help him protect himself, the more he will wonder how I know how to do this,Rhalyf thought.

But, at the same time, Declan couldn’t be hiding from sunlight like a vampire–or a Kindreth–forever either.Did he really not know what it was?He’d been young when brought here.Maybe truly young.No full-grown Kindreth would put themselves in greater harm’s way by becoming the child of two humans.

So perhaps he had been placed with them because he actuallyhadbeen a child when brought here.But what Kindreth parent would do that with their child?If they didn’t want a child, they would kill it.But if they did…

Maybe they had hidden Declan with the humans for a time, intending to retrieve him after finding a new home outside of the Under Dark like he had. There must be a glamour on the young man, though he couldn’t even sense it, which just showed how carefully done it had been. So someone had cared.Someone had wanted to keep Declan safe.But why hadn’t they come back?

For some reason, he thought of Vulre Vultorus then.But the Blood Knight had no children as far as he was aware.Though hehadrun the Venomthorn.Could Declan be from there?An orphan of the Venomthorn? It was all madness.

Yet what if it was true?

What if Declan had been left here as a child and he had no idea what he really was?Perhaps trauma or a spell had kept him like this.The people who should have come back for him hadn’t because… because they couldn’t. Again, Vulre’s very dead face floated in front of his mind’s eye.And so Declan grew up, thinking he was human until things started to fall apart as he grew older.

That would mean Declan was completely clueless about himself, his powers, and the dangers he posed.

I should really get rid of him regardless of Aquilan pining.A child like this?There’s too much to teach him.And the more I say and do, the worse it will get for me.

But Lament lay dormant on his thigh.His magic remained at a low ebb.

I really am getting soft.

“You do know that the Sun weakens you.It could actually kill you given time, don’t you?”Rhalyf asked carefully.

“How do you know that?”Declan’s nostrils flared not with anger, but with alarm.

“I saw you outside, remember?”

“Yes, but the Sun can’t do that to a human–”

“No, it can’t.”

That sentence just lay between them like a block of ice.Neither of them addressed it.

“You need anAdiva.I assume because you don’t know what that is, that you don’t have one and don’t know how to make one?”Rhalyf asked.

“I–”

But Declan got no further words out.His head had snapped towards the forest in the direction of where the two Aravae had run off. Surely, they had not decided to return so quickly!But Rhalyf didn’t think so.Declan was staring out into the darkness with the intensity of a pointer dog.Rhalyf spun around fully towards the forest.He felt nothing even as he allowed his magical sense to flow outwards.But then he realized that the night insects had stopped singing.The world was silent.

“Do you see him?”Declan whispered.

“Him?”Rhalyf asked, his eyes frantically searching the light and shadowy patches between the trees.

“He has… antlers in his hair,” Declan murmured.“A crown of them.”

Rhalyf opened his lips, about to say that Declan clearly was thinking of the song the Forever Hunt, and had antlers on the brain, but then… then he saw the man too.Just a silhouette of him with a massive antler crown.Just for a moment.Passing between two trees.Gliding.And then he was gone.

Declan started towards the woods, but Rhalyf clamped a hand down on his nearest forearm.Declan’s head snapped towards him.

“No,” Rhalyf said.

“There’s someone out there–”

“Not anymore.The insects are singing,” Rhalyf said even as he pulled his magic in so tight against himself that it might have become physical armor if he’d wished it. But the insects were singing.The night had returned to normal.Had it ever been anything else?

“Then why are you still afraid if he is no longer there?”Declan demanded.

Rhalyf dragged his gaze back to Declan.Whatever he was going to say–andwhathad he been thinking of–was lost as Finley and Snaglak suddenly burst out of the back door.

“Declan!Oh, andyou,” Finley said, his mouth puckering as he noticed Rhalyf.“What’s going on?Lily was worried about you.And I think the king was, too.”

The last was an afterthought.As if Aquilan could ever be an afterthought.

“Let’s go inside,” Declan said, not lying to his best friend, but clearly redirecting him.

“Want me to carry the barrel, Declan?I can carry lots of wine,” Snaglak offered eagerly.

“And you can drink lots of wine, too, can’t you, big guy?”Declan smiled.“I’ve got it.Let’s go in.”

Not that Rhalyf disagreed with that sentiment.The night was fine and beautiful.They were in Tyrael.The war was over.The night insects were singing.But inside the Dawn was infinitely better.Infinitely.He and Finley were the last to go in.His gaze still moving over the woods looking for an antler crown.