Page 20 of Renegade Kingdom
For a moment, no one moved. Then Tank nodded and began herding people toward the door. The representatives went first, still looking shell-shocked. Rhidian’s crew followed. My mates lingered. Unsure what to do and I gave them a small nod.
“Stay. We all need to hear this.”
One by one, they moved around the room. Taking strategic places as they eyed Fizzle suspiciously. Dean came to my side, his hand brushing against mine in a silent promise of support.
The silence stretched between us and my eyes stayed locked with Fizzle’s. The air was thick with everything unsaid. All the anger I’d been carrying. All the betrayal. All the questions I’d been too afraid to ask.
Part of me had known all along, I realised. Some instinct buried deep, some whisper at the edge of my consciousness. Fizzle had told me I wasn’t born at the Spring Court. That I was a gift from Nymeria. But he’d never said where. Never explained what that meant. And at the time, I’d been too caught up in the prophecy, in the battle, in unwittingly cursing my mates to die with me, to push for more.
I should have asked more questions. Should have demanded the whole truth instead of accepting scraps.
Rhidian had known, I realised. He’d kept pushing Fizzle to tell me. I remembered the guilt on Fizzle’s face during those conversations, the way he’d deflected and delayed.
No more.
“Tell me everything,” I said. “Now. Or I swear to the gods, Fizzle, I will…”
“I know,” he interrupted softly. “I know, Alyssandra. And I will. It’s time.”
He settled onto the table in front of me, his small form suddenly looking ancient. Weary. Like the weight of centuries was finally catching up to him.
“I’ve kept so many secrets,” he said. “Told so many half-truths. I told myself it was to protect you. That you weren’t ready. That the knowledge would only burden you before you were strong enough to bear it. I swore an oath.” He sighed. “But perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I’ve only made things harder in the guise of trying to make them easier. Perhaps Rhidian…”
“Fizzle…”
“The Fifth Court is where you were born,” he said. “Where Nymeria brought you into existence. She gathered all of theguardians of the courts to witness your creation. To make an oath.”
My heart was pounding so hard I could barely hear him over it.
“An oath to do what?”
Fizzle met my eyes, and in his gaze I saw grief and hope and something that looked almost like relief.
“To guide you,” he said. “To protect you. Because you are Nymeria’s second child. Her last hope.” He paused. “And Arik... Arik was her first.”
The world tilted beneath my feet.
Sister.
Arik’s voice echoed in my memory, and suddenly the word meant something entirely different.
Entirely worse.
“Nymeria created him first,” Fizzle continued. “She poured half of herself into him, gifting the land a child, a protector. Someone who was supposed to unite the courts, to guide the realm into an age of peace and prosperity.”
“But he didn’t,” I said flatly.
“No. He was... corrupted. Whether by the power itself or by something dark within him, we never knew. Instead of uniting the courts, he set out to conquer them. To hoard the old magics for himself. To drain the land. To drain Nymeria herself.” Fizzle’s voice grew heavy. “By the time we realised what he had become, it was too late. He was too powerful. And even if Nymeria could defeat him, the cost would have destroyed her completely.”
I was finding it hard to breathe.
“So she created me instead,” I said. “A weapon to use against her own son.”
“A bridge,” Fizzle corrected gently. “Between all the courts. Someone who could stop him. Someone who could do what she no longer had the strength to do herself.” He looked down.“Creating you took nearly everything she had left. She is a shadow of what she once was, sheltering at the Fifth Court, too weak to intervene directly. So she had her guardians swear an oath—to guide you, do what they could to protect you, and prepare you for what was coming. Prepare you for the prophecy. To unite.”
“And you’ve been doing that,” I said. “All these years. The cryptic hints, the manipulation, the secrets…”
“I’ve done what I could to fulfil my oath,” Fizzle said quietly. “But I see now that I could have done it better. Should have trusted you sooner with the truth.” He lifted his gaze to mine. “I’m sorry, Alyssandra. For all of it.”
