Page 96 of City of Snakes
My head tilted as he backed away from Freya’s altar and motioned for me to follow him to the desk, where the glass case sat, a giant text within it with frayed binding.
“That curse meant that Desidero and his descendants would each only have one child. Upon doing so, they pass the role of Origin and their immortality down to their only heir, and their power slowly transitions to their child. It was my twentieth birthday when my father wielded his last Shadow.”
I balked. “You will become mortal if you have a child? That...that is...” I stammered before shaking my head.
“That is what is necessary,” he mused with a sad smile.
I shook my head again, unwilling to believe what he was saying. “That is quite a sacrifice. And if it makes you feel better, it is not one I would require you to make. I can find another way—someone willing to...”
His brow knitted and his fists clenched as though I’d misstepped.
“There is another caveat...” He looked down at the glass case. The tome beneath it was leather bound, and the cover was carved in a language I did not know. “This is the trueBook of Isolde, the one that names you in its prophecy. My ancestors long ago discerned meaning from the texts that I’ve been reading you.”
Stepping up to the glass, I instinctually raised my fingers to the cool pane. “What does that have to do with anything?”
He opened the glass and carefully flipped to a page he seemed to have memorized. “This here, it reads: ‘You must listen, Fifth Heir of Desidero: Find the Last Daughter of my dearest Isleen. The heir you bear together will be both Origin and Reverist. Your child is the key to ending Death’s reign—the key to setting us all free.’”
It didn’t immediately sink in. I could feel the crease in my brow as I stared at the section he pointed to, unable to read it. My arms crossed over my chest. I searched my thoughts for why this sounded familiar.
His words when he’d told me he was the Shadow Origin. He was the fifth heir of Desidero.
I gasped out, “You? And me?” Taking a step back to put distance between us, I looked him up and down. “You have read me this passage before, and that is not what you said.”
He stood there with his arms at his sides as my composure evaporated. Between the port and my growing fatigue, I could barely stay standing. The whole room spun.
He said nothing—no denial, no remorse…
“You knew...you brought me here knowing.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t know at first, didn’t think it could possibly be you.”
“What did you intend to do?” I couldn’t help the hurt from creeping into my voice as I backed away from him. “Did you...Were you going to force me to—”
“No,” he growled. “I told you—no one touches you if you do not want them to. Including me. I have never lied to you.”
My back hit the door, and I reached for the knob.
“Lying and withholding important truths are two of a kind. Sources...you have played me for a fucking fool.”
It felt like a dagger in my chest was being twisted. I hated that this was what I’d done to Em—I’d withheld so much for far longer.
Krait looked up at the ceiling for a moment before pinching the bridge of his nose. “I was scared.”
Krait being scared of anything seemed like a ridiculous concept. “Scared?You can’t expect me to believe that. Scared of what?”
“I lost everything,” he said and waved his arm toward Freya’s statue. “From birth, I was prepared for this. But it was always supposed to be with her. Then she died, and I couldn’t imagine carrying out the prophecy without her. We’d always planned to raise my heir together.”
It was preposterous. I’d walked right into it...
He’d intended to raise his heir with Freya regardless of who I’d been.
I reeled for balance and white-knuckled the doorknob.
“And what of this heir now, what would we do? Raise them together and split their time between Luz and Sahlmsara? When were you planning to discuss this?”
The only thing that kept me hovering at the door was my desire to believe Krait was better than all the horrible assumptions of him running through my mind.
He took a deep breath. “Until meeting you, I’d never considered your involvement.”
