Page 180 of Season Warriors & Wolves

Caspian reached for the cloth bearing the Olympian crest, studying the eagle and the feel of the white cloth. “Snowlin,” he started and looked up at me, “she is their queen. The last Elding.”

I nodded. “Crowned at sixteen by the twelve tribe leaders of the kingdom.”

Magnus’s shadows still poured with disbelief. “Who knows?”

“Moriko, the Grand Maiden and her second, and now you.”

“Silas?”

“No. Not entirely.”

“What truths?” Caspian asked. “You said there were other truths concealed.”

And so I told them. All of it. From the beginning to this very end. The story of Olympia’s survival, Silas’s intentions, my wife’s origin and her power.

Their horror was almost offensive.

Silence was heavy. It grew heavier when I saw the threat surrounding Magnus. “Aren’t you afraid?”

“For her? Every day of my life. Of her? Never. Perhaps when her friend steals the last bite of her food. It’s her favourite part of the meal.”

Magnus shook his head. “She is not human.”

“Then why does she feel so fragile in my hands? Why does she hurt and cry? Why does she bleed? How can I make it so that she is not?” So she stops hurting every day. So she stops hurting so profoundly.

“My sister’s blood did not change from the time you spoke to her, met her, dined with her, saw her,” Eren said, removing his hood and stepping forward. “If you did not fear her then, why fear her now? Is knowing all so frightening that your perception of her as a person has changed though she still is who she was back then?”

Caspian’s eyes widened and he quickly descended the stairs again. “Eren Krigborn?”

“The very same. And made of the same blood that runs through my sister, the one you title as inhuman.”

Magnus glanced from me to him. “You’ve been alive all this time?”

He nodded. “We come for a matter that needs more urgent dealing than my existence or that of my sisters,” he started. “Silas still has ears in your court. More than ears. Two of your members are conspiring to lead his soldiers inside Theros.”

“How have you come about this?” Magnus asked, looking over to his son for support. “I cannot point fingers at my people without knowing well this is the truth.”

“Malena, the old Lady of Grasmere. And no need to point fingers. We have both names,” I said.

Caspian was still in somewhat of an awe, staring at Eren, ignoring what was being said entirely. “Does your father know?”

“Yes.”

“So the prophecy lives,” he said and turned to me. “Is it still?”

“Yes.”

The doors behind us groaned open. “It does not matter,” Cora said, walking across the massive chamber to us, wiping blood from her fingers with the corner of her white dress. She stopped before Eren and ghosted a hand over his face. “Son. It is great to know you live. And I am glad your sister has returned safely back to you.”

“Thank you, aunt Cora.”

Magnus sighed, raking a look over her. “You went to observe.”

“So I did,” she said and raised her hands up. “But the goddess gifted me these and I know how to use them extremely well.”

The Sun King extended a hand to her in the distance. “Come to my side, Cora. I might start thinking you’re a mirage soon. The deserts have seen you more than I have these days.”

“Ever so amorous, my sweet husband,” she said, throwing us a smile over her shoulder before going to Magnus’s side. “Like the day you won my heart.”