Page 120 of The Arcane God

He’d never wanted to be king, but the responsibility of everything—the expectation of being the heir—had just fallen into his lap. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the Underworld and daemons’ wellbeing—of course he did—but…if he was being honest with himself, there was another reason he didn’t want it, and it wasn’t just the idea of putting Ena and Ladon in danger.

For so long, he’d been suppressing half of himself, shunning his witch half in favor of his daemonic half, because he’d had to—Cole and the entire culture of the Underworld had demanded it of him. Deep down, he hadn’t wanted to be king because it was so exhausting to hide half of himself all the time, and he resented the fuck out of it—not to mention he’d never wanted to be associated with so much of the bad history daemons had, with the harmful things he had done. So when they’d broken the bond to Iblis and he’d been able to access Gaia again, he’d known he didn’t want to do that anymore. He couldn’t. Leaving to be with Ena was just his excuse for running away from something he didn’t want.

Suddenly, Ena reached out, grabbing his hand and squeezing it gently. He looked over at her, the calm, steadiness of her deep-blue ocean eyes drawing him in. She didn’t even need to speak, she simply nodded at him, her eyes scanning the table as if to say “do you see everyone here?”

His eyes followed hers to see encouraging and hopeful faces—diverse faces—and former enemies working together for the first time.

And he realized in that moment that he maybe didn’t have to hide anymore. He was married to a witch—someone who let him be his full self. His son was part witch, and his mother…she was back in his life now too.

Cole was gone, and though there would be others in the Underworld who felt the same way he had, there were more around this table who felt differently—who were open to relations with witches once more, and to a new way of life for daemons. He’d spent so long being angry, but now, looking at the faces around the table, he finally had room for hope.

Hope that a new way was possible, if he chose to lead them. Could he do that?

He looked back at Ena to see a knowing look in her eye, making him suspect that maybe she had had something to do with forcing his hand here, forcing him to face his fear, just like he had done with her when he’d encouraged her to Change, and he decided in that moment that he had to try. He’d be a coward not to, and he was anything but a coward, so he spoke up.

“Yes,” he said, coming to a confident decision. “We accept.”

Smiling faces looked back at him, and in Turner’s case, a highly relieved one.

“Excellent!” Nial exclaimed from down the table. “So what exactly are we calling this new role for Ena? This go-between?”

“How about ‘Omnisca’?” Max offered with a proud smile. “In stryx lore, this is someone who is intimately familiar with Omnis. Someone Omnis-chosen, if you will, who sits at the intersection of balance and chaos in some way.”

Ena nodded with a smile beside him. “I like it,” she said gratefully. “And I am honored to be chosen for this role.”

“Good,” Nial responded, writing it down and taking out a fresh sheet of parchment. “Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss new trade and territory agreements between the three races—if that is acceptable to the king, of course?”

“Yes,” Ty said, feeling an unexpected sense of pride in the title. “Please proceed.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Ena

The negotiations went late into the night, with much back and forth over the goods to be traded between daemons and witches, and how often trades would occur. The daemons agreed to stop sending their own out on missions to purposefully disrupt mortal villages and the Covens, and in return, the witches agreed to allow them free and open travel aboveground.

Then, of course, considerations were discussed for the stryx and how to fairly accommodate their need for hunting lands and locations for their transitory camps. Ena found herself stepping into her role as Omnisca several times as she translated each group’s needs, explaining things the others might not understand or be privy to. But in the end, agreements were achieved, and everyone walked away from the Convening table exhausted, but reasonably satisfied.

Ena was eager to check in with Ladon, who was with Kaya, but as she and Ty made to leave the table, Lara stopped them.

“Meet back at our chambers for a drink?” she asked with a friendly smile. “We’ve missed you all.”

“Definitely,” Ena replied. The thought of catching up with everyone, a moment of calm after all the storm they’d been through, sounded like a dream. “I just need to get the baby first.”

“Of course,” Lara said. “The kids are so eager to meet him—we told them they had a new baby cousin to play with.”

Ena’s heart warmed at that thought, and before long, she found herself sitting at Steig and Lara’s large dining room table, breastfeeding the baby, with a small glass of woodwater in hand.

Their chambers were quiet, the rest of the children having gone to sleep an hour or so ago after preening over Ladon, but she, along with Ty, Steig, Lara, and Turner, were much too wired to sleep yet.

“Big day,” Turner said as he finished pouring himself a large glass of the heady alcohol.

“Very big,” Lara echoed.

“But successful,” Ena offered, “don’t you think?”

“Yes,” Ty said, taking a drink. “Very successful, for a first endeavor.”

Silence followed for a minute as they all got lost in their own thoughts, and the alcohol, only to be broken by Lara.