Niyx by Samantha Kroese (websites to read books for free TXT) 📕

Onyx scowled at that and crossed his arms. “You would kill your own sons? Why would that even cross your mind?”

Sephyrn’s blue-green eyes grew cold. He dropped what he was whittling into a bag and sheathed his dagger slowly. “I told you last time you might not like the answers to your questions. Niyx accepts things as they are. You are too curious for your own good. Surprising, considering where you grew up. The Divide didn’t let you ask questions, did they?”

Onyx bristled at the mention of The Divide. Maybe this was a bad idea. Did his past really matter? But to him, it did. He wanted to know why he’d ended up there. “Yeah, let’s talk about The Divide, shall we? Why did you leave me with them?”

“What was I supposed to do? Do you think I could have raised you any better?” Sephyrn snorted. “They call me a butcher. The worst killer this world has ever seen. Not exactly a good profession for raising children.”

“So, leaving me to be trained by the assassins was better?” Onyx snarled. “Do you have any idea what Jadeia did to me?”

Sephyrn frowned at that. “Less than my enemies would have done, I assure you. It is the past, Onyx.”

“It matters still,” Onyx hissed, stepping closer. “I want to know. I want to know why I ended up there. I want to know why Niyx was given to the Night Creatures. I need to know.”

Sephyrn slid off the fence and stood to his full height, slightly taller than Onyx. His cheetah yawned at his feet and rose to sit beside him. “There’s far too much to my past to go into in one conversation. You don’t need to know it anyway. Your mother was my lover. She was an elven gypsy woman from these woods. She worshipped the Night Creatures and used their magic in sacred rituals,” Sephyrn paused to glance back at the woods then shuddered visibly as he turned away. “She promised she would not have my children. I did not want to sire any bastards.”

“You know there’s an obvious way not to do that, right?” Onyx snorted and rolled his eyes. “You kill them afterward.”

“Well, I do now.” Sephyrn shrugged and leaned against the fence. “I was young and foolish enough to think I loved her. No, I did love her once, I think. Does that make you feel better? To know I loved your mother when you were conceived?”

“I suppose it’s something.” Onyx flattened his ears. “You didn’t want us.”

“Again, I warned you that you might not like my answers,” Sephyrn tilted his head, his silver hair falling into his eyes. “I’m a bastard child. I knew how it was to grow up as one. I did not want to do that to my children.”

“So you killed our mother and abandoned us instead?” Onyx spat, agitated.

“No,” Sephyrn growled, narrowing his eyes. They glowed eerily in the darkness. “I killed your mother, yes. She betrayed me, cheated on me, and then lost you to The Divide and Niyx to the Night Creatures. She used me, and she used both of you. I didn’t even find out you two existed until much later. When I finally found out about the two of you, it was too late to save either of you, and you were both holding your own. You were better off where you were, even if you don’t understand that now.” Sephyrn turned and started the opposite way down the road. “If you’re quite satisfied, I have somewhere to be.”

“Where are you going?” Onyx asked, stunned by the sudden flow of information. There were a million questions he’d wanted to ask, but none of them came to him.

“Better that you don’t know. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to check on the two of you later,” Sephyrn replied with a dismissive wave. “Come, Duhma.”

The cheetah glared at Onyx then stalked down the road after her master, her tail bobbing back and forth in obvious cat-irritation. Onyx sighed, watching them go. Clearly, he wasn’t a cat person. He kept annoying them.

He shook his head and continued his journey to Aderaan, thinking over what his father had told him. He had hoped for something more. Sephyrn had blamed their mother for everything, but that was easy to do since he’d killed her, and she could not contradict him. Maybe Onyx would never know the truth.

He shook it off as he came to Ruel’s manor. Once inside, he looked for Ruel and found him in the library in the middle of a discussion with Rebekah. They both fell silent as Onyx walked in. Ruel raised a brow expectantly but Onyx grinned at Rebekah instead. “Hey, Rebekah? Have you been working on that portal magic of yours?”

Rebekah crossed her arms. “What do you want, Onyx? You only ever talk to me when you want something now.”

Onyx brushed off her retort. It was probably true enough. He only put up with her because Ruel loved her and she was good for Ruel. “Niyx wants to know if it’s possible for you to make a portal to somewhere he shows you in order to help him rescue the Night Creatures and bring them to safety.”

“If he can show me where they are, I can do even better than that. I can make portals to wherever they are and make them a magical beacon that boosts his magic so they can find him,” Rebekah said with a satisfied smirk.

“She’s been practicing,” Ruel laughed when Onyx gave her a stunned look of disbelief.

“Let me go change into my witch clothes. I’d hate to ruin these nice Queenly ones,” Rebekah said as she sashayed her way out of the room.

Onyx watched her go then looked back at Ruel. “Aren’t you sick of her yet?”

“She’s not that bad you know. You two should work it out. And no, you can’t kill her.” Ruel snorted and went back to looking through his papers on the