The Traitor by A. Lombardo (i can read with my eyes shut TXT) 📕

“The Winter Festival is a celebration. We, too, welcome the new year with Alenga’s blessing. You need not travel to Diu, and there are traditions here you should experience. There is nothing there for you now.”

Lucca offered as if it were a suggestion, but Kai heard the finality in his grandfather’s tone.

“Diu is my home,” Kai insisted. “I am their prince, and they bid me to return. Iver is my father, despite what you want . . . or the fact Keegan’s blood runs through my veins.”

Lucca’s eyes narrowed. “Home is where you choose. You committed yourself to Katori and gave up the outside world on the day of your blessing. Are you choosing Diu over Katori after all this time? I know you fly to Albey more often than you should. You visit Shane, swap letters. The Guardians watch him; I hear he is an honorable young man, a Half-Light as I understand, but he is not Katori.”

The fact his grandfather had the Guardians spying on him raked his backside. “Do you question my loyalty?”

“I do,” Lucca admitted. “And I am not the only one. These men who wait for you in Albey—Dresnor and Drew—you should have sent them home, back to Diu. Told them you were not coming back.”

There was a small part of Kai that agreed with his grandfather. He had several opportunities to tell his Kempery-man Dresnor that he would not be coming back to Diu, but Cazier’s most recent letter carried sad news of his father’s illness. “Am I a prisoner?” Kai demanded. “I keep your precious secrets; is that not enough to demonstrate my loyalty?”

Lucca crossed his arms and glared at Kai. “An interesting choice of words. Are the Katori secrets not your secrets, too?”

Are my loyalties really so divided? Kai looked to Smoke, but he offered no response, only turning his head away. “Why must I cut Diu off like an unwanted appendage?” Kai said, turning his attention back to Lucca. “Iver is dying, and he needs me.” Kai knew there was more to his desires, things his grandfather would never understand.

“Do you think me naïve?” Lucca stepped closer to Kai. “Diu is a dangerous place, and it carries great risk to you should you return. Iver is not long for this world. I am sorry, but nothing can save him. This Queen Nola brings outsiders to Diu. Milnos must not turn its gaze on us, or they will be on our doorstep. We must protect our own.”

“Of course, you have spies everywhere. You know everything. So, tell me, any news or sightings of Keegan?” he asked, watching Lucca’s expression harden. “I know you hate him, but we need to be ready for his inevitable return. It has been two months; he knows my mother is alive, and he will come for her.”

“I will not speak about—him.” Lucca’s eyes grew angrier. “Nor should you. He is gone, period. Not even that man could heal from those devastating wounds. I hate that they came by my hand, but the man is gone. Enough talk of this.”

The truth, Kai knew the man lived; he was not sure how, but he felt it in his soul. “We cannot turn a blind eye to Keegan. We must search for him, or at least his crew, and confirm he will not rise from the ashes.”

“I said enough!” Lucca shouted a little too loud, and a few bystanders turned a wary eye. “I will not discuss this.” He tossed his hand up, halting Kai’s rebuttal.

The pain welling in his grandfather’s eyes filled Kai’s stomach with guilt. If Keegan was indeed dead, his grandfather carried the burden. He knew all too well that taking a life carved deep scars into a man’s soul. “I am sorry, grandfather. As you wish, I will let this go.”

♦ ♦ ♦

Hand-in-hand, Rayna and Kai walked around Matoku, the ancient section of the city buried long ago. Their pace was quick. Even Smoke sensed the urgency and kept to the path, not wandering off. Kai needed to persuade Liam to abandon the ancient city restoration in exchange for repairing Alenga’s Crystal Mountain temple and the tunnels for the return en masse of Davi and his people.

The deeper into the ancient city Kai traveled, the louder the ground rumbled beneath his feet. He watched Liam and the other Stonekings direct a massive flow of soil and rocks down into a hollow across the ridge. Kai hung back alongside a line of bystanders. The Stonekings’ movements were swift, and Kai could see the forcefulness. Each surfed the outskirts on the wave of unwanted dirt, revealing stone pathways, broken statues, gazebos, and several petrified trees in its wake.

When Liam returned, Kai cocked his head, directing his friend away from the others. When they were alone, Kai spoke. “Liam, my grandfather asked me to speak with you about restoring Alenga’s temple. I have been tasked with bringing home the lost Katori children, as they call them.”

“Why? Because the word ‘outcast’ leaves a bad taste?” Liam rolled his eyes. “You know, even the Elders see them as foreigners. I do not care what the Elders say, these people only wanted to explore the possibilities outside of Katori and were punished for it. Now they want to force them back home because of a vision?” Liam shook his head.

There was truth in his friend’s words, and Kai hoped that his friend might understand his desire to return to Diu. “I agree with you. People should have a choice to live where they want, but this is not up to us.”

“Why the rush?” Liam crossed his arms. “I am not finished here. We have discussed this already; the city restoration project is important to me, and I want to see it through.”

His friend’s agitation was understandable. “I know what this means