Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Chapter 102

Kath’tan opened the door to the most likely and least wanted person he expected to see.

Tarraz stood tall on the other side, staring right through him. "I would like to have a word with the mage."

Kath’tan kept his expression neutral, "He’s asleep..."

"Why did you stop?" A loud voice caught their attention from a hallway away. "My patience is very thin, Zazrel."

Tarraz wore a frown for a split second before his expression cooled again. "I’ll be back."

Kath’tan barely listened to what he had to say, drawn in by the unfamiliar voice of a woman who seemed to be scolding the Grand Duke without an ounce of fear.

He put a foot out the door subconsciously, his body already moving in the direction of the voice.

"Tarraz," The woman addressed the Archduke a few moments after he went out of sight. "Perhaps you’ll be more use than this fool. Where is my son? Take me to him."

Archduke Tarraz spoke too quietly for Kath’tan to pick up on, and for a few seconds that stretched into forever, there was silence.

Kath’tan felt blood rush into his ears when the trio stepped into the hallway that held his room. Too focused on the Chaos faction Demon to notice that his father was being led around by his cloak, impatience blazing in the woman’s eyes.

She slowed to a stop when she saw him, shoving Zazrel away from her. "K-Kath’tan?" She called out softly, "Kath’tan?" She tried again, her voice stronger this time, her long legs eating up the distance between them.

Kath’tan stared back blankly, watching the Chaos faction Demon get closer and closer. There was a thin silver band holding back her purple-black hair, an amethyst in the middle. The gem matched her glistening eyes which were fixed on him.

Behind her, Zazrel straightened out his clothes with anger burning in his eyes, glaring at the mad woman who had inflicted it on him.

Valrena blatantly ignored him, her glassy eyes fixed on her son whom she was seeing for the first time since his birth. She stopped a distance from him, looking him over. He was far taller than she was now, she could no longer hold him in her hands.

"Zazrel, take your puppet and leave." She tossed over her shoulder at the Grand Duke.

"You might want to watch your tone, High Lady Valrena...." Tarraz was the one to respond to her. "You are in the royal castle of Threnval and will act as such."

Valrena was unfazed, "I said leave. Or I’ll make you."

Zazrel clicked his teeth, his anger palpable from where he stood. But he did do as he was told, warping away in a red storm powerful enough to rattle the lamps on the wall.

The anger in Tarraz’s eyes was unfamiliar, it lit up the cold embers in his eyes, making him look exactly like Grand Duke Zazrel. But he equally followed in his father’s steps and warped away.

Valrena turned around to face her son then, her purple eyes filled with tears. "I can’t let that bastard see me cry again," She sniffled.

Kath’tan was speechless, his mother was nothing like he expected. Grand Duke Zazrel was treated like a god, it was disconcerting to see him tossed around by a female Demon who was also from the Chaos faction.

"Why didn’t you come earlier?" He blurted out without meaning to. He wanted to ask why she summoned him, he wanted to ask who she was, he wanted to ask if she truly was his mother.

But instead, his lips went past the questions burning in his thoughts and asked what he truly wanted to know. There was no question that Lady Valrena was his mother, her skin may be different but he had seen that face in the mirror too often not to recognize it at first sight.

Valrena bravely wiped her tears away, her hands clenched into fists. It was taking a lot of effort out of her to keep her distance but there were too many years to cross.

"It’s no excuse," She mumbled, her voice and her gaze ridden with guilt. "My father had me imprisoned after your birth, sending you to that fool Zazrel was the only way to keep you alive." Valrena admitted, blinking in an effort to rein in her tears.

The rushing in Kath’tan’s ears was deafening now, it was a miracle that he could still hear his mother’s voice.

"But it wasn’t the dungeons that kept me captive, it was my guilt and my obligation to him." She went on despite his silence, "I’m so sorry that it took the news of your death to break me free."

Kath’tan lowered himself to the floor, needing to sit, the influx of information sending him reeling. He had been resigned to the truth that his mother was dead, but it did put things into perspective. Why Zazrel would go through so much effort to kill him instead of just snapping his neck as a baby.

Valrena sat with him without hesitation, her purple cloak pooling on the red carpet around her. She wore heavy boots under her delicate silver dress, at ease despite being in the enemy castle.

She was thrown back to the moment she had heard that her son had died in battle, it had shattered the haze she had been living in. She still had loyal men, despite being locked away in the depths of the dungeons like a paltry criminal so she could easily get news about his wellbeing.

She had thought that she just had to pay her dues and everything would be alright. Her son might not be living the best life, but he was alive and she could still tolerate that.

But after a century of damp stone walls and heavy cuffs, nothing had changed. Her father knew that as soon as she was released from the dungeons, she would go seeking her bastard and thus would never let her go.

But he should have also known that it was her love and respect for him that kept her docile all these years. She could have easily broken out of the dungeons but didn’t, her respect for her father’s standing surpassing her own wants.