The man in question grinned even wider, and it was unnerving, "My name is Renithyn Halythern."

Xylin staggered back like he had been struck a physical blow, "You're the king of Ithyneia." That got my attention. It got everyone's attention, even the barely conscious rebels.

"Indeed. And you are, young man?"

Xylin growled. "My name is Prince Xylin Seriphyn of Arien."

Renithyn let out a cold laugh, "The son of my enemy comes to visit me. I was not aware you were a rebel, Prince Xylin."

Xylin didn't answer, so I did, "You wanted us to come here?"

"Indeed I did..."

"Raila. Raila Felynis, but that's not important because you'll be dead soon."

Renithyn only chuckled, "You remind me of someone. He had the same fierceness as you," He studied me further, and I could have sworn shock flashed in his eyes, "Your eyes...glacier blue, like ice." He hissed, "Who is your father, girl?"

I snarled right back, "Larsen Felynis!" I shouted, "You killed him! YOU KILLED MY FATHER!"

Renithyn reared back with a cry of rage as everything within ten meters of him disintegrated into ash with a deafening clap of thunder. So that was his power. Cursed moons, we were so dead, "Larsen Halythern is your father?" He roared.

Halythern? Oh, cursed moons. No, no, no, no. My suspicions couldn't be right.

"My father is named Larsen Felynis," I said in a low voice, "You killed him."

Renithyn straightened, regaining his composure as he snarled, "I thought I did. All those years ago. One never forgets the face of his own brother."

Shock rippled outwards from the others as they stared at Renithyn with newfound horror. Renithyn sensed it and smiled cruelly at me and no one else. So you see it now? He seemed to say.

No, I don't believe this. My father was the heir of Ithyneia from Xylin's story? You knew all along, Raila. You suspected for days. And just like that, all the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Larsen Felynis—Halythern, my father had admitted to fleeing from his kingdom the day he was killed. Kanin's story about the female rebel admitting she had found the lost arkryllian warrior, my mother never telling me about her past—because she was the rebel who had found my father, and had fallen in love with him.

Which meant—

"That's right, Raila," I watched with narrowed eyes as Renithyn made his way down a set of crumbling steps until he was only five feet away from us. I only had to move five feet to kill the man who was behind my father's murder.

"You are the rightful heir of Ithyneia. From what Captain Sandrien has told me, a thief ruling the most powerful country on this continent will not have a happy ending. Maybe you'll end up like my brother, skewered like an animal on our enemy's soil."

I hadn't realized Kanin had wrapped vines around my legs to keep me from moving until I tried to surge forward and shred Renithyn's face to pieces, only to find I couldn't. I settled for a cry of rage that promised a slow death.

"We're only enemies because you started the war in the first place," Kanin snarled, squaring off against the king of Ithyneia, "You coward. All those rebels and innocents dying for nothing."

Renithyn laughed, changing his gaze to focus on Kanin, "Speaking of your rebel friends, I suggest you hurry back to base soon, my army should be already there by now. And if I timed it perfectly, you'll arrive just in time to see them die," he switched his gaze to Clane, "including your father."

Clane surged forward with a roar, blasting fire so hot it was white at Renithyn, but the king of Ithyneia only laughed before dissolving into ash and disappearing. Clane's scorching blast of fire melted the stones instead.

Xylin was the first to recover, "The rebels," he gasped. If what Renithyn said was true— "We have to go now."

Kalinier didn't waste another second. Perhaps a bit numbly, I took Kanin's offered hand and we all disappeared into the darkness, twenty three rebels and us.