Father protested our acceptance of Korac in the beginning. I think he resented the affection shown by his entire family to a stranger. We had none to spare for our King.

So when I included Korac on a rare excursion to the Great House, Umbra shouted until his face turned blue, "No. That mongrel is not accompanying us. How dare you even suggest his presence in Elden's temple?"

Savis entered my chambers and cornered her husband with a hard stare, even though she had to cling to the door frame. "My father would much prefer the young Icarus' presence over a false ruler. If you require my participation, Korac comes to protect our sons."

The steel in Umbra's eyes sharpened into blades. "The Valkyrie protect the royal caste."

She shook her head, gracefully declining his reasoning. "No. They protect their King. Now, come. I can repair your temperament for our travels."

The shift in my father's demeanor disturbed me. A fluid transition from a spiteful aggressor to a man looking forward to the next ten minutes. Eagerly. He smirked as he said, "Give to me what you want."

As they disappeared to mother's chambers, I wondered at the power women held over men. And if men understated a woman's place in the world to prevent them from taking it over--

"Beast!" A shrill voice cried from the hall.

The thunderous stomping of heavy paws drew me to the door. Many Feet, enormous and solid, plowed into me. I let the only true mongrel in the Spire knock me to the floor.

His? Her? Take your pick. Hellkites are asexual and reproduce as such. Many Feet's tongue lolled slimy spittle across my face as I roughly scratched its sides. Ancient now, its senses began to fail, often mistaking me for a taller Xelan. We looked similar enough that I couldn't blame the poor creature.

But said poor creature weighed over a ton, and my leash reacted to the crush on my ribs. I patted the panting thing. "Many Feet, release me."

"Off," Xelan called from my doorway.

In the beast's rush to move, four of its paws crushed my pelvis. It cost me three hours. My brother snickered.

"Breathe through the pain, Night Prince." Korac appeared with a ghost of a smile. He tossed me a warm rag to wash away the spit.

When it landed on my face with a wet "splat," Xelan hugged his ribs and laughed until he hit the floor. My guard watched the younger Icarus, bemused.

"Quite," I muttered through the rag, unwilling to stand.

Karter, Para, and Amolot waited for us in the hall. The only Icari allowed in this wing, they served as escort for our journey. With each of us carrying a pack and a saddle on Many Feet, we waited.

Umbra exited mother's chambers, crudely reseating his belt. "Savis requires a moment." He glared at Amolot as he took the stairs alone. I believe he enjoyed torturing the women in his life.

It surprised me to find Xelan watching father with fire in his dark eyes. Earth-age ten, his jaw and fists clenched with as much menace as a child could muster. Until mother joined us. He rushed to her and hugged her leg.

Savis straightened her robes and flowing hair with trembling hands.

Karter and Para looked away.

Amolot stared at my mother with murder in her yellow eyes.

Savis' hoarse voice set my jaw clenching, "Depart now if everyone is ready?" Despite father's abuse, she glowed. For her, this was a trip home.

Father waited for us on the platform. Karter lifted a gleeful Xelan into Many Feet's saddle. A prototype. A lead connected the reigns to Karter's waist to prevent the twelve-foot tall beast from losing the herd.

My brother vibrated with excitement.

Even Korac glanced over, curious, as Karter circled arms around him. "Secure?"

Silent in her presence, he nodded.

That wonderful Valkyrie beamed at him. Followed by Para, who offered, "If you tire of this one's inelegant ascensions, I will happily rescue you."

"Rude." Karter rolled her eyes.

Savis laughed. Pure, sweet, melodic.

We all turned to her. Umbra's mouth hung open, startled. I beamed. Maybe she learned to accept and trust my accord.

Without another sound, Elden's daughter ascended and led the journey home. Several hours passed. Many Feet performed excellently to Xelan's endless delight. We paused only once. In her weakness, mother struggled to maintain a glide, prodding father to carry her. He reveled in it. But even that couldn't dampen her mood.

When we arrived, Amolot alighted first and secured the site. She signaled for the Valkyrie and Korac to land next.

After they went ahead, Umbra proclaimed, "Remember our arrangement."

"I help you find the chamber. You let me return to my father's house with our sons."

"I told you to keep it to yourself." He snarled and squeezed her arms until she cried out.

I gaped. "What?!"

Xelan shouted, "No. Not here. I will not let you touch her like that here."

Well, I suppose you understand how these moments transpire by now. Fortunately, Umbra seemed too distracted by his impending discovery to pay my brother any heed. He alighted next.

Ignoring another one of mother's attempts to recover the Old Ways, I helped Xelan dismount from his beast. He seethed at father, and I distracted him from his suicide mission by pointing out a lump on Many Feet's neck. "Was that always there?"

He examined it earnestly as Korac peered at the exhausted pet. It splayed all six limbs out on the ground and let its head rest in the dirt with a mini shock wave of dust.

Once Umbra released Savis, she joined Karter and Para. They stared down their King and his General with a proverbial line drawn in the sand. I wasn't surprised the other Valkyrie supported Savis over their ruler, but I wondered what this trip meant for the stability of the kingdom.

Umbra shook his head and waved them off, breaking the silence in a voice heavy with some emotion I couldn't place, "I pray we find it."

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We followed on foot. Agitated with curiosity, I risked my father's ire and finally asked, "What are we searching for? This chamber you speak of?"

Umbra glanced back at me as Savis led us into a cave. "Before the Coalition and Elden sacrificed themselves to Li, our maker told us of a tomb. From there, our nacres would watch over our kin. Your mother..." he jerked his head at her, "...said she saw it in the fires on Thailea. Along with a few other noteworthy events." He glared at Xelan beside me.

"Beautiful. Made of glass not unlike the nacre. And all the saviors' stones were perched on pedestals under Li's shine. Only one lay empty." She chanced a look at Umbra.

They both stopped and stared at one another as something unspoken stretched between them. Fate. Destiny. Reality. What did it matter? They hurt us as they hurt each other and hurt themselves.

"Follow me, Xelan. Korac." I led them down a random tunnel. I wanted to go explore away from mother and father's mutual implosion. Separate from them was all that mattered.

We wound through the caves for a dozen hours. Lost, perhaps, but happy as we made our own adventures.

Korac discovered phosphorus cave crickets big enough to ride. Unfortunately, they also turned out to be carnivorous. It took a rock slide to lose them. He never once called out in fear.

After which, I found a stream of red water, uncontaminated by the cataclysm. I cursed at it, "By Elden..."

My guard knelt and brushed his fingers in it. "Lady Savis always told me Li scorched all the water on Cinder."

"Lady Savis cannot account for all of Cinder when locked in a tower--"

"Look!" Xelan cried out.

I rushed to a new chamber around the bend where he snuck off to. Korac went ahead of me and checked. He took his role as guard seriously rather than an excuse for his presence as an unofficial member of this family. But when I tried to broach the subject, he continued to refer to us by title and address us with rank despite my initial protests.

When I spilled into the cavern, the beauty of it captivated me. A silver mineral veined along the rock. Floor, walls, and ceiling. It glimmered in the light of our flares. Xelan knelt over a patch and collected samples.

"Do you recognize it?"

He shook his head. "No match for any I currently own. Or any we read about. Hey!" He rushed to Korac and pointed at his head. "It looks like your hair."

Xelan's beaming smile made the guard duck his gaze.

I wanted a sword made from that material and opened my mouth to say as much when voices interrupted me.

"This plan was a mistake. We cannot get him alone. He refuses to part from her. We failed--"

"Karter! Para! Come see!" My little brother cried out to the Valkyrie.

Their voices drifted from the tunnel. I shook my head, wishing to hear more before Xelan's interruption. I caught Korac staring intently at me. When the women entered the chamber with sounds of genuine appreciation, my guard followed them with his gaze before returning it to mine. Poignantly.

I shook my head. Karter and Para would never hurt us. And if that conversation was headed where we thought, I was only surprised it didn't occur sooner. No one would miss their King.

Para nodded at me. "Night Prince, I am happy to see you smiling. I worried you forgot how."

I touched my jaw before realizing it. Clearing my throat, I changed the subject. "Do you know of this chamber we search for?"

Para and Karter exchanged a look before the latter answered in her deep reassuring voice, "Elden was limitless. For all we know, he intended for the chamber to shine with the stars--"

"I know one thing for certain." Umbra entered the cavern, gripping mother by the arm. "This guide never meant to find it." He glared at Savis until he narrowed his gaze at the other Valkyrie. "Our arrangement is void."

The women fumed at him.

Amolot entered with a nod to my father, and the dynamic in the room shifted. Too many witnesses.

"We return to the Spire. Now." Umbra turned and dragged mother with him. She wavered unsteadily across the uneven rock.

My father's General approached the Valkyrie with a stern set in her jaw and a fire in her eyes. She jerked her head to the exit.

Karter firmly set her chin. Eyes forward, she marched out. Para looked uneasily between the two. Her brows drawn tight with concern. After another moment, she left. Amolot followed.

I glanced over at Korac, who shrugged at me.

Xelan sighed and stored his samples. "Come on."

Outside, we reassembled in the same formation, less happy than we started. Once I helped Xelan strap into Many Feet, Korac appeared at my side. Karter shrugged behind him.

My brother peered down at him. "Do you want to ride with me?"

The white-haired youth nodded, a grateful depth in his pale gaze.

Everyone settled. This time Amolot took the lead as mother looked less than ready to leave her home.

I promised myself to one day build a magnificent castle across from the Great House. Mother could stay with me and always be close to Elden.

Savis looked up at that moment. Even with her iridescent eyes wide, tears still brimmed and fell from her lashes. Silently, she shared her sorrow with me before Umbra took them both to the sky.

We followed them to Hell.

Midway through the trek, Xelan cried out behind me, "Many Feet! What--"

The animal bucked and seized beneath its haul. Karter cried out as the lead tugged and pulled on her. I flew over and grabbed the line to make some slack.

"What the fuck is that beast doing?" Father snarled ahead of us.

Mother called out, "Release me. I can help! Xelan! Korac!"

Many Feet lost consciousness and plummeted from the sky.

Para called out, "Karter!"

The rainbow-haired Valkyrie shrieked, prepared for at least a broken back and some busted ribs. Before it came to that, I severed the lead and plummeted after them. Spared from the injuries, Karter followed with Para in pursuit.

"Nox!" Xelan screamed and reached out.

Korac shielded my brother's body with his own, as if that'd lessen the damage from the landing.

Minutes before they hit the ground, I reached them and cut the saddle strap free. I grabbed Xelan, and Karter took Korac.

When Many Feet collided into the dirt, Xelan's anguished cry broke my heart.

"Let me go. I have to help her. Let me go!"

We all alighted. I released him and let him go to his pet. He clutched the hellkite's scales and held on with all the strength in his body.

"Wake up. Many Feet, please wake up. Her hearts are still beating. I can save her at the Spire..."

The hellkite's bifurcated ribs expanded with the steady, even breathing of an unconscious behemoth. But the fall broke three of her legs and injured at least two pinions. Not to mention, we had no idea what caused the fit in the first place.

Umbra ordered, "Leave it."

Amolot nodded her agreement.

"Son, this is the creature's time," Savis' voice was soothing. Her words were not.

Xelan heaved into a fit, leaving Karter and Para to kneel around him and take turns pulling him into their arms.

"Let me finish the beast. It suffers," Amolot sneered.

I glared at her. "No one touches--"

Korac, only Earth-age thirteen and nacreless, hefted the front of Many Feet's substantial weight onto his shoulders. Its red lizard snout was twice the size of my guard's head, yet he braced it on his back, gingerly. Facing away from us, we appreciated the feat of lifting its mammoth heft, let alone taking one step under it.

I went to his front to ask him to stop. Let nature be. But the sight of him drained the blood from my body. Tears, scalding hot enough to steam, poured down his flushed cheeks. Every vessel and muscle in his body strained with the effort.

He would not look at me. At that moment, I realized he blamed his extra weight on the trip home for the seizure. Not the logical causes such as Many Feet's considerable age and the tumor on its neck. No.

Korac blamed himself.

As my brother cried in distress of his scaly friend, our fair brother carried the fallen beast home.

Umbra measured the pale Icarean boy. He gave an impressed, "Hmph. More guard than mongrel then." He turned to the Valkyrie. "It is not wise to risk this much exposure for assassination. Get them home."

Amolot took off to scout, and father followed with mother. I remember I was angry with them for leaving us. But, looking back now, I can see that mother exhausted herself with the day's activities. Returning was the best relief for her.

At the time, I hated them for leaving me to care for Xelan's broken heart. Leaving us exposed to assassination.

I lifted the unconscious Many Feet from Korac's back. By the time I did, he collapsed to his hands and knees for recovery.

Para checked on him and smiled at me with relief. "I will carry you, young soldier."

With his limbs like rubber, he didn't protest her aid.

Karter already scooped Xelan in her arms.

My brother peered at me with his entire body flushed from the shock to his system. Breathlessly he whispered, "Nock..."

"I will get her home. Rest so you can treat her once there."

Flying with a hellkite on your back is cumbersome work. Hours of it. The entire time I worried about the beast waking in pain and in a panic, destroying my back with its many claws. Fortunately, it slept the entire way.

It didn't affect my "leash." I suggest testing affection from animals for yourself. Tritans are sadists. It's completely within the realm of possibility for them to remove even that friendly contact.

If you're curious about Many Feet, it lived another decade after recovering from its injuries. It passed away overnight, sleeping on Xelan's floor. In peace. Though Korac and Xelan never shared this with me, I know they held a ceremony and burned their pet on a pyre fit for royalty.

It's the only happy ending I've ever known.