CHAPTER 168: BETRAYAL

Aelin

He hesitated. "No... It’s my first time, actually."

I blinked. "Really?"

He gave a small shrug. "It was recommended to me."

I straightened and turned to face him fully. "By your dad?"

He paused—just enough for me to notice—then nodded.

A small smile tugged at my lips. "I’m excited to meet him. I never knew you had a father figure. You never mentioned family before this."

Ariston didn’t smile back.

Something in his posture was off. His shoulders were tense, his stance just a bit too alert for a place so quiet. I watched his eyes flick up to the sky, then scan the temple walls again like he expected them to move.

I walked up to him, lightly touching his arm. "What’s wrong?"

He didn’t answer right away. His gaze drifted back to the clouds overhead.

"I’m not sure," he murmured. "Something feels... off."

I followed his line of sight, but all I saw was gray sky and stone. "It’s just the weather," I offered gently. "Maybe the air feels heavy after the rain."

But he shook his head. "No, it’s more than that." Then he looked at me, his red eyes darker than usual, more alert than I’d seen them in days. "Maybe we should go."

I opened my mouth to ask why—

"Now that would be a waste of a perfectly mysterious atmosphere," a deep voice called out from the far side of the courtyard.

I spun, startled.

A man stepped into the courtyard like he owned it—tall, cloaked in black, his boots splashing softly through the shallow puddles and despite the cold air, he was smiling like this was a long-awaited reunion.

His eyes landed on me with unsettling precision. I wasn’t sure what I expected—someone older-looking, maybe more worn, more like the quiet, steady figure Ariston had described. But this man... he was different. Not what I imagined at all.

Tall, lean, deceptively relaxed in the way predators are when they know they don’t need to prove anything. His red eyes flicked over me, amused. Calculating.

Oh,

I saw they had matching red eyes. I wonder if that was the thing that caused them both to become family.

"So you’re the Queen," he said with a lopsided grin. "I’m Rael. Ariston’s father. Although he doesn’t call me dad anymore like he used to."

There was no trace of warmth in his tone, no pride—just an easy, rehearsed confidence. But I stepped forward, offering a polite smile.

"It’s good to finally meet you," I said. "Ariston’s told me a little about you."

"Only a little?" he asked, his voice dipping playfully. "I’m wounded."

He approached and extended his hand—not to shake mine, but to take it.

I hesitated. Just for a second. But Ariston had asked me to come here, to trust this meeting. So I gave him my hand.

Rael raised it gently, kissed the back with exaggerated grace. His lips were cold, and his grip too firm.

"I can smell the power on you," he murmured.

I stiffened.

My smile faltered, just slightly.

A few steps away, I caught Ariston’s frown deepening. He didn’t say anything, but his posture shifted. More alert. More tense.

There was something strange about Rael—something not quite right.

But I reminded myself: this was the man who raised Ariston when no one else did. The one he trusted enough to bring me here, even if he was nervous about it. I couldn’t disrespect that.

So I pushed the unease aside.

"Why did you want to meet me?" I asked calmly.

Rael let go of my hand and tilted his head, the playful grin never leaving his face. "Well, I could explain it. But it’ll be quicker if I show you."

I blinked. "Show me?"

He nodded, eyes sharp despite the smile. "I love people who listen easily."

Then—

Before I could react, his hand snapped around my wrist and pulled me sharply toward him.

"What—?"

My other hand started to rise, instinct flaring, but it was too late.

His opposite arm came up fast, striking the back of my neck with brutal precision.

!????

Pain exploded across my spine—then blackness.

Ariston

I didn’t register what happened until it was already too late.

One second, Aelin was standing not too far from me, speaking politely, asking Rael why he wanted to meet her. The next—her body crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut, slumping into his arms.

My blood turned to ice.

"Princess!" I shouted, the word tearing out of me like a warning and a prayer.

I was already moving, feet pounding across the wet stone. Rainwater splashed under my boots as I crossed the courtyard in seconds.

"What did you do!?" I roared.

Rael didn’t flinch. He held her gently, as if this wasn’t betrayal. As if he hadn’t just knocked her unconscious.

"She’s fine," he said, his voice maddeningly calm. "This is something I have to do."

"You what?" I reached them, reaching for her first—trying to lift her from his grasp, trying to get her away from him. "You lied to me—again!"

He didn’t let her go. Not immediately.

"I didn’t lie."

That was all it took. The rage, already bubbling beneath my skin from the moment I felt something was off—it exploded.

I shoved him back with both hands, grabbed my sword from the sheath at my hip, and slashed.

Steel sang through the air as I aimed for his side, quick and precise. He jerked away just in time, his movement fluid, fast—but not faster than me. The edge of the blade grazed the leather of his coat.

He dropped Aelin gently to the ground, stepping back with one hand raised and the other still free. "Ariston—"

"Don’t say my name!" I growled. My blade came again in a wide arc aimed at his shoulder.

He ducked under it and spun sideways, narrowly avoiding the second strike. "Listen to me—"

"You tricked me into bringing her here!"

Another thrust, straight for his center. He batted it aside with the flat of his arm, and the clang of metal against bracer echoed across the ruined temple walls.

He backed away, but not too far. Never out of reach.

"I told you I wanted to meet her" He said calmly, "So where is the lie exactly? I didn’t lie."

"You said you’d answer my questions!" I snarled, swinging again.

"I will—if you stop trying to cut me in half!"

"You knocked her out!" I shouted, my blade trembling in my grip now. "You said you just wanted to meet her, and then you—God! Rael, you made me trust you again! But you’re planning on kidnapping her, aren’t you!!?"

He stood a few feet away now, hands out—not in surrender, but in restraint.

"She’ll be fine. I didn’t hurt her." His voice lowered slightly, like he was trying to speak through the storm building in my chest. "I didn’t lie to you. I needed to meet her. And I needed you to bring her, because this was the fastest way to get things done.."

I didn’t lower my sword. My heart was pounding, my entire body taut like a bowstring about to snap.

"She trusted me," I said, breath ragged. "I put her in your hands. You—you used that. You used me."

He met my eyes, something darker flickering behind his.

"And I’ll explain everything now. All of it. Why I left. What I’m doing. Who I am. You’ve wanted answers for years, Ariston—haven’t you?"