Chapter Fourteen

Summary

• Ruhn Danaan, a Fae and the Crown Prince, is heading to his father's study in FiRo, a district of a sprawling city.
• Ruhn's father, the Autumn King, is studious and dictatorial, showing little care or affection for his son.
• In-depth discussion of the city's complex socio-political structure. The Fae are the rulers.
• Ruhn's father demands to know why Ruhn has come to see him; Ruhn tells him that there has been a murder, and that he has upped patrols around him. His father coolly rebukes his concern.
• The conversation reveals Ruhn's deep-seated resentment towards his father, the Autumn King, who Ruhn feels never cared for him. There is a power hierarchy, in which the Autumn King holds slightly more due to his ruling status, and Ruhn feels he is on the short end.
• In divulging details about his father's comment about needing to study light and its movements, Ruhn discovers that the Autumn King has political intentions for him - he's planning for Ruhn to marry Hypaxia Enador, a young newly crowned witch-queen, with the motive of forging a political alliance.
• Ruhn confronts his father about the planned marriage and is sternly told that he doesn't have a choice. His father reveals that there is a war vying overseas, and it may cost them their territory, hence the need for strategic alliances.
• Ruhn's father also wants him to locate Luna's Horn, a sacred artifact valuable to the Fae, as it was stolen two years ago, and it is seen as a symbol of power. This would further solidify their presence in the face of war
• Ruhn is upset by the end of the discussion, feeling manipulated by his father. He remembers the prophecy of the Oracle, who long ago predicted that Ruhn would be the end of the royal bloodline.