NOVEL NEXT Chapter 43 - Fear of Power [Part 2]
Eddy didn't respond right away.
He let his gaze drift across the table, pausing on each face—studying, reading. Not one of them looked away.
Finally he let out a breath, not loud, but sharp enough to cut the air.
"So that's it," he said. "You're all right."
His voice barely rose above a murmur, but it carried more weight than any outburst could have.
"The Highborn Elders. The rules. The secrecy. Maybe even the fear."
He shrugged a little, bitterly.
"You're right about humans. We chase power like it's the only thing worth having. Some of us would do anything for it, tear through borders, break trust, burn the world down if it meant holding something no one else could."
He laughed softly. A dry, humorless sound that didn't reach his eyes.
"But you can't keep pretending this war's only your problem."
He leaned forward, fingers splaying out against the polished table surface.
"You think you can do this without us? That you'll win whatever's coming if you just keep humans in the dark?"
His eyes flicked from face to face.
"You'll need everyone on Zephyros when it comes. Witches. Wolves. Vampires. Fae. Dragons. And yes—humans. Because when this thing hits, it won't care who's got what kind of magic."
His voice caught slightly, not from weakness, but from urgency.
"One day... you won't be able to hide it. You'll have to tell them."
The dining hall held still. No one reached for words. The silence swelled thick and tight between them.
Then Sentinel stirred, shifting slightly in his seat. His fingers tapped once against the table, slow and deliberate.
"Humans not knowing now doesn't mean they've never been involved."
Eddy's eyes snapped to him. "What?"
Sentinel nodded once. "This wouldn't be the first time."
"You mean... humans fought in the other wars?" Eddy asked, almost disbelieving.
Elias leaned in, voice rough but certain.
"They didn't just fight. Some died alongside us."
Lyric's voice followed, gentle but weighted. "Whenever a threat from another world rises... it starts quietly. A ripple. A shadow. Then it grows. Fast."
She looked at Eddy, not blinking.
"And when it spreads, it doesn't stop at borders. Not between lands. Not between species. Your kind always got pulled in, whether we told you or not."
Eddy's throat tightened. "Then why don't we remember any of it?"
Alice looked away, voice strained. "Because we made sure you didn't."
His face stiffened. "You... erased our memories?"
Her voice didn't rise. "It wasn't erasure. It was protection. Fae magic. Witch enchantments. Not to take away your worth, to keep what was left of your world standing."
Eddy blinked, stunned. "But how...? How did you erase so many—I mean, all humans' memories, in one go?"
Lyric glanced at him, her voice soft but steady.
Eddy stood up, pushing his chair back with a soft scrape. He looked from one end of the table to the other, eyes wide, chest rising with each breath."So you used us... and when the war ended, you just wiped it all clean?"
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Thorne's jaw tensed. "It wasn't that simple."
"Sounds pretty simple to me," Eddy snapped.
"No one wanted it that way," Maris said, quiet but cutting. "But after every war... there was chaos. Riots. Collapse. Humans couldn't handle what they'd seen. Some turned on us."
Lyric added, more gently, "We tried to trust. But fear twisted that trust into fire."
Eddy's fists curled at his sides. "That still doesn't make it right."
Cassandra stood then, her voice threading through the hall like silk pulled taut.
"No, it doesn't."
He turned to her. She held his gaze without flinching.
"We've walked this line too long. Balancing peace on silence. But peace is breaking. And soon, silence won't hold it together."
She stayed where she was, voice soft but clear.
"You ever notice how families act when danger shows up? Doesn't matter how broken they are, when something threatens them, they unite. Every single one of them fights."
Eddy's shoulders twitched. He listened.
"But when that danger passes," Cassandra continued, "and the dust settles, some start looking around... and they remember who's stronger. Who had power. Who didn't. That's when the fractures come. Jealousy. Division. The ones who feel small want what the others had. And they'll fight to get it."
She paused, her gaze sweeping the table.
"And that's when the outsiders strike again, when we're too busy fighting each other to notice someone else slipping in through the cracks."
Then slowly, Cassandra lowered herself back into her seat, and Eddy followed a moment later, both of them sinking down like the weight of the truth had pressed them back into place.
Sentinel's voice followed, deep and certain.
"That's why the Elders did what they did. The Highborn Elders. And yes, your Human Council too."
Eddy stared at him. "Even the Human Council knew?"
"They knew," Elias confirmed. "They saw what happened. The aftermath. They helped cover it, for everyone's safety."
Lyric's voice was quiet. "Because they knew what you just said is true."
Eddy turned back toward them, slower now, the fury fading into weariness.
"If what's coming is anything like the last wars," he said, "and you keep humans in the dark again... then we're not protecting peace."
His voice cracked. "We're setting up another fall."
No one argued.
Then Sentinel spoke, final and clear.
"If an attack reaches human lands... just like before, this time too, humans will know everything."
Eddy's eyes narrowed. "And then what?" he asked, quieter now. "After the war ends... will you wipe their memories again?"
The words hit harder than a shout.
Sentinel didn't answer right away.
He met Eddy's gaze, steady, unflinching, but behind that silence, something shifted in his eyes. A flicker. Regret. Truth he couldn't deny.
That silence was enough.
Everyone else felt it too.
Lyric looked away, fingers twisting in her lap. Elias's jaw tightened. Alice's breath caught audibly. She didn't look up. Her knuckles were pale around the base of her goblet. Aiden shifted in his seat, hands clasped tightly under the table. Even Thorne sat stiffly, arms folded across his chest, but one knee bounced beneath the table, subtle, restless, like the truth was crawling under his skin.
Maris exhaled through her nose, sharp and short, her eyes drifting toward the far wall. She didn't speak, but her silence was edged with frustration, not at Eddy, but at the truth hanging between them.
Cassandra's eyes hadn't left Eddy. She didn't blink, didn't fidget. But her hands slowly unfolded in her lap, her shoulders lowering as though she'd finally stopped holding her breath. The weight in her eyes wasn't shame. It was something older. Tired. Resigned.
No one spoke.
Not because they didn't have words.
But because every word had already been said.
They knew.
And so did Eddy.
His eyes dropped to the smooth surface of the table. The flickering lights rippled faintly against the polished wood, but he didn't seem to notice. His shoulders rose with a long inhale, then fell, slow and controlled, like he was trying to hold something inside that was ready to crack.
His argument is valid, Vaelthar's voice came again, calm but pressing. Whether humans will do harm or not, that's still uncertain. But when we needed their support... we got it. Every time. And afterward, we chose to let them forget.
Sentinel's jaw clenched slightly, but only those watching closely would've noticed.
This is the only way, he answered inwardly. If the truth remains, it won't unite us, it will divide. We can't risk a war between our own kinds when it's the outsiders who seek to break us.
Vaelthar fell silent again. But his presence lingered, heavy.
Across the table, Eddy finally let out a breath. It wasn't loud. It hissed out of him like a tire slowly deflating.
"Fine," he said. "If the Highborn Elders and Human Council made this decision long ago... then they must've seen something. Something bad enough to believe there was no other choice."
That made them look at him, all of them.
Even the air seemed to shift.
Lyric blinked, lips parting. Elias straightened in his chair. Alice leaned forward, just slightly. Aiden went still, breath caught. Cassandra's fingers slowly uncurled from where they gripped her cloak. Thorne watched without a word. Maris shifted in her seat, eyes narrowed, the flicker of thought behind them unreadable.
But none of them spoke.
Only Sentinel remained still, though something subtle moved behind his eyes, not surprise, not fear. Recognition.
Because he'd thought of that too.
A possibility, long buried. That something must have happened in the past, something the Highborn Elders never shared with anyone.
But now… Eddy's words brought that shadow crawling back to the surface.
Inside his mind, Vaelthar spoke again, softer this time.
You felt it too, didn't you? You've always wondered. Why such a harsh decision? Why hide it, again and again, if not out of fear… but memory? Of something worse.
Sentinel didn't answer. Not immediately.
Because he had wondered.
But he'd never dared ask.
Then Eddy looked up again. Not accusing. Just tired.
His voice dropped into a near-whisper.
"What about me?" he asked. "When this is over… will you erase my memory too?"
The words hung there, unmoving, unanswered.
No one dared to speak.
Not even Sentinel.
The silence didn't break.
It only deepened.