by Juniper King
“It is part of our clan’s blood magic,” he answered after a moment. “We are tied together through our blood and I can feel when those ties are cut, even when we are a realm apart.
“When my wife and child were murdered… it was worse than having taken the blade myself. But those mercenaries must have known the limitations of my blood magic, they made sure my family was not in one piece for me to revive them.
“Ironic is it not, deydre,” he mused airily. “The last time we met you had avenged my murdered wife and daughter. Now you hold my daughter in your arms with a protectiveness I would never have expected.” He must have seen the guarded expression on my face. “You were much younger the last time I saw your face, but I would never forget the deydre who allowed my family to rest in peace.
“Lili,” He caressed Selynna’s face one more time. “You would be so happy to have seen your child grow into such a beautiful young woman.” With one final pained expression, Gremori stood up and any gentleness or compassion that he’d show for Selynna had vanished from his features. “I suggest you don’t tell her I was here. It would only break her heart knowing she will never meet me.”
“Why save her life if you’re just going to abandon her again?”
Gremori threw me a frigid look. “I did not abandon her. I loved Lilianna. And I was thrilled about our soon to be born child.” His expression softened, melancholy breaking through. “But no one could ever know about them. You know what could have happened, deydre, I would not put Lilianna and the baby in that same position.
“Leaving her at a human orphanage was not something I wanted for her, but she was born into a life of jeopardy. Lilianna feared raising her in Ilonvale alone with that wretched cur, Lucan. He claimed to be thrilled about the pregnancy, thrilled that she had been chosen by their lord,” he scoffed, “but Lili could see the jealousy in his eyes, hear the hatred in his voice. His fiancé was carrying the child of another man. The last thing Lilianna asked of me was to take Selynna away to a place where she could live a life free from the burden of being a daemon’s daughter.
“After what happened to my first wife and child, I left to keep Lilianna safe, to keep other daemons and mercenaries from knowing about her and the baby. In the end, I believe that is what doomed her. She knew what would happen if both Selynna and I were gone. She knew better than anyone what kind of man Lucan was, but she came back to Ilonvale, told Lucan that I was never to return and that she had killed Selynna herself, so they would never go looking for her. She sacrificed her life so that Selynna could have one of her own.”
Gremori turned his back to us. “Do not tell anyone of my daughter. Do not let anyone know she is related to me, or I will hunt you both down myself. I will not lose another child, even if it means I can never truly be a father to her.”
28
Aksel
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Gremori had left the hall just as ambiguously as he’d arrived.
The room was quiet save for Ayre’s heavy, ragged breathing.
Selynna remained unconscious—comatose after the extreme healing. I looked over at Ayre who could barely even lift his head, his usual fair skin having weakened to a sickly pallor.
Travelling anywhere would be impossible, their bodies far too weak to handle the transport through the void. And if I used up all my energy misting, there would be no one to protect them if the need arose. Staying in town was our only option.
I heard nothing from outside of the hall, the screams having long since silenced. Alistair wouldn’t waste much of his time is such a small village. After fifty-five years he would no doubt be hungry for more prey. He’d always hated humans, and now with his father and brother both gone, there was no one left to hold his leash. He would practically be salivating at the thought of using his magic to tear apart everything our two species had built. There was simply no telling what havoc Alistair would cause now that he was loose in the human realm, but I couldn’t worry about that. My only concern right now was Selynna and Ayre.
I lifted Selynna over my shoulder as gently as I could, not ideal with her condition, but the only way I could carry both. Ayre was in no state to walk under his own power. I put my unencumbered arm under his armpit, pulled him around my shoulders, and held his hand firm with the arm that restrained Selynna.
“I’m fine,” Ayre laboured the words, “Just take her, I’ll catch up.”
“What are you going to do, crawl after us?”
He put up no more resistance.
The streets were disconcertingly quiet, a blood stain here, a body there. It was unclear whether the entire town had suffered Alistair’s hand, but there was not a single hint of movement from anywhere in the streets or houses.
By the time we passed over the threshold of Lucan’s home I was panting. The front door of the house had been burst open from the outside and a surge of panic went through my sluggish brain. Could Alistair be inside? Could letting us go have been a trick? I walked into the entranceway where I saw the mangled body of the man who’d started all this, Gamel I think his name was, and breathed a deep sigh.
I walked past the corpse towards the back of the house where I leaned Ayre on the wall, his eyes open but glossed over as if he were heavily sedated. I carefully slid Selynna off my shoulder and slumped her beside Ayre. He was conscious enough that he could protect her in an emergency if need be, but I still felt uncomfortable leaving the two of them alone. I did a quick sweep of the house to be sure there was no one around. When I turned to go back to where I’d left Ayre and Selynna, I heard the smallest of sounds from one of the closets. I crept closer, hand on the grip of my blade.
Yanking open the door I was met with a shriek. “Please don’t hurt us!”
I was taken aback at seeing two young women huddled on the floor of the closet, one cradling the other in her arms, a head wound tracing blood down the unconscious women’s forehead.
The conscious woman’s eyes were squeezed shut, clearly terrified at having been found. After a moment I remembered, Selynna had mentioned these girls, Lucan’s twins whose names I’d forgotten. She had also mentioned that neither of them seemed to know the extent of Lucan’s plans.
“Hey, hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” I crouched down to their level, put my blade on the floor, and slid it away.
The woman finally opened her eyes and I saw renewed terror.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I reiterated calmly. “I’m a friend of Selynna’s.” That seemed to calm her down, at least a little bit.
“My sister…” she sobbed.
The blood on her sister’s forehead had already begun to dry. I tentatively reached towards the unconscious twin, making sure to move slowly so as not to upset or startle the conscious one. I checked for a pulse and gently pulled her eyelid open. “Unconscious but no concussion, she should be fine.” I offered a smile to set her mind at ease. “What’s your name?”
“…Gwendolyn.”
“Gwendolyn, I’m going to carry your sister to a bed, okay?” I didn’t wait for her to agree before I slowly moved to pick up the girl. With the sister in my arms, I started walking back into the hall and Gwendolyn followed.
We rounded the corner, Selynna and Ayre coming into view, and I could hear the sound of Gwendolyn’s breath catch in her throat.
“Oh, oh no,” she scrambled over to Selynna and knelt in front of her. “Selynna… I wanted to stop her, I tried to tell her, but I’m a coward, terrified of my own father—” her voice caught on a sob. She sounded genuinely remorseful for what had happened, regardless of how much she knew.
“Your father is dead,” I said without any hint of remorse.
“Good,” she replied. Selynna had mentioned one of the twins bore no love for their father, suspecting him of murder and misdeeds, but it was still unexpected to hear someone so innocent looking pleased at the thought of their father’s demise. “I tried,” she continued, “I tried to follow after Selynna, to stop my father, but Eliza wouldn’t let me
, she didn’t believe he would ever do anything wrong. She never believed me that something was wrong with him. We were arguing by the front door, she was pulling me back when Gamel’s body burst through the door and knocked us to the ground. Eliza must have gotten hit by something.”
I looked at the body still limp in my arms. “Gwendolyn?” She turned to me as though she had just woken up from a trance. “Can you show me to a bed?”
She shot to her feet, “I’m so sorry, her bed is upstairs.”
I followed her to the second floor of the house and placed her sister on the small bed. Gwendolyn brushed some of the stray hairs away from her face. “I’m sorry, Eliza, I never meant for you to get hurt.”
As much as I felt guilty utilizing this poor girl during a time of such turmoil for her, my first and only responsibility was Selynna. “Gwendolyn, can I ask a favour?” She turned to me and nodded, a slight look of confusion on her face. “Can you get Selynna some fresh clothes and clean the excess blood off her body?”
Her expression softened. “Of course. We have a hot spring in the back yard.”
We left Eliza to get some rest and went back downstairs. I picked Selynna up and, following Gwendolyn through the house, carried her limp body to the hot spring. Gwendolyn grabbed some fresh clothes and towels while I laid Selynna down by the side of the spring. Her sleeping face looked so peaceful under the layer of dried blood. Were it not for the barely visible movement of her chest as she breathed, I might have thought she was dead. A lump formed in my stomach. She had been dead. I’d held her as she died in my arms.
“Please don’t fret,” I startled at the sound of Gwendolyn’s voice. “I’ll clean and re-dress her. But I might need your help getting her to bed.”
“Yeah, just call for me once she’s dressed.” It was getting harder and harder to keep the weariness from my voice. “My name’s Aksel, by the way.”
I left the two of them alone by the hot spring and retreated to where Ayre was dozing against the wall. “Come on, let’s find you a bed.” He was only semi-coherent as we walked up the stairs to the second small bedroom. I helped him onto the bed before falling into the chair in the corner of the room where the heaviness of my eyelids finally got the better of me.
“Mr. Aksel?” A light touch on my shoulder stirred me from my sleep. I hadn’t even realized I’d passed out. How long had I been out? “I’m finished with Selynna and prepared a bed for you as well.”
I followed Gwendolyn back to the hot spring, collected Selynna, and carried her to bed.
“She’s lucky to have someone like you to take care of her.” Gwendolyn said as she pulled the sheets down.
I scoffed, only to feel guilty a fraction of a second later. Gwendolyn had been sincere in her praise, I was being rude. “Had I truly taken care of her, she would never have been in this situation in the first place. I’m not capable of protecting anyone.” I placed Selynna into the bed and Gwen pulled the sheets up.
“Forgive my forwardness, but seeing the way you take care of her now, how gently you hold her and how your features soften when you look at her… Sometimes unexpected things happen and you can’t always protect those you care about from harm, there are things that are just beyond our control.” She paused, possibly thinking of the freak accident that had befallen her sister. Did she also feel guilty? “But it doesn’t mean you care about them any less. I believe the intention behind your feelings is what matters.
“I don’t know Selynna well, but she seemed strong-willed, the type to make her own decisions and follow her own path. I don’t think she would blame you if she got hurt.”
Once Selynna was tucked into bed, Gwendolyn turned to me.
“Your bed is right next door in the guest bedroom.”
“You take it. I’m going to stay here.”
She looked flustered by my refusal. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you really should get some rest.”
“Gwendolyn, please go get some sleep. I’m fine here. I’ll keep an eye on things until Ayre wakes up, and then I’ll sleep,” I assured her.
She seemed placated by my response and quietly left the room. She would have no idea that Ayre was likely to sleep for several days after that healing.
I slumped on the floor with my back against the bed. In what realm would Selynna not blame me for what had happened? I saw the look on her face when Lucan stabbed her. I was right there and did nothing. I’d promised to keep her safe.
I sighed. Not only had I failed to keep her safe, I’d failed to even keep her alive. If Gremori hadn’t show up when he did…
I turned around to look at her sleeping face.
I’d failed Selynna so many times now. Bounty hunters, daemons, finfolk, succubi. Had it not been for me, she never would have been subject to all the horrible things that had happened to her over the course of our journey. She would still be living a quiet life in her town, having coffee with her friend and playing with the orphanage children. Someday she would have found a man to love her, someone who could take care of her and keep her from any dangers. Someone who she loved with all her heart who she could raise a family with.
My claws itched under my skin. The thought of any other man touching her made me viscerally angry. How could the thought of her being happy make me angry?
I didn’t deserve someone as good as her. She forgave me even after I ripped her away from her entire life, after I had done nothing but deceive her since the moment we’d meet. She deserves someone better than me, someone who can keep her from getting hurt. Someone who she could trust.
This was my chance to finally make things right for her.
She could never find out about her father, or what had happened after she’d been stabbed in that rune circle. If she knew Alistair had been released through the use of her blood she would get herself killed trying to make things right.
Even if I’ll never be able to see her again, even if I have to make her hate me, I’ll do what’s best for her.
About the Author
Juniper King has enjoyed writing since the days of hastily scribbling down fan fiction in high school biology class. But her official writing career began while she was working as an English teacher in Japan. After a year of speaking and writing in a fusion of English and Japanese, she was worried her own English skills would start to fade. What better way to practice than to write a novel?
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Juniper King lives in Ontario, Canada with her boyfriend and two fur children, Tsukimi and Mochi. When not writing, King enjoys doing puzzles with a nice cup of tea, playing video games, spending time with her bunnies, and generally anything else that can distract from the horrors of adult responsibilities.
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Scarlet Tempest is her debut novel.
