by T R Tells
Chapter Fifty-Two
There was something different about Kingsland the usual curt Kingsland Guards were replaced with genuine and well-spoken gentlemen. They didn't ask Thea many questions nor did they hassle her with details about what she was doing in Wrenada. They merely welcomed her back home.
Home. This place had never been a home.
Thea expected the voices to attack her, mock her even, but they never came. She didn’t even feel a stirring in the back of her mind. Hel also wasn’t present within her. The feeling of not having her demons living inside felt foreign, yet, comforting.
Thea walked through the bustling crowds of the marketplace. This didn't change much in the slightest. There were still people gathering around stands as vendors shouted out their low prices. She recognized a few sleazy faces that conned customers in the past and Thea believed that perhaps the Kingsland Guards at the front were purely coincidental.
When Thea walked through the narrow streets, through the common area of Kingsland, she found the building that was the Meretrix.
She noticed a gilded gold and white carriage. Thea furrowed her brows, unsure what a fancy ride such as it, could be doing in front of a brothel.
Flint, he could be back. He usually brought wealthy patrons there.
Thea's gut twisted in disgust. She thought she would never have to see Flint again. She thought of Kadda and a shiver ran down her spine as fear quaked her entire system. Picking up her feet, she practically ran to the three steps completely ignoring the thick layer of carpet on it.
When Thea reached the doorknob, she opened the door and her jaw went slack as she gazed at the interior that she thought had been the Meretrix.
It no longer looked like the Sleazy brothel that she had grown up in. The inside had a "homey" feel that Thea associated with Jiran's home.
The curtains that hung on the walls were removed, leaving the windows bare. The columns and walls were re-painted with a cream color, giving it an appealing color, and the velvet couches were replaced with a different light brown material.
When Thea turned to see if the stage stood in its same place. Her chest felt heavy when she realized that it had been removed and replaced with a hearth.
“What’s . . . What’s going on?”
“Thea?”
The sound of her name pulled her out of her reverie, and she focused her attention on Freya a few feet away from her. She didn't move from where she stood, the two girls just stared at one another.
"Freya . . . How are you?"
The two had never got back on the right track and had tried often to get them back to the way they were, but no matter how hard the two worked on their relationship it had stayed stagnant.
“Good, I guess . . .” Freya paused and then looked her up and down. “You look, different.” Freya furrowed her brows as she stared at Thea. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was a different air about her.
“Thanks, so do you,” Thea said. Freya had her hair pulled to the side in a loose ponytail. She had on different clothing than what Thea was used to seeing. It seemed regal and exquisite than before. She was about to ask where she got the clothing from, but she heard the sound of voices and footsteps coming from the stairwell behind Freya.
“Who are you talking too, Freya?” Someone asked, from the top of the stairs, when Thea saw a person come down, their long black hair bouncing in the air, when they immediately rushed over to her and shouted: “Thea! Everyone, it’s Thea!”
The girl who reached her first was named Hydaline. She had a tan complexion and slanted eyes. Her lips pulled into a grin, but her grip was steady as she collapsed herself on top of Thea making her drop the duffel that was in her hands.
Thea heard the sound of feet clambering together, followed by collective voices all talking at once.
Thea saw several girls, and a few boys, make their way over to them. Thea smiled, greeting everyone with hugs, and hellos. These people that she hugged would always be her family, and no matter what anyone said, they would be the Forty Little Thieves, deep down they all knew that.
“Where have you been, Thea?”
“Did you see any cool things?”
“How about magic things?”
“How was it traveling for the first time?”
The barrage of questions all came at once. Thea laughed. She knew that each face she saw, or the ones she recognized, there were still some missing, had missed her.
“One at a time, guys. I have to get settled in, don’t I?” Even that was far from Thea’s mind, she wanted to see one specific person. “Where’s Maggie and Kadda?”
Thea's heartbeat exceedingly fast as she focused on that clobbering sound. She knew the tone even before she saw who the person.
Maggie came down the steps first, her reddish-brown hair falling in heaps over her shoulder and her hand extended out to the person who was climbing down the steps. Freya stood in the same position she had initially been and looked at the small figure who had managed to climb down the steps.
The crowd of people parted for Thea to walk through, but she had already started moving through the crowd and heading toward the small, blonde-hair girl. Her large, brown doe eyes stared at Thea who had stopped walking and was now only a mere foot from the girl.
The tears from Thea's eyes broke free and as they ran down her cheeks, she collapsed to the floor, her knees hitting the floor. She didn't care about the sharp pain that traveled up the length of her leg. She focused on the four-year-old that stared at Thea with her thumb in her mouth.
“Kadda . . .” Thea’s voice broke. She couldn’t muster any words as her silent tears were caught in her throat. Thea tightened her eyes, hoping to contain her tears.
Thea didn't expect Kadda to come to her, she had already assumed that her daughter had forgotten about her altogether. She had been gone for too long. However, Thea was surprised when a strange high-pitched squeaky noise echoed through Thea's eardrums.
“MOMMY!”
The moment Thea opened her eyes, she saw two pigtails flying through before a soft impact collided with her chest and tiny arms wrapped around Thea's neck. Instinctively, Thea wrapped her arms around Kadda’s small body and picked her up, standing to her feet.
Thea brushed her hand through Kadda's hair and kissed the side of it, whispering as she did, "Mommy loves you. She loves you so much and she's sorry for leaving you."
The thought never registered in Thea’s head that Kadda had spoken for the first time. She was just glad to have her daughter in her arms again.
When Thea looked over to Maggie, she smiled at her and Maggie smiled back, as an unspoken communication passed between the two girls. No words needed to be spoken.
“So,” Thea said as she sniffed. She still held Kadda close to her chest, who clung to her mother’s hair tightly. “What’s been going on here?”
Maggie parted her lips to speak, but the front doors opened. Everyone turned around to see two men walk through the door.
Thea immediately recognized Donnie as his eyes trained on her, but she didn't know the second man. He had neatly combed blonde hair as his ebony eyes trained on Thea's. Despite Thea not knowing the man in front of her, a warm presence surrounded her and embraced her body as she looked at him and he looked at her.
What is that feeling?
It was a feeling that Thea didn’t know. The warming presence reminded her of being around Maggie or Jiran, but she was not familiar with this particular presence. Her heart skipped a beat. But she didn’t quake with nervousness and her entire body grew warm; yet, anger didn’t radiate through her, a shiver went down her spine, but there wasn’t a draft.
“Thea, when did you get back?” Donnie spoke first, but Thea’s attention was still trained on the young man.
"Just now . . . How are you, Donnie?"
Donnie didn’t answer, knowing that she didn’t expect an answer from him. He turned to look at his brother, seeing that he too, stared at Thea.
"I've told you about my brother, Thea, this is Angeal. He's been helping me get this place, well, better. Angeal, this is Thea. She's one of the many girls here and Kadda's mother."
Angeal didn't say anything as his brother introduced her to the girl. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, taking in her appearance. Her reddish-brown skin had some scars along her arms, her posture stood rigid and stiff as she clung to the small child in her arms. The side of her lip twisted ever so slightly, and her nose, that was slightly contorted, looked like it had been broken and set back into place. What had Angeal stunned were two pools of bright blue eyes that stared back at him.
Two bright blue eyes that he had seen in his dreams.
“You . . .”
Those were the first words Angeal let slip from his mouth without thinking. Thea furrowed her brow and her lips turned into a deep frown as she examined the young man who could have been no older than herself.
“Yes, it’s me. Is that a problem?”
Angeal noticed that they had an audience and looked around the pairs of eyes from the group and his brother before looking back to Thea.
He shook his head. Could this be her? When the thought came to him, Angeal’s heart immediately hammered in his chest as if the answer stood right in front of his face.
“No, not at all.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
The storm that had been caused by Nobius had wrecked the Half-Blood causing it to veer off course and damaging it. As the fates would have it, the ship found its way into Svarta's country borders, where the vessel coasted through the Dark Eastern Waters to Quilia's main port. While there may have been a few casualties, most of everyone survived with minimal injuries.
Except for one.
Dominya had taken the worst of the damage. She had managed to survive thanks to Thea’s quick thinking, but she had suffered from a great deal of damage from the pierced blade of the arrow that Nobius had summoned.
"It's as I suspected," Audalai said. She had her hands out in front of Dominya who rested on the ship's cot. "There's too much dark magic, I cannot pinpoint where it's spreading from. That arrow must have been enchanted."
“Damn it.”
Clovis knew that asking Audalai to reverse the spell would be impossible. Only the castor or someone of equal power to dark magic could do so. Not only had he lost Thea to the ocean's current, but he blamed himself for what happened to Dominya.
I should have forced her to stay back at Polis.
"Clovis," Audalai called out to him as she turned to his attention and saw his eyes were staring into nothingness. His eyebrows were slightly knitted together, and his lips were set in a straight line. He grew distant and quiet, which often happened when he blamed himself. Anyone else would have left him alone, thinking he needed the space, but Audalai knew better, she knew better than anyone that he was suffering.
“Clodovicus,” Audalai called out to him. This time Clovis’ attention set on Audalai who looked at him with concern. She approached him, standing several feet shorter than him, and reached out her hand to touch his cheek.
He leaned into her soft hand and closed his eyes, taking in her touch after so many years of missing the mild sensation from her palms.
Clovis made sure to open his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming and that Audalai didn't disappear like so many times in his dreams, but she stood in front of him in all her beauty.
“Stop blaming yourself,” she told him. Her lidded jade green eyes were still as bright and vibrant as the day he had met her. Audalai always saw the real him and never once feared him. He wrapped his arms around her petite waist and crouched to his knees, resting his head on her chest. Audalai ran her fingers through his white hair and clung to him, resting her chin on top of his head.
"I've missed you, so much, you don't know how much it has pained me that you weren't by my side," Clovis mumbled into her chest. Audalai grinned, holding onto his neck.
"I think I do. You've blamed yourself, time and time again, like you're doing right now." Audalai pulled away from Clovis and he looked up at her, his white pupil eyes cast sorrow. "You couldn't have stopped the ship from being wrecked or for anyone's lives that had been lost. It wasn't your fault Thea was thrown overboard and it sure as hell isn't your fault for the curse on Dominya."
Clovis gripped Audalai’s waist tightly with his hands and looked down.
"I could have prevented it somehow. I could have helped Thea eight years ago when I had first seen her as a little girl. I knew how terrible Flint could be and yet, I just left her there, all those children because I couldn't risk caring for someone else when you were still out there in danger – Selfish, I know."
Audalai frowned and got on her knees, taking Clovis’ cheek in her hand, and lifted it so his eyes could meet hers.
“You made a mistake as does everyone. You are in no way selfish. You don’t know how things would have been if you had done things differently.”
Clovis stiffly nodded, taking in Audalai's stern, but gentle voice. He slightly grinned and leaned forward to kiss her. Audalai hadn't expected it but when she felt Clovis' mouth on hers, she took him all in, craving him after so long of being away from each other.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, sitting on his lap. Clovis reached his hands through her hair and gently grasped the edges of her hair.
Audalai moaned into his mouth and broke free from their kiss. Her hands found the length of his shirt and quickly unbuttoned it, exposing his chest hairs. Before she could reach the extent of his pants, Clovis reached out his hand to stop her.
“Audalai . . .”
She looked up at him, a sad look crossed his eyes, having to stop her from going further. As much as he wanted too, he couldn’t risk it.
Clovis saw the glassy-eyed look in Audalai's eyes, despite her trying to blink the tears away.
“. . . I’m sorry.”
He had never felt more regret. Even if many of the other things may not have been his fault, he knew deep down, that he had made the deal. It had cursed both him and Audalai for an eternity.
Audalai shook her head and wiped her eyes with the tips of her fingers. She removed herself from Clovis’ lap and stood up.
“No, it’s alright. We got carried away that’s all, we should leave Dominya be for a moment. Maybe Ezekiel may know a spell to wake her.”
Audalai walked over to Clovis and kissed him on the forehead. Her lips lingered there for a few moments, hoping to show him that she would love for eternity.
Clovis gently reached out and held her wrists, running his thumb along the knuckles. He could sense the positive energy radiating from Audalai to him, the only real source that managed to keep the demon that lingered inside him at bay.
“I love you, Clovis, no matter what you may think or do. I will never stop loving you.”
Audalai left afterward leaving Clovis still in the room, looking at Dominya's unconscious body. While all the people he had ever known or loved him forgave him and even redeemed him for the many things he had done, there was still one crucial aspect that haunted Clovis to this day and the reason why his demon continued to lurk within him. He still harbored guilt for the loss of his mad king father, the death of his master, and robbing Audalai of the one thing she wanted other than him. No matter the forgiveness or the redemption, if Clovis couldn't even forgive himself, how could he move on?
As much as he hated to think the Unseelie Fae had been right about their meeting once again, he knew what he had to do.
Chapter Fifty-Four
It had been a little over six weeks since Thea had returned home to Kingsland and she was lying in bed with Kadda, brushing the sleeping toddler’s curls out of her eyes. Thea smiled and placed a gentle kiss on Kadda's forehead. She couldn't believe that after so long she was free. There would be no more rules, no prostitution, no Flint, and no Eddie – though when Maggie told her the story of the Kingsland Guards arresting Eddie, it pained her; but she
didn't necessarily feel bad for him either.
All I need is Dominya . . .
Her thoughts had been running rampant lately, not because of the cruel voice, fortunately. She had not heard the sarcastic and angry voices since she came back. She really did believe that she had been cleansed of the doubt that had been fueling inside of her. She just had to maintain it.
There's a knock on the door and Thea lifts her head up, "Come in," she whispered as quietly as possible. When the door opened, Maggie walked into the room.
“Are you alright?”
Maggie walked over and sat on the beds railing. Thea sat up from her position on the bed, careful not to wake Kadda.
“I’ve been doing better, you know since coming back, everything has been surreal. You know?”
Maggie sat up from the railing and sat beside Thea on the bed. She wrapped her arm around Thea’s neck, squeezing. “Well, the important thing is that your back. It’s been lonely without you here.”
Thea leaned her head against the side of Maggie’s head.
"I know. Every day I missed you guys and I just wanted to have you guys near me."
There was a pause. Maggie tightened her grip on Thea’s shoulder.
“Are you going to tell me what happened to you while you were away?”
This time, Thea was silent. Her lips were pressed together, and she lifted her head up. "Soon, I promise. No more secrets, right?"
Maggie smiled and nodded. “Right, no more secrets. I do want you to meet some kids that I rescued during a Sicarri mission, but first, you have a visitor.”
Thea furrowed her brows. A visitor?
“Who?”
“Angeal.”
***
Since Thea had come back to Kingsland, Angeal had been coming back with some men to work on the Meretrix a few weeks on end. It would be brief, but every so often he would speak with Thea and give Kadda sweets. For the first time in a long while, Thea felt butterflies in her stomach. She walked down the steps and looked around for Angeal, spotting him on the balcony.
