Clara and Ezra

by Lindsey Richardson

  Clara and I stood together. We had decided to walk down the aisle together since Father was not here to give us away. It was what he would have wanted —to see his girls united together. To public eye it was a great way to preserve the thought that we were strong, untouched by the darkness that had engulfed our day to day lives.

  The garden had been set up with a clear path for us to follow to reach our grooms. Seats had been placed at the end of the garden, where the men stood, for friends and locals to watch.

  The music started, and I walked with Clara carefully so not to trip over my own dress. I realized, despite the hardships we had both endured, this was our chance at a new beginning. Clara could start her new life with Ezra, and Declan and I would begin ours with a new addition to our family.

  At last it seemed I would have Declan. He would be my husband, the father of our children, a leader within the Council. He would officially, in front of everyone we knew, become mine, and I would be his.

  Till death parted us.

  Clara

  We reached the end of the garden and walked past the audience. People smiled, some of whom I did not recognize. The garden was filled with people, most of which were not able to fit in the seating area and instead stood to the sides.

  At the very front sat our closest friends and family. Gemma and Dorian sat with Cedric. Since Alec’s death I had barely seen Gemma and Dorian exchange more than a few words to each other. Even now at our wedding the tension remained between them. Gemma had seemed genuinely happy for today’s importance, but as for her own relationship, time would tell if it would survive the days to come.

  Lukas and Keanu sat with Everly and Bellona. The two women had gone above and beyond to look their best for the occasion. Bellona even flashed a smile at me, and considering how I had treated her, I was speechless.

  On the opposite side sat Declan’s parents, his brothers, whom recognized me and waved, and Ezra’s uncle and aunt. It was good to see Declan’s family reunited with us at last. There was no longer a restriction on traveling. They could simply come and go as they pleased.

  A small round table was set up near where our friends sat, with a board that read “For those who cannot be with us today.” Several candles below the board were lit, carrying a flame in memory of our lost ones. People like Father, Alec, and Ahna. There was even enough to suggest Claire had included one for Nina. These people were lost to us, but they had not been forgotten, especially not on a day like today.

  Claire and I separated. She went to stand next to Declan, and I went to stand next to Ezra.

  We waited silently as Oriana joined us.

  Ezra leaned in and whispered to me, “I bought us a home. It’s by the ocean… I thought we needed a place to call ours. I hope you’ll like it.”

  I held back tears as Oriana began with the ceremony. Oriana spoke his lines, but all the while I stared at Ezra, trying to hold back tears. Thinking about how I had met him at the beginning of this. Him, mistaking me for Claire, and me, mistaking him for Claire’s lover.

  I looked into his eyes, wondering if it was natural for my heart to be leaping out of my chest in this moment. He looked so handsome dressed up with his hair slicked back and his face shaved clean.

  This is what love feels like… I thought.

  “I know pronounce you man and wife,” Oriana said to Claire and Declan, and she repeated the same line for Ezra and I.

  We both kissed our now-husbands. Everyone in the audience stood up, clapping and cheering. It was finally real.

  The reception was held to the left of the garden in a more open space. Ezra and I shared a table with Declan and Claire. Our table was the largest and was placed in front of the area that had been cleared for dancing.

  There were numerous Watchers posted around the vicinity. None of us had been naive enough to believe Stefan’s resistance would not dare to strike at such a vulnerable time.

  Music started again, and Ezra stood up, asking me if I wanted to dance. I accepted and set aside fears of someone barging in on our day. If they wanted to they would, and if they came we would be ready.

  The locals were in a different mood. I saw it as I danced with Ezra. I felt his warm embrace and smiled into his shoulder, and everyone around us smiled with lit eyes.

  Ezra spun me around, but I could not help but notice Gemma and Dorian standing on the dance floor, exchanging words with one another. Gemma’s face was red, and Dorian’s hands had formed into fists. Little Cedric stood several feet away from them with his thumb in his mouth.

  “I’ll be back,” I whispered to Ezra.

  I separated from him and walked toward where Gemma and Dorian stood. As I approached them their words became audible.

  “Of course I’ve changed! Alec is dead, and now I have to raise his child in a world that is consumed by darkness. It makes me sick!” Gemma hissed, glaring at Dorian.

  “Just admit it. You blame me for his death. Even though you know I did everything in my power to save him, you still blame me,” Dorian replied.

  “You’re right. And you know what else? I wished you had died instead of him,” she said. Tears streamed down her face, and she left him and rejoined Cedric, pulling him away from the dance floor altogether. She led him back to their table.

  I approached Dorian.

  “She doesn’t mean that,” I whispered.

  Dorian turned around and looked at me. His face was heated, and for a moment I feared he might take his anger out on me. It was not my place to come between him and Gemma, but I had been at the docks and Gemma had not. It was easy for her mind to wander with stories when she had not been there to experience it as it happened.

  “I’ve turned into a villain. I’ve tried comforting her, giving her space, taking Cedric off her hands. No matter what I do… she seems to hate me more and more with each passing day,” Dorian explained.

  In a softer voice he added, “I’m sorry for our outburst. It shouldn’t have happened today of all days.”

  I patted his shoulder.

  “Nonsense. I know what death does to a person. Alec’s death affected everyone, but Gemma… Gemma had something with him that none of us ever did. Be patient, she’s still mourning,” I said.

  Dorian thanked me, and I returned to Ezra. He had stayed where I left him, and as another song played, I wrapped my arms around him and embraced him. I held onto him tightly, trying to remember this moment, trying to remember we had the rest of our lives together, and I could not let anything, not even death, come between us.

  “I love you, Clara Stavrakis,” he whispered into my ear.

  “And I love you, husband,” I replied.

  He kissed me, and I closed my eyes. His lips were as soft as the first time I shared a kiss with him.

  The darkness had been pushed away. Not permanently, but at least for today.

  At nightfall Ezra and I snuck away to our new home. It was on the opposite side of the beach where Ahna’s home had been, and it was much larger than I had imagined. I forgot Ezra’s uncle had quite a fortune and was no stranger to money.

  He carried me into our new home and then into the bedroom, which had already been set up for us. The bed was made, rose petals covered the blanket, and the window remained slightly cracked to let in a breeze.

  We left our clothes on the floor and our words at the door.

  52

  Find Your Peace

  Shadowland

  A month later…

  Ezra let go out of my hand, and I continued walking further into the cemetery alone. I walked until I saw the gravestone, the one Claire had told me about. It simply read “Nina Nasso” with no birth date or death date, no quote or title to her name. It was exactly like every other stone in the cemetery.

  Every body under the ground on this land was that of a criminal’s. These were the people that the world had longed to forget. People whose families would never visit them. Even the grass here was little to none, as if nature itself did not want to contribu
te to a place filled with such felonies. Dirt and gravestones —that was all this place would ever be.

  In the same row as Nina was also Aralyn and Stefan’s gravestones. Stefan’s, like the rest, held no significance. Despite how horrible he had been, despite the power he had once held over me and the people I loved, he was dead and in the ground. His body would decompose here, left to be eaten away by time and maggots. He could not do any more harm, at least not by his own hands.

  I returned my attention to Nina’s grave.

  “Mother…” I said.

  I shook my head. I could not recall the last time I had called her my mother out loud. Had it been some time before her trial? Was this the last time I would refer to her as my own mother? I had sworn she lost the right to such a title.

  I stared at her name on the gravestone. I remembered a time when I was a young girl. She had brought home fresh baked bread, and I remembered the smile it brought to my face. It had been minutes before Isaak had returned home, angry and drunk, ready for another fight.

  I wished I could remember the few days, weeks, perhaps even months before Isaak had entered our lives. I wished after Isaak’s arrest I had happier memories of my mother. But even she herself admitted, she had become a different person after Isaak’s arrest.

  I cleared my throat.

  “You are the worst and best thing that ever happened to me. You brought me into this world, but you also took me out of it. You took me away from my sister and my father. You took away precious time I’ll never get back with them.”

  My eyes filled with tears. Now I knew why I had avoided coming here. Now I remembered why I had begged Ezra to give me time, to not force me here. And he had done just that. No one had forced me to come here. Not Ezra, not Declan, and certainly not Claire. I had decided to visit on my own terms and had asked Ezra to come with me for safe passage and the company.

  I wiped my eyes.

  “You had three daughters… Three beautiful girls who needed you, and for some reason the darkness in you convinced you otherwise.

  “I’ll never understand why your ‘gut’ told you to take me and leave behind Claire. A part of me is glad you did. Claire did not have to see some of the evils in this world like you and I did. She didn’t have to grow up, believing her father was a drunk and fearing for her mother’s life. She didn’t have to hide her magic or feel desperate for her mother’s approval.

  “You had many things in your life. You had a good husband, you had strong children, and you had the potential for something great. But you ran away from all of that.

  “You took part in killing Jhase, my father, and for that I will never forgive you. You separated Claire and I for years that we will never get back. You killed Alec, and Circe only knows what damage you did to Daphne.

  “Daphne… once an innocent girl who may now be on a quest for vengeance because of you. She wandered about you. About you and Elias, her real parents. I think it drove her mad. She wanted so badly to find answers, just like I did, and you couldn’t even give her that could you?

  “You destroyed everything in your path. But was it worth it? Is it worth it now that you’re dead?

  “I hope you find your peace… Mother.”

  I dropped a single red rose on her grave. There were none others in sight. There was no one else in the graveyard except for me and Ezra. This place was as dead as the bodies buried in it.

  Nina didn’t deserve the rose. It was, as Claire would have said, a kindness she did not deserve. But I left it there, anyway, as if to a final peace offering. I did not believe in spirits, but I did believe in closure.

  My mother had lost everyone in her quest for power. Jhase, Claire, Daphne, Stefan, and finally me. No one else would be out here to visit her, to place down a rose, to say a final goodbye. The world had already moved on from her. She was in their past, and now I could finally put her and everything she did to me into the past.

  I looked back at Ezra, and he offered a weak smile.

  I returned my attention to Nina’s grave, staring at the red rose.

  “Goodbye, Nina,” I whispered.

  I walked away and rejoined my husband. We left the graveyard without hesitation, and Ezra did not ask what I had said. I didn’t have the strength to tell him.

  I knew in my heart that this was the last time I would speak to my mother. this was the last time I would visit her because in a way Claire had been right. It was not our mother who had died to a white rose. It was someone else. Someone I had no longer recognized, and Nina died being that person. I could not mourn her as I had mourned Father when she had nearly killed our entire family.

  Stefan was dead. Mother and Father were dead. Countless people had died, some innocent and others guilty.

  I held onto Ezra’s hand, thankful that we still had each other, but not blind to the fact either of our bodies could have ended up under the dirt.

  Every family has its secrets. I was determined with Nina’s death also died the secrets that had once burdened my family.

  Stefan and Nina could no longer do any harm, but whatever horrendous legacy they had left behind for their allies still posed a major threat. While I had dealt with one dead family member it was time to conclude what was left unfinished between Daphne and I.

  I’m coming for you, Daphne…

  The next adventure…

  CLARA AND DAPHNE