Authors: Rain Oxford
She stopped, turned to me, and took her hand away.
“So if I refuse to marry you, you will stop eating?” Although her face was
serious, I knew the look in her eyes from all the boring meetings she had to
sit through with me.
“I will refuse to eat ever again.”
She laughed, but pushed me away. Unlike Vivian, she
was dile, so she was strong enough to push me. “I will not forgive you just
because you threaten to starve.”
“Then forgive me because I will promise never to
betray your trust again. Forgive me because I will promise to do everything in
my power to stop the curse. Forgive me because I will promise to tell you every
morning that you are the only woman I have ever loved. And once you forgive me,
marry me because you love me just as much.”
“You will never find another man who will talk to you
like that!” Thessa yelled at her sister.
“He said you were his sweet bread!” Ada added.
“I…”
The hesitant panic in her eyes was too much for me. I
stepped up onto the platform without her, where my uncle waited. Nano, who was
expected to oversee our ceremony, was entirely confused. “I am requesting a two
day extension.”
“A what?” he asked.
“I do not want my wife or myself regretting out
wedding.
When
we get married, it should be a happy day. As long as there
is any doubt, it cannot be a happy day. We will hold off for three days from
today.”
“What if there is still a problem then?”
“I will ask for another extension.” I held out my
hand for Zeda. When she didn’t immediately reach for me, Thessa gave her a
shove. She took my hand and stepped up onto the platform. I held her close,
knowing we only had a short time.
“The last person you kissed was Vivian,” she said.
“We should fix that.”
“Please, do not ever remind me of that again,” Nano
groaned.
Zeda laughed until I pulled her closer and leaned in.
I could feel her hot breath on my lips when an explosion shook the world around
us. I barely had enough time to throw Zeda and myself onto the ground and cover
her before the stage was reduced to shards of raining glass.
Thessa and Ada screamed, but when I looked up, I saw
that they were both protected by an energy shield. A dark shadow formed above
me like a man trying to take shape, but the sun was too strong here and the
spirit could do little more than… apparently blow up our stage.
“What is that?” Zeda asked.
“That would my father.”
“Your dead father?”
“Yes, my dead father.” I stood and pulled Zeda up
with me, but pushed her behind me. Kseve was nowhere to be seen.
The dark shape seemed to fluctuate in the sunlight
for a moment before it dived into one of my guards. The targeted guard then
turned his bow on me and released the arrow before I could do anything.
Kseve was not here to protect me and I had no magic
or weapon to defend myself with. With Zeda pressed against my back, I closed my
eyes… but no arrow pierced me. Frightened that something worse had happened, I
opened my eyes. A man stood in front of me. The bowman dropped to his knees,
alive, but obviously dazed and confused.
“Shit, that stings,” the man said in English. He
pulled the arrow from his shoulder. “Not as bad as a bullet, though.” He turned
to me and smirked. “Wow, you’re as small as Ron.”
This man had a darkness to him that the void in my
blood recognized; he was a demon. He fit the image as well; he wore black
leather pants, a black leather collar around his neck, and a long, black leather
jacket that reached his knees. His black shirt was satin and he wore silver
chains around his waist and hip.
“I’m Zeb, Dylan’s demon,” he said, holding out his
hand.
“You are under contract with Dylan?”
“Yep, and I know you, too. You’re a void and this is
Dios, so you must be Dleso Nila. What I’m going here exactly, I can’t tell
you.”
“Is it a secret?” I asked, taking his hand. Demon
magic is void energy, therefore my blood didn’t cancel his magic out. Still, it
felt weird, so I let go as quickly as I could.
“Nope, I just don’t know what I’m doing here.”
“What is happening? Who is he?” Zeda asked.
“Oh, that is fantastic; I have my language powers
back. Anyway, who attacked you? I know that arrow wasn’t intended for me.”
“My father.”
The demon looked around. “Was it a drive by or am I
just that scary?”
“I suppose you scared him away. He wants to meet
Dylan. I don’t know why, but my father is a bad man. He’s dead, but he keeps
coming back.”
“Wait, your father isn’t Atos, is he?”
“How do you know---”
“Sorry, blond Ron, but I need to see him for myself.”
He put his hand on my forehead and I felt pressure, almost like a headache,
before the image of my father appeared clearly in my mind. “Shit. It doesn’t
rain, but it pours.”
I opened my eyes to find that he was gone.
“What just happened?” Zeda asked.
I shook my head. “I have no idea. Where is Kseve?”
My goblin guard had been wounded in the first
explosion, as it had been specifically targeted at him. We got him back into
the castle and had a physician look at him, but the man wasn’t very
knowledgeable in goblins, because the creatures almost never needed help. The
doctor basically said that my friend was getting old and would be slower to
heal than he used to be.
Zeda actually surprised me. She had read many medical
books and knew certain herbs that helped goblins. What the doctor didn’t have,
he could help some of the volunteering townspeople find. We did what we could
to help Kseve heal and make him comfortable.
I was sitting in a chair beside Kseve’s bed when Zeda
entered. “I brought you some bread,” she whispered as if the goblin was just
sleeping. She handed me a chunk of bread, which I ate despite my upset stomach.
“How is he?”
“He will be fine. I had to wipe dust off his bed
before they laid him down.”
“Does he never sleep?”
“I think he may sleep while standing guard outside my
room at night. Maybe I need a new personal guard. I want him to have rest, but
I just cannot imagine anyone else protecting me.”
“What if he continues to protect you during the day
and you assign a night guard? Do you trust anyone enough to guard your sleep?” She
sat beside Kseve on the bed, which was impressive. Not many people could stand
to be so close to a goblin.
“No, but I can accept that if it means Kseve will be
healthier.” I took his hand for a moment before letting him go. He could
tolerate my presence for an indefinite amount of time, but my touch rendered
even his powerful magic useless.
I sometimes wished I could go live on Earth, where
there were many people who didn’t have magic. Zeda patted my knee, stood, and
left.
* * *
I woke to a familiar groan and, remembering the
previous events of the day, stood up faster than my feet could cope with. Kseve
chuckled as I toppled to the ground like a fool. I didn’t care. I got up and
sat beside him on the bed.
Other than healing cuts on his body, we could find no
broken bones or internal injuries. Of course, none of our medical scanning
equipment could see through the thick hide of a goblin. I knew I was supposed
to act unaffected and mature, but I wasn’t unaffected
or
mature. I grew
too slowly, I was too rambunctious, and my attention wandered too much, but
Kseve was my friend. He was more than just my guard.
Kseve never pitied me, never coddled me, and never
treated me as something evil. He was kind, supportive, and guiding. He would
snarl or threaten someone who upset me and then tell me to get over it when we
were in private. He always had time to listen to me whine and never told me
everything was going to be okay. Instead, he made sure everything was okay.
“I want you to rest more,” I said, hoping I didn’t
hurt his ego. “I know you would heal faster if you had more sleep, and I know
you are not getting enough.”
He reached up slowly with his huge hand and patted my
head gently. “No.” That was it. That was his entire answer.
“I order you to rest more.”
He grinned and dropped his hand to my shoulder. “No.”
“You are so stubborn,” I sighed.
“Yes.”
* * *
Kseve was guarding me again before I even left the
room. This time, however, for fear of my father’s ethereal attacks, he refused
to leave me in my room by myself. He would stand in the doorway of my library
facing out as long as Zeda was with me, but he wouldn’t leave us alone. I was
okay with that; I wanted to watch over him as well.
Zeda and I spent the next two days together. Of
course, Ada and Thessa were there much of the time. Unfortunately, none of us
were alone. My father was attacking every time we turned around. It was usually
Zeda who was targeted, but her sisters, Nano, and Kseve were also attacked.
None of my guards could stop him, and it seemed he could possess people for
long enough to shoot a weapon or strike with a sword.
Dead or not, his magic was powerful and when he was
not in direct sunlight, he could take corporeal form. Many times, Zeda and I
would be in the library when she would feel my father’s hands around her
throat. It got so bad that after the fifth time, she could barely speak for hours.
We started staying outside after that, but even there he had power.
“What are we going to do about Atos?” she asked. It
was the day before our wedding and we were lying in the grass in the field
where a new stage was being set up. I stroked the bruise on her neck softly.
“We cannot dodge his attacks for the rest of our lives.”
“I think he will stop when I am no longer a void.
This started the day I prayed to Zer to end the curse. I believe Atos needs me
to be a void for some reason.”
“This guy, Dylan, who you keep talking about… Can he
help us?”
“We have to keep Atos away from Dylan. For whatever
reason, my father wants me to introduce him to Dylan. The reason could not
possibly be good. Dylan is preparing for a war against demons right now. When
he wins his war, which I plan to help him with, Atos will never be a problem
again. We just have to get through this.”
“How do you plan to help him?”
“When it begins, there are many people, trolls, and
goblins willing to fight for him. Right now, we need to… oh, no…”
I trailed off as Ada ran up to us, her arms and legs
covered in blood and tears streaming down her face. Zeda shrieked and jumped to
her feet. “Where are you hurt?!”
“Thessa… Thessa is hurt!”
“Kseve, watch over them and keep them outside in the
sunlight,” I demanded as I ran back to the castle. I made it to the front doors
before Nano was there to block my path.
“She’s alive,” Nano said in English, obviously trying
to keep our conversation private.
“Then let me in!”
“That is Atos’s plan. Thessa will be fine, but I
can’t let you fall into your father’s trap.”
I knew my uncle meant well, but he also
underestimated me more often than not. He was more powerful in his magic than
any other man on Dios, but even his magic was useless against the void. Furthermore,
whether he tried to deny it or not, I was far stronger than him.
I pushed him aside, unconcerned with if I hurt him or
not, and shoved the double doors open. One of the doors snapped off its hinges
and clattered to the ground behind me. I went straight to the physician’s
office, but opened the door carefully so that I didn’t scare the doctor. It was
a good thing, too, because he was cautiously applying medicine to her wounds.
While he could heal her, the medicine would help her with the pain and prevent
her from bleeding out as he did.
There were so many cuts and punctures all over her
body that I thought I was going to be sick. Thessa was awake as she watched the
doctor work. I wanted to help her and hold her hand, but the doctor’s healing
magic wouldn’t have worked while I did. She looked at me without speaking, and
when I realized why, I was horrified. There was a cut across her throat. It was
covered in medicinal paste, but it had to be bad.
“Ada and Zeda are outside. They are both safe,” I said.
She gave me a weak smile and watched me instead of the doctor for the remainder
of the procedure.
After the doctor was done with his medicine, he
started with the wound on her neck. Once what was finished, he focused on her
face and worked his way down. He healed each cut individually. They were not
completely healed, but every cut was closed and looked many days old instead of
fresh. The process must have been painful despite the medicine, because tears
started to fall. She didn’t make a sound, though.
When the doctor started wrapping her most severe
injuries, I took her hand. “Are you in pain?” She squeezed my hand. “What
happened?” I asked the doctor.
“She was in Zeda’s library when the skylight came
down. I pulled more glass out of her than I can count, including out of her
throat. She may never speak again, even with my magic, but she will live.”
Zeda could be heard in the hall as her outraged voice
grew closer.
“The door is locked,” the doctor said. “I will go let
her in.”
Thessa squeezed my hand urgently. “Wait!” I said to
the doctor. He did. “Squeeze my hand for yes. Do you want me to let your
sisters in?” I asked. She stared at me intently, but I felt no pressure on my
hand. “You are not squeezing. Do you mean that you do not want your sisters to
see you?” She squeezed my hand firmly. I sat heavily on the seat beside the
bed. “Zeda is going to kill me.”
Without making a sound, she mouthed the word “please”
over and over.
“It is your decision.” I tried to ignore the banging
on the door as my wife threatened to chop the doctor into little pieces if he
didn’t let her in. “Give her something to help her sleep,” I suggested. Thessa
squeezed my hand lightly.