Nurturer of Nightmares

Two days after the Karmona attack…

Cain

Rolling over in the bed, the moon rising overhead, I slipped out from underneath the covers, gently tucking the blanket around Adelia where she slept in Destiny’s Karmona Manor home, one of the only houses to survive the total destruction of Karmona. Pausing at the edge of the bed, I smiled sadly, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, tucking the note I had left for her underneath my pillow before changing quietly, hauling my weapons out of the room and down the stairs, toward the living room.

Silently buckling sheaths, I checked my bag for the third time, ensuring I had packed everything for the night, and day, ahead, however short it was going to be.

Those who had been found in the rubble of the Karmona Palace and city beyond had been brought to one of three houses: This house for the allies Tatiana and Lucifer trusted, the people like Merry, Mira, Karla, Lucy, Darcie, Nihila, Erelim and his family, who had thankfully survived the battle, and then Adelia and I.

Then there was a second Manor home further down the road, where some of Ressila’s survivors were staying, those remaining from the Lords and Ladies who hadn’t been executed by Lazarus and Nazareth.

The third Manor home was for Senias and the Aos Si survivors. An entire city reduced down to three Manor houses…

In total, out of a city that had easily reached millions of citizens, if we added the Aos Si population, the Nephilim and Fae who had come from Ordeallan and Tarvenia, and Ressila’s people, only three-hundred-thousand-and-fifty-two had been found alive.

Another seven-hundred-thousand were still missing. One-hundred-thousand were deemed dead or dying, Seth one of them.

It had been a swift, well-planned execution, and one I wasn’t certain we would recover from. It didn’t matter, anyway, not once Destiny heard what had happened to Seth. We would all be dead.

Which was why what I was about to do didn’t matter, either.

Stepping into the living room, I ran my hand through my hair, tying it into a bun at the nape of my neck, reaching down into the hidden alcove in the fireplace and retrieving my Necromancy book and box of items. It would be a long walk down into the heart of the city, and then from there, I would need to head to Caliem to kill the remaining Sins, sparing maybe Lional if he didn’t get in my way.

If I survived that, Daemonium would be next on the list, and since I had no plans to survive trying to assassinate three Gods of Daemonium, my cousin excluded… Well, there wasn’t really anything after that. By some miracle, if I managed to survive, I would come back to Adelia and our unborn child. If not, I had left the note, and not only my will, but Destiny’s and Seth’s, too.

Turning to unlock the front door, the wards thankfully down, I flinched as a voice from the shadows purred, “And where do you think you’re going, King of Ordeallan?” Thick shadows wrapped around me, preventing me from taking another step, the door clicking shut again, the cold air vanishing from me, and I cursed. Swinging on my heel and pressing a hand to my racing heart, I hissed under my breath, “Hell below, Nihila! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!” The Ancient of Darkness appeared before me, her eyes glowing in the darkness. Behind her, asleep on the couch, Zariatra and Marili were tangled in each other’s bodies, a single blanket thrown over them, Matami asleep on the floor at their feet, a sword in his hand.

The four Ancients had been in Ordeallan, anticipating an attack there, when Karmona had been destroyed. They’d felt the presence of the Gods, but by the time they had arrived, the damage had been done. The entire battle had lasted only two hours, and left us in shambles. I doubted the Ancients could have stopped it even if they had been in Karmona.

“A heart attack would be better for your health than the idiocy you’re about to try, boy.”

“And how would you know what I’m ‘about to try’?” I sniped under my breath, and the Ancient of Darkness perched at the end of the couch, counting on her fingers, “Sneaking out in the middle of the night while everyone is asleep, leaving a note for your wife, covered head-to-toe in Assassin gear, and carrying a box full of items used to portal to different Dimensions. I know exactly what you’re about to do, and I think it’s stupid to do… Alone.”

Jaw dropping, I watched as she changed in an instant, replacing a soft set of silk pyjamas with a black uniform, her shadows wrapping around the both of us as the cold of Britain replaced the warmth of the living room and its fireplace, everything beyond my satchel and weapons disappearing from my hands. Wards crackled behind us, marking the beginning of the Manor territory and protecting us from the radiation on the other side.

“You- Why- You’re coming along?” I stuttered, Nihila placing her hands on her hips and studying the Manor nestled amongst the winter-bitten trees. Kneeling on the frost-covered grass, we studied the soldiers seated around the garden, most of them either playing cards or drinking. They would have learnt about the attack on Karmona, and foolishly thought that none of us would bother retaliating.

“Why not,” she mused quietly, “We’re all going to be dead in a week at the most… Might as well take them down with us. As much as I would love to take my time, however, we do need to be fast.”

Turning to face her, I raised an eyebrow, wondering why it would matter, and she murmured, “Seth’s funeral is today.”

Exhaling shakily, I replied, “I don’t want to be there. I don’t think I can look his family in the eyes and tell them why Seth died.”

She scowled deeply, whirling on me and hissing, “Don’t be a coward! The boy died following an order, like any other soldier who died on that day! You gave an order, and he followed it! That’s loyalty to the highest level, Cain, and he damn-well deserves to have you there saying that, like you would for any other soldier!”

“Except he wasn’t just any other soldier, Nihila! He was family!”

He had been Destiny’s Connected, and not only had I failed to protect my cousin from Caliem and its brutality, but Seth had fallen prey to it as well. I had overestimated how well he would be able to fight on his own! He had told me that himself in Ordeallan, when I’d named him General, but I had been too busy planning ahead to think about the fact that while Seth was a valuable warrior, he was still a kid. He hadn’t lived thousands of years like Des and I had! He hadn’t had the experience we had!

I had forgotten that, in the heat of his being Destiny’s Connected and the entire war situation, and I had overestimated his ability to fight back.

His bravery, unfortunately, I had underestimated.

Those two, paired together, had made for a soldier who lacked the ability to properly fight back, but was more than willing to sacrifice themselves to be the hero, and while I was more than grateful for his saving Adelia, I had failed him, and that thought wasn’t going to simply fade away.

He hadn’t even been an adult. He had been seventeen. Seventeen! Not ‘lived for thirty-thousand years, but look seventeen’. He had only lived for seventeen years.

Hell, that was a blink in time compared to Destiny and I. That was a single afternoon of memories for us.

For him, it had been his entire, short life.

Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Nihila, he was a kid. Seventeen years old, he was. Seventeen. Do you know what I was doing at seventeen? I was screwing around with training! I hadn’t even begun taking my responsibilities seriously yet! Destiny had been an Assassin for Caliem, and I her protector. That was it! For Seth, he was fighting in an inter-Dimensional war at seventeen!”

“Like the rest of them. Merry is only twenty himself, Cain. Tatiana is only seven hundred. Erelim only thirty-two. Compared to us, they are children, and an unfortunate fact of being Immortal is that they will always be children to us. When we are at the beginning of our lives, they will be dying of old age. If Seth had been as old as Destiny, I still would have said his life was too short, because compared to mine he’s an infant. He died fighting a war for his island and his family, let him rest in peace, and try and forgive yourself. He won’t be the last you’ll give an order to and have die because of it.”

Snarling, I snapped, “Then why are you here helping me get revenge on the Manor?”

“Because I hate them just as much as you do. I want to give them Hell for it, but… Killing everyone in that Manor won’t bring him back, Cain. That, and… Well, I didn’t want to leave you alone. Your head was in a bad place, and I wanted to help.”

“Why would you care?”

“Because if you get yourself killed because you’re feeling a little guilty, then I will have a lot of explaining to do to not only your wife and her family, but to the entire city of Ordeallan, or what remains of it, considering I’m the one who crowned an apparently mentally-unstable man! Personally, I don’t think exacting revenge on the Manor tonight will help matters at all. If you leave so much as one person alive, they will retaliate and the rest of the recovering citizens will be hit with a second battle when they’re barely surviving the first.”

“I can’t just go to the funeral today and say that I’ve done nothing… I wanted to go there and say-”

“Say what? That you killed an entire Manor of Demonic-beings, and then tried to kill three Gods of Daemonium? You wouldn’t have survived, let’s face it, you and I know that, so instead of that, they would have to go to Seth’s funeral, and then immediately begin planning yours. Don’t give them more grief to handle right now. You want to die later? Sure. But right now, you need to pick yourself up, write a speech for Seth’s funeral, and begin planning how we will move forward. Karla will need help with Seth’s finances, too. He had a significant amount of wealth, and we both know Karla’s new partner will try and steal that wealth.”

“The money goes to me,” I sighed sadly, spearing my hair again, “Des and Seth’s wills both stated that their money would go to the other. Destiny is currently MIA, Seth is KIA. When Seth died, the money would have gone to Destiny, except she’s technically missing, so it transfers from her to her beneficiaries. Which, aside from Seth, is me.”

“Then you’re going to get a massive payout.”

“I don’t want the money. I want it to go to Seth’s family, but I know that if I try and transfer it to Karla, her husband will take it as the head of the household. If I give it to Merry, because he isn’t married yet, it goes to his mother, which then goes to her partner, and the same for Lucy… The only way for Seth’s family to keep the money for themselves would be if I kept it and lent it to them.”

“Do that, then,” Nihila said with a shrug, “Either way, we need to go back to Karmona before we’re spotted here…” She paused, glancing to me for a moment as I slumped in defeat, and added, “If you really want to do something tonight, come back and help me search for survivors. People will appreciate seeing a King helping his, and other, people. We can look for survivors until dawn, and then go back and get ready for the funeral.”

Exhaling, I nodded slowly, murmuring, “Let’s go…”

Her shadows wrapping around us again, the Manor faded away, the living room coming back into view just in time for me to come face-to-face with a sobbing Adelia, her hand clenching the note I had left behind.

She slammed into me, having been running for the door, and looked up only to let out a broken whimper and hug me tightly, her curled hand slamming into my chest as she wept, “Don’t do that to me! Don’t leave like that!”

Nihila, pressing her lips together, simply vanished into shadows again, and I pulled Adelia to my chest, hugging her tightly and breathing, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t a good idea. I’m sorry.”

She was still wearing a nightgown, the cotton and silk material clinging to her sweat-slicked skin, the smallest of bumps beginning to appear beneath the gown, and I pressed a kiss to her lips before kneeling and kissing her abdomen as well, her hand resting on my neck. Her fingers were shaking, and I closed my eyes for a moment, guilt making my heart ache. Rising to my feet again, I gulped thickly, whispering, “When did you wake up?”

“About a minute ago. I needed the bathroom, and you weren’t there. I thought you had been taken, like Des… And then there was the note, and by the time I had finished reading it, I was already running down the hall. I was going to run to Senias and tell him that you were gone.”

“Why Senias?” I questioned curiously, and Adelia, wiping at her eyes, replied, “He helped you once, I figured he would help you again. Why did you come back? Did you… Did you do it?”

“No, Nihila convinced me that I was going to get myself killed.”

“I owe her my thanks, then,” Adelia said weakly, exhaling and resting her hand on her stomach, “Cain, don’t do that to me again. I get that Demonic-beings work differently, but… Just don’t, please. I thought we’d lost you.”

We, because it wasn’t just Adelia and I anymore. We had a child on the way, and I needed to be less hot-headed. Nodding once, my own body beginning to shake as I realised Adelia would have been a single-mother and auctioned off like a prized mare to prevent shame on her family, I hugged her tightly, saying, “Neither of you are losing me. Go back up to bed, I’ll find something for you to eat.” There likely weren’t any stores open at this time, but Ressila’s warship still stood at the end of the destroyed Port, which meant whatever remaining supplies would be there, on the boat.

“I’m going with you,” Adelia said firmly, crossing her arms and saying, “I won’t be able to sit still up there.”

Nodding, I summoned my cloak, wrapping it around her and buttoning it, the hood too big on her body. Smiling in amusement at the sight, and the memories it brought back of Destiny dressing up in my clothes as children, I chuckled, “It’s a bit big on you.” She rolled her eyes, slapping my shoulder and saying, “Let’s go.”

Seth’s funeral was at midday, the time chosen by Merry. He had wanted the sun to be as close to midday as possible, at the height of its journey across the sky, and quite frankly, I didn’t blame him. The golden-haired boy had been light-hearted and kind. Sunlight suited him.

That gave us quite a while until we had to be there.

Nihila reappeared just as we exited the house and began walking down the street, walking on the other side of Adelia, but before I could ask her why she was there, she simply said, “Nobody said the city was safe yet, King and Queen of Ordeallan.”

Pausing, I murmured, “Are there enemies in the city?” If I found any, I would kill them. The enemies I had fought on the battlefield hadn’t spoken Demonic, Faereveyn or common, nor any language on Earth, so they were useless as prisoners. Whatever languages they had spoken, it had not been from any of the worlds I had visited.

“I don’t know. I haven’t had the time to clear it yet. Listen, now might not be the best time to bring this up, but we are currently lacking in time.”

“Go ahead, Nihila,” Adelia sighed wearily, and Nihila casually, as though it were the weather we discussed, said, “Karmona and Lamia have now been wiped off the map. Ordeallan and Tarvenia are the only cities left standing on The Borderlands, which means we are facing an extinction-level war here.”

“I am more than aware, Nihila,” I bit out, Adelia glancing to me with worry.

“Yes, well, Tatiana and Lucifer retrieved Embyrdeen’s ring from the Sidhe Hills before the attack. We have everything but Inferos and Inanis.”

“Seth had Inanis,” I said, my heart skipping a beat. Had the Gods of Daemonium killed Seth because he wore Inanis?! Was that why he had been murdered?

“Seth’s body is currently being prepared for his funeral. To get Inanis, which he wears around his neck, we would have to… rob his body,” Nihila said with a wince, Adelia blushing as I cursed, muttering, “Fine. I’ll retrieve it now. Where is Seth being kept?”

It felt wrong, talking about Seth as though he were nothing more than an object that had been discarded when he had been so much more than that, not only to his family and Destiny, but to me, too. The kid had grown on me since I’d first met him in the Commander’s home.

The luck we’d had back then, having our target just waltz into the house!

That was when I’d realised Destiny cared for him, even if she would sooner die than admit it. She had been handed the perfect opportunity to take him and go back to the Manor, but she hadn’t. When he’d escaped, she could have easily hunted him down, but she had let him go. The idea that she might love him, the son of the man who had tried to manipulate all of us, had frightened me, but then I’d met the kid, and he’d been wholly unaware of who his father had been, and beyond that, had actually loved Destiny, and I had given up on convincing Destiny to ignore him and stay loyal to the Manor.

Nihila sighed, murmuring, “He’s being kept with Senias and the others. Jason is there, mourning while taking care of his body.”

“Hell, the feelings Jason must be going through,” I said at the same time Adelia sniffled, murmuring, “It’s so sad… I feel like his death is my fault.”

Adelia had already let me go through her memories of how Seth had died, since I had wanted to know every little detail, analysing it for possibilities that maybe he wasn’t dead, but trapped in some sort of spell or coma.

He had told her to run, and then knelt and faced what he had thought would be inescapable death. I had seen him kneel, placing his hands on the back of his head. He had been shaking with fear, but stayed there to save Adelia.

Then he had sprinted in front of her, knowing what Nazareth had tried to do to Adelia, and taken a spear meant for her.

He had died saving Adelia.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said at the same time Nihila said, “Seth died fighting for his island against an attack we failed to anticipate. It is nobody’s fault except our enemies.”

“Why don’t we just raise him? We bring Destiny back every one-hundred years,” Adelia suggested, and I sighed, “Unfortunately, because of Seth’s Ancient status, he went to The Void. Summoning him would give someone Voidal Syndrome.”

“The illness that made Destiny’s arm turn black?”

I nodded, adding, “Nobody would be willing to get Voidal Syndrome just to raise him back up from The Void, and beyond that-” Cutting in with a cough, Nihila said, “Belial would never let him go. He can be used for ransom against Destiny now, his little soul of shadows. That means that whoever tries to raise him up will be fighting not only The Void, but Belial too.”

“Belial and Seth didn’t exactly get along, either,” I mused, and Adelia sighed, saying, “So he’s just… gone?”

“He’s not gone, so to speak. Dead, yes, but he lives on in The Void. Like my siblings.”

Reaching the edge of the destroyed Port, pieces of wooden boards crunching beneath our feet, I sighed, “Let’s look for some food, and then we’ll go to the house closer to dawn.”

Waves crashed against the shore, sending debris rolling up along the sand before it was sucked back into the depths as the water withdrew, birds squarking overhead, searching for fish in the waves. One such bird circled above, diving toward the waves before emerging with a fish moments later, and Nihila sighed contentedly, making her way down the sandy beach toward the beginning of the water.

Ressila’s warship was anchored dozens of metres out, the waves too rough to risk swimming out, and barrels bobbed in the water, marked with her crest. Along with the barrels, pale smudges floated just metres below the waves, rolling with the movement of the ocean like they were dancers spinning on a stage, wisps of hair and clothes attached to them, and I grimaced. Senias had said that some had attempted to flee from the city and toward the Port during the battle, only to be killed on the beach. Last night had been a high tide…

Adelia, realising what I was looking at, shrieked, turning away from the beach and vomiting on the sand. Rubbing her back, I murmured whatever comforting phrases came to mind, and called out to Nihila, “Can you find us food that hasn’t been… Sharing the water with bodies?”

Nihila, with a shrug, simply clicked her fingers, her shadows retrieving barrels from the waves and dumping them on the shoreline, cracking them open to reveal the contents.

“They’re sealed, Cain. The food inside is clean.”

Too curious not to look, I strode over to examine them, Adelia following close behind, her face tinged green with disgust, her eyes involuntarily flicking to the bodies.

The first of the barrels, made from a fine wood and sealed shut with wax, was full of salted meats that had been wrapped in waxed parchment, and I nodded appreciatively, Nihila cracking the next barrel open to reveal various cheeses, each one individually wrapped, their names written carefully over the paper.

The third barrel was too water-logged to contain anything of worth, although I could see that it had once stored flour, judging from the sludgy glue that remained, and Nihila’s shadows made quick work of resealing it, the stench of salt and rotting flour enough that Adelia threw up again, rushing back up the beach to sit on the pavement and calm her stomach.

“Onto the next barrel,” I joked weakly, Nihila cracking it open before immediately cursing, slamming the lid back down before Adelia could see, or smell, what it was, Nihila and I’s eyes meeting over it, our noses wrinkling.

Within the barrel, tied up and covered in their own solidifying filth, was a man who must have died weeks ago, on the boat trip over from the Northern Isles. Someone must have put him in there, either to be cruel or as a punishment, and then forgotten, leaving him there until he had died. His mouth was open in a wide ‘O’, his tongue having shrivelled into nothing but a small, salted husk, and his skin was beginning to crack, having dried out from the salt of the ocean. The inside of the barrel was mostly dry, but it was caked in urine and filth amid the deep scratches in the wood, his fingernails coated in dry, coagulated blood. He must have tried to claw his way out…

The clothes he wore said he wasn’t a Lord, but instead a servant of some kind, and his right leg was at an odd angle. It could have been injured after he had been stuffed into the barrel, if he had tried to kick his way out, but it was more likely he had been injured, and then placed inside to hide the evidence. Hissing in disgust at the brutality of Ressila’s court, since it was likely a disgruntled Lord, or the Queen herself, who had sealed the lad in the barrel, she slammed the lid shut again.

Tossing it back into the waves, she casually, to hide the evidence from Adelia that something was wrong, hummed, “Nothing of importance in that one.”

There was one final barrel, Nihila suddenly wary as she opened it, the both of us leaning down to peer within, horrified anticipation making my heart race in my chest, Nihila wringing her hands together.

Thankfully, it contained nothing but rice, and Nihila sighed in relief.

“A barrel of meat, cheese and rice. I don’t suppose that will last us?”

Reaching to lift the first of the barrels into my arms, I grunted at the weight, the exhaustion of the battle settling into my muscles, Nihila’s shadows wrapping around them and placing them beside Adelia, who flinched when they appeared suddenly beside her, along with a bottle of water that Nihila’s shadows handed to her, my wife gulping it down, using it to wash out her mouth. Spreading her wings, the bone glinting in the moonlight, saying, “I’ll fly over to the ship and look for more supplies. Why don’t you take Adelia back to the house and get some rest? The poor thing looks exhausted, and considering she’s carrying your child, you should make sure she has some proper sleep. I will retrieve Inanis from Seth later for you, just have a bath, and some rest.”

Bowing my head, I breathed, “Thank you, Nihila.”

She simply smiled warmly and shot into the sky, Adelia limping up to me, yawning.

Hoisting her into my arms, I murmured, “Nihila is going to finish searching and gathering everything. How does a bath sound?”

“Like Heaven,” she admitted tiredly, and I hugged her close to me, brushing a lock of her hair from her face.

Striding up the beach, wrestling with the sand tugging at my feet and the woman in my arms, I fought to keep the grimace of pain from my face, until Nihila, her voice in my ear, sent her shadows after us, the Manor house appearing in front of us, the door swinging open for us. Matami sat up, groaning and lifting his blade before seeing it was us and collapsing again.

“Poor little warrior,” she mocked light-heartedly, “Go get some rest, Cain.”

I made it up the stairs, placing Adelia on the bed while I ran a bath, the smell of vanilla and roses filling the bathroom. Spotting movement in the corner of my eye, I peered out the window to see Merry in the backyard, sitting on the edge of the roof on Rhea’s empty stable, a bottle of ale in his hand, his head tilted up toward the sky.

He had stepped up and planned his little brother’s funeral while Karla had broken down entirely, and the whirlwind of grief and regret and guilt must have been getting to him, too, for him to be out there at midnight, in the middle of winter, drinking.

Grabbing a second cloak for him, I left the water to fill the tub slowly, pausing only to grab a carton of drinks from the kitchen before exiting into the backyard and whistling to let him know I was approaching, calling out, “Want company?” I shook the carton of drinks, letting him hear them clink, and in a too-hollow, empty voice, he replied, “Sure.”

Climbing up the stables, using the crates of hay to pull myself up, I took a seat beside him, cracking open one drink and sipping at it, gently joking, “The pity party doesn’t require invitations?” He didn’t sound drunk, or even smell it, although I could certainly smell the alcohol in the bottle in his hands- it wasn’t water, that was for sure. His feet, which were hanging off the edge of the stable, were turning a light shade of blue, goose bumps rising on his shoulders. The look in his eyes as he turned to glare at me, the complete lack of warmth in them that could have rivalled a Demonic-being, made me shiver, and he muttered, “If you’re here to be a prick, Cain, then leave.” To be fair, Destiny would have socked me in the jaw for that, even if she would have snickered afterwards. Wincing, I said, “Right, no jokes, sorry.” Placing the cloak around his shoulders, I gazed up at the empty night sky, taking another sip of my drink and saying, “You alright?” Obviously he wasn’t, but I couldn’t just come out and say that… ‘Hey, you look like shit, want to talk about it?’ That would definitely get me pushed off the roof. He continued sipping at his own drink, so quiet I thought he may not have heard me, and five minutes passed by before he gulped, rubbing at his face and awkwardly choking out, “I’m alive.”

“Good thing, or bad thing?” I had no idea how to help someone lost in grief. Even Destiny had been a lost cause for a while, and we had been close. For someone like Merry, who I barely knew, I had no idea how to cheer him up.

“A bit of both, honestly,” he said, and I sighed, “It’s like that most days now, I imagine.”

“My little brother is dead, my mother is married to a man who wants me to sell my future children, and my island is destroyed. Can’t get any better than this,” he added sarcastically, and I mused, “Can’t get any worse, either.”

“Don’t say that. That’s just asking for trouble, these days.”

“It’s asking for trouble any day.” He finished his drink, pressing his lips together in agreement, and I offered him another, saying, “You’re planning on getting black-out drunk later as well, huh?”

“Might as well,” he sung grimly, placing the empty bottle on the roof beside him and reaching for the one I offered him, cracking it open on the edge of the roof and sipping from it.

“Same. Care to drink with me?”

“Emmett and I were going to get absolutely wasted, like we used to as reckless, poor-as-dirt teenagers, so I doubt you can-”

“I can keep up, Merry. Do you want my company or not, because now you’re being the prick when I’m just offering.” I nudged him with my elbow, letting him know it was nothing more than a joke, and he snorted humourlessly, tipping his head to me.

“I won’t turn it down, King of Ordeallan.”

“Des and I used to get black-out drunk whenever we were upset, too.”

“Even the Demonic-beings need alcohol to cope?” He sniped, and I shrugged.

“I wouldn’t call it coping, just surviving. There are better ways to cope.”

“Now you sound like my mother,” he groaned, leaning back and laying down on the roof, which let out small popping sounds, the metal crackling in the cold of winter and the heat of his body, the frost coating it melting. Laying beside him, I took another sip of my drink, tilting my head up to do so, not caring if it dripped into my stubble, and I grinned.

“Apologies. I do believe your mother would be more responsible than me.”

He snickered, raising his eyebrows in agreement, before murmuring to nobody in particular, “It’s my little brother’s funeral today, and I am laying on a roof at midnight, drinking.”

Hearing him sniff, wiping away tears, I kept my gaze carefully turned away, knowing he wouldn’t want me to see him cry, especially by the way he kept his body carefully angled away, I said, “You’re grieving, Merry. I know your brother wouldn’t want you to be upset for too long, though.”

“Seth always cared more about that sort of thing than I did.” He choked on his brother’s name, and I winced again, murmuring, “I am sorry for what happened. You have my condolences.”

“I appreciate it, I just… need some time, I guess. There’s just so much to do between the funeral and planning everything. Hell, I still need to sort out the finances so Duke Asshole doesn’t get his hands on it. He’s already tried advocating for it.”

“What?” I breathed in disgust, and Merry’s eyes lit up in ire, his lip curling as he snarled, “My mother’s new partner has already tried to get his hands on Seth’s money. About thirty minutes after he had died, and before you had found where we were.”

“I have a way around that,” I admitted, “And I know it sounds selfish, but it isn’t, I promise. Seth and Destiny had their wills written to work together. Destiny’s wealth went to Seth when she went missing, and Seth had it arranged that his wealth would go to Destiny if he ever died. Destiny also had it set up so that if the money couldn’t go to her or Seth, it would go to me. I don’t want that money, it was never mine to begin with. I am more than happy to ‘keep’ it for your family to prevent Duke Asshole, as you call him, from accessing it, and you can access it whenever you want. All of their assets, not just Seth’s. I won’t touch it, I have no need to.”

Merry blinked away his tears, sitting up and saying, “You can do that? Prevent him from taking it?”

“The money is mine, so taking it would be theft, no matter what loopholes he tries to pull. Destiny has it written in her will that if her assets can’t go to Seth, they go to me. I already have access to her assets, like this house, except so does Seth. When Seth died, everything transferred to Destiny, who can’t access it because she is missing, so they went to the next beneficiary: Me. Like I said before, I don’t want that money, so I will ‘keep’ it under my name, and you can take it from the vaults.”

“That’s… very generous of you, considering you could just take it. The money is yours. Seth and Destiny made that clear.”

“Like I said, I don’t want, or need, it. He was your brother, not mine. Don’t think of it as charity,” I cut in before he could argue, “think of it as a gift. Or, if you don’t like gifts, either, then a salary. Work for me and take the money as your salary.”

“Work for you? As what? Seth was a General for you, I get that, but I have little interest in taking my dead brother’s title.”

“I don’t know, whatever you want. Hell, work as a scribe and don’t do a day of work in your life for all I care. All I know is I don’t want that gold. I would prefer it went to you, Mira and whatever family you have in the future. Lucy will be well taken care of because of her betrothal to Tarragon, we both know that, so the money is yours.”

He rolled his shoulders slowly, blinking blearily and sighing, “I’m tired.”

There was a hidden meaning behind his words, not just exhaustion from the battle or lack of sleep, and it was because of the look in his eyes, like the life had been sucked from him, that I patted his shoulder, saying, “My room is down the hall from yours. If you need anything, and I mean anything, Merry, please don’t hesitate to come see me. Wake me up at three in the morning if you want.” His eyes lifted to mine, lined with tears that were beginning to freeze in the cold, and he quietly hissed, “I’m not going to toss myself from the roof of the house, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“It wasn’t, but I’m glad to hear it regardless. You wouldn’t look very good as a pancake, I must admit. You are far too pretty-faced to be splattered like that.”

He paused, nodding quietly to himself, his lips tugging up at the corners in a small smirk, and I rose to my feet, intending to go back inside and defrost my body in a warm bath with Adelia. Behind me, Merry murmured, “I’m sorry I’m being a prick. If I’ve offended you in any way-”

“You’re not, and you haven’t,” I said with a small smile, watching him crack open another drink, “I’ve grown up around them, and I’m sorry to say it, but you don’t have the ruthlessness. Besides, Destiny kicks me in the ego more than you ever have, and I still love her.”

He laughed hollowly, before saying, “Thank you, Cain.”

I dipped my chin to him, leaping from the rooftop and striding back for the door just as Emmett emerged, his worried eyes lifting to my own. Nodding, I clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Go have a drink with him, Emmett, but he’s fine.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, the Korathian nodded, closing the door behind him, and I went back to my bath, leaving my clothes discarded where I peeled them off.

Scooping Adelia up, who was still in the nightgown, I locked the bedroom door, striding into the bathroom and stopping the water, bubbles overflowing from the tub.

Stepping in, I lowered us down until we were submerged, Adelia groaning in relief, the cold of the bathroom replaced by the heat of the water. Clicking my fingers, my powers lit a candle in the corner of the room, moonlight pouring in from the window I would have opened had it not been for Merry and Emmett outside. I could hear the two of them laughing, tossing bottles off the roof where they shattered on the grass.

Adelia rested her hands on her stomach, fiddling with her wedding ring and smiling at me, arranging herself so her feet rested in my lap, her head resting on the other end of the tub. Grinning back, I rubbed her feet just as she murmured, “I bet it’s a girl.”

Pausing, I raised an eyebrow, saying, “What makes you think that?”

“I don’t know. I just think it is. Are you… pleased about that?”

“Yes,” I said, reaching forward and gripping her hands lovingly, saying, “Of course I am. I will be overjoyed no matter what.”

“I thought we had lost you, when I woke up and saw that note.”

Wincing, I breathed, “I know, and I’m sorry. I thought the same, when we had to split up during the fight.” Lifting her hand to run it through her hair, water flowing down her skin, she murmured, “Seth kept me safe.”

“Yes, and I owe him everything. If, and when, he is brought back, I will be giving him a whole territory as thanks. He can have whatever the Hell he wants for saving my family.”

“Can you use Necromancy to bring him back? You’re proficient, aren’t you?”

Shaking my head, I said, “Too risky, for both of us. I could maim him, or he could end up like Sarah, all hollowed out and without solid memories. It’s better if we wait for him to be raised from The Void with a ritual.”

“So, not worth it?”

“No. I wouldn’t even risk bringing Des back with only Necromancy, not when it could seriously mess her up. Zeella and the Lords handled that.”

“Where is the war going after this?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted in fright, “I have no idea. Ressila has survived, so I imagine she will be rebuilding as soon as she can. Maybe she’ll give up and go to Revala instead. I just hope we find a way to bring Seth back before Destiny learns of his death.”

“Because she will be hurt?”

“More like she’ll kill all of us. My cousin is volatile, and despite my best efforts never really learnt how to control her emotions, her powers make that impossible. A too-strong emotion can lead to meltdowns like the one I told you about in Ordeallan, how she killed Satalari in her fury and panic. Losing her Connected will be a final-straw type of situation, and I don’t doubt that she will tear the world apart over it.”

“Has anyone tried to contact her?”

“It would be impossible,” I admitted, “She’s in Daemonium, I imagine. If Nazareth and Lazarus aren’t telling her about Seth’s death, it’s because they’re afraid of what she’ll do.” The warmth had been sucked from the room once more, the conversation becoming grim, and Adelia shivered, reaching for a towel and handing one to me, the two of us dressing quickly, trying to outrun the freezing air, my Connected yawning and sleepily saying, “We should get some sleep before the funeral.”

Turning to glance out the window, where the grey of dawn was appearing, I nodded. Merry and Emmett were still out there, the Korathian holding his friend tightly as he sobbed, and I gently, quietly closed the curtain, giving them privacy. Merry was in good hands.

The sheets were mercifully warm, Adelia already cuddled up in them, and I tugged her against me, kissing her forehead and brushing my finger down her cheek, murmuring, “I’m so glad I get to be with you.”

She smiled, her eyes still closed, and replied, “Likewise, Cain.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to sink into a deep sleep, only to find it impossible, instead just laying there…