The Heirs

Chapter 3- A Grudge Against Candles

good night! which put the candle out?
a jealous zephyr, not a doubt.
ah! friend, you little knew
how long at that celestial wick
the angels laboured diligent;
extinguished, now, for you!
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Trigger warning: violence, blood
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The first assassination attempt happened that dawn.

Jem couldn't sleep.
He usually could sleep easily- if he couldn't, he'd just read something or sketch a portrait, and he'd fall asleep doing that- but tonight, as he curled his arms around his sisters protectively, that wouldn't be possible. He longed for his old, long-lost dolphin plushie, even though he was far too old for it now.
Perhaps counting kelpies would help....

Beside him, Selene shifted uncomfortably, her sleep as always fitful. She would wake up soon enough, never being able to sleep into the day. She didn't know why she couldn't sleep in- she was physically unable to. Her lack of sleep had made her physically ill as a child and had deeply worried her mother. She'd taken her to Doctor Asherii, who'd checked her up in her no-nonsense way, and had said that, if she couldn't sleep in, she could sleep early and get all the sleep she needed. That was why she always retired to bed right after dinner, and would woke up around dawn.

Jem sighed, knowing that when she'd wake up, he was in for a scolding. For being his little sister, she acted like his elder one an awful lot.
As he noticed that the inky-black sky was fading to a pale yellow-pink, he grew desperate and worried- he needed to sleep. What kind of human was he, if he couldn't even manage to sleep, one of the most basic functions of Children of Man?
And- he was afraid. If he ever lost his stability, his composure, and if he regressed back to the temper tantrums of his childhood, when he would turn grey and feral and inhuman-

He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the thought away, before opening them again.

He might as well get his sketchbook and doodle something. Perhaps a little something to ensure Sel wouldn't yell at him...
Carefully, he disentangled himself from his sisters- Seraphina always clung to whatever she could find in her sleep, which he blamed on the fact that she'd slept in her mother's bed well into her childhood- as long as they'd been in Narnia, anyway, he wasn't sure about here- unlike he and Selene who had been sent off to their own rooms when they were hardly three or four.

Clearly, their parents had wanted privacy very much.

Rolling his eyes fondly, he slowly made his way out of the bed. He just hoped he wouldn't trip over Erielle, it was hard to see in the dark- he didn't know why Seraphina kept no candles- who would have a grudge against candles?

He'd just reached the door, and had been about to open it, when he realised he'd forgotten his night-robe and so he turned to grab it from the coat-stand-

Then several things happened at once.

The door flew open, blinding him with the sudden light from the hallway outside, someone was shouting, and there was a loud growl from behind him as a dark mass hurled itself at the intruder.

Something very heavy hit his stomach, and the wind was knocked out of him- he had to take several deep breaths to not throw up-

Jem heard a gasp- Selene?- and he managed to get back his sight just as a dagger was hurled at his heart.

He dodged it- he must've, though he wasn't aware of anything until much later- falling back and hitting his head against something heavy, and there was a loud hiss as the dark mass- Erielle- dragged her claws across the intruder's throat, leaping to bite his head off.