The Dare of Truth [slash]

Chapter 6

The next several days passed without any extraordinary events. Fyn brought Eondar hot milk every time the sire woke from a nightmare, and it got better bit by bit. The next Friday night, Eondar slept through the night for the first time in weeks. He also continued to look for an apartment, but nothing really suited his needs. And the lifebearer caught himself looking disappointed whenever the sire marked some possibilities on the newspaper's residential market page. Living together with Eondar was something he had adjusted to surprisingly quickly. Although it did nothing for his nerves to catch his room-mate emerging from their bathroom shirtless and still wet from a shower every morning, the man was really great company and could cook like a five-star-chef.

Then Monday morning came with something unexpected.

"Mr. Sheldon, here are the events for the upcoming week." Celia put a list on Fyn's desk with a smile. "And we got a call from Mrs. Myers; her little daughter is sick, and she won't be able to cover the celebrity gossip column today. She asked if you can fill in for her, this one time, and since it fit your timetable, I put the event on the list - if that's okay."

"Of course," Fyn answered. "And why don't you come with me, Celia? It's high time you did some field work."

The girl beamed at him. "That would be great! What about Eondar?"

"He got a call on his cell phone half an hour ago and went out to take it." Fyn checked his watch with a frown. "It's not like him to chat that long."

"I'll look for him," Celia announced and bustled out. "The event's this afternoon."

After she was gone, Fyn took up the list with a sigh. There it was - he was doing a silly celebrity report just like he had dreaded.

The mentioned event was at the Holden hotel downtown. The hotel chain owner, Othric Holden, wanted to present his fiancé to the public. So far, there had been no hint as to the identity of his betrothed, and it was anticipated with much speculation. To Fyn, having no interest in that kind of stuff, it was all new, and he started to look up some of the rumours on the internet to be prepared. But he would most likely allow Celia to write the short article. He knew that she loved celebrity gossip. And the name Holden made him a bit uncomfortable, to be honest.

The journalist had never really cared about the things that had happened between his father and the Holdens. There was a hazy memory about a big, beautiful house where he wasn't allowed to touch anything and a tall, blonde sire with eyes like glaciers. When Fyn had been old enough to understand, his father had told him that a man named Aravin Holden was his real sire, a heartless guy who had treated Fyn and his father badly. The lifebearer had accepted this, knowing that his dad would never lie to him. And there was Sheldon anyway whom he had taken on as his sire.

But, now, Fyn was forced to bring himself up to date with the state of the Holden family and reluctantly started to browse through various news reports from past years in the "Valkyrie Times"' digital database. Aravin Holden had been banned to the Nandar branch of the hotel chain about thirty years ago by his brother due to some shady business and had never returned to Avras. Eight years ago, he had been killed in an earthquake there.

Fyn stared at Aravin's picture on his screen. He clearly remembered that face and those colorless eyes, and it made him shudder. He didn't feel sorry for never meeting that man again, and, as nasty as it was to think like this, he felt glad that Aravin was dead. Taking some deep breaths, the lifebearer went on reading about the sorry lot that was left of the once-proud Holden clan.

Othric had a son, Sylair, who had been accused of kidnapping and attempted murder in two cases around the same time Aravin had been caught doing illegal things. Sylair had been declared certifiably insane and was put into a closed mental hospital. About a year ago, he had been released, but had left the country immediately. There was no information about his current whereabouts.