A WAR AMONGST THE STARS

CHAPTER SIX

TWO MONTHS LATER...

Father had once said that distracting the mind aided in forgetting the things that you wished to forget. He had also said that to rule as king, one's mind must always be clear and ready to fight for the kingdom at any point in time. "There is no room to dwell on one's emotions when your kingdom is at risk of falling," I recall him telling me.

Mother had just walked by after he spoke those last words, pulling his attention away. As his eyes followed, her own locked on his, the two of them smiled, gazing upon one another in complete adoration.

I was young then, but even so, I knew by just observing my parents, the love they shared, went beyond even the stars.

Mother was father's distraction. She was the only one who could pull him away from the stress of life that he wished to forget.

Although the disappearance of magic had taken away the opportunity to find one's heartmate, father and mother had always known, that they had found theirs, even without the magic of the stars to bless their bond.

Father may have been a great king, but when it came to mother, he would have renounced his own title and all that he was, just to have been given one more day to love and hold her once more. That I know to be true. That I know he would have wished for, had he known that their last day, would be the day he would never set eyes on her again.

He was right. Distraction does aid the mind in forgetting the things that one wished to forget. As each passing day goes by, the haunting thoughts of witnessing my family being slaughtered, grow less and less, fading away into the darkest corner of my mind. I no longer have as much time to think of my family as I did while traveling to seek revenge out on the one who took their lives. I do not have the time because all my time is now dedicated to her. To the little beauty I now solely care for.

An impressed laugh escapes me as I hold my arms out for her to come to me. "Go on. Walk to me," I encourage.

It is a short distance between her and I. She only needs to cross the gap from the bed to where I stand, leaning against the wall.

She huffs in annoyance, but she does it. She crosses, determined to put her healing legs to good use.

My smile grows as she moves closer and when she makes it to me, taking my hands with an eager grab, I cheer. "You did it!"

After all the training... after all the time and patience put in from the both of us, working together every day to strengthen her weak bones and deteriorated muscles, her legs have finally stood the challenge of walking on their own.

She takes me by surprise when she latches on and wraps her little arms strongly around me.

"Oh," I say, surprised by the endearing affection.

With her cheek rested just below my chest, I detect a subtle long, happy sigh.

I find myself sharing the exact same gesture.

The undeniable urge to be closer is not one I intend on fighting, so I hold her head and body nearer. So very near to me. "I am very proud of you," I praise.

Three little words escape beneath her winded breath, and I hear it. I imagine what they might be."I did it,"is what I hear. I may not be able to understand her words out loud but somehow, like a soft, faint whisper through the wind, I hear them within my own mind. I hear them as clear as I hear my own thoughts and sometimes, I wonder, if what I hear, may be real.

Amongst the many tales of the old magic, telepathy is not unheard of. I want to believe that it is alive and that it allows me to hear her mentally, but that is not right, because magic is dead. Long dead after vanishing from The Three Worlds, all those many centuries ago.