The Assassin Queen (Book Four)

Chapter 17-Ryia

I screamed out Leo's name trying to reach into the shadows that had consumed him. My hands and arms stung as I reached in. I was crying now I don't remember the last time I let myself sob. The others were trying to get to the demon knight but he was always one step ahead of them and was still able to keep concentration on the spell. I can't remember how long it took to get the demon king to leave and break his spell I do remember reaching in after him over and over again even as the darkness tore up the skin of my arms. "LEO!!!!" I screamed. My throat seemed as torn up as my arms but I couldn't seem to feel the pain that was supposed to be there. When the shadows finally parted Leo fell into my arms. His blood immediately soaked my clothing. He was coughing up blood. "Leo, stay with me please, I'm begging you just say something" I sobbed out. "Password" his voice was scratchy and rough. Password. It was what he always said when I told him to stop tickling me. 'I'll give you a hint, I want you to kiss me' he said that when I asked how I was supposed to know his password. So with streams of tears running down my cheeks I kissed him. I could taste his blood on his lips. I pulled back to look into his eyes there was still a flicker of the fire that had always laid there. "I-I love you" Leo said with tears running down his cheek. I put pressure on the wound in his stomach. "I'm not going to lose you Leo!" I said tearing fabric from my dress to use as a make shift bandage. I wiped the blood from his mouth and cupped his cheek in my hand. "I love you far to much to let you go" I said through the tears. "Ryia take care of it for me" he said moving his hand to my stomach. "I would have liked to see our child" he said weakly the light in his eyes fading and his pulse slowing. "No you can't die, don't talk like that" I screamed pulling all the water from the air around me. I formed healing circles on his wounds the water glowing and healing but it was failing. "You can't. Y-you can't leave me!" I cried trying harder, draining the magic from my reserves. "Ryia I love you so much. Take care of our child" Leo said with his final breathe. I could see the light leaving his eyes. "NO! You can't leave me, please I need you" I was talking to a dead corpse and I knew it. Soon the water dropped leaving me to cry over the copse of the person I had loved most in the world. "Ryia" Alexandria said breaking through my tears. "I know how much he meant to you how much he meant to all of us" she said standing behind me carefully. "No! You don't understand, w-we were supposed to tell you at dinner so w-we w-would finally have s-something good to talk about. I-I'm pregnant, we were going to have a b-beautiful child" I said through my choked tears. I sat there crying until exhaustion knocked me out. There were no dreams just the endless darkness that seemed to steel my soul. When I woke up I was cold, it was so cold. I reached out for Leo's warm body and then I remembered. Tears started flooding my face. There was a note on my desk saying that they had sent word to the fae queen. He would be buried like all royal fae. They would burn his body and with the fae queen's help I, his wife would use the soil fertilized by his ash to grow a tree. and we would carve what would be on a hedge stone onto it. It would grow like Leo should have. I took a bath and used Leo's soap. When I got out I put on a pair his boxers and one his night shirts. I fell into his side of the bed. Enveloped in his scent I started to cry. It seemed to be all that I could do, cry and cry until there were no more tears to be given. The funeral was short, we had all seen our fair share of death and I was not in much of a mood for talking. I had told the fae queen that I was with her son's child. She smiled sadly and said, "well at least on piece of joy to be had". She gave the children a blessing and nodded to me before leaving I sat under the tree that was grown from Leo's ash for hours. I talked to him quietly with fresh tears still on my cheek. I hopped he was listening from the under world. I just wished to see his smile once more, to feel his curly hair tangle in my finger, to see the fire in his eyes. It seemed as though the world should be on fire and the sky black with smoke, but the grass was still green and the sky was still blue and the sun still shined. I didn't talk much outside of when I sat by the tree and spoke to Leo. Outside of that I was learning any weakness I could about the demon knight. I had went to sleep only three days after Leo's funeral. I was surprised to say the least when I was greeted by the library I had talked Simon in, before the demon knight took him away. Simon ran to me and handed me a paper. "Don't let that go. Now wake up" he said roughly. Without a chance to say a word I woke up. I was still holding the piece of paper tightly in my hand. Quickly I unfolded it. In scribbled scrawl it read: 'The demon knight is vulnerable in the midnight hour but he is most vulnerable at midnight and 12:59, the minute before it ends'.