Downworld

Chapter 8

Tinder and Kean were married the day after Fiona's first birthday in Raven's manor. I watched the thing from a terrace, above and away from the other guests, which included many of the nobles who lived in Raven's territory and also my parents.

I was calmer than I'd thought I'd be. Or maybe that was the Prozac.

The nobles I could have dealt with. Ever since I'd bonded with Raven a couple months before, I'd found it much easier to tolerate my guardian. Not that I should have been calling it that, the chick I was paying to help fix me told me I shouldn't disassociate from it. Though she -- since she was about as human as they come -- had no idea what my guardian really was. For a therapist, she seemed to accept my half-truths as facts very easily. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

Since I'd bonded with Raven, my guardian hadn't made as much as a whisper at any noble's presence other than her. There had been a hell of a few weeks after we'd made that step, but Tinder had eventually been right in that it was less painful in the long run. Not that she'd ever hear that from me. Now it wasn't so bad, though my guardian sometimes has things to say about how little I actually served the woman, it rarely made me sick, probably because Raven was a little woman who had the personality of a sunflower, who had many, many other sworn servants to look after her.

My parents on the other hand? There was no way in hell I'd be going anywhere near either of them, or either of their dates. Or any of the other servants of the Black Bear who had come to see little Tinder married. Not to mention my half sisters on both sides. I would rather have pulled out my own teeth with a pair of pliers than come face to face with any of them.

Instead, Tinder gave me Fiona to look after, which was a good compromise because with so many freaks from other territories around, you couldn't be too careful. So as I watched, I held her up high enough to see her parents below. She was a hard kid not to love, little Fiona, even for the crawling, crying, poop machine that she was. All smiles and giggles, most of the time. Babysitting didn't bother me as much as it could have.

Normally, Raven should have performed the ceremony, being both Tinder's and Kean's sworn lady. But Raven being mute presented some issue, so another noble stood in for her. After the stand in finished the long garble of ceremonial words, the wedding party and the guests began to break up, grabbing drinks and appetizers and generally trying to enjoy themselves, because weddings didn't happen every day in the down.

We watched a moment more before Fiona began to fuss. I took her back to the room that Raven had set aside as a playroom for her today.

'What shall we play, huh? Blocks, trains or dolls?' I said, laying out a selection of the box of toys. She immediately reached for the red train toy. 'Good choice. I'm not much of a doll man, got to say.'

Tinder and Kean fluttered in and out, checking on Fiona -- and on me, even though I was fine -- bringing us food and drinks -- even though we ate none of it because it was all junk -- and using us as an excuse to get away.

When I hadn't seen them for a while, I figured it was dinner time. I fed Fiona, and after she wanted to have another nap and I let her -- even though it'd probably mess up bedtime -- because she was so exhausted from being around frantic people all week. Plus, I'd be long gone back above by the time bedtime rolled around. I could have used a nap myself, but that was never going to happen with so many nobles about.

Instead, I lay down on the floor and stared at the ceiling, waiting for Fiona to wake up.

A tentative knock on the door brought me to my feet. If it were Tinder or Kean, they wouldn't have knocked. I had the sudden fear that it was one of my parents, but then I told myself that would never happen; they didn't want to see me as much as I didn't want to see them. It was -- of course it was, because Tinder was the biggest busy body below or above -- Malik.