Heart of Fire

Past Shadows

Crow quickly grew accustomed to the schedule of the princess, he found himself around the princess and her maid almost all the time. In all honesty Crow didn't mind, he enjoyed the company of both ladies and them him. Allie was pulled into a lot of meetings that Crow and Bridget weren't allowed to attend, so during this time Bridget usually had Crow help with the laundry.

"Wait! Stop!" Bridget yelled to Crow as he dumped the clothes into the washer and prepared to start it.

"What?" Crow turned to the girl with confusion.

"You mixed the colors with the whites, birdbrain." she huffed and opened the lid to sort out the colors.

"What's wrong with that?" Crow asked, not even phased by the nickname she used on him whenever he did something she deemed stupid.

"The colors leak and stain the clothes. So this," she held up a bright red undershirt "Makes this," she held up a white bra which made Crow blush "Pink." She finished.

"I see, I won't make the mistake again." Crow assured her.

"Good." Bridget smiled and left him to sort the laundry. The first time she made him help, he didn't know anything so she had to teach him everything about laundry. In fact, he seemed to lack a lot of common sense when it came to household activities. He didn't know anything about folding, table manners, small talk, or other tasks one would typically learn when they're young. She thought about this for a little while, adjusting the ponytail of light caramel hair.

"Hey Crow?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"You're one of the youngest elite Slayers correct? I mean fifteen is really young." she said.

"Sixteen now," the boy corrected "I had a birthday a while back. And yes, I'm the youngest of the Slayer elites, why do you ask?"

"Well didn't you have to start training really young?" Bridget asked, hoping to dig up some of his past.

"When I was ten." Crow replied simply, wondering where the conversation was headed.

"So your parents must have had some connections, which family are they by the way?"

Crow grew silent and didn't speak for a few moments. "My parents didn't live in the Slayer Kingdom."

"Then how'd you end up here?" She asked with confusion, her sea green eyes swirling with wonder.

"The king took me in." Crow answered.

"What about your family?" Bridget asked.

"They were killed, by dragons." Crow mumbled as calmly as possible, but feeling the anger rise at the thought of his parents and sister dying in the attack. Scenes of flames and shadows of monsters filled his mind. Yells from his parents trying to fight back and get the children from the house. Running from the house and turning back to see it collapse into flames.

As Crow lost himself in the dark memories of his mind, two arms wrapped themselves around his midsection. He looked at the owner of the arms with surprise. Bridget stood with her head buried in his back. "I'm sorry Crow." she whispered. She wasn't able to comprehend losing a family because she still had both parents, but she could at least comfort the poor boy. And the least she could do was give him a hug.

Crow held back the tears that wanted to come. The last time he had been hugged was nine years ago. It was a hug from his mother during the attack. Crow turned around and wrapped his arms around Bridget, melting into the embrace. He remembered how amazing a hug could be.

Liam didn't mean to. It was a complete accident, but Raven refused to believe that which left him with the red outline of a tail across his face and a pissed off soaking wet halfbreed dragging him back to the camp.