Liridia

Chapter 23: Legends and Insanity

Hywel
——————————————-

"Father. You wished to see me?" I asked politely, trying not to rupture his calm mood. He gestures for me to come forward, not looking directly at me like he always has.

"What is ever the matter, father?" I enquire lightly, probing to see if he is actually docile.

"Xavier is dead." He says solemnly, looking at his wrists that sit on the arms of his throne. I grab my father's hand. Xavier is dead, at least he is with my mother now.

A single tear rolls down Father's face before he speaks, "We are getting picked off one by one, son. We are all that is left. Getting cornered like pigs before the slaughter. I will find whoever did this and destroy them. I will make them pay for what they have done."

I nod and squeeze his weathered hand. He covers my hand with his and stares into my eyes.

"Say something. Anything." He orders quietly, bringing my hand to his chest.

"I don't know what to do, father. I don't know what to feel. Who is next?" I wonder out loud, the coldness seeping into my heart, corrupting it black.

I have faced too much. Felt too much. I have to be alone. I snatch my hand back as if his own hands had burned me and fled quickly out the door and to the North Wing, where Liona should be.

Our run-in come the morning was not desirable. She should be finding who has killed my mother, and now my brother. I burst into her quarters, finding it empty.

I come to the window and peer out below. Nothing but the dull marketplace and the forest beyond the walls.

I practically stumble into the library and collapse on a chair. I jam my hands into my eyes until bright stars burst forth into the blackness of my closed eyes. I rest my elbows on my knees and with tightly shut eyes, begin to weep.

My mother was kind, everyone had adored her. My brother may have been a right pain in the ärse, but he was still my brethren.

Why do people want us dead? Jealousy? Rage? Revenge? Something personal or for an advantage?

A hand rests lightly on my shoulder and I uncover my eyes to behold Liona. Her dark eyes piercing, straining to see what's wrong. Her brows scrunched together in concern, her hair in a loose knot.

"What is the matter, Hywel?" She whispers.

I violently scrub the tears away and paint on a smile.

"Nothing. Just missing mother, is all."

She smiles sadly and nods in understanding. Her eyes turn completely gold for but a moment, but I flinch away from her all the same.

The tales mother told me as a child ring in my head, snatches of words spilling to the surface for me to see, to feel all over again as if I am being told them right now.

'There once was a legend hardly anyone understood, or believed for that matter.'

"What's wrong? Was it something I said?" She asks light-heartedly. I try to ease back into her touch, but now I'm tense with alert. She drags a chair over and sits right in front of me. She grabs my hands in hers and I try not to snatch them away.