A Fallen God (Fall of the Fey #2)

Chapter 2

Mel sat with Faux in the captains quarters at the back of the ship. The captain, himself, was too busy to be in there as he was directing his crew under the watchful gaze of Lucius. She watched Faux, how his posture was slouched in the red leather-lined chair, his hair tousled, and his brown eyes hollowed as though he had seen something truly horrific.

And he had.

To Mel the three boys had been almost abstract, not really real to her because she had little to no contact with them. She was sad they were dead but her sadness was a puddle, small and soon to dry. Faux had continual contact with at least one of them, which he had told Mel when she questioned him about it. He knew and had a relationship with one. Watching the children die, with no way to stop it, would have been torture.

'Faux,' Mel started and paused. How could she help him with this grief that seemed so huge? What would she want in his position? 'We'll stop Jacoby.'

He blinked, as though he was coming awake.

'How will we do that?' Faux asked. 'What would that accomplish? What's the point.'

'Remember when I was cast out?' Mel asked. 'I had no idea what to do but you gave me a direction.'

'I shouldn't have left the bar.' Faux said, seeming to ignore her.

'Faux!'

'My name is Mylo,' Faux shouted, then repeated repeated himself in a whisper: 'My name is Mylo.'

'Mylo,' Mel whispered, testing out the feel of his name.

'I'm not you, Mel.' Mylo said. 'I can't save anyone. I can only watch as their blood pour out of them and their hearts stop beating. All I can do is keep living.'

'It wasn't your fault,' Mel said. 'You couldn't have stoped it.'

'I could have though,' Mylo said. 'If I didn't starve myself, I could have saved them. All of them.'

'Then stop.'

'You want me to kill more people?' Mylo said with a laugh.

'If it's what I needed to do to keep the ones I love safe, I would do it,' Mel said after a moments consideration. 'If it came down to strangers or you, or Lucius, or Dresdan, or even Ferra. I would kill for you. I have killed for you.'

Mel slumped down in her own chair. Reliving the night in the Draco caves, where the living dead screamed as they burned to dust; the castle in the Red Desert as the king and his men boiled in their own blood. Her chest was crushed by her own guilt and her lungs could barely function under the pressure.

'I have done terrible things to save the people I love and I will continue to do so,' Mel's hands clenched on the arms of her chair as she said this. 'Will you?'

They were quiet, listening to the rock and creak of the boat around them and the salt scented air was heavy around them as though it too was effected by their burdens.

There was a knock at the door before Lucius opened it, without waiting for an answer.

'We will be docking soon. When we get to port, we should head straight for Nyx and Zehala's house,' Lucius said. He had barely spoken since Jacoby had appeared. Mel couldn't imagine how he felt, seeing the man who murdered his wife and parents, who almost killed him. Mel nodded mutely at him, it would be nice to sleep on a bed.

Mel followed Lucius out of the cabin to see the approach of land, which started out as a grey blob in the horizon and expanded until individual ships and buildings could be seen. The ports were well maintained with large ships and small boats lining the jetty. Obikwa relied a lot on the water as the middle of their country was barely habitable and the only vegetation that grew was hardy and unappetising from what Mel had experienced.