Scarred

Chapter 14

Eva's POV
Soon enough, the small cottage comes into view, and a wave of nervous nausea hits me, almost making me stumble over. Cas notices this, and tells his siblings that they should go ahead. This also signals Lucky to go off on her own, leaving just me and Cas alone together.

"You okay?" He asks.
"Just ignore me," I reply, shaking my head. "This is your day, one of the most important days of your life. Don't waste your attention on me."
"Eva... you really don't want to be here, do you...?" It almost seems to hurt him to say. It looks like tears are about to fill his eyes.
"I'm sorry."

"There's a reason I want you here. I want them to meet you, I want you to meet them. Eva, you mean so much to me, that I almost feel like I need you here on this day. Think about it, didn't you want your mum to meet me?" He says, the tears now trickling down his cheeks. "Or maybe you didn't... I don't know, it's hard to tell what you're thinking sometimes."

"Cas... of course I wanted her to meet you. The idea of her getting to meet one of the most important people in my life made me so excited and I was so excited for you to meet her as well. But-"
"But what?!"
"I don't know... this just seems so different to all that. Maybe it isn't though... I don't know how you felt about meeting her..." I sigh.

"No... I think you're right. It is a little different. I had time, years in fact, to prepare myself to meet her. You've barely had a day..."
"And then there's the fact that I'm so different to all of you."

"What makes you think that?" Cas murmurs.
"Lots of things. You're all familiars, you're all family, you're all... Impure," I reply, barely a whisper.
"Eva."
"What?"
"Since when does blood ever matter? There is no way that Maven could ever be related to me but I still think of him as family, your mum's an Impure and you still love her."
"I know, but-"
"It's no different here. Alright...? You don't have to meet them if you don't want to..."

"No. I will, just give me five or so minutes."

"Are you sure? Well... okay, five minutes."

Apollo and Ammie wait for us outside the house and I suggest that I stand outside whilst they talk. I can have my five minutes whilst Cas gets to see them.

Now that I've spoken to Cas about this, it seems that everything is calming down a little. That feeling of nausea is mostly gone, my heart has finally stopped thudding like a drum in my chest. Letting out a sigh of relief, I lean against the wall of the house, letting the cold winter breeze dance through my hair and hide under my cloak. For a moment, it sends icy shivers running through me, but eventually I get used to it, and embrace the bite of the cold.

"Eva... you ready?" Cas says, stepping outside.
"What were they like?" I ask in response. Just a few more minutes would be nice.
"They were wonderful. And Ammie was right, they did cry. And I-I did too. They said they want to meet you though."
"Well then, let's not keep them waiting," I reply, pushing off the wall.

He opens the front door and enters first, beckoning me in after.
"Mum, dad, this is Eva."

Suddenly, a woman who I assume is Cas' mother, throws herself at me, pulling me into a tight hug.

"Thank you... thank you for looking after our Cas," she whispers, tears falling down her face. For a moment, I'm reminded of my reunion with my own mother, how she thanked Cas for looking after me, now it's my turn to return the favour. I remember how much mum cried when I told her everything that had happened in the years without her, I'm sure Cas' parents felt similarly.

"I should be thanking him," I smile, recalling how Cas said the same thing about me. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs Carmen-"

"Call me Willow," she smiles moving away to take a look at me. The woman resembles Cas in many ways, though her skin is on the paler side, her hazel eyes nowhere near as vibrant as her son's.
"And I'm Axel," he dad adds with a wave. He shares Cas' gold eyes, the ones that were so mesmerising to me when I first met him. I don't know if it's because the circumstances are different or some other reason, but with both his dad and Ammie - despite their matching colour - I haven't felt the same way.

"Eva Kim, am I correct?" Willow asks.
"Yes," I nod, relieved not to have to worry about all the things I would usually associate with my name. Half blood. Princess. Thief. Street rat. For a moment, all of those are gone, wiped away from my life. For a moment I'm just Eva, Cas' friend. But that moment is over quickly.

"I recall that name from somewhere, I'm not sure where though," Axel mutters under his breath.
"What are you talking about Dad?" Apollo asks.
"You wouldn't know, I'm almost certain it was before you were born. But then of course, that wouldn't add up, you're younger than our Cas after all."

"You might be referring to my great grandmother. I was named after her," I reply, after a moment. "She was apparently a rebel."

"That's it," he grins. "But that's not what we're here to discuss. Cas has told us that he has to go back with you, right?"
"Yeah... sorry to drag him away so soon..."
"No need to apologise. We'll keep in contact, and you can always visit whenever," Willow says. "You continue to look after him, won't you?"

I nod.

"And you look after her Cas. You have a good friend."

"I know."

I smile at him as I feel heat crawling up my cheeks. He is a good friend.

"If it's alright, I'll be coming with you two," Apollo mentions, snapping me out of my happy daze.
"Oh, right, sure," I blink, my reluctance maybe a little too clear.
"Well... I guess we should head home," Cas murmurs, looking down at his feet. In a short moment, his parents, Ammie and Apollo have all pulled him into a tight hug, and I feel something ache in my chest.

But it disappears almost immediately when Cas holds out an arm and grabs onto my own, pulling me in with the rest of his family.

Whilst half of me - perhaps the Pure half - screams out, saying I shouldn't be involved in such a thing, the other half, the Impure, simply basks in the warmth of it all.

There are many things I couldn't live happily without.

But I think I would rather die than lose my warmth.

I never want to feel cold again.

Nova Note:
Soon we will have a very long chapter
As mentioned in the last Nova Note

K bye