Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Chapter 45 - Fauna - Promises

We sat under the stars for another hour before walking back. Aside from Will and his beautifully punchable face, tonight was... alright. I played tag to my heart's content, pissed off a few girls, got another inside look on the nosy and politely rude Court, and to finish the night off, watched the stars in the reflection of a golden-lit moat, and I love watching the stars.
Kat and Lance were another joy to watch. He stayed near the Queen despite her shooing and insisting, but Kat didn't leave his side. In fact, after a few minutes of standing awkwardly, they – or rather she – held hands. Darius and I had the time of our lives making bets on who would make a move first, or which would tell everyone to mind their own Gods damned business. Turns out both of us were wrong and laughed when Queen Claritia smacked the King's arm, and he stiffly told his friends – the Court – to go to bed. Who says women don't rule the kingdom?
We left before Kat, Lance, and the Queen, but I saw the way he looked at her beneath his hood and balaclava as she smiled at the lit moat, and my heart has been beating with pure joy ever since.
After Will broke us by killing Rose, I was scared to the bone that Lance would dig himself into a hole and never crawl out to find another woman. Turns out he just needed a little push in her direction, and he was climbing back into the sunlight. Out of all the girls I've met, I couldn't think of anyone better than Kat to be at his side right now. She's kind and caring and ferocious. She could never replace the missing piece inside me and Lance from Rose's death, but she's the best thing to try and balance its emptiness.
I will admit, I do like the idea of calling Kat a sister.
"What do you think about a wedding?" I ask Darius as we walk up the stairs. His eyebrows shoot up and Ozzie trips in front of me. I swear I'm about to smack them both in the back of the head. "I'm not proposing, you dimwits. I meant for Kat."
"They've only just met," Darius half protests, his shoulders loosening with relief.
"So? If I were any other girl, you'd be getting married by the end of the cycle." He glares, but he knows I'm right. I look like a fucking Goddess for Saint's sake.
"Why don't you give it another month or so before you get on one knee and propose to Kat for Arthur."
"Fine," I concede, liking his idea. "But you're coming to the celebration."
"Why I'd never miss a wedding which you will undoubtedly ruin."
"Prick."
"Brat."
We reach the top of the steps, and I get a sudden realization. All Will would have to do is put a knife to Kat's throat, and we'd do anything he wants so long as she lives. She's not Rose, but she could end up like her, and I don't like that.
"You already took everything else," Lance said, his fingers curling tighter around the handle of his blade.
"Everything old," Will corrected. "But new..."
I don't like a lot about my realizations tonight after seeing Will. I don't like his surprise appearance or his threats or the way he looked at Darius as if he were already a dead carcass. He's like an illness I can't get rid of. He plagues me and drives me into madness that makes me want to end my life just to end the suffering he has caused and still continues to cause.
"After all those lessons of never making the same mistake twice, and yet here you are, doing everything all over again. The lesson unlearned."
He was wrong about that. We did learn our lesson. For nearly two years we've reminded ourselves of what would happen if we let ourselves hope or love again. We shut everyone else out and told ourselves that the world was safer if we had no life but that of our rumors. The Ebony Nightingale that could kill a man with one look, and the Sinister Fox who could manipulate you to spill your darkest of secrets with a few whispered words. We hunted in the shadows and stuck to them. Even in broad daylight, we'd be beneath our hoods and balaclavas. So we did learn the lesson, but we stopped letting it control us.
"Do it," Arthur dared. "Make the threat. Give me a reason to kill you right now."
Will just looked at him. "I've already given you a hundred, but you won't do it. Not with poisoned-tipped arrows ready to repeat history again."
Seconds. In seconds he could shove me back into the void where I'd drown just after I had reached the surface for fresh air. He took our father because he could. He could take all of this. These friendships - these bonds - this...
My stomach twists and turns, making me suddenly nauseous and lightheaded. I stop in the bedroom doorway. I accidentally stop Darius too, not realizing that my arm was still looped through his. He turns, concern drawing his brow. I soften my features and smile, hoping the dim light in the room hides how pale I likely am. "Why don't you wash up first, it's going to take me a while to change and all without Kat."
"Alright." He walks off to the bathroom, and my chest tightens. Thomas's footsteps sound and I lightly grab his arm, stopping him until Darius disappears into the bathroom. "I need you to keep him distracted for the next hour."
He looks at Garrison behind me before nodding and walking into the bathroom. I never thought I'd be grateful for Thomas's loyalty and silence.
I turn around about to tell the rest of them to come up, but they're already filing in, so I close the bedroom doors silently and then face the men I named The Bhaltayr. At the time that I gave it to them I didn't think about how it might one day stab me in the back. Now I find myself wishing that they couldn't uphold the name's meaning.
"We need to talk."