Summoning Bones

14. Stories in the Woods

Eirene and Cadmus followed the street to the edge of the forest. The trees loomed over them, casting a pleasant shadow that cooled them from the heat of the sun, high in the sky. Cadmus' hand brushed Eirene's, wanting to be held. But she swat his hand away and set off into the trees. Cadmus growled and followed after her.

They traveled for an hour in complete silence, but Cadmus couldn't take the suffocating quiet.

"How did you meet Zagreus?" He said. Eirene rolled her eyes, possessive beast.

"Childhood friend," she said, he need not know of their sibling bond or lack thereof. She did not want to discuss such things with a near stranger.

"What was your childhood like?" He asked, attempting to leaner about the woman he was supposed to spend the remainder of his life with.

"Cruel, I had a condition that scared those around me," Eirene said, granting him some truth. "I was teased mercilessly by siblings and friends. But when I was cured, I found other struggles. All close to me had left, I was so utterly alone at such a young age. I found magic and rebuilt myself. They feared me, respected me, and I left my family. My father was a powerful man, and my mother was just as strong. But they both wanted me to be different people. I left my home and created a life under this kingdom."

It was not entirely false. She had a condition, an unfortunate effect of being a child of the light and dark. Her mother had helped her, teaching her sweet spells to grow flowers, as Persephone did when on earth. But her father, conditioned her for war, taught her how to raise the dead as ghosts for an unbeatable army. A child could not survive as a whole piece when her parents nurtured and grew the half they preferred. As a result, her hair and body were transformed. Half black as pitch, the other as white as snow. The children and ghosts in the Underworld teased her. As did Zagreus. Persephone and Hades continued to teach her magic, until Eirene was able to hide her condition, now only seen with pale skin and dark hair.

When she had concealed her halves, she left the Underworld, using her father's tricks against him. She raised the dead as ghosts, but only for their loved ones as her mother taught her to bring joy. Now it seems, her father was done with her tricks, and communicated the only way he knew how, death. Makaria's state was because of her. Makaria ws the only one who treated Eirene as a child, a sister.

Cadmus grabbed Eirene's arm, and pulled her to face him. He tucked a finger under her chin to bring her eyes to meet his.

"I'm sorry, but I hope the kingdom has treated you well. I will tear down anyone who dares tease you again," he whispered. Eirene scowled.

"I do not need protecting, beast. I have made my peace with my childhood, as should you. Only every so often my father dares bother me," Eirene said. "And I do not stand for it. I pray you never have to meet him." She pulled herself out of Cadmus' grasp and sat herself on a stump, sitting a few feet off the trail. Cadmus watched as she pulled her water out of her bag and take a sip. How could life have been so cruel to such a wonderful being as Eirene was? Even if she had made peace with her past, he hadn't. Her tormentors would pay.

After several long moments, Eirene capped her water, and put it back into her bag.

"We must continue if we are to reach the next town by nightfall," she said. She stood, brushed off her cloak, and started up the trail again. The next hour passed in silence once again, but Eirene broke the silence this time.

"What of your childhood? Raised by wolves, I'm sure," said Eirene. Cadmus scoffed at her obvious disgust of wolves.

"Yes, I was born into a pack. We lived on the land where the town currently resides, but then, many centuries ago it was thick forest much like this," Cadmus responded, featuring out to the trees around them. "It was wonderful. We lived a pure life, but then settlers came, and the kingdoms grew. The town was built, and they chopped down the forest, our forest. We were either killed or forced to work. I chose my life under employment over death." Eirene looked back at him, and saw his slouched form.

"Was it the right choice?" Cadmus looked up at her, his icy eyes melted a little. His head dropped as he continued.

"I don't know. I've served under the Eldridge family for generations. I cannot leave, no one would dare hire me. But Lord Eldridge is not a cruel employer. I have a fair wage, and wonderful quarters." They both smiled. "But it's lonely. So lonely" She may not enjoy the company of wolves, with the ruckus and chaotic ways, but she understood a pack bond. To lose your pack, meant to lose a part of yourself.

"I am sorry," she whispered, facing forward again. Cadmus' head snapped up, was that pity in her voice?

"Thank you," he said. Was his mate capable of kindness? He had thought so, when she offered to bring Lidia back, but that night where she spoke of Makaria, it seemed less than good intention that brought Eirene to her current journey. He broke form his thoughts and spoke. "But it was not all horrid, I have memories of my pack, I trained with the best warriors, and lived a life of luxury, almost fit for a king." He laughed at the memories. Eirene felt butterflies stir in her chest when such a warm sound filled the air around them.

"I'm sure it was lovely," she said.

"It was, I can ensure that. But with Lidia's death, Lord Eldridge grew cold. You must understand he was never this mean," said Cadmus, imploring Eirene to not hold his grief above Lord Eldridge's head. She nodded in front of him.

"Death can do that, turn kind souls cruel, and soften the hardest exteriors." Eirene knew the effect losing a loved one could have, she had seen it with all the loved ones she brought back. Even with kind Mrs. Lacy, accusing her of killing her love. But Eirene knew the Eldridge mansion and wealth rotted away in the forest's shade and in banks while people grew hungry in winter and worked all day for food on the table. She knew that when Lord Eldridge died, she would meet him in the Underworld, even if that meant facing her father, to give him a proper punishment.