The Lady of the Valley

TLotV Chapter 16

16.

Astrid wanted to pace. She wanted to scream and rage and hit the stupid girl who kept hurting herself to help other people and the stupid man who carried the girl into the bedroom like a weak, fainting princess. Her anger and frustration with Ari for hurting herself--again--she understood. But the anger she felt at Derek for carrying Ari into Astrid's bedroom and tucking her in was incomprehensible. Why was she mad at him for helping?

Astrid found herself slamming her jars, mugs, and loose leaf tea filters and had to force herself to calm down. So what, Ari and Derek were alone in her bedroom. She let the spike of anger at the thought pass before packing pinches of herbs into a cat shaped tea filter for Ari. Passionflower, chamomile, crystalized honey. She focused single mindedly on mixing up a draught for sleep aid from memory and poured hot water over it.

She headed to the bedroom, only to find Derek coming out, still fully dressed--though she wasn't sure why she'd even noted that--running a hand through his hair.

"She asked me to help her sleep, so I compelled her," he said, looking guilty. She must have wanted it to happen then. How bad had that backlash been?

Astrid sighed and nodded to the mug. "I was pretty much doing the same."

Astrid moved to the living room, sitting at her desk, trying to force herself to let go of the emotions coursing through her muscles. After a moment Derek sat too, uneasy on the edge of the couch.

"What happened?" he asked. "Did the jerk in there with you do something?"

He sounded calm. Chilling came to mind. But she wanted to snap at him.

"No," she said quickly. "He didn't do anything. He was there to record the reading and keep us poor little girls from seeing scary things like wounds on corpses."

Derek looked like he was struggling. But he didn't look so murderous anymore. "He what?"

"We've worked with him before. He has, let's say, traditional views on females." Astrid's hands found Ari's tea. The warmth felt so good on her skin. "This one was different. They tore out the throat, but they took the heart too. Ari wanted to see it. He told her no."

"Do we need to go back?" Derek asked, far too calmly.

"No. While he was preoccupied with you I looked." It looked for a moment like Derek smiled. Astrid's eyes narrowed and the hint of twisted lip vanished.

"What did you think?" he asked.

"The movies show people ripping out hearts through the chest, but that's really hard, even with supernatural strength. It's much easier to go in under the ribs. But whoever did this went through. They were broken. Mangled."

Edges of bone had stuck through the lean muscle of his chest and they had broken in the front and in the back, likely from the force of the attack. There had been nothing clean about the wound. It looked almost like the heart itself had clawed its own way out of the man's chest.

"What happened to Ari?"

Derek had moved closer while she thought and she hadn't even noticed.

"I don't know. She started the reading. Then the room kind of exploded and she screamed and fainted."

"Exploded?"

"Imploded? It felt like a bolt of lightning went off in the room, but nothing was damaged."

"Astrid," Derek asked softly, "are you okay?"

She'd wrapped her arms around herself as if she was cold. He looked like he wanted to reach out and touch her, so Astrid stood and stepped away. "I don't know."

Derek looked pointedly at the mug she'd set down. "Maybe that should be for you?"

He kicked off his shoes and spread out more on the couch.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"The lady asked me to stay because I make her feel safe. I'm staying to make her feel safe."

Astrid opened her mouth to argue, but she didn't want to. It would make her feel safe to know she had back up. Looking at him, stretched out like a pleased tomcat on her couch, she wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to do.

Finally she snatched the mug from the desk and glared at him. "Fine, but don't get all creepy stalker on me."

Derek just gave her an innocent look before she fled from the room, and her own heartbeat fluttering in her throat.

***

Derek slept lightly, or at times not at all. Astrid's living room was three desks around a corner, the couch, an armchair, and six bookshelves. Browsing them turned up a book of Norse myths, so he read that until the movement noises from the master bedroom on the other side of the wall ended. Only then did he let himself rest.

Still every restless shuffle from the other room, every snuffle of a critter outside the window, startled him awake. To his surprise, he found being surrounded by Astrid and Ari's scents more comforting than he expected. Typically he found it difficult to sleep in spaces which weren't his own. But of all the sharp spikes of awareness he felt at the shift of the air conditioner bringing in a strange scent, or him scraping against the side of the couch she usually sat at, kicking her scent more into the air, none of them came from feelings of danger.

Astrid slipping into the bathroom woke him. Ari crying aloud in her sleep, woke him more than once. He monitored the soft sounds of movement, possibly pacing over the plush carpet. But no one came out of the bedroom, so he relaxed again.

Just as well. He would stand between them and danger from outside so that Astrid could help Ari fight whatever internal battles these readings caused her.

The harsh shadows of the night were fading to watery predawn when the door to the bedroom opened and Astrid paused in the shadows, studying him.

"Why do you look angry," she asked. It was barely above a whisper, but they both knew he'd heard it. Derek was surprised she could see his face in the shadows.

"How can Ari's parents be okay with her doing this, if this is how it ends?" he asked. Her mom, at least, seemed savvy and aware, if not justifiably protective of her daughter. Astrid remained silent. He sighed. "They don't know."

"She swore me to secrecy. They wouldn't let her keep doing it if they knew. So she comes here after because she can't sleep alone. And then they don't hear her scream."

"Stupid girl."

Astrid bared her teeth at him.

"Promises, promises," Derek crooned. "Why do you let her do it?"

"Because she's a good soul. She wants to help people. And I understand it."

"And you protect her?"

"My whole life," Astrid said.

He let the silence grow between them. After a few moments Astrid padded to the kitchen, filled her tumbler, and padded back to the bedroom, closing the door gently behind her.

"And who protects you?" Derek asked himself.