CHAPTER 51 #2
“So, Abigail has more right to see her than I do?” I ask, pissed off that he let her walk in there to see her but is refusing to move for me to check on her.
“Abigail didn’t hurt her, you did,” he says, barging past me and walking toward the palace doors. He pops his head into the kitchen speaking to one of the chefs.
“I will send Peter down with breakfast soon,” I hear one of them reply to Dragus. He nods, continuing toward the doors.
“Where are you going?” I ask, following after him.
“To help organise funeral arrangements,” he says, making me stop.
“Stay with her, I can organise some of the humans to do it, Dragus,” I tell him.
“No, Elora asked me to do it; she doesn’t want humans or the Fae going to retrieve your father,” he says, slipping his boots on.
“My father?” I ask him.
“Yes, because even after everything you have done, she still loves you enough to give your father a proper burial,” he says, walking out and slamming the door behind him, leaving me standing there.
I go to help—he is my father, after all. Opening the door, I find Dragus gone. Dakari walks toward the castle with Pluto and another man I don’t recognize.
Pluto looks up, and Dakari stops, a piece of paper in his hand. I walk toward them, curious about the stranger. I can smell that he is a Dragon, yet I have never seen him before.
“Silas, this is Ares, my brother,” Pluto says.
The man holds out his hand. I ignore it. He drops it, glancing nervously at his brother.
“What’s that?” I ask, turning to Dakari, who reads the piece of paper.
“To-do list for the orphanage. Elora asked me to get it the other day. Seeing as she can no longer do it because my brother won’t let her out of his sight, Abbie asked me to take care of it,” he says, turning to Pluto and Ares.
“Can you grab the shovels from the stables?” Pluto nods, walking off, his brother chasing after him.
Dakari walks around the castle. I keep in step with him, grabbing the note from his hand to read it.
The orphanage needs a lot of work. Luckily, it was left untouched during the attack. Still, it is rundown.
A few of the heaters aren’t working. Only one hot water system, too small for the number of people staying there. The backyard needs tidying. The roof needs mending. I sigh, the list stretching longer than I’d hoped.
There’s also a list of supplies—mainly blankets and clothes for the children and a few medicinal products. Dakari and I walk to the greenhouses, greeted by one of the medical apprentices.
He holds a box in his arms. He looks at me nervously. Dakari holds his arms out, taking the box from him. The kid isn’t that old, maybe Elora’s age, his brown hair hanging to his shoulders. His eyes never leave Dakari.
I can smell his fear at my presence.
“That’s all we have left in stock. Can you get Abbie to come up later to see if she can help us grow some of the herbs the stocks need replenishing?” he asks Dakari.
“I will ask her, though she can’t keep using her magic; it has been draining her. I’ll ask Jackie, her mother, if she can come up and help.” The kid nods, turning to walk inside.
“How have they run out of stock already?” I ask, annoyed. Dakari points to the far greenhouse that I now realize was burnt down during the attack.
“Fuck sake,” I groan, whistling to the Vampires standing guard around the tree line and waving one forward.
“What’s wrong, my Lord?” he asks, approaching.
“Organize some of your men to clean that mess up and start rebuilding.”
He nods, calling several men over. “Right away, my King,” he says, bowing his head slightly and turning around.
Dakari is already walking back towards the castle. I jog over to catch up with him. “Silas, I know your mates aren’t talking to you right now, but I don’t need a shadow,” he says as Pluto and Ares walk out with wheelbarrows carrying gardening tools.
“I’m not; I’m coming to help,” I tell Dakari, who stops for a second, then nods.
I follow them toward the orphanage. We walk through people cleaning up the carnage that was left, nearly the entire main street had been burnt down. Even the Vampires were helping without being asked. I am surprised how many people are out trying to restore the city.
“Did you organize this?” I ask Dakari. He shakes his head.
“No, everyone has been banding together trying to restore everything, things have changed Silas the entire city has been working since the attack. Now that the Vampires have seen that the humans have been helping them, they are returning the favor, it’s not just your city anymore, it belongs to the people.
Relationships have been growing now that the city for once has had some peace, kind of reminds me of when your father was still King,” Dakari says.
I nod, he is right. Even with the destruction, this is the first time in decades I have seen humans and supernatural’s working together so closely. Elora really had been turning everything around, trust amongst the people has been steadily growing. And I may have just ruined it all.
“What is in the box?” I ask as we near the orphanage.
“Antibiotics and vitamins,” he answers as we walk up the steps. I can see why the roof needed fixing; half the roof was torn off in the attack.
I follow Pluto out the back to help them, needing the distraction this place is offering, needing to do something other than feed my own guilt.