Chapter 13 #3
Ember instinctively used her free hand to wrap her sweater tighter around her torso as she shifted in her seat.
Oryn leaned on the table in front of Killian, bracing himself with one arm as his other hand went to Ember’s hair.
She held her breath, too afraid to move as his cold fingers traced a line down her cheek,
“Maybe we’ll get to see that famous Lothbrok fire Father always talks about.” He grinned.
Before Ember could move, much less form a sentence, Killian shot up from his seat, grabbing Oryn by his biceps and shoving him into the wall beside them.
“Watch it,” Killian hissed, as his grip tightened. “Whatever you’re up to, leave her out of it.”
“Or what?” Oryn asked, gritting his teeth. “Her little puppy will come after me?”
“I think you and I both know what I’m capable of,” Killian almost growled, and Ember felt her heart leap into her throat. “Stay away from her.”
“Is that a threat, cousin?” Oryn grinned manically, as his eyes cut toward Ember again.
“There are so many fun games we could play with her, it might just be worth it.” He licked his lips as his eyes connected with Ember’s, and she felt bile rise in her throat.
Before she could voice her disgust, Fen was launching himself across the table, right as Killian’s fist connected with Oryn’s jaw.
Fen was on top of him next as Veda’s screech pierced the air, and Ember finally jumped up and ran around the table, grabbing Fen by the shoulders and trying to pry both him and Killian off the boy, who was also throwing punches as best he could from the ground.
With Odette’s help, Ember finally pulled the boys apart, blood dripping from their faces, and she felt heat rise in her chest. Veda narrowed her eyes at Ember and the boys as she helped her brother off the ground, quickly conjuring a handkerchief to dab the blood dripping from his nose.
Both his jaw and eye had already turned a deep shade of purple, and Ember grimaced at the sight of it.
“Keep your attack dogs at bay, worm,” Veda spat at Ember, as she supported her brother. “Honestly you’d think the lot of you would have some sort of decorum.”
“Watch how you talk about my sister, and there won’t be any more problems,” Fen spat, blood spraying from his mouth.
Veda scoffed as she turned, leading her brother out the door of the cafe.
Ember quickly surveyed the room, noting luckily there were only a handful of students in a far corner who were minding their own business, likely not wanting to get in the middle of anything that the Ellingboe twins were involved in.
She sighed as she whipped her head around at the boys, who were now laughing and talking animatedly at the table.
“Are you trying to get yourselves expelled?” She almost shouted as she glared at them both, hands on her hips.
Odette had conjured two handkerchiefs, handing them to both boys and began to mumble some sort of healing spell under her breath, tendrils of magic leaving her fingertips and lighting up the gash on Fen’s brow.
His eyes widened, but he didn’t say anything, his cheeks turning red as the girl leaned in close.
“Someone had to defend your honor, Starshine.” Killian smirked as he titled his head. His grin was playful, but Ember could still feel the heat from the fire behind his eyes.
“Well, you could try to be more discreet,” she sighed, as she shook her head at them. “You’re no good to me trapped at home. Besides, Eira would kill all of us if you got suspended for fighting.”
Fen smiled sheepishly with a nod, and then his eyes widened. “Why don’t we meet at the house tomorrow? We can get ready for Rukr tryouts, and I’m sure Mum would love to see you.”
Ember’s eyes widened as she slipped her bag over her shoulder.
She had completely forgotten about Rukr tryouts, and all of a sudden, her stomach was in knots.
They had been delayed while Wardens reinforced the wards around the pitch, and with the chaos of moving and school, it had completely slipped her mind.
“Tryouts, right of course.” She nodded as she bit her lip. “I’m sure my mum wouldn’t mind me leaving for the day. Do you want to come Odette?”
Odette shook her head as she smiled. “I’ve got plans with Gran.”
“Maybe we can make a plan to figure out who is behind the kidnappings while we’re at it.” Killian grinned as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“I think you’re severely overestimating our abilities, Vargr,” Ember replied, as she rolled her eyes. “I can’t imagine Thornsten or his cronies have left behind any evidence that a bunch of teenagers will be able to find.”
“You never know till you try.” Killian shrugged with a grin. “There’s no such thing as a perfect crime.”
After dinner with her mum and Theo, Ember spent the remainder of her evening in the barn with her schoolbooks and Maia, who she felt had been completely neglected since she had moved in.
The draic nuzzled her face as she purred, making Ember laugh as she tried to record notes for her Elemental Magic homework.
She closed the book, petting Maia’s snout as she stood up from the floor.
“How would you like to come in for the evening?” she whispered, quietly slipping a halter and lead over the draic’s snout.
Maia let out an excited huff as she stomped her front feet.
“But you have to be quiet,” Ember laughed, and Maia nodded her head.
It was still so strange to her how Maia seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.
She led her quietly toward the house, slipping in the back door and up the steps to her room, allowing Maia to settle in on her bed.
Closing her bedroom door quietly behind her, she made her way down the steps and into the kitchen when she saw Theo in the sitting room out of the corner of her eye.
She rounded the corner and sat on the couch beside him, smiling as she signed, “How are you?”
Theo shrugged as he handed her the note she had left for him that morning and looked sheepishly at the ground.
Ember furrowed her brow as she thought back to the sign language book in the library.
“Can you read?” she signed and pointed at the piece of paper in her hands.
Theo’s cheeks turned red as he shook his head, staring at his fingers as he twiddled his thumbs in his lap.
Ember hummed as she nodded and quickly jumped up from her seat and over to one of the bookshelves lining the wall. She scanned the spines, grinning as her finger ran over a familiar title, and plucked it from its home on the shelf. She sat down beside Theo and showed him the book.
“The best way to learn to read is by being read to,” she signed, and then opened the cover. A wave of emotion she wasn’t expecting washed over her as she read the title out loud and signed it to Theo. “The Pegasus and His Boy.”
Theo grinned as he settled in, and Ember felt her chest tighten as she remembered the way she used to snuggle into the couch next to her dad, ready to get lost in whatever magical tale he decided to tell her that night.
Her mum had always laughed and told him not to fill her head with fairytales, to save room for practical things like science and arithmetic, but he would just nod and grin.
He firmly believed magic and the mundane went together, and now she could see why.
Ember felt her heart drop as she realized what all Theo missed not growing up with their dad. He really would have loved him.
Ember crossed her legs underneath one another and laid the book in her lap and began slowly signing as she read.
Theo laid his head on her shoulder watching her hands intently as his eyes flitted between her fingers and the book.
After a few minutes, Ember looked down and noticed his eyes fluttering closed as he nuzzled his head on her chest. She smiled as she tapped him on the leg.
“Time for bed?” she signed. “You can’t hear the story with your eyes closed.”
Theo smiled sleepily as he patted his head and then her chest.
“Feeling,” he signed and nuzzled his head back against her collarbone.
Ember grinned as she settled into the couch, reading the story out loud as Theo drifted off to sleep.
After his breathing became steady, she gently laid him on the couch, grabbing a blanket from behind her and tucking it around his tiny frame.
She smiled as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.
How many times had her father done this for her?
Reading her to sleep and then tucking her into bed, oftentimes carrying her into her room from their spot on the couch.
A wave of emotion washed over her as she closed her eyes, and for just a moment, she was back in their little cottage, just the three of them without a care in the world.
Grief was funny like that—it was sometimes triggered by the most minor, insignificant things.
Things that held no weight could become as heavy as bricks, and you had no choice but to carry them.
She took a shaky breath as she brushed Theo’s hair out of his eyes and gave him a gentle kiss on the head before tiptoeing out of the room.
She couldn’t change the past, couldn’t get back the years she had lost with her mum and brother, but she could make sure she didn’t miss another moment with them as long as she lived.