4. Into The Light
Into The Light
D eclan stared down at the simple silver disk that Rhalyf had handed him. It was an Adiva and, according to the elf, it would protect him from the Sun.
“So long as you always –and, I repeat, always –keep this on you in daylight, you will be immune from the Sun’s harmful effects,” Rhalyf had whispered fiercely. “Take it off and what happened yesterday when you were in the light will seem like a walk in the park in comparison. Understand?”
“I do.”
“I really hope you do, Declan… if that’s your actual name,” Rhalyf huffed the last part.
“What are you talking about?” Declan’s forehead furrowed. “Of course, that’s my real name!”
Rhalyf studied his face. “I believe you believe that, but it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever realistically.
And your ignorance or innocence or whatever is wrong with you makes you more of a threat than…
Just remember what I’ve said. Don’t take the Adiva off when you’re in daylight.
Actually, don’t take it off at all. Not even when you bathe or have sex–”
“I don’t–”
“Bathe? I certainly hope you do.” Rhalyf’s eyebrows waggled, showing that momentary lack of seriousness that he portrayed most of the time as his primary quality.
But it’s not. He is not what he seems.
“No. I mean yes , I bathe. And I do not…” Declan shook his head in aggravation.
He was only explaining this to Rhalyf because he was Aquilan’s best friend.
And he didn’t want Rhalyf to give Aquilan the impression that he had someone.
And yet, that was foolish. The height of foolishness.
Yet he kept on trying to make words work for him, but they remained his natural enemy.
“I mean that I have no one that I would… forget it. It doesn’t matter. ”
Rhalyf’s lips pursed and his eyes narrowed. “Ah, yes, about that , it really isn’t wise that you involve yourself more with the king.”
Declan blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Drawing attention to yourself is the last thing that you should be doing. Especially when you don’t even seem to know what you should be keeping hidden,” Rhalyf stated. “And drawing Aquilan’s eye would bring way too much attention.”
“I’m no danger to the king!” Declan hissed.
“No, of course, you aren’t, but the position of the king’s best friend is already taken!” Rhalyf narrowed his eyes at Declan.
“Is best friend supposed to be a euphemism for something else?” Declan’s voice dropped into an arctic zone. He hadn’t meant to do that.
He’s mine, the voice in his head whispered. Mine. Mine. MINE!
“What? No! Aquilan and I–well, he is exquisite–but no , most certainly not!” Rhalyf shook his head. “I mean you should not think of him at all. Romantically or otherwise.”
“Why?” Declan’s voice was a low growl.
“Because anything other than a best friend would be short term. He’s a king and you’re–you’re… well, we don’t know what you are. Or who you are. But we know what you aren’t . And that’s consort material,” Rhalyf pointed out.
Declan jerked back as if hit. Of course, Rhalyf was right about this. He was a bartender. Aquilan was a king. He was human… supposedly. Aquilan was an Aravae. He was mortal. Aquilan was immortal. They could not be farther apart if they tried to be.
A relationship of any real kind could never happen between them.
And Declan… Declan didn’t do casual even if Aquilan was willing to–to engage in…
Here, his cheeks flooded with color and heat built between his legs.
He was imagining what he’d caught many Sun Elves doing in the back room at the Dawn.
Aquilan might not be adverse to a quick tumble, but anything further?
No. It was impossible. But the Sun King was the first–and only–person he’d ever wanted to do something with.
His face. His body. His laugh. His smile.
His goodness… All of it called to Declan like a siren song.
But, then again, didn’t sirens lead sailors to their deaths?
“And really is it worth risking your life for something fleeting ?” Rhalyf continued.
Declan blinked. “My… my life?”
He’d been thinking of his heart . But his life?
“Those that live under the Sun don’t take kindly to those who can’t,” Rhalyf said. “Or, at least, need assistance to do so. That means you, if you didn’t pick up on my earlier meaning.”
Declan felt something curdle within him.
It was as he had told Finley. The Aravae would never accept him if they knew of his sun sensitivity.
The Sun King would reject him, too. In fact, Aquilan might be repulsed by him.
The memory of the Sun King’s bright smile while they’d both been under the bed at the Dawn flashed before his mind’s eye.
He imagined that smile dying and those blue eyes, which had been crinkled with laughter, growing wide with horror instead.
He pictured Aquilan pushing himself away from him, scuttling to the far wall, his hands limning with protecting magic.
“ Who are you?” he imagined the Sun King whispering. “ What are you?”
And his honest answer, “I don’t know.”
“Oh, for goodness sake! Do not look as if I killed your puppy!” Rhalyf snarled. “I’m just telling you the truth! The truth is not personal! Or, at least… I am not trying to be cruel to you. I am just giving you advice. Good and proper advice. Advice that will save your life.”
Declan just stared at him. Glowering. Hurting. Rhalyf was helping him, but he was also hurting him. He was saying, in essence, “All these things you fear about yourself? They’re true .”
He wanted to pull denial around himself like a blanket. Curl underneath it. Hide.
But then something occurred to him. Something basic. Something profound.
“Do you need an Adiva , too? Is that why you know so much about them?” Declan asked.
“Me?” Rhalyf gave him a broad smile. “I am as Aravae as Aravae can be. The Sun loves me. Look at my dark golden skin!” He gestured to his left forearm that was the color of well done toast. “Compare that to you! Pale as a fish belly.”
“That has nothing to do with why I get sick–”
“No, it doesn’t. The color of one’s skin or hair or eyes doesn’t say anything about them. Not really. Now remember, keep the Adiva on at all times.” Rhalyf flashed a tight smile as he turned to go.
Declan grabbed his arm to keep him there. He wasn’t done asking questions. “But why are you giving me this? Why are you helping me at all?”
“Because I am a fool ,” Rhalyf laughed and then he’d shaken loose of Declan’s restraining hand and moved away.
Even if the Sun hadn’t been out, Declan wouldn’t have followed after Rhalyf, because he’d heard Finley and Gemma out in the hallway with the Aravae.
But that meant he hadn’t been able to demand more answers.
Maybe even answers to questions he had not dared ask yet.
Such as how did Rhalyf know so much about his weakness to sunlight and the solution to it?
And since this Adiva had a name–not to mention the fact that it existed at all–did that mean other people had a similar weakness?
Who were those people? And was he one of them?
But instead, he’d quickly shut the door to his bedroom and locked it.
His room was bathed in a velvety darkness.
He had taped the edges of his blinds shut so that no light could peek in around the edges of the windows.
He even put a towel along the bottom of the door so that light wouldn’t leak in from the hallway.
He kicked that into place. He had a single candle sitting on the nightstand by his bed, but it was not lit.
Yet he could see perfectly. He’d not noticed this before.
At least he’d not consciously thought about just how keen his vision actually was.
I can see in the dark. Humans can’t do that. Not like this.
The Sun hurts me. Humans aren’t harmed by the Sun as quickly or as much as I am.
I’m able to kill Leviathan. Humans can’t kill Leviathan, because they have no magic.
I’m faster than a human.
I’m stronger than a human.
So the inevitable conclusion of all of that was: I’m not human. No! I… I have to be human!
He started to pace his bedroom. It was fifteen feet wide and ten feet long.
A comfortable space with a queen-sized bed piled with a light as air comforter and plenty of squashy pillows.
There was a desk and chair along with a large walk-in closet and ensuite bath.
The Aravae liked to be exquisitely clean so bathrooms were more decked out than they had been before the war.
There were oceans of hot and cold running water.
A gorgeous shower with multiple spray heads.
Every toilet had a bidet function with a heated seat.
Everything was powered by the use of Power Stones.
They were set into slots on the outside of the home.
One would power a whole home with no pollution and no mess, and it only had to be re-energized once a year.
The light that they generated didn’t hurt him either, but he still preferred the darkness.
But why? That’s not normal!
For a moment, his mind offered him a memory of a cheerless, cold bedroom.
One with a pile of straw for a mattress and a blanket so thin as to be almost see-thru to cover himself with.
Rats–or things that had looked like rats, but bigger and meaner–had often leaped over his sleeping form.
And if he had not been careful, they would take a bite out of him.
And all around had been darkness. So much darkness that it almost had heft.
What memory is this? My bedroom with my adopted parents was not quite as nice as this, but it was no hovel like I’m imagining! Nothing like… that…
The dark, rage-filled face of Vulre Vultorus filled his mind’s eye. The black keep within the dark-shrouded cavern came after that image.