Chapter 12
Gods' Gift
Declan watched his father eat the last piece of fatty, salty, smoky-sweet bacon.
Vex closed his eyes in delight as he chewed and swallowed before finally falling back into his chair, bare feet sprawled out before him, petting his flat, muscled stomach.
He made moans of pleasure. He’d finished off a huge stack of crepes, two plates of bacon and a slab of ham not to mention a litre of juice.
“And what animal is bacon from again?” Vex asked.
“Pig. Just like the ham you proclaimed you’d go to war over,” Helgrom answered dryly.
“Glom and Snaglak came down trying to take it from me. What else did you expect me to do? Share with them? There wasn’t enough!” Vex pouted.
“There was enough in the end,” Declan sighed.
“I always keep a spare ham or two in the larder for Glom and a chicken or twelve for Snaglak. Keeps the peace,” Helgrom said as he patted his luxuriant beard clean of syrup and butter with a napkin.
“Brilliant breakfast, Declan. You outdid yourself today. You must give me the recipe. I’ll make Rain and Snow learn it as part of their payback.
Then we can add it to the breakfast menu. ”
“With that on the menu, I might never leave,” Vex hummed, which had Aquilan’s eyes widening slightly.
No one knew what Vex really meant when he said things like that. Declan was starting to think he meant everything he said, but just assumed people would ignore the truth.
“It didn’t look too complicated, but I’m sure it's made with love,” Helgrom continued. “Unless it’s a family secret that you can’t tell.”
Rhalyf and Haera let out a burst of uncomfortable laughter that they attempted to stifle. He highly doubted that cooking was a valued Kindreth skill, at least not in the Vex household. Eating might be a pastime, but making one’s own meals? Unclear.
Declan looked down at the ground for a moment. He felt Finley freeze beside him at Helgrom’s description of it as a “family secret” but for far different reasons than anyone else. Aquilan gave him a worried look. Finally, Declan said, “I’ll share it with you. It’s my favorite. My mother’s recipe.”
“Ashryn could not cook,” Vex began, sounding incredibly dubious.
“Alexia,” Declan explained to him. “It’s her recipe. My adopted mother.”
He could picture her in that moment in their old kitchen. Sunlight streaming in over the sink. Her whisking the crepe batter in a dented metal bowl. Flour somehow finding its way onto the tip of her nose, dollops of batter spattering her shirt, but she wouldn’t care.
Declan hadn’t realized he’d been sharing this memory out loud until he heard himself saying, “She’d be singing as she buttered the pans and poured in the batter.”
“Oh, how lovely,” Haera smiled, but sadly as if this memory reminded her of something else. “To have a mother like that…”
Rhalyf shot her a look, but she was staring into the fire then and appeared lost in her own thoughts.
“Not exactly lovely, she sounded like someone strangling a cat when she sang,” Declan let out a soft huff of laughter that hurt with the poignancy of it. What he would give to hear her voice raised in song again!
“That didn’t stop her though,” Finley smiled, but it was a painful smile, too.
His best friend had spent more time at his house than his own.
Alexia and Tyler had adopted Finley too.
“She just sang louder when you and your dad…” His gaze skipped to Vex and then he amended, “I mean you and Tyler covered your ears.”
“She did. And we did. But I loved hearing her, because when she sang she was happy.” Declan’s eyes went unfocused as he remembered her: flour-dusted, sunlight pouring down, voice raised in song.
Aquilan reached out under the table and took his hand. He felt his father on the other side of him. He was keenly aware of Vex’s nearness. But Vex did not move. That was all right. He wouldn’t have known how to react if Vex had touched him.
“She brought the whisk up to her lips and pretended it was a microphone as she sang to us,” Declan said.
“She sounds wonderful,” Aquilan said softly. His eyes were filled with unshed tears.
“Mothers. Most powerful beings in the universe,” Helgrom said, looking a little teary, too.
“For good or ill,” Haera said to the fire.
“Mostly for ill,” Rhalyf muttered, but then realizing what he’d said in context, “But clearly not Alexia. She does sound incredibly special.”
“She was.” Declan nodded and squeezed Aquilan’s hand. “I’m sorry you all didn’t get to meet her.”
“We are, too,” Aquilan whispered.
“She died in that kitchen. As she was human,” Declan’s throat went tight, “she couldn’t defend herself.
The Leviathan knew that. But they played with her all the same.
They didn’t kill her with one blow as they could have.
They tortured her as she struggled to survive to the absolute last minute even though she never had a chance. ”
“I wish I hadn’t kept you late at school,” Finley whispered, his voice taut. “You could have been home earlier–”
“No, the Leviathan had been there for far longer than twenty minutes, Finley,” Declan said, getting up abruptly and starting to stack plates. “It’s definitely not your fault. It never could be your fault. The Leviathan are solely to blame.”
“You got rid of that nest, Declan,” Rhalyf said quietly. “You put a big dent in the Leviathan’s invasion plans. Saved countless people.”
“But that’s not the only nest,” Declan grimaced.
“No,” Vex agreed quietly, eyes still closed.
“We need to discuss the Aravae having access to the Under Dark, Vex,” Aquilan said. “So that we might investigate and destroy the Leviathan’s nests there to keep Earth safe.”
“The Aravae marching into the Under Dark under the banner of war? How interesting!” Vex smiled faintly.
“It wouldn’t be war,” Aquilan protested. “It would be–”
“I will think about it, Ailduin,” Vex cut him off.
Declan thought of how Ardreth and how the jewel at the hilt had glowed hotter and brighter as he had killed Leviathan and then used that power to simply sweep thousands of them away. Did he need the Aravae army or could he just go himself and extinguish all of the Leviathan in the Under Dark?
I need to learn more magic. Rhalyf and Father are my best bets to master spells.
Declan started carrying dishes back and forth to the kitchen. He waved down Aquilan, Finley and Helgrom who moved to help him. He could do this, too, himself and do it better and faster.
“I know it was our second breakfast, but it was glorious! I could really get used to living here!” Haera enthused as she leaned back in her chair as well.
“You like it better than the Lieran Plane?” Aquilan asked her.
Haera blinked and started upright. “Oh, ah, is it… well, the Lieran Plane is the best, of course. I just meant–”
“Peace, Haera,” Aquilan chuckled. “I think I rather like Earth, maybe a little better, too.”
“I really couldn’t compare them,” she said, and Declan realized she’d never been to the Lieran Plane anymore than he had, and was glad she wasn’t lying. “It’s just–”
“Bacon,” Vex murmured without opening his eyes.
“Yes,” she laughed, looking both delighted and surprised at her uncle’s relaxed demeanor and playing along. “That and–”
“Ham,” Vex continued, still with closed eyes.
“I actually love the fruit here, too. And human sweets are truly the best. Especially those made with chemicals,” Rhalyf admitted guiltily. “We must try and rescue the Twinkie formula.”
“There’s a bakery in Hope that tries to mimic some of our old snacks,” Declan said.
“Really?” Rhalyf brightened. It was the first real spark of happiness Declan had seen from him all morning, except when he spoke to Finley or Finley spoke to him.
He hadn’t confessed who he was to Aquilan yet.
If he knew his father, he was guessing Vex was behind that somehow. “Well, we must go there.”
“Gran did promise to come back and read stories to the kids,” Finley reminded him with a smile.
“She did! And Gran always keeps her word!” Rhalyf grinned.
“Who is Gran?” Haera asked, an eyebrow lifted.
“The Aravae aren’t exactly well-liked in Hope.
It’s the Separatist compound about a mile from Tyrael,” Finley explained to her.
“So Rhalyf disguised himself as an old human grandmother. He was brilliant. You could touch him and he felt like her. And when he was there, he read some children a story and they…” Here, Finley beamed at Rhalyf, “and they really loved it.”
“I did all the voices and everything,” Rhalyf said proudly, but then his eyes darted to the still quiescent Vex.
“Voices?” Aquilan looked charmed. “You put on a whole show?”
“Not a whole show. But a little one. I said I would be back,” Rhalyf said with a shrug. “I suppose in a week or so–”
“Why not now?” Vex’s eyes were suddenly open. “I would see this human Separatist outpost.”
Everyone stared at the Night King.
“You have not even appeared at court officially, Vex,” Aquilan remarked firmly, but gently. “You cannot just show up at Hope without first announcing yourself–”
“But an official visit is so stuffy, Ailduin! It means I have to meet the Radiant Council, yes?” Vex pointed out.
Aquilan’s shoulders slumped a little. “Yes, I suppose it would–”
“And I would have to speak to your dear brother, Vesslan, who I am certain will be thrilled with my being here,” Vex continued.
Aquilan’s shoulders drooped some more. “Well, I would have to prepare him for–”
“And you would have to explain to him how we all met and the deal you made with me about Declan and–”
“I see your point,” Aquilan interrupted, his eyes narrowing. “An official visit would have its challenges. Perhaps we don’t need to have that quite yet. But you can’t go to Hope as the Night King then.”
“Oh, I didn’t intend to! Your best friend here… Lord Ralph? Ray? Rudolph–”
“It’s Rhalyf,” Rhalyf cut in.