Thirty-Two
It feels like icicles are hitting my face as I stand directly underneath the shower head. I’m sure it would feel more relaxing if it was warm water, but I will deal because I just finished a very nice everything shower.
Did the whole nine yards. Hair mask, wash, conditioner, deep-conditioner. I exfoliated my body, used a shower gel, then a body conditioner. I should have gotten out at least ten minutes ago, but I want another minute. After this I’ll loosely towel dry then put on lotion and then a body oil.
That’ll complete my everything shower since I don’t have to shave, and then I have to leave this silent oasis that is Varian’s bathroom and go out there.
There – being Varian’s bedroom where he, Castiel, Thorne, and Callahan are waiting. Darian gave me a sly smile when we were walking out and said he would not be attending my little meeting. He said exactly what I had said to Thorne a month ago.
Unless you have seen my soul it is not one hundred percent. And I have not seen his soul.
Fine. I can’t make him be here if he doesn’t want to. It’s not like he’s the one I have to worry about. It’s these four.
I finally shut off the shower, agreeing with myself that making them wait for an hour and a half is long enough. That doesn’t even count the nearly three hours the healers took to fix most of my bones.
Everything still aches. I’m beginning to think it’ll never not ache.
Toweling off, I wrap the towel around my hair before applying a smooth non-scented body moisturizer I had set out on Varian’s sink.
Following that, I lock the moisture in with a body oil that has a light vanilla and honey scent I enjoy, and lastly I rub my soothing balms over my lower abdomen to continue easing my cramps.
Then I stand buck naked in front of the mirror.
Red eyes gleam back. Damning eyes.
I wonder how much would have changed if I had stopped my own heart all those years ago. I wonder how many prophecies would have become dead ones if those it was written about just killed themselves too.
Prophecies are written in fate. But everyone already has at least one fate. Death. Would my soul be dragged back to this body if I tried sealing that fate before the other ones written? Or would I be forced to come back in another few hundred or thousand years to finish it?
Flipping my head over, I scrunch my hair in the towel one last time before pulling it off and flipping my hair back. The long strands hitting my back and ass like a light whip. The blue and pink always in this exact shade. A reminder.
Loosely finger combing it, I then drape the towel over the sink counter and it’s now I realize I have no clothes to change into.
Glancing at the door. . . well, just fuck it.
I open it and four different eyes look up to me as I walk into the room. Nobody moves as I go to what looks like a wardrobe, open it, and find a simple gray t-shirt that I slip on. The hem nearly hits mid-thigh and it smells like Varian. It smells like life and the scent makes my body relax.
God I didn’t realize how fucking tired I am. Feeling wrapped up like this just makes me want to curl up in a ball and sleep. An image of me nestled in a bed big enough to hold six with five particular bodies surrounding me appears, but I bash that with a mental bat and finally face the crowd.
Varian and Castiel are sat in leather arm chairs, Callahan is sitting on a tall chest at the foot of Varian’s bed, and Throne is leaning against the frame of the closed door. All of them only moving their chests because they have to breath, but even that is hard to see unless you focus.
I clench and unclench my fists before bowing my head and sighing.
Looking up, my eyes land on Varian and his eyes immediately soften. They soften, but I’m wondering how long they’ll be staying like that.
Okay. . . well, here we go.
“My name is Mavyllora Sanivin Tsukkenai.” Varian and Callahan’s brows twitch down in confusion but if we’re going to do this then we’re going to start over – in a sense, at least. “On June twenty-first, which is the summer solstice both on this world and Earth, a vampire shoved Syngenia the Blood Witch’s blood into me and injected me with her venom before using his blood art to make me appear dead. ”
Their confusion deepens and Varian looks like he’s about to open his mouth to ask a question so I answer it for him.
“We need to talk. If there’s a chance this whole thing works, we need to start at the beginning, then we’re going to explain some things, and then we’re going to create healthy boundaries, and then figure out what will happen moving forward.”
Varian subtly nods and then I less than gracefully crumble to the floor.
Four hands come for me, but I hold my own hand up and settle myself comfortably on the plush carpet. Criss crossing my legs and stretching my back and shoulders even as my body groans.
Varian frowns at the ground I’m sitting on. “You shouldn’t be on the floor – “
“I like sitting on the floor,” I interrupt. “It’s grounding and good for your soul.”
A soft smile appears on Callahan’s face. “Typically you’re supposed to be outside for that, Firecracker.”
I contemplate laying down, but I know if I do that I won’t be talking. Instead I tut and purse my lips at him. “It’s scientifically proven floortime is essential no matter what ground you’re on.”
Without a word all four of them fold themselves before me onto the floor.
I’d probably have something to say about that – like how ridiculous these four grown men, all of whom are stupidly tall and muscled and all that, sitting on the floor like we’re in kindergarten – but, for once, we have more important things to talk about that is not my sarcasm.
“Okay. . . so Syngenia’s blood flows through my veins,” I finish.
“For some reason I was not killed onsite, and was caged instead. The Mage Board said it was because I did not possess bloodlust that I was given a chance to gain proper citizenship, however I don’t think that’s the full truth.
There is a reason I’ve been forced to be here, specifically at this school. ”
I focus on Varian and his red eyes. They look nearly identical to his brother’s.
“Why do you think that?” he asks softly.
My shoulders sag. “There’s a prophecy that was told a long time ago. It was written as a Prophecy of Old, however only select beings were told it. It was about a damnation of a red sun.”
So subtly, not even a real movement, they all make.
“Except vocal prophecies are never properly understood, especially when certain words sound the same.”
Castiel has turned into stone with how still he is, Thorne’s eyes are on the ground, Callahan is trying to subtly look at Varian, and the red devil is staring directly at me.
“That’s a deadened proph – “ He cuts himself off when I drop my relaxed expression to a glare. He clears his throat and looks down. “What do you know about that?”
“I know that prophecy is different to the famous Prophecy of Old. I know that you will try to tell me it is the damnation of a burning sun instead of red.”
He snaps his eyes up. “How do you know that?”
“Why did you think I was a spy?”
He blows out a breath and I wait for any of them to speak, but it seems like they’re all waiting for Varian. My red devil who knows more than he’s able to tell.
He looks directly at me and my red eyes.
“Alexandros D’etrenomas is the leader of the rebellion.
It’s a rebellion that started a few years after the War of Gods in disagreement with the Mage Board that was created.
However, the world was still rebuilding so this rebellion was not as known or established as it is today.
Not until about five hundred years ago when they made their first stand against the Mage Board. ”
Varian nods to Castiel and continues to hold eye contact.
“Me, Castiel, and my twin brother, Percius, were all in the same year when we attended Syngenia as students. Alexandros was in the year under us and he became our friend when he was a second year and we were thirds. We tended to get up to things we shouldn’t – “ A ghost of a smile appears on Castiel’s face.
“ – but during the summer before my fifth year me and Percius found something in the catacombs of our estate. A scroll that possessed aura that it shouldn’t, and when we read what was on it we discovered a Prophecy of Old.
“When we went back to school for our fifth year we shared it with Castiel and Alexandros and we decided that year we would enact the prophecy. However, that did not go as planned. The leader of the rebellion at the time had the goal of finding and taking the prophecy and enacting it himself. This led to attacks being made to the school and the Mage Board getting involved with questions about why and we were all starting to realize this wasn’t just some ordinary Prophecy of Old.
“We decided right before our graduation we would stop with the prophecy and I thought that was the end of it. Me, Percius, and Castiel graduated. The three of us enlisted into the Kingsguard and when Alexandros graduated he joined us.”
I hold my pointer finger up and he pauses to let me ask my question.
“What is a Kingsguard?”
All four of them furrow their brows. Callahan speaks for the first time asking, “You don’t know what the Kingsguard is?”
When I shake my head all four look to each other.
“The Kingsguard is the military of Miy and the Mage Board. They make up the soldiers, enforcers, warriors. . . they’re constantly mentioned because they are who fight against the rebels. They’re all over Isos and our news updates.”
I shake my head a little more vigorously. “What is Isos?”
Callahan drags a hand down his face. “How do you not know what Isos is? That’s all Jullia talks about.”
Jullia. . . “You mean the knockoff Instagram and TikTok?”