Chapter 15
The pattering of rain tapped against the cool windowpane, conflicting with the crackling fire warming the rooms that Cora and I shared.
It had been three days of this weather, keeping me from exploring the castle grounds or the city beyond.
The only time I saw Darragh was when he came to take Cora to school.
The interactions we had were kept to short greetings and terse good evenings.
I cozied up on a chaise in the sitting room and flipped open to where I left off reading Deities and Demigods.
It was an ancient-looking book that had the feel of a long-forgotten tomb that had just been uncovered.
The binding creaked and cracked at each turning of a page.
It was a fascinating compendium of all the known deities.
Their relationships, kinships, strife, and their contributions to magic were all detailed.
Many of them were siblings, like twins Danu and Dullahan, life and death.
I found it particularly interesting that most of the power the Divine wielded was a direct result of the devotion, belief, and worship of them by their creations.
Without proper worship, their power waned.
According to the book, since the seraphs were closer to the Divine than humans, their devotion was more potent than that of humans.
Seraphs had more pull in the outcomes of our world than I realized.
I stretched my arms and yawned. Sleeping in a bed with Cora was like sleeping next to a fish with the amount she flopped around all night.
The hyperawareness that was heightened upon coming here woke me up to every position change she made.
I was so tired and half-attempted to nap while Cora was at her daily lessons and activities—something she was always excited to go to.
Yesterday, Cora bounded into our rooms and told me all about the colorful bird she spoke to when the younglings went outside for an hour in between rain showers.
There was a bird species here called Bittas that could communicate with seraphs and humans.
The governess encouraged her to interact with the bird until it flew away.
She was finding wonder every day here, and it made me happy that she had taken so well to this new place.
Even if I had a lot of uncertainty and apprehension about it.
The danger here still set me on edge. Just this morning, a militia group used enchants to blow up part of the city, which held the Temple of Themis—the seraphs’ main worship house.
The castle windows shook, and the rumbling sound of distant destruction jolted Cora and me awake.
All of the castle had been aflutter with the news.
One more chapter. I turned the page to a chapter on divine flora and fauna when someone gently knocked on the door to the rooms. I stood and stretched after being curled up most of the day.
I noticed a few discarded candy wrappers on the table that Cora must have left behind. This kid and her sweets.
“Come in!” I called.
“I thought you would like some company,” Anya greeted from the doorway.
“Goddess, yes. My eyes are going blurry from reading so much, and I am about to fall asleep.”
“Hopefully not too blurry to read this letter that came for you an hour ago. It’s a little damp,” she grimaced, handing me the envelope.
Rory,
The rain has made my efforts to track enemies of the crown challenging and perilous.
I am afraid I cannot return to you until I am able to pick up the trail of these monsters and bring them to justice.
I will be away for a few more days. I hope that this does not cause you any stress or concern.
You will have to endure that brute for the time being.
I think of you often. Give Cora my best.
Yours,
Gabriel
That. Brute. I had only interacted with Darragh for a few short days, but not once had he turned into the vicious brute that Gabriel and everyone else seemed to think he was.
I tossed the letter onto a table in the sitting room and turned my attention back to Anya.
“Is everything alright?” Her eyebrows drew together. “I can feel a twinge of anger from you.”
Damn that enchant of hers!
“Just a letter from Gabriel saying he will be gone for longer than he intended.”
Anya scoffed. “Typical man. Always keeps you waiting.” She picked up A Socialite’s Guide to Seraph Etiquette from the table and held it up with a raised eyebrow and scrunched nose. “Find anything interesting in here?”
I laughed. “Not even a little. It’s full of the same bullshit I learned growing up. It seems that nobles are nobles, no matter the side of the barrier.”
We both broke out into hearty laughs. I pointed to A Historical Narration of Tironaill.
“I actually read a substantial amount of that one.” I was hoping to learn how seraphs built their society after the threshing wall was erected, but the only thing I found close to that time period was a passing mention of a “Great War” that happened a few hundred years after the seraphs were banished from Edenalee.
Everything else in the book was politics and culture.
Anya grimaced. “Oof. I remember that book from my history lessons. I much preferred math.”
We walked into the sitting room, and I pocketed the discarded sweets wrappers Cora had left strewn about. “So, what should we do on this dreary day?”
“I thought I would teach you a card game that is popular here.”
“That sounds fun! I miss playing cards, but it has been decades, so I am a bit rusty.”
I learned how to play from the staff at Alwine Manor when I was fifteen and trying to hide from the aristocrats at yet another ball my mother was throwing.
I was bored, so I slipped out as soon as my mother was distracted and ran down to the servants’ hallways, finding our coachman, gardener, and two footmen playing cards in a small room.
For two hours, I sat in a poofy dress learning how to place bets with a handful of cards.
It was only when my chambermaid, Orela, walked past the room and saw me that I was forced to return upstairs.
She was scared my mother would find me there and fire them all. She was likely right.
The card game Anya taught me was straightforward enough to follow. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the company of a woman who didn’t have some weird one-sided competition with me and was only conversing to try to sabotage me in any way they could.
“Ugh! You’re so good at this game. Good thing I have nothing to bet, or you would have all my coin.” I chuckled.
Anya let out an easy laugh. “I used to play with my two brothers growing up. They were ruthless and never let me win. I had to play well because we used to bet on doing each other's chores. I hated mucking the horse stalls. That was the worst.”
“A noble who does chores?” I angled my head and rearranged my cards.
“Oh, yes. My father was the Commander of the King’s Army before Gabriel.
He believed in discipline and taking pride in hard work.
His expectations of his soldiers were high, and the expectations of his younglings were higher.
My two brothers even entered the King’s Army when they came of age.
We were required to take part in the household affairs.
Still, as rigid as he could be, he also loved us.
” Her gaze wandered out to the rain splashing the windowpane.
I reached for her hand, squeezing it. “You miss him.”
“I do. My father and brothers have all crossed to the underworld. I miss them every day. It is just me and my mother now.” Anya straightened, shaking off her pensiveness. “Enough about me. Is there anyone in Edenalee who is missing you terribly?”
“Just my dear friend Greta. She gave me a job and taught me so much about plants and herbs. Greta is like a mother to me, and I miss her so much.”
“What about Cora’s father?” Her eyes flicked up to mine and back down to her cards.
I sighed. “He worked in the stables, and I was an avid equestrian. We fell quickly and passionately in love, and we fled together so that we might make a life of our own, away from my family’s influence.
That ended with Cora being born and Micah leaving us when Cora was about six months old.
I have no idea where he went or what I did to make him leave.
We didn’t have much, but we had each other, and when Cora came along, Micah was such an enthusiastic father.
His parting was unexpected and painful, and his absence carved out a piece of my heart.
I keep it guarded now. I was in no position to raise Cora on my own, so I had to go back to my mother and beg for forgiveness.
My mother loves to remind me of the shame I brought her.
An unwed noblewoman, running off with a stable hand and getting pregnant.
Scandalous.” I laid my hand on my chest in jest.
Anya searched my face, and tears formed in her eyes.
“Hey, are you alright?” I asked, brows knitted together. I laid my cards down.
She grabbed both of my hands. “Uh, yes. I am sorry. I can feel your grief, and with my own heightened state, it got the better of me.” A tear trickled down her round cheek. “I am sure he loved you and Cora.”
I wished that were true. People who love you don’t leave you with a baby without explanation.
“Did you ever find out why he left?” She wiped away her tears.
I shook my head. “No. He left one morning and never returned home. All that was left was a note that stated he loved me. It took me a long time to come to terms with his absence. There had been many disappearances in Edenalee, and at first, I thought him one of them. But none of the others had left notes as Micah did. I can only assume he decided he didn’t want to be a father anymore or a husband someday.
” I shrugged. “I’m sorry for killing the lighthearted mood.
Do you have any more card games you can teach me? ”
She tightly smiled and nodded. “One more game.”