24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
“ You’re being all suspicious, aren’t you?” I ask Nymeria as she keeps following me around the kitchen. It’s Orpheus’s birthday and I’m trying my hand at baking a cake. Which means I’m nervous. Which means the last thing I need is the little nuisance weaving through my legs.
“Anyi?” I hear Orpheus call out.
Damn it. I drop the knife I’m using to glaze the cake and turn to check the clock with desperation on my face.
The next moment, I’m rushing to stop him from entering. “No, the kitchen is off limits at the moment.”
He frowns at me. “But you told me to come down at fifteen to seven. It’s fifteen to seven—” He breaks off, moving to look over my head. “What’s going on?”
I stand on the tips of my toes and try to block his gaze with my head. “Orpheus,” I scold him. “Please, just change out of those clothes and go wait in the sitting room.”
He squints at me, but he does as he’s told.
I breathe a sigh of relief and rush to finish the cake before the others start arriving.
“Is now the time for me to find out what’s going on?” he asks when I join him in the sitting room, quickly wiping some of the flour off my dress.
It’s at that exact moment that I hear them arrive. It’s Farryn who enters the sitting room first, a present in her hand.
“Happy birthday, brother,” she says sweetly.
Orpheus shoots me a confused look, but I don’t have time to respond.
“Were we supposed to bring presents?” Sylmarilla asks with a frown. “You won’t mind, will you, Orpheus?”
“Anyi darling,” Urryse demands, “where are the other guests?”
I let out a sigh. “It’ll be just the five of us, Urryse.”
“I see,” she says, displeasure on her face.
I make them sit around the table. “Now, a drink in celebration of Orpheus’s birthday.”
“Happy birthday,” everyone cheers.
“Thank you,” Orpheus says with a frown.
Damn it, was this a mistake?
“This is absolutely divine, Anyi,” Farryn comments on the spread.
“I didn’t make it, so I don’t exactly deserve the praise. Besides, it really is delicious, but not as much as when Orpheus makes it.”
I’m met with three pairs of raised eyebrows. I frown. “I’m sorry, do you not know what a great cook Orpheus is?”
“She’s exaggerating,” Orpheus cuts in.
“No, I’m not,” I say with a laugh.
He blushes.
“Anyi darling,” Urryse starts, “since this will be…” The look on her face as she glances around says ‘pointless’. “I may as well take the opportunity to give you the good news.”
Gods. “Sounds intriguing, Urryse,” I force myself to say. It’s his birthday, I tell myself. Play nice.
“Yes, well, you should be delighted. As you’re already aware, being a Librarian doesn’t give you any opportunities to participate in the Academy politics. Being the Archivist, however…”
“True, but as you’re already aware, I haven’t been here nearly long enough to even be considered for such an esteemed position.”
She gives me a smug smile. “You don’t think having the Pied Piper on your side counts for something, darling?”
“Mother,” Orpheus cuts in. “I notice you haven’t brought me a birthday present. Maybe the gift could be not usurping the dinner by trying to force my wife to agree to something she clearly doesn’t want.”
Theres’s a moment of silence before she says, “I shall give you exactly that, my darling son.” She gets up. “This was… well… thank you. The girls and I shall take our leave now.”
Before I can react, they’re already on their way, leaving the two of us sitting there in silence. Orpheus looks happy though. “You look suspiciously happy considering how this went.”
“Well, it’s over, isn’t it?”
I wince. “Actually, it’s not. But I promise, the next part doesn’t involve your family.” I get up and he moves to do the same. “No, you need to stay put.”
With suspicion in his eyes, he lowers himself back in his chair.
I go to the kitchen and come back with the cake.
“What’s this?” he asks.
“Shhh.” I place it in front of him and use my power to light the candles. Effortlessly, if I may add.
He quirks an eyebrow at me. “Ah, I see, so the purpose of all this was for you to show off.”
“It’s your birthday cake,” I protest.
“My what?”
I laugh. “A cake in celebration of your birthday. Don’t expect much in terms of taste, but that’s not—”
I watch him tense up. “You made this? For me ?”
Gods, the look in his eyes... It makes me want to hug and kiss him. I clear my throat. “Well, it’s your birthday, isn’t it? I repeat, it probably won’t be any good, but that’s not the point anyway. The point is for you to make a wish and blow the candles.”
“A wish?”
“Yes, just don’t say it out loud, otherwise it won’t come true.”
“Alright.”
“Close your eyes. Now blow.”
He opens his eyes to ask, “The candles?”
I laugh. “You know, Orpheus, for someone who can come up with experiment after experiment to research the limits of Divine Magic, you’re being incredibly daft about this. Yes, the candles.”
He throws me a playful scowl and finally blows the candles. “I get to eat it now?” he then asks.
He’s melting my heart right out of my body. I nod and give him the knife and the fork.
He cuts and starts eating. “It’s perfect, thank you,” he says.
Relieved, I take a seat and move to get a bite myself.
“No, it’s mine,” he protests, but I take one anyway.
And immediately spit it out. “It’s salty,” I say with a frown.
He’s suppressing a laugh. “Yes, well, that’s what happens when you put salt in things.”
I shoot him a scandalized look. “ It’s perfect, thank you,” I echo his words mockingly. “Valuing truth above all else my ass,” I grumble. And I move to grab the whole thing. “Gimme that, you shameless liar.”
He lifts his fork in defense. “Touch my cake and suffer the consequences.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Suit yourself,” I say as I get up. “Just make sure to drown in water afterwards.”
And I start walking out of the sitting room, when he comes to block my way. “Thank you, Anyi,” he says in a soft, low voice.
I give him something between a shake and a nod, and push past him to go to my room. Why does he have to be so goddamn adorable?
*
The next morning, Lorcan, Orpheus and I are in some random little town, chasing a rumor of a missing human girl, when we spot that snake shifter spotting us and disappearing into the crowd.
“Why are you running away from us?” I ask when Orpheus drags him, restrained, into a deserted back alley.
The man only thrashes in response.
“Name,” Orpheus demands.
“Go to hell,” the man spits out.
“I probably will, considering what I’m about to do,” Orpheus tells him as I watch his power start killing all the weeds around the man’s feet, creeping up on his body. The man’s eyes round in terror.
I clear my throat. “If I could have a moment.”
Orpheus gives the man to Lorcan to hold and steps away with me.
“We’re not torturing the man,” I say with an eyebrow quirked.
He shrugs. “That doesn’t mean I can’t make him believe we would, does it?”
Well…
“Why were you running away from us?” I ask once we’re back.
The man looks away.
“Name,” Orpheus demands again, using Decay to scare him.
“Aedan Murphy,” he finally replies.
“What is your connection with the Order of the Dawn?”
No reply, just a weird look flashing through his eyes.
I put Lorcan’s pendant in front of his face. “This means nothing to you?”
“No no no,” he pleads as he starts thrashing again, “get it away from me.”
Fuck. I snatch the pendant back, rushing to reassure him. “There, gone, it’s gone.”
He relaxes, but when he turns to look at me, there’s sheer desolation in his eyes. “It’s too late, it’s all coming back to me now.”
The three of us only manage to exchange a confused look, before the man breaks free of Lorcan’s grip, grabs some rusty piece of metal off the ground and stabs himself with it.
*
“No, step away,” I tell the two of them as they try to lead me away.
The man is bleeding out and I’m trying to use my Aurora powers to save him.
“Anyi, there’s no saving him,” Orpheus says softly.
“Am I dying?” the man asks me.
I signal for Lorcan and Orpheus to leave.
“I’m afraid you are,” I reply as soon as they do.
He coughs up some blood. “What’s your name?” he asks.
“Anyi.”
“Anyi… I don’t think I was a good man, Anyi.”
“The only thing that matters is the present,” I try to comfort him. “And right now, it’s just you and me, and you’re choosing to help me, aren’t you?”
He nods weakly.
“How can I find the Order?” I ask.
He raises his eyebrows. “ Find them? They move all the time.”
“What do you know of their efforts to find the Aurora?”
He laughs. “The Order no longer believes in the Aurora.”
I frown. “Why don’t they?”
He softly shakes his head, coughing up some more blood. “It’s been hundreds of years, the world is a more miserable place than ever, and there’s still no trace of her, if she ever existed in the first place.”
“If they’re not trying to find the Aurora, why do they still exist?”
“They’re trying to do what she was supposed to do — restore balance. At least that’s what they’re saying.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“I think it’s why they erased me,” he tells me. “I was against it. I don’t trust humans myself, they’re too unpredictable, but then they’d started talking against the Treaty, saying that restoring balance equals putting humans back in their place.” His gaze wanders over to a spot above my head. “I did some really bad things, Anyi.”
“We all do bad things sometimes, Aedan,” I say softly, thinking he’s about to die and wanting to let him die in peace. “Thank you for trying to help,” I whisper.
He looks at me again, seeming lucid once more. “Three years ago,” he starts weakly, “the Head of the Order was killed and a new one appointed. That is when everything changed.”
My breath catches. “If you could give me his name?”
He shakes his head. “Only the higher ranks know each other’s names, but I did overhear this conversation once.” He coughs up quite a bit of blood this time. “The man he was talking to called the new Head ‘my lord’, and they were talking of the old Head as if he were his father. And I’m fairly certain…”
His gaze wanders away again.
“You’re fairly certain of what, Aedan?”
“Nuala,” he whispers, “do you think I’ll ever see Nuala again?”
His head drops to the side and I close my eyes shut, trying to keep the tears inside.