Chapter 8 Winter #2
But that fear fading for him, the way he was seen becoming positive, wasn’t something that could happen for me.
Because of the necromantic aspect of my abilities.
Because of what Morien had done where the wider supernatural knew nothing could stop death magic aside from other death magic.
Because unlike even Ketheron, I couldn’t be killed.
Ruxnoth had been right—because there was no end to me, for those who feared me, there was no end to the threat for them. And that was a heavy burden. Pain without end was unbearable. That was what I was to them.
My thoughts were interrupted as Ketheron bounded toward me.
Unlike usual, he came to an abrupt stop at the last second before contact was made, and eyed me in question.
Okay, so that was surefire confirmation. They did think I’d been abused by Ruxnoth.
“Go ahead,” I told Ketheron.
His eyes sparkled and then he was throwing his arms around me in a bear hug, even making me and Mom laugh as he lifted me off the ground in his excitable relief.
He whispered in my ear, “I’m so sorry I had to tell them.”
“It’s okay,” I whispered back. “I put you in a bad situation, and I’m sorry.”
He eased from me and shook his head. “You don’t need to be. I understand. It was impossible for you also.”
“It shouldn’t have been impossible,” Dad’s voice rumbled, startling me, as he materialized in a burst of teleportation at the doorway.
“You left yourself at a serious disadvantage, Winter. Your Necromancy compromised, knowing something was causing it, something powerful enough to impact you. You suffered because of it. You were left alone in terror and confusion because of it.”
Adrenaline thrummed through me as he leveled all those accusations upon me.
Or, what I thought were accusations.
Until his expression softened and he said, “And I’m so sorry.”
“You… what?”
I looked at Mom and she smiled sadly.
Ketheron stepped to the side and gave me a reassuring chin lift.
And then Dad strode into the room—or swaggered, as was his way. But it lacked his usual spark. There was so much sadness there, so much grief.
“Never do that again. Don’t keep us in the dark like that.
The ramifications are too severe, too fucking damaging, Winter.
I’m not talking about to the wider supernatural world right now either.
All I’m talking about is the damage to you.
The agony it caused you. All of it leading to that comment you made to me when we found you—about the world not wanting you. ”
He ground his jaw. “You are not a stain on this world. You’re not a dangerous unchecked entity.
And I will make them see that. Okay? Do you hear me?
I will alter the rhetoric. I will make it so you never feel like that again.
Because you’re wanted, son. I can’t even accurately convey how deeply loved and wanted you actually are, what you’ve brought to our lives.
It’s my fault that you feel this way. I made the decision to keep you from the world, to appease them and their concerns, their unfounded fears.
Instead, I should’ve led us toward altering perception, to showing them who you really are, what you can do through a positive lens. ”
“Dad, no, that’s not your fault. None of this is.”
He grimaced. “I swear to you here and now that you won’t be locked down here again.
No matter what happens, how things play out.
That’s no longer an option. The fact I even considered it when we first brought you back here yesterday…
it was the panic, the fear and upset for what you went through, that you were taken.
But that’s not your burden to bear.” He reached out and stroked my hair.
“You won’t feel the weight of it again.”
What he was offering so passionately, so painfully… it couldn’t actually be done.
But he was desperate enough to believe it could be.
The way people saw me… he’d known all these years that it couldn’t be altered.
It was why he’d pushed for the locking-down, intensely protective approach to keep me safe from the world.
My family had done what they’d had to, the only option available.
And in doing that, I hadn’t known what the supernatural world really thought of me—that I was wrong in their eyes.
Once I’d started being allowed out into it, that was when it had hit me.
And I knew that was why Dad had been reluctant to allow me out even during those days of just once-in-a-while visits into the world beyond these walls.
He hadn’t wanted me to be subjected to that.
At the time I’d resented that from him. Mom, Father, and Pops had overruled him and I’d seen them as getting it, getting me.
But in truth, it had just been an impossible situation all around.
And it always would be.
Saying it wasn’t my burden… that was another lie.
But something he didn’t even realize was an actual lie. None of them did.
I was twenty years old now. Safeguarding me was no longer their job.
It. Was. Mine.
“Dad, I don’t need you to do that.” I looked out at Mom. “None of you.”
Dad pulled away and frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means it’s time for me to take over. Fully. And to be able to do that, I need to take command of that fear I have when it comes to my necromantic magic.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You’re asking me to train you?”
I nodded. “No more holding off from me. No more delays. Things are different now. Recent events have made that clear. So, yes, I need you to train me. All the way. Nothing off the table anymore just because of my apprehension.”
He exchanged a look with Mom and Ketheron.
Mom pushed off the oven and came to me, telling me gently, “What you just experienced—the violation of it, being taken like that—needs processing time, Winter, and time to recover.”
“This isn’t a reaction to that. It’s not fear-based,” I assured her. “It’s a necessity.”
Ketheron eyed me curiously. “You are certain, tiny god?”
I sighed and pushed my bowl of oatmeal away. “Ruxnoth didn’t harm me, all right?”
They all looked more than a little skeptical.
Dad scrubbed his hand over his face. “He abducted you and held you against your will. Even if nothing else was piled onto that, those are violations already. Harm, son.”
They didn’t understand.
But they would.
I pushed off the stool. “Gather everyone. I’ll explain what happened, so you can rest assured everything is okay with me.”
The three of them looked equal parts stunned, worried, and beyond curious.
But it would all be okay.
Because I was okay.
Absolutely fine.
Actually, better than I had been, because now I had clarity.
Evira had my right arm locked in a steadfast grip as she sat on the living room couch with me, her long gray furry coat on and done up all the way, a sign she was tense.
Zayn was dressed his usual bold way, in a pair of neon-pink cargo pants and a zebra-print long-sleeved tee, but he was underneath my other arm, and I was holding him tightly because he’d definitely needed the grounding with the burst of intensity coming off him.
Vax was perched on the arm of the sofa beside Zayn and sitting very rigidly.
Although he wasn’t decked out in his Basilisk leather battle gear, he was in prim-and-proper mode with dress pants and a tailored black blazer that had embellished Basilisk markings all over it.
His crown was on and when I’d asked about it, he’d told me it was fully charged even though the magical charger was in his dorm room.
Father had used his Celestial abilities to see to it for him.
I’d seen a sadness in Evira’s eyes that had seemed to run deeper than me being kidnapped—considering I was obviously fine and here safe and well now.
It had to be something to do with her visit to the Dracoryn Realm.
I wanted to ask what had happened, but I couldn’t bring up something that heavy running up to this talk.
I had to wait until we were back at Loxley Academy, just the four of us again.
Dad was leaning against the wall beside the opposite couch, the forest-green one that Pops liked.
And speaking of him, he was there all tense in his black tactical gear and leaning forward on the cushion, tapping his fingers on his pants.
Mom was beside him stroking his hair, trying to calm him somewhat.
And Father was beside her, his arm over her shoulder in his all-black dress shirt and pants, along with a sleek blazer—his Academy lecturer attire.
Ketheron was leaning back on the purple chaise across from the couch.
Grandpa Remnant and Grandma Rhyza weren’t here.
Apparently, when Grandpa had told her about my kidnapping she’d flown into a wolf rage and he’d had to see to that.
Then she’d insisted that he immediately work on increased protection strategies for me, no waiting.
The opposite of what I wanted put into place.
Ambrose wasn’t here either. Dad had told me it was because he was working on a way to locate the entry point into Ruxnoth’s magical construct.
Hmm. Ketheron had actually come home just to sleep briefly, and then he was going to head back out to work with Ambrose on that task.
Father always insisted that Ketheron slept even when he didn’t feel physically tired, in order to keep his mind clear and stable.
And Ketheron respected that advice and took it to heart.
Another reason for me to hurry this whole exposition along, so Ketheron could get to sleep.
Father needed to get to his lecture soon as well.
And Zayn was on edge. He kept shooting loaded glances my way, which for now everyone who noticed was taking as expected concern due to my abduction.
But it was about me feeding on him, me begging him for it, how desperate I’d been. How unstable. And the fact I’d put him back to bed in secret.