8. Chapter 8 #3
Soon he’d leave this place as his home and go…
well, he knew where he wanted his next home to be, though he felt foolish for assuming he would be granted the honor of living in the castle after only one visit.
The days since then had been filled with responsibilities keeping Levi and Ashmedai busy, though they had stolen a moment or two—a kiss or mildly heated embrace—but the chance to truly be together again hadn’t yet come.
Wherever Levi ended up next, he knew he would be happy so long as he could still call Ashmedai his.
He reached the front door and, against his better judgment, looked back.
The pulses from the workshop had stopped, at least for now.
Levi didn’t know why, but he felt like he had wounded Braxton somehow, despite not yet telling him he wanted to leave.
For that, for leaving Braxton, he was sorry.
Braxton had lied to him, but he was still Levi’s creator. His father.
That meant something to Leander too.
“Braxton,” Levi called. “Daedlys asked me to stop by his shop this morning. After whatever he needs of me, I plan to stay at the festival for the remainder of the day. Do you need anything?”
For the first several moments, Levi assumed no answer would come, but then, very faintly, a single word came in reply.
“No.”
“Goodbye then,” Levi said, and when this time there was no answer even after several beats, he left .
In no time, Levi could see the lights of the festival making the distant city sparkle like never before. Levi did his best to not look too closely at any of the spectacle just yet, and hurried from the path down the market steps.
The festival spilled into the market, especially with decoration on existing stalls, mentioning Festival Day specials and food or wares that had been saved for just this occasion. Still, Levi tried to not look at any of it and headed straight for Daedlys’s shop.
“Daedlys!” he called as he entered. He couldn’t avoid the splendor of Festival Day once inside. Daedlys had decorated the shop in an assortment of violet crystals like firefly lights, and various swaths of sheer and glittering violet fabrics.
Only then did Levi realize that most of the lights he’d seen from the festival grounds, even if only briefly, had also been violet, in honor of the Source Crystal that was the heart of the curse.
He’d nearly forgotten that today was a day for celebrating that color, and by wearing his new tunic, Levi had inadvertently dressed exactly as he should.
“Stitches!” Daedlys appeared, floating in from the back. His robe was black like usual, but even he sported a few trimmings in violet today. “I’m so happy you could help me before heading out to enjoy the festival. I have a very important errand for you.”
“Tis my honor. I’m sure you and Klarent are both very busy preparing.”
“Indeed. I have much to set up out front yet, and my door will be open all day and night. Plus, my poor frazzled husband is already at his stall, practicing, though it’s hours until you two perform. I told him all that stress can’t possibly be good for the baby.”
Levi smiled at the mention. He had discussed the pregnancy with Klarent and Daedlys many times since first learning of it, but to his knowledge, they hadn’t yet shared the news with many others.
“You reminded me, but I haven’t had the chance to ask.
Klarent told me a little of who he was before the curse. May I ask the same of you?”
Even for a banshee, Daedlys never looked haunting to Levi.
He was cheerful and full of vigor, yet for once his countenance wavered, which was the opposite of Levi’s intention.
“I… was who you see before you—a thriving shop owner. Just with a little more punch.” He tapped Levi’s chest with a fist which, like usual whenever he made contact, was different from the sensation of touching something solid, like a ripple of cool water bowing against Levi.
Levi was hesitant to ask more, but his curiosity won out. “You don’t have family here, though, do you? Besides Klarent.”
“That’s because, originally… I was from Diamond.”
“You were?” Levi asked more excitedly. “You’re an elf? Did you know Ash?”
“Oh no, I came here years earlier, and Diamond is a large kingdom. Honestly, I was almost planning to move back home before the curse. I’d heard they had a new ruler who was bringing more peace and prosperity than ever before.
There were rumors that she made anyone who lived on her lands immortal.
No one could die from old age or illness anymore.
It was a tempting prospect, not only for my own sake, but…
.” Daedlys drifted off, his black eyes looking deeper than ever.
Levi didn’t prompt further but waited to see if Daedlys would offer more on his own.
“To be honest, the years before the curse weren’t the best for me. I was lonely, successful though I may have been. I came to Amethyst… after my wife died in childbirth.”
Levi didn’t mean to gasp.
Daedlys smiled somberly. “I think that’s the real reason Klarent was so hesitant to tell me when he became pregnant. It had taken so long for me to be ready again, and then we went and decided to wait. Fate often has other plans.”
“Yentriss told me something similar,” Levi said, “that she waited so long to have Kenner because she was afraid she wasn’t ready. But is anyone ever ready for what life brings them?”
“Not in my experience.” Daedlys chuckled. “I never got the chance to go home, but then the curse came, and I was stuck, while also getting exactly what I’d wanted. No one here gets sick or grows old. And then, well….” His smile returned with a more genuine bend.
“Klarent,” Levi said knowingly.
“I’d given up on finding love again, and then a stranger laughed at my jokes and wriggled those tentacles my way and everything felt new.
Tragedy is common for everyone from time to time, dear Stitches, but I like to believe we all end up exactly where we are meant to be.
And hmm… it seems I may need to come up with a new nickname for you.
” Daedlys’s hand, which had dropped from the tap on Levi’s chest, returned to brush that same cool sensation across his cheek, where stitches had been but were no longer.
Levi felt a blush heat the skin beneath Daedlys’s caress.
“On that note….” Daedlys moved toward the front counter and waved a hand to cause a medium-sized ebony box wrapped in red ribbon to float up from behind it.
“The reason I asked for you for this errand isn’t merely because Klarent and I are busy.
Only you can deliver this particular package.
” He lowered the box into Levi’s hands. “It is to be brought to the castle straightaway.”
“For Ash?” Levi asked.
“Unless someone else has been living there.” Daedlys winked. “Make sure he opens it as soon as it’s in his hands. Very time sensitive. Go on now. I’m sure I’ll see you later.”
Words failed Levi other than to offer a harried thanks, and he rushed from the shop, eager to see Ashmedai and know what the gift contained.
Still, to reach the castle Levi not only needed to traverse back up the market steps but through the rest of the festival. It would be impossible to not look at anything, but he tried regardless, keeping his eyes squinted and moving swiftly.
“Are you trying to injure yourself?” Yentriss’s firm voice scolded just as a hand clamped down on Levi’s shoulder.
His eyes popped wide of their own accord, and he realized he had been about to plow headlong into a post not quite as brightly decorated with crystals as others and therefore almost invisible with his eyes half-shut.
“N-no, I… I’m sorry.” Levi turned to her, still trying to keep his head bowed and his eyes not focused on anything.
“I just don’t want to see the festival until I’m with Ash. I know it’s silly, but—”
“Plowing forward without looking where you’re going is not the answer.
Hold still,” she commanded, and Levi looked up at her with another start as she placed both scaled hands on either side of his face.
A warmth spread from where her fingers touched, and when she lowered her hands again, the lights around Levi seemed dimmer.
He looked about in surprise. The grounds looked like they had yesterday, with more people about and just as many stalls, but no decoration or added lights.
“You can conjure illusions,” Yentriss said simply. “I enchant the mind. I don’t do it often, mind you, but you’ll see what you want to until after you’ve reached the castle. It’ll wear off then, so don’t look down the road again until you’re ready. Understood?”
Levi spun back to grin at her with boundless gratitude. “This is brilliant! Thank you so much!”
Yentriss shrugged. “Useful for when Kenner has nightmares. And Grillo,” she added with a grin of her own. “Now go.”
No longer needing to rush blindly but still eager to reach Ashmedai, Levi continued toward the black multispired fortress that evoked almost the same wonder and sense of magic as its inhabitant.
One lone toll of the bell was all it took before the doors opened.
Levi’s breath caught, not only because Ashmedai looked as beautiful as ever in his usual black and red brocade, but because of how his eyes shimmered and his mouth dropped open with a shudder, his chest heaving—purely from the sight of Levi.
The silk violet-colored tunic had clearly been the right choice.
“Special delivery,” Levi said.
Ashmedai
Ashmedai stared at himself in his floor-length washroom mirror. “Oh Daedlys, you old busybody,” he muttered, taking in each line of the elegant draping and fine stitchwork. “I’ll have to think of a proper way to thank you.”
The new tunic, made from red Emerald silk, matched Levi’s violet one perfectly, though Levi’s silver trim had likewise been replaced with gold from glittering lace ribbon.