142. Alaric
CHAPTER 142
Alaric
The last few days have been a giant swirl with all the hustle and bustle revolving around the three new babies in our lives. My two children have taken a great interest in the new offspring. It brings me great pride and comfort that both assist their mother in caring for the new little ones. Tia seems to be exceptionally attentive to Luna. It was a shock to us all that Luna was born an Omega. I would have assumed that given Aurora’s dominant DNA, that daughter would have been an Alpha, just like her.
This afternoon, Ladon and I are starting his swordplay practice. Gus had given us a roe deer for lunch that we ate over an open fire with the rest of the bond mates. And then we went into town and got two wooden swords made by the blacksmith of all people. We walk back out to the training circle that we all usually spar in and take our stances.
Ladon attacks with force, strength, and precision for someone so young. I smile at his boldness as well as his tactical thought process. What he does not have in size, he makes up for in speed and agility. My father-in-law, Nicodeamus sits on the sideline with his mate, Helle, watching his grandson spar.
We take turns attacking and blocking for almost thirty minutes. Nicodeamus steps in and takes my place about halfway through the match. Ladon looks up to his grandfather, smiles and bows gently to him then stands en guard. Nicodeamus mimics Ladon’s moves, and soon the strikes rain down furiously. I watch my son’s footing and start to notice a pattern. His stance, his moves, and his reactions are exactly like his mother’s. I tilt my head to the side, watching him even closer, now replaying in my mind all the times I’ve watched Aurora duel.
He mimics his mother, which means he will be a very formidable opponent at some point. Klaus casually strolls up next to me and takes a seat to observe the matches. “How’s baby Kirra doing?” I ask him with a smile.
A bright, wide smile crosses Klaus’s lips. The amount of pride that he has for his daughter is probably the same as I have for my children. “She’s absolutely beautiful. She’s more perfect than I ever thought possible.” He smiles broadly and then pulls out his cell phone and starts showing me pictures that he’s taken of his daughter. The baby isn’t even a week old yet, and I’d have to say almost half of the pictures on Klaus’s phone are of his child. Honestly, I can’t blame him. I’ve ended up having to get more memory chips for mine.
Suddenly, in the middle of the match, Ladon stands stock still. An ethereal white glow surrounds his eyes as he stares off into nowhere. He whispers his sister’s name, Tia , before dropping his sword and takes off running. I don’t feel a disturbance in the bond, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. Klaus and I look at each other and then over to Nicodeamus, and the three of us run off chasing after Ladon.
It doesn’t take long before Aurora joins in the chase. Klaus looks at Aurora, puzzled. “I thought you had Kirra?” he questions.
“No, I left her with you,” Aurora says with fear in her tone. We start to run faster, trying to catch up with where Ladon has gotten to. By the time we do, we’re deep in the woods by one of the streams. Klaus’s mother Agnes is frozen solid.
Tia is clutching baby Kirra who is soaking wet to her chest. She’s shaking violently, holding her little sister, trying to keep her warm and to comfort her. Ladon moves in slowly and snuggles up next to his sister. Gently, he runs his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her. “Tia, what happened”? Ladon asks softly
“I saw Grandma Agnes take Kirra off of Daddy Klaus while he was sleeping. Grandma Agnes never liked Mommy,” Tia says, firmly gritting her little teeth as we watch tiny scales ripple along her skin.
“I didn’t trust her,” Tia says firmly. “So, without her knowing, I followed her. I did like Mommy does and I climbed the trees using my talons.” To punctuate her statement, she shifts her free hand to her talons. “I stayed up high and watched everything that Grandma Agnes was doing.” Tears start to roll down Tia’s cheeks as she swallows deeply, looking up into both of her parents’ eyes and then over to Klaus.
“I’m sorry I froze your mama,” Tia says ever so softly, sniffling, trying to contain her tears. “But your mama tried to throw my baby sister into the water that’s too deep and too fast. She called her an aboma-something.”
Tia sniffles weakly again and snuggles her little sister, holding her as tightly as she can. “I did what I had to do, and I’m sorry,” Tia says between sobs. “I froze your mama, Daddy Klaus, before she could kill my Kirra.”
Aurora swoops in quickly and picks up Tia and baby Kirra all in one swoop. “You did good, baby girl, and I’m sorry you had to do such a big person thing.”
Klaus moves over instantly and takes Tia from Aurora, leaving the baby with her mama. “There’s nothing to be sorry about, little one. You did exactly what needed to be done. I wish with all of my heart that I could take this pain and memory from you,” Klaus says softly as he rests his forehead against Tia’s.
“I can help with that if you will allow me to do it.” Arnulf, who apparently followed, says softly. “It’s old magic, but not difficult to be done.” He walks over to Klaus, gently touching the back of Tia’s head. His eyes move over to Aurora, looking to receive her blessing. Reluctantly, Aurora nods her head, and Klaus hands Tia over to Arnulf.
I sigh softly, feeling like I’m on the outside looking in, that this is all just one giant, surreal nightmare. My baby girl, my innocent little daughter, just had to kill to protect her sibling. Part of me, I’m very proud of her for being able to do what had to be done. But as a father, I fear for her mental well-being over this. No child should have to carry the weight of having to kill. I walk over and gently rest my hand on Arnulf’s shoulder and draw in a deep, slow, steady breath.
“If it’s possible brother, please make her forget the kill, but let her remember that she saved her sister.” Arnulf nods at his understanding and slowly starts to walk away with Tia, heading back towards the house.
Klaus is beside himself, looking at his mother, who is completely frozen in ice. Roughly he’s running his hands through his hair, obviously not able to comprehend what she had attempted to do. I motion for Aurora and Nicodeamus to head back to the house. Nicodeamus gives me a firm nod and then wraps his arm around Aurora’s shoulder and starts leading her back.
I approach Klaus and just pull him into a hug. There are no words to express how he must be feeling at this moment, torn between the love of a son or the love of a father. Whose life holds more value and whose doesn’t? There’s never a clear-cut answer when there’s just family involved. It’s either the person that gave you life or the one that you helped give life to. Myself, I’ve already proven this, will always side with that of my child.
Klaus looks up to me weakly; sad, broken, lost, and confused. “I don’t understand,” he says flatly. You can tell the amount of emotion waging war within him with the look of despair upon his face. “Why my daughter?” he asks as he drops his forehead to my shoulder.
“I have no answer, my friend. The only thing I know is that your mom was never fond of our mate.” I hold him tightly to me, trying to give him comfort. It doesn’t take long before Jayce comes bounding through the woods and steals Klaus from me. Our sweet little Omega is the perfect one to try to heal Klaus’s wounds. I listen to them speak as we walk back to the house. Klaus is filling Jayce in as to what had occurred. Jayce’s explaining to him that Tia had made the best decision at the time. Klaus knows and understands that to be true, but it’s still rough knowing that your mother attempted to kill your child.
By the time we get back to the house, Klaus is relaxed; Jayce almost has him laughing. Jayce never ceases to amaze me. He seems like he’s got the right answer for everything all the time, and I honestly don’t know how he does it. As a family, we are truly blessed to be able to count him as one of ours. Jayce’s mother comes out of the house and instantly wraps her arms around Klaus, holding him tightly to her, trying to soothe him. At this point, I’m not sure if it’s everyone else needing the comfort because of almost losing the baby or the fact that everyone feels horrible for the decision that Tiamat had to make.
~Later that evening~
Tia is as happy as a little girl should be. I don't know what Arnulf did, but he brought back my happy little girl. I shall forever be grateful to him for whatever mystic powers he used to make Tia feel better. One by one, Elsa pulls all the adults aside to discuss the events of tonight. But no one dares to discuss the events anywhere near Tia. Even after all was said and done, Tia is now sitting on the porch holding baby Kirra. She is sitting in between the two bassinets that are holding her other two baby sisters. She doesn't understand why, but she doesn't want to move away from her little siblings.
Aurora comes out of the house bringing tubs of ice cream, followed by Dimitri, who has the bowls and silverware. Without Tiamat knowing, we are celebrating her heroism. We are celebrating that she took it upon herself to follow her sibling and make sure she was safe. The amount of ice that little girl summoned in such a short period of time absolutely amazes me. The ice is so thick, hard, and cold I believe she achieved permafrost.
I look up to Nicodeamus as he comes walking back from the spot in the woods. He and Dante are shoulder to shoulder deep in discussion. When he gets close enough, he opens his arm wide and kneels down. "Where is my favorite little angel?" He asks ever so gently. Tia's eyes light up as she slowly turns her head to look at her mama. Aurora gives Tia a knowing smile before she takes baby Kirra from her.
Once Tia is freed from her self-imposed responsibility, she runs to her grandfather and launches herself. She wraps her arms tightly around his neck and snuggles in close to him. "Yes, Papa?" she says ever so cheery.
Nicodeamus kisses her forehead and revels in the love and affection that his granddaughter is giving him. "One day, little one, you shall make a great and powerful queen. You bear the scales of your great-great-grandmother, the Blood Queen." He slides her over to the side so that he's able to hold her better on shifting her weight onto his hip.
"I just wanted to let you know that you make me so proud as the little girl you are becoming." Tia and Nicodeamus beam with pride as they look at each other. Slowly, frost creeps over the two of them, coating them both lightly. You can hear the soft rumblings of both of their dragons as they snuggle in the frost together. Nicodeamus’s love for his family knows no bounds. He and I both agree that we would have taken Tia's spot without hesitation if given the chance. We would carry the burden of the death long before she ever should. But now we carry an even bigger burden: the knowledge of knowing we had one of her memories altered.
Slowly, I walk over to my mate and pull her into a hug, careful of little Kirra in her arms. "I have to say, my love, we raise some really good kids." Aurora smiles and kisses my cheek gently.
"It's like my father has always said: we must lead by example and try to use our hearts more than our fists." Aurora smirks. "I'm still working on that part, to be perfectly honest with you," she says, then she purses her lips attempting to look innocent. The rest of us all start laughing hysterically at her statement. Aurora's a “hit first ask questions later” kind of person.
"It's been a group effort, love," I say gently as I sweep my hand out, motioning towards all of her other mates as well as our extended family. "Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child. At the rate we're going, we're going to need an army, maybe two," I say laughing, trying not to be too serious.
Dominik rolls his eyes and just starts shaking his head. "Typical dragon, not everything has to be done by force," Dominik says, crossing his arms over his chest staring at me. "My father ruled by force and fear, it did not endear him to anyone." He goes over and gives his brother a side hug. "He damaged the family more than I can ever express." Jayce sits there and nods along with what Dominik is saying. Then I see their brother, Alex, and his mate come walking up, agreeing with what they overheard.
Elsa moves until she is standing in the middle of all of us, and she smiles. "I am grateful for the family I've been given. I received more grandsons than I ever thought I would have." She moves closer to the bassinets as well as Tia and Ladon. "I've been blessed enough to see great-grandchildren be born. My heart and my life are full." She slowly starts to move around, giving each of us a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, to all of you, for enriching our lives and freeing our people. I don't just speak for myself, but I speak for everyone whose lives you have touched." Elsa lightly bows to us, smiles, and then walks away slowly. It's not often that she stays to speak much on subjects, but we all listen when she does talk.
Dimitri takes his time handing out the ice cream to everyone making sure to serve Tia and Ladon first and then the rest of us who are gathered. The sun is slowly setting behind us, and the evening sky is bathed in a cornucopia of colors. It's the perfect ending to a day that could have turned out to be one of the saddest on record. Tonight, I shall count my blessings, not only for the birth of my daughter who saved her sibling, but for the gift of the family I've been given.