Chapter Twenty-Five #4
“You think that’s the worst the Warden has coming for us?” Kallie asked. “What we’ve been through so far has been child’s play. We haven’t seen anything yet.”
I didn’t get back to the palace until the sun was setting. When I returned to my quarters, I heard shifting on the bed. Ava gave a small noise of discomfort, and Oberi jumped up to lay beside her.
“Sorry.” I sat down close to her legs. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s fine. I’ve been sleeping all day, anyway.” Her tone was off, but I couldn’t read it well. I reached out to touch her thigh. I noticed metal plates underneath the calluses on my hands, dried with mud. “Are you still wearing your armor?”
“Yes. I was too tired to change out of it.”
How weary she had to be, and how much she’d given to her people, to have collapsed into bed without even discarding the armor she’d slain her enemies in.
Ava hadn’t been given a moment of respite to take care of herself, so I had to be here to give her that rest. “I’ve got all sorts of things you can change into. Whatever you want.”
I reached into the bags I brought, setting all the clothing I had on the bed. “I went and got you some things.”
“Wow.” Ava ran her fingers over everything I’d found. “Charlie, you didn’t have to do this.”
“I promised I’d restore all your things, so I did. I know we’re starting from nothing again. I’m broke and I don’t have anything to give you, but I’m going to do everything I can to return everything you gave away and far more.”
Her voice twisted into something that resembled grief. “Oh, Charlie.”
I expected her to be happy, but she sounded close to tears. “Did I do something wrong? If I did, I’m sorry. I’ll fix it right away.”
“No. You… you’ve done beautifully.” She emitted a broken gasp. It sounded like she wiped her face. “Thank you for doing this for me.”
“Thank you for allowing me to do it. It was an honor that I could, for you.”
Ava cleared her throat. “Emma came and talked to me, by the way. She and Lucas were able to carve an opening into the afterlife. We’re leaving in the morning to find the mutabeecha.”
Hope elevated me, giving me a renewed sense of strength as I returned the clothes to the bags. “That’s perfect. We’ll find them, then get this done.”
It seemed like all this good news couldn’t last. I was waiting for the worst to happen, because I knew it had to be right around the corner.
Ava gave a shudder. “Where’s Sprigs? I didn’t see him on the lemon tree when I came in. Is he hiding?”
My heartbeat faltered. “Sprigs… Sprigs is gone.”
“Gone?”
I took the treasured band out of my pocket. “I traded Sprigs for this.”
“You couldn’t.” Ava struggled to speak further as I fastened the bracelet back on her wrist again.
“I did. She needed him more than me, anyway. She asked for a friend, so I gave her one, and I got back the last piece of Monica that you still have.” I let my fingers drift away from her skin. It broke me to speak out loud, but I knew I’d done the right thing.
Ava was still. “Charlie, I… this is the most precious thing you could ever bring back to me.”
“I know. If I couldn’t get anything else back, I wanted to return Monica’s armband to you, because I know that’s priceless. I could give you the whole world, but if I didn’t find that, nothing else would mean anything.”
“This isn’t fair to you. Sprigs was your pet. It was a huge sacrifice to give him up.”
A couple of tears slipped out, but I dashed them away.
“We all have to let go of friends, because not everyone can come with us through our different phases of life. Sprigs needed to move on to a better home, and I accept that. You had to let Monica go, but that doesn’t mean you had to let go of her armband.
It’s yours now. Though she’s gone, you can still remember her whenever you look at that bracelet, and remember she’s nearby. ”
“I can’t bear to lose any more friends,” Ava whispered. “I’m just glad everyone got home safe.”
“What you did out there on that battlefield was impressive.”
“I wasn’t the one tearing dragons apart with my claws.”
“I was a big beast flying through the skies, but you were stronger than me,” I argued. “You killed Deuce. That’s something we all tried to do and failed, but you didn’t let anything stop you from wiping him out.”
“Yeah, well.” She almost sounded miserable. “I don’t let anything stop me once I set my mind on something, no matter how hard it is.”
“I’m impressed by your resilience,” I said, still awed by her. “You’ve been through so much that would’ve killed other people, but you just keep powering through it.”
“It did kill me, once,” she remarked.
“But you kept on fighting,” I told her. “No matter how many blows you take or what the circumstances are, you dust yourself off and keep on going. Nothing can get in your way”
“I don’t have a choice but to keep going.”
“It’s more than that. You communicated with Oberi so fluidly during the battle. It was like you two had the same mind, same heart. You didn’t need to speak to him at all.”
I moved closer, leaning in. “You’ve lost your ability to walk, your magic, your connection to Oberi and so much more, but it’s like you don’t need any of that. You’ve found a way around it all, and are doing better than everyone else despite all the obstacles in your path.”
I went on. “You don’t have magic anymore, but you’re just as formidable without it. Nothing brings you down, and I admire that about you greatly. I’d follow you into battle anywhere, do whatever you ask me to do. You need me, I’ll be there.”
She shifted on the bed. A pained sound from her lips came out muffled. I think she was putting her hand over her mouth. “Ava, you okay?”
“I just—” She gave a pained swallow. “I hate this part.”
My stomach gave a jolt. “You hate… what?”
This situation didn’t feel right. I checked in with Oberi, and he hushed back, Ava’s not touching me. She’s refused to even look my way since I’ve been here.
Something was very wrong. Ava’s voice got even tighter. “If you promise me that you’ll do anything I ask, you have to agree to what I need you to do next. Even though it’s the most difficult thing I could ever ask of you.”
“You can’t be the only one accomplishing the impossible. I need to be there right alongside you.” I grabbed her hand. “Ask it, and it’s yours.”
There was silence, before Ava slowly drew her hand away. “Casey showed me a vision.”
I struggled to comprehend what she’d said. “He’s only a few months old.”
“Which shows how powerful he is already. Naderei gain their abilities long before they become adults, and Casey is already prophesying.”
“How?” I didn’t understand that this was possible.
“I’m not sure. I don’t understand seer magic, but he touched my face, and he showed me a vision of the future. One with two very different paths.”
“And what did you see?” My senses melted away, and I lost all feeling as I understood that whatever she’d foreseen, it meant something bitter for us.
“In the first vision, I was on the throne ruling as Empress. It was the end of the war, and we’d beaten the Warden. You were holding Casey, and both of you were alive. Everyone we loved made it out, and the world was at peace.”
I managed to open my dry mouth. “And in the second?”
“I clung to you. I tried to make a family with you and Casey, and tried to work things out in our marriage. That ended up ruining everything.” Ava stuttered on the words, gasping as if she was drowning.
“I saw the Warden destroy it all. All of our friends and family were dead before he turned on us. Then he killed us in one blast. There weren’t any survivors. ”
Oh, gods. Oberi sounded absolutely wrecked.
Ava had stolen the air from my lungs and turned it to shards that cut me whenever I inhaled. “You’re sure you can trust these visions? Could they be a mistake, something Casey created he didn’t intend for you to see?”
“There were no other alternatives. I’ve experienced visions from the Elvish goddesses, and this one was more prominent.
Casey wasn’t putting his opinions onto me, because he’s a baby.
He doesn’t understand what any of this means.
He’s just a conduit from the gods, to give me a warning about the future so I can make a decision. ”
“What have you decided?” I already knew. I just needed to hear her speak it aloud, so I could give my heart another reason to break.
“I know we want to stay together. But we need to make a logical decision, not an emotional one.” Ava’s throat cracked.
“We need to divorce. For good this time. We have to sign these papers and we can’t be together, because it’s the only way to save our baby.
To be safe, you two have to get out of my life entirely.
Once we’re back from the afterlife and have obtained help from the mutabeecha, I can never see either of you ever again. ”
What a completely demolished existence we’d both live. I was sad for myself… but I mourned for her. “Are you certain that’s what you want?”
“It’s not what I want. It’s what has to be done.” Her sigh was excruciating. “I do love you, Charlie. You’re the love of my life. You always have been. I want us to work things out, to be a family somehow. But after what Casey showed me, I know that’s not possible. Not if I want to save your life.”
I knew better than to doubt the powers of a naderei.
Maddie’s prophecies had all come true, despite everything we’d done to avoid them over the years.
Trying to change what my son had foretold would only lead to more pain, and I was done with fighting fate.
Oberi’s sentiments agreed with me, though it destroyed him to do so.