Chapter 47 An Early Escapade
A Partner's Point
The castle was quiet, and most of the staff and nobles had gone to bed. Tam wished he could find a way to turn off the void’s light to create some semblance of night, but that seemed to be outside his abilities.
With nothing much else to occupy his mind aside from his cloud of worries, Tam wandered the darkened corridors. He meandered past the council room, then descended to the front entrance, and from there moved to the throne room.
He gazed about the official room, thinking back to the day he had stood off to the side with Eli and watched his sister be crowned.
He could remember the breeze on the back of his neck, the feel of Eli’s elbow in his ribs, nudging him to stay awake…
He remembered the day Kat had returned from Troivack a decorated hero, a wife, and an expectant mother.
Despite not having lived in the castle, he had spent a great deal of his life among its stones. It felt like an extension of his home to him. Perhaps it was because his own father felt that way, and he had managed to lace his magic through its nooks and crannies…
Tam turned and left the throne room. He eventually went to the banquet hall, the largest room in the castle. It seemed even bigger in the throes of solemn emptiness.
The haunting feeling told Tam that this stillness would soon shatter into something terrible. While the anxiety permeated the air around him, he did appreciate the quiet.
Tam was about to leave and return to Eli’s room to hopefully get a bit of sleep when the sound of soft footfalls made him pause.
He waited in the shadows until a familiar silhouette appeared in the doorway.
“Luca?” Tam called.
He watched his son stiffen, then relax when he realized that it was just his father.
“What are you doing up and wandering around?” he asked worriedly.
“I was looking for you. The physician says Eli will be awake tomorrow morning,” Luca explained as he blindly reached out in the darkness toward Tam.
He stepped forward and plucked his son up in his arms. “Then I guess I better be there when she wakes up, hm?” Tam moved back into the corridor with Luca. As they passed more windows, he could see the trepidation on his son’s young face.
“Dad… Things are weird. Ever since we came here, everyone is angry, and scared, and… and it feels like it’s my fault.”
Tam’s gut clenched. “It isn’t your fault. I promise. A lot of people are confused about what’s going on with the witches, and it’s making them think silly things.”
Luca’s mouth twisted. He did not look convinced.
His conversation with Kasim earlier echoed back in Tam’s mind… and so, having reached the castle entrance, Tam set Luca back down on the ground, then knelt before him.
“Luca, I… I have a favor to ask.”
He watched his son start to fidget, so Tam reached out and gently grasped Luca’s hands in his own.
“The Gods… They gave something to you they shouldn’t have.”
Luca frowned, and panic sparked in his eyes.
Tam did his best to smile calmly. “It’s okay, you haven’t done anything, I just need to do something to help. Do… Do you think you can give me your fate?”
The look of worry on Luca’s face froze. Then it melted into a blank expression that was rather strange on his usually innocent and sweet countenance. It reminded Tam of the times in the past… Like the first time he had said he was glad Luca existed.
“Am I… Am I someone bad?” Luca asked slowly.
“Not at all,” Tam assured while reaching up and gently squeezing Luca’s arm. “Sometimes things happen to us, and we need a little help is all.”
“So you… You’re trying to help?” Luca’s voice was distant, as though it wasn’t exactly him who was speaking.
Tam ignored this, because he knew the truth. The truth was that his son deserved a happy life where he could be loved without the shadow of fate over him. It didn’t matter what his past lives were; this one was the one Tam was responsible for.
“I am. It’s a dad’s job to protect and help his kids.” Tam smiled. “And I think you’ve had to carry this for far too long.”
A flicker of familiarity passed through Luca’s eyes that made him seem himself again, but it was brief. “What are you going to do with it?”
Tam took a deep breath. This was tricky answer. “I’m going to carry it for you, and I’m going to make sure you don’t ever have to carry it ever again.”
Luca blinked, and a mystified look came over his face, as though he didn’t understand why tears were starting to gather in his eyes. “How are you going to do that?”
“That’s for me to figure out. All I want you to do after you give that to me?
Is be happy. Be yourself. And I want you to play, try new foods, learn lots of new things, and know that you are loved and safe.
Forever. I’m your dad, no matter what, and I will always do everything I can to be there for you. ”
Luca’s lips quivered.
“So… Luca, is it okay if I take your fate?”
A choking sob escaped from Luca’s mouth as he nodded, then threw his arms around Tam.
Tam returned the embrace, silently wondering if that was all he really needed to do to truly become the devil.
“I love you, Luca. You are a good person. Alright? Never forget that. You are… one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I am happy. Unbelievably happy that I get to be your dad.”
Luca’s cries grew louder and were filled with a deep pain. Tam’s own eyes welled up with tears as he felt invisible tension and weight disappear from Luca’s shoulders.
With a shuddering breath, Tam did his best to simply comfort Luca and appreciate the embrace.
Though it was difficult not to think about how he had most likely just expedited his own end significantly.
★ ★ ★
Eli’s eyes fluttered open slowly.
It took her a moment to process what she was seeing.
First, there were different tones of light.
There was the warm, familiar flicker of firelight across the stone ceiling, but there was also a white light beaming in through the window on her left…
“Hey.”
Turning her head felt difficult but not impossible. She looked over to see Tam.
He was holding her hand, a beard on his face, his dark eyes weary and grim.
“You look even more handsome with the beard,” she remarked idly.
Eli watched Tam laugh, caught off guard. He dropped a kiss to her hand, then said, “Is that your way of telling me to shave it?”
Eli groaned as she wriggled her toes and felt her lower back ache.
Terror seized her.
“Our girl is a fighter. She’s held on,” Tam informed her quietly, as though reading her mind.
Eli’s free hand trembled, but as it came up and rested on her protruding middle, she let out a long, stuttering breath.
She had never felt blind fear like that before in her life.
“What’s happened?” she asked, noting a shadowy figure bowing out of the room behind Tam. Most likely it was a physician.
Tam cleared his throat nervously. “There’s been a bit going on.”
Eli lowered her brows. She slowly tried to push herself up to a sitting position.
Tam was quick on his feet and came to help her, placing an extra pillow behind her back. After a word of thanks, Eli fixed him with her expectant stare.
A lone glance out the window to her left told her that the darkness outside wasn’t the night.
“I had to move the castle to the void. Eric made a deal with the first witch. He agreed to separate the coven from his rule, and there would be no fighting. Only peaceful negotiations. As long as he did not stop the first witch from taking the devil.”
Eli’s eyes widened.
“I moved the castle to buy us time while you rested.”
Eli’s heart thrummed inside her chest, prompting her to take another steadying breath.
“Tam… you…”
“I am going to be charged with treason and all sorts of other things. I know.”
Eli felt the dawning realization of just how bad things were. It filled her with cold, sharp fear.
“We can try to negotiate from here,” she said despite already knowing such talks would not be entered into with any amicability. “Or we can try to go to Lobahl like we jested. What do you think?”
Tam leaned forward and brushed a kiss against her forehead. “I think… You need to go back to sleep. I promise, everything is going to be fine.”
Eli’s eyes narrowed. She had a gut feeling that there was something else Tam wasn’t telling her. “And why is that?”
Tam gazed at her sadly… lovingly…
“Oh. Absolutely not, you fucking twit.”
Tam reared back.
“You are not dying,” Eli bit out as certainty and rage filled her.
“I didn’t go through my entire life being abandoned, hurt, and helpless just to be left with another Godsdamn tragedy!
So no, Tamlin Ashowan. I don’t care that you most likely think you are going to go die a hero’s death for our family.
We are smarter than that. You and I, Tamlin Ashowan, have been inevitable despite everything, and so you will continue to annoy me with your good looks, and I will continue to tell you when you are being an idiot. Which, at present, you are.”
Eli felt a primal growl start in her throat as she watched Tam open his mouth to say something, only for the words to die on his lips.
“Gods. You’re going off to die and leaving me with three children? You selfish, lazy arse!”
“Wha— Lazy? We need to—”
A purr sounded, drawing both Eli and Tam’s attention to the foot of the bed where Kraken had been curled up sleeping innocuously; however, at that moment he had an eye cracked open and seemed to be smiling smugly at Tam.
Ignoring this, Eli resumed her rant. “Honestly, of all the ridiculous things you could do! Are you obsessed with being moody and living through trauma? Are you addicted to emotional suffering? If so, get over that. Immediately. Now tell me exactly what you are thinking of doing, and I, your familiar, am going to bloody well fix it for you!”
“Eli, you need to rest and—”
“Well, I’d like to rest, but my future husband keeps trying to throw himself on a Godsdamn sword!” she hissed in irritation, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
Tam gaped at her, then said, “Huh… I think Kasim really set my expectation that people would understand—”
“Oh, Kasim? The botanist?” Eli asked demurely before exploding, making Tam nearly fall off his stool. “IS HE THE ONE CARRYING YOUR CHILD? DID HE JUST BARELY SURVIVE A LIFE-THREATENING INJURY? NO? THEN HE CAN BLOODY WELL STAY OUT OF IT!”
Tam held up his hands as though to stop her from eating him. If Eli were honest with herself, if she were in her beast form, she’d have been sorely tempted.
“I’m starting to suspect my sister has been sending you some of her magical energy to help you heal,” Tam said faintly.
“Wonderful. Now. Get on with it. Tell me everything and let’s sort this out.”
“Don’t you want to see the children first? They’ve been worried.”
Eli noted the way Tam was already inching away from her. Her hand shot out, seized the front of his tunic, and yanked him with all her might down to her eye level. “Tam. If you die, I have only my own company for the rest of my life. I can do better, and I will have better.”
“And you think I’m better?” Tam risked teasing.
“In this moment, no. But we’ll fix that later. Now, start talking. I won’t ask again, and so help me Goddess, Tamlin Ashowan, do not toy with me or I will insist we have a large, crowded wedding.”
What little color had remained in Tam’s drawn face flooded elsewhere. “Yes, ma’am.”
Eli nodded in approval, then dropped a quick kiss on her betrothed’s lips before settling back against her pillows to hear the details of their predicament, and how they could escape it to finally get their happy ending.
Eli noticed Kraken’s languid yawn and stretch; he gave her a look that practically screamed, I told you this would happen.
She decided she would try to “accidentally” sit on her fellow familiar next time she was in her beast form.
Certainly the empurror would be in a forgiving mood toward a pregnant woman, and if he wasn’t?
Well, the way Eli was feeling in that moment, she was willing to wage a war of wills with Kraken in her coming days, as long as it was the only stress she had to contend with in her near future.