Everlyn Chapter 22 #2
“I’m telling you this so you understand our general mindset, including Zephyr’s, but he carried even more.
Deep down, he was a caring man, and even though he saved several people that night, there were so many more who were slaughtered.
Over the years that followed, as we were forced to stay with Aksel and watched the carnage he unleashed, it tore at Zephyr more.
“See, Aksel could no longer force us to obey and do what he ordered. He could inflict wounds and more pain on us, which he did. But he couldn’t kill us.
That lack of a threat was our defiance. We refused to kill people just to take and enslave.
We helped whoever we could to escape his clutches.
And Zephyr, he did even more. He watched and learned from others we met over those years.
He asked questions and became a healer. And he used that knowledge not only on the people Aksel harmed, but on us when we were hurt. ”
Spoiler paused. I sat forward, engrossed. She glanced over at Slayer, who picked up the story. Her face was a mask of blankness.
“The night of the massacre and curse, I lost my husband, Sigurd, that night. The natives fought back, and they succeeded in killing some of us, just not enough to win. Losing Sigurd was a blow, but not a crippling loss for me. Our families arranged our marrriahe. We didn’t love each other.
We tolerated each other well. He never hurt me, but we were more like roommates in the same home and in the same life.
It was the main reason we joined the expedition, even against our families’ wishes.
They wanted single men in our families to go.
We wanted to see if there was more out there that would fill the void in our marriage.
“So while losing Sigurd was something I hadn’t wished for, not that way, I lost something far more precious that I loved.
I was pregnant. In those times, shieldmaidens still fought even when with child, until they became too large to fight effectively.
I was probably about three months along by my calculations.
“I’d been knocked down during a fight with two native women.
They ran, but some of Aksel’s men, seeing it happen, had turned on me, and they began to beat me for not completing the mission.
They punched and kicked me. Sigurd discovered them doing it, and he came to my rescue.
There were five of them against two of us.
They killed him before my eyes, then left me bleeding on the ground. My child slipped away with the blood.”
Slayer paused to swallow and take a few deep breaths as she blinked. Her mask had slipped, and her eyes were wet with tears.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry that happened to you, Slayer,” I told her. I scooted closer to them.
“Thank you. It devastated me. I wanted to die. It wasn’t until much later, after I recovered, that we found out about the immorality.
I’d been hoping I’d die in battle, only to discover it couldn’t happen.
I spent years, decades hating myself for not being able to keep my baby.
I hated Aksel and his followers, especially the five who attacked Sigurd and me.
I had to live near them. You have no idea how badly I wanted to kill them.
“After we escaped Aksel’s control and life continued, we would come and go from each other.
Sometimes it got to be too much to be around the constant reminder of what we had become.
However, Zephyr continued to help and learn.
And it was right before we came together to form this chapter that he did the ultimate.
He went to medical school and earned his degree. ”
When she paused again, Spoiler resumed.
“Zephyr wanted to be able to do more for others. He saw it as his way of atoning, though he didn’t ever see it as enough atonement.
He kept asking why he hadn’t done more that night to fight back, just like all of us still do at times.
After earning his degree and joining the club, he worked as a doctor at the hospital.
He didn’t have an individual practice, but he worked in the ER as a hospitalist. He loved it when he helped save lives.
And he hated it when he didn’t, but he kept going.
“Then, twelve years ago, he treated a young girl who had lost her parents in a fire. And she nearly died in it. She was five years old. A tiny, frightened thing with big blue eyes and bright blond curly hair. She looked like an angel. After she recovered, she was sent to a group home, put in foster care, and was up for adoption. Zephyr would visit her. One day, Slayer and I went with him. And that’s when—” Spoiler was cut off mid-sentence by Slayer.
“That’s when I fell in love. I adored Lola the moment I saw her. She was so sweet and innocent. I knew that seeing her in foster homes or even being adopted by strangers would kill me, so I asked Zephyr to help me figure out a way to become her foster mom with the intention of adopting her.
“Z didn’t hesitate. He worked from his end and got Fenrir involved to do what he could behind the scenes in the system.
If you haven’t guessed, Fenrir is very good at all things computer-related, whether legal or not.
He ensured that all applicable paperwork was located and dated months earlier.
The children's services people apologized for not processing it and rushed to make up for it. Fenrir had made it so I shone as parent material. What should’ve taken months or years ended up being three months.
“At the end of those three months, with me hiding my connection to the club, even though people accepted Zephyr’s connection because he was a doctor, I was made Lola’s foster mom.
As soon as that happened, the paperwork asking to adopt her legally went into play.
As we waited, Lola and I became a family.
My pain over losing my baby faded to a less painful memory. I was happy.
“But fate didn’t mean for me to stay Lola’s mom.
Six months into fostering her, she became sick.
She woke up with a sudden fever of one hundred and four, complaining of a severe headache and that the light hurt her eyes.
She seemed confused, couldn’t turn her head, and was vomiting.
I called Zephyr right away. He came, and after mere minutes, he called an ambulance to rush her to the hospital.
He rode with her, and at the ER, he took over her care.
“She was tested, though he guessed what was wrong, and he was proven correct.
She had meningitis, an inflammation of the brain.
She was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, put on monitors, given antibiotics and antifungals in IVs.
Despite everything he did, she grew worse.
Forty-eight hours after she was admitted, Lola died.
“Zephyr never left her side. He remained awake and working. I was there, but would slip off to sleep despite trying not to. The club waited in the waiting room, taking turns providing support.” Slayer’s voice faltered.
By then, all four of us had tears streaming down our faces. My heart ached for Slayer’s losses. She kept speaking.
“The day that we buried Lola, my heart, was the day Zephyr quit as a doctor. He kept treating our injuries, but that was because he knew we couldn’t die on him. When I asked him why he stopped, he said that he couldn’t save the lives that truly mattered. He refused to keep watching people die.”
“Since that day, he hasn’t ever spoken of his degree or the fact that he keeps his license current, even though he doesn’t work in the ER.
He says it’s in case he needs to do something for one of us.
Or order the medications, like the medicine he gave you for pain.
He doesn’t speak of it because he’s protecting his heart and mine.
Zephyr feels that he failed Lola and me.
For a man like him, that’s devastating. He’s ashamed, and I can understand that by feeling that way, he wouldn’t be eager to share it with you.
Although he has nothing to be ashamed of, in his mind, he does. ”
I was unable to see them clearly at this point.
I was bawling for the heartache Slayer suffered more than once.
I heard the ache in her voice at the thought of having a child.
And I cried for Zephyr. His biker exterior hid the vulnerable man on the inside.
As I sat there, I knew that when he returned, Zephyr and I had to have a heart-to-heart discussion.
My previous anger at him had mostly evaporated.
Now, I wanted to take him in my arms and hug him.