“Come on, Níkí. Don’t start,” he groaned.
“She never could truly deserve a man like you, Rafe,” she retorted.
“I do love her.”
“I will never understand why.”
“She’s the mother of my child, Níkí! What do you expect me to do?”
“Is she the reason you serve the Empress?”
Rafe let out an agitated huff. It was typical of Níkolína to argue with him, especially when she believed he was doing something she did not agree with. He knew if they pressed this too much against each other then it would wake the entire house and alert them to his sister’s presence. He had to do something to stop this before it got ugly between them.
“Your silence tells me everything, Rafe,” Níkolína remarked.
“Yes it was Ísábella,” he divulged. “Are you happy?”
“No, Rafe. That could never make me happy.”
“Adéla is two years old now. I can’t just walk away.”
“You can. You just won’t when you know very well what type of person Ísábella is. She’s hollow and selfish. Nothing good can come from her.”
“My daughter did.”
“That’s the only thing. Open your eyes, Rafe! Please!”
“You know I won’t leave her.”
“Because you love her. Some stupid part of you believes that she can love you back or that she ever did truly feel anything for you.”
“Níkí, please…”
He was pleading for his sister to stop. He knew her anger was flared. He could see it in her eyes that were filled with it and disappointment as tears formed in them. He was happy to know she was alive but puzzled at the true reason she was there. What was she hoping to accomplish?
“I don’t want to see you killed, Rafe,” she whispered.
“I will be careful, Níkí. I promise,” he declared.
“Careful or not, Ísábella has gotten you involved in something dangerous. A war is coming to Ilysia.”
“And I chose my side already.”
“Because you chose her.”
“I never left here! Don’t make me feel guilty because I stayed!”
His voice was almost a shout. She looked at him darkly and slapped him across the face without hesitation. One thing was true about the change in his sister, she had grown stronger. Níkolína had always been one to stand her ground but this was different. He could see the determination in her. He could feel the emotions. She did not want to see him loyal to the Empress but she could not change him. He was always true to his word. Whether or not he agreed with everything the Empress stood for, he pledged loyalty and that was something he would not go back on.
“I don’t understand it, Rafe, but she still has too much hold over you. She’s changed you from the brother I knew. I love you and Julíus. And you know I have love in my heart for my niece. She’s a part of you despite who her mother is. I’m just going to always feel you deserve better than Ísábella. She makes you a man you’re not,” Níkí explained.
He was not sure how to respond to her. His sister always had a big heart and it was only cold to Ísábella. Níkolína had found her warmth again along with a considerable amount of fierceness. If she was a part of the Resistance, even though she refused to admit it, then he did not want to be fighting on the opposite side of a war from her. He was honestly torn at what to do and had been for more than he ever wanted to disclose to anyone. For all he knew, his sister had a point about everything. If only she could see just how divided he was inside then she might start to understand what he truly was feeling.
“I should be going, but I knew it was past time that I let you know how I’m doing,” she informed him.
“I am happy to see you alive and well more than you know, Níkí,” he stated with a slight smile.
“I do hope to see you again and that one day you will finally be able to see the things you refused to right now.”
“Take care of yourself and my niece.”
“You don’t ever have to worry for us. My husband sees that we are well cared for at all times.”
“Then I am glad to know that. I love you, Níkí. You’re my little sister and nothing will change that.”
“I know, Rafe. I know. But, for now this has to be goodbye.”
She gave him a smile and one last hug. It was brief but warm, sending his emotions into overdrive. He had worried and wondered about her for more than three years. He wished he knew what made her just show up out of nowhere but he would not question it. His sister was more than fine, she was happy. She had built a new and better life for herself in Ilysia, but Níkolína did not need to pledge loyalty to the Empress to have what she did. While he was happy to see her and unhappy to watch her leave, the entire conversation with her just left him more confused that he already was. What was becoming of his life? Was his sister right and Ísábella truly that bad for him? He would give anything to have that and more looming questions answered to give his mind some peace.
Chapter Seventeen
Julíus sat in his room looking out the window at the bleak skies. Dalía had a good point about Moserovo being a shit hole. It is gray and depressing, a city without hope. He had seen little of Ilysia but what he had proved to be so much better than what he saw outside. His ancestral roots in another world are what gave him any kind of optimism towards better things, even with being told they were all going to have to fight a war. If that was what it took for a better life then he was more than ready to pay that price. There was little to nothing left for him in this city. His mother was gone from this world and his sister ran away. His worthless father was not anyone that deserved a thought from him. The man destroyed most of his youth and his mother. She had been the most beautiful and pure creature he had ever known. Watching her be brutally killed by the man she loved and gave everything to destroyed much of his faith in the world around him. Truly good things could not exist to him if whatever gods existed allowed his mother’s life to be taken the way it had been.
He knew that his life was changing. He was not sure how his brother felt about the recent events that had occurred but they seemed to please Ísábella. Julíus never liked to care about what pleased that woman. He had never been her biggest fan, especially after watching her berate Dalía into meekness. It made him truly wonder why his brother did not just make her leave. Rafe was a good man. His heart just seemed to somehow love someone incapable of showing it in return. It all made him miss Níkolína more than ever and angry that Rafe had done nothing to try to find her. She was their sister and she was gone. He knew in his heart that she was alive but that did not stop his worrying for her.
“You look like something is on your mind,” he heard his brother say.
He turned away from the window to see Rafe standing in the door way. He flashed a small smile at him. He was always happy to see Rafe because he was the only constant he had left in his life.
“Can we talk since it’s just us and Adéla here right now?” Rafe asked as he walked towards where he was sitting.
“Of course, Rafe,” he answered as his older brother took a seat beside him on the bed.
“I need a favor first.”
“Anything, big brother.”
“You can speak of what I’m about to tell you to no one.”
Julíus gave Rafe a quizzical look. It was a rare occasion when Rafe ever asked him to keep a secret, indicating just how important what his brother had to tell him was. He could not lie and say that it did not worry him. With how things were going, he had to admit that he was scared.
“I won’t, Rafe,” Julíus affirmed. “I promise.”
“We had a visitor last night,” Rafe began.
“Who?”
“You might not believe me.”
He raised an eyebrow. He never questioned Rafe and would follow him into the worst situation confident he would come out alive. He had no reason not to believe anything his older brother told him. Rafe had never done anything to harm
him.
“You don’t lie, Rafe,” he stated confidently.
“I will be to everyone else if this ever comes up and so will you,” Rafe replied.
“What are you talking about?”
Rafe’s words were starting to confuse him. This was not like his brother. Whoever came to their house last night obviously left a mark on Rafe’s mind.
“Níkí showed up in the kitchen last night,” Rafe revealed after a long exhale.
“What?” he questioned. “I swear if you’re joking about this, Rafe…”
“I’m not joking, Julíus,” his brother interrupted. “It was her. We talked for a little bit.”
“And you didn’t come get me because?”
“She asked me not to.”
“Since when do you ever listen to anything Níkí says?”
Julíus let out a frustrated sigh. He was fighting getting angry with his brother. Rafe had never seemed as concerned about Níkolína as he was. Yet she comes to visit and he lets her request keep him from seeing her.
“Don’t get mad, Julíus. It’s better than we’re the only ones that know she was here,” his brother declared quietly.
“I want to be so pissed at you right now, Rafe,” he remarked in response.
Rafe let out a small laugh. Sometimes Julíus really hated being the youngest. He felt it allowed Rafe and Níkí to always have reign over him. He trusted them both with his life. He just hated how overprotective they could get.
“How is she?” he inquired.
“She’s really good actually,” Rafe said. “She’s married with an almost five-month-old daughter and has been living in Ilysia ever since she left.”
“Yet it took her over three years to let us know she was even ok.”
His tone was dejected. He had worried every day. He had missed her every day. She was his older sister and he had felt very much abandoned by her in many ways.
“Rafe, she could have told us how she was doing. She could have contacted us but she let us worry for over three years about her,” Julíus started to rant.
“And she gave me no reasons as to why she stayed gone, Julíus. Hell, we even argued in what little time she was here,” Rafe tried to explain.
Julíus could not help but snicker. Of course, those two argued! Rafe and Níkí were always too much alike to not fight. He used to hate all of their bickering but found himself missing it in that moment. It would have been the best entertainment he experienced in years to have heard it.
“What’s so funny?” Rafe questioned.
“You and Níkí not seeing each other in over three years but still end up squabbling as if she had never left,” Julíus laughed. “It’s nice to know some things will never change.”
“She still hates Ísábella.”
“Ok then some things really are never going to change.”
“Don’t you start.”
“I’m not the one that said anything to you.”
“Today.”
“The last time anyone said anything about your crazy girlfriend it was Dalía, not me.”
“I’m not getting into this again!”
“Well if you won’t listen to Níkí then you’ll never listen to anyone.”
“And I told you she came by because?”
“I would never forgive you if you didn’t.”
Rafe ruffled his hair and hugged him. His brother had a way of making him feel like a kid again. Perhaps this had always been Rafe’s way of trying to right all the wrongs that happened to him in his childhood. It was nice to end up laughing as upset as he wanted to be with him in that moment. Rafe let out his hearty laugh that Julíus never seemed to hear enough, causing him to add his own laughter to the quiet house. They did not have a lot of happy times anymore. He was determined to cherish every moment like this as he could. He knew things were changing and they were only going to get worse before they ever got better.
It had been a week since Shane met with Eídéard and Ísábella. They had yet to go to the Empress about their possible discovery. They all felt that it would be best to wait as the forces Shane now commanded were much too green to do anything to aid the cause of their chosen liege. He was expecting Ísábella to arrive with them all soon. They had a lot of work to do if they all intended to serve the Empress well. Shane was grateful for the teachings of the Resistance as it made him more prepared for his new path.
He looked up when he heard the sound of footsteps accompanied by familiar voices. They were all coming down the stairs with his father. His new destiny was beginning now as this would be the first time he would address them as their leader, though he still allowed Ísábella to believe that she would be his co-leader. They all filed into the center of the main basement room. He did his best to quietly examine them as they were but quickly notice that one of them was missing.
“You seem to be missing someone,” he observed.
“I will have Dalía drag Nóra back if that’s what has to be done to keep her loyalty,” Ísábella responded. “We opened our home to her and began her training. She owes us.”
He quickly displayed a villainous smile at Ísábella’s words. She proved more and more just how well they could work together. It was so easy for their thoughts to align and he loved it.
“Good,” he said. “Whatever it takes to have her with us. Dalía, I trust that you will be able to handle that.”
Dalía looked at him with confusion filled eyes. Of course, they had not been told the of the Empress’s new mandate! It did not surprise him in the least that Ísábella had not said a word to them. She was not wanting to release any power she held.
“I apologize for the confusion,” he confessed. “It seems that none of you were informed by Ísábella regarding some changes in leadership. The Empress has now placed that in my hands.”
He watched their reactions closely. Naturally, Ísábella was able to show no look of displeasure though he knew better. Most of the rest of them seemed puzzled, with the exception of Rafe whose eyes held a look of distrust more than anything. He could not expect the man to just trust him but he did require conformity from them all.
“That is certainly my fault,” Ísábella admitted. “But, I did feel it best they hear it from you.”
“Why the change?” Rafe questioned. “Ísábella went to the Empress on her own to pledge loyalty and you are only a teenage boy who renounced his loyalty to the Resistance to give it to our leader. How does that make you able to just come in and take over?”
Oh how right his instincts were! Rafe did not trust him at all. The words he used told Shane everything. He saw him as someone who betrayed his previous leaders, which would come across as being treacherous for his own gain. He could not deny the truth in that logic. He gained a lot from being a traitor to the Resistance. He could only gain more.
“When Ísábella first took me to meet you all, you were told I had an important mission that none of you would be taking part in,” Shane began. “This mission was for me to take out an important member of the Resistance forces that live in Corinthia as we do. I was successful and rewarded by the Empress for it.”
“This is your prize for killing someone?” Julíus asked.
“Indeed. In order for the Empress to gain what she needs to win the coming war it had to be done. Once we are involved in a full-scale war, you will find that each of you will have to end lives of our rebellious enemies for our leader.”
“Ísábella, you never said we would have to kill anyone!” Dalía exclaimed.
“And I never said you wouldn’t have to kill anyone either!” Ísábella yelled in response. “It is coming to war and death is a big part of that.”
“But some situations are kill or be killed from everything I have learned,” Rafe added.
“I don’t like this,” Julíus remarked.
“I don’t care what you like or don’t like. You will learn to better serve the Empress and be able to fight when this war begins. You are soldiers in her army w
ith a lot to learn,” Shane declared in a slightly angry tone.
Their responses did nothing but incite anger in him. They were all weak but Ísábella it seemed. They would all have to be molded into what they needed to be to best serve the Empress. Shane eyed them all with frustration. They needed him to lead if they were ever going to be anything other than pathetic. Now he would have to depend on his father to start recruiting more Ilysians in this land. He could not bring this group to the Empress anytime soon. Her anger would roast Ísábella alive and likely turn on him as well.
“I killed the son of the Corinthian Resistance leaders and I did it where his sister would witness it. If we are ever going to snuff out their foolishness, then we must cripple them first,” Shane announced. “There will be a lot more training and it will be more grueling than anything you have ever experienced. As your new leader, it is my job to turn you into the best soldiers for the Empress that you possibly can be.”
“You mean turn us into killers,” Julíus mumbled.
“That’s enough, Julíus!” Rafe exclaimed. “We swore to serve the Empress and that means training to be better fighters for when the time comes.”
“Thank you, Rafe,” Shane imparted.
“I didn’t do that for you. We all have a duty and we all have to learn.”
“You show your loyalty to our Empress well then.”
“I don’t break my word once it’s given.”
“That’s always good to know.”
He noticed the clear animosity that most of them seemed to have towards him. He was new to them and he just admitted to killing someone. All of them but Ísábella had too much heart and not enough ambition by his observations. He would change them into what they needed to be. He was determined not to fail.
“My father,” he spoke as he indicated the man standing to his right. “Will be working on recruiting more Ilysians that live in surrounding areas and other countries that are members of the Proletariat Alliance. We will build a force to be reckoned with to show those in the Resistance what fools they are for refusing the rule of our Empress.”
“There is much they all must learn, Shane. I believe Natáṣa Coménícío volunteered to teach them more about Ilysian history,” his father disclosed.
A Darkness Awakens Page 23