by G. Bailey
"You sound a lot older than you are," I reply, not wanting to talk about my long name. It only brings back bad memories of my adoptive parents. I don't remember much of them, only little things, but the last day I was with them is stuck in my mind. I was so angry that a toy oven wasn’t cooking my cookie dough quickly enough. I look back and think what a silly thing to be mad at, but the next thing I know, the whole toy oven is on fire and the rune on my arm is burning for the first time. My parents who claimed to love me, threw me out the house and locked the doors. The last thing I heard them say was, “Never come back, Evelina.” I guess that is why I don’t use the name.
"My mother and father were keepers who unfortunately died in a demon attack when I was eight," he carries on his story about his life, and I sigh, looking towards Nix with a frown. I’m thinking tying the keeper up and threatening him with my daggers will get me answers a lot quicker than this.
"I don’t want to hear your history. We do not have time for it," Nix says. Who is the unfriendly one now?
"Right. Right. I am sorry, the past is sometimes hard to forget. Basically, I was kept with the other keepers and learnt my craft by being around them. I followed them everywhere, knowing I needed to pass the keeper tests, and I especially followed keeper Cadean," he says, and I tighten my hand in Nix's.
"He called the demons on my mother, didn't he?" I ask, but I know he did. The smug look on his face in the vision is etched in my mind. I bet he made Erica the way she is, or at least made her crueller than she needed to be.
"Yes. I snuck into a chamber to watch a ritual. I thought it would get me ahead in my tests…but what I heard was far worse. They spoke with a demon, told him they wanted him to attack a woman and a baby. Keeper Cadean told the demons where to find them," he says, the horror in his eyes showing me this still haunts him.
"Did you know it was the queen they spoke of?" Nix asks, guessing some things without me saying it.
"No. I decided to warn the woman because I couldn’t live with knowing a baby was going to be attacked and that I knew but did nothing. So, I ran to the building at the edge of the city, one that looked in disrepair on the outside, so no one would go in it," he stops, moving his hand away from his still bleeding nose. I feel like I’m glued to his every word, desperate to know what happened. “It wasn’t in disrepair on the inside, and there were dead royal guards outside the doors.”
"What did you find?" I ask.
"I snuck in through a back door after moving a dead guard and climbed up the stairs. When I got to the second floor, I heard a woman scream. I pulled the door open to see a blast of blue fire that slammed me back into the hall. The holy fire was so strong that I knew someone powerful must have cast it, and I couldn’t see anything but blue fire for so long. I couldn’t hear anything but the sound of demons screaming. When it stopped, I pulled myself up and walked into the room to see the queen with a sword in her back, a tiny baby with blue hair in her arms,” he says, his eyes expressing sympathy as I watch him.
"Fucking hell," Nix mutters.
"I ran to her, and she simply kept smiling at her baby. The queen only met my eyes once to ask me to pull the sword out of her and find her sister," he says, his hands shaking a little and feeling a lot like my emotions. I stand up, walking to the window as he keeps talking. "I pulled the sword out, tried to heal her the best I could. I grabbed a blanket and helped her wrap the baby up. She pulled the baby to her chest, pressing a kiss on her cheek. I listened to her whisper to her baby before I ran away to find her sister like she asked me to."
"What did she whisper?"
"You are everything, Evelina. My light, my soul and part of my heart. Your father is an angel, a brave and selfless one I have been in love with since I was a teenager. I chose duty over love, and in the end, I still couldn't live without him. Your father will come for you, and he may hate the price I will happily pay, but I know his soul is not lost. Even without me in his life, he will have you. My beautiful girl, you are made from nothing but love. Remember that always," he drifts off as I stare out the window at the golden city and try not to show any emotion at his words. Even if I feel like falling apart at the sound of them, and how familiar they sound. It's like some subconscious part of me remembers her words. In my head, I can hear them spoken from her lips, her voice a whisper and cracked with pain that is unimaginable.
"Evie?" Nix says, placing his hand on my shoulder.
“She sang a song to me, didn’t she?” I whisper, somehow remembering the tune I’ve hummed since I was a kid. I knew the song had to come from somewhere.
“Yes,” keeper Grey answers. I move Nix’s hand off my shoulder and avoid his eyes as I turn around, keeping my arms crossed as I watch keeper Grey stand from the sofa.
"Will you help us? Will you help me?" I ask, fully expecting him to say no as Protectors have never been open to helping me, so I doubt keepers will. Well except for the guys, but I’m assuming they aren’t like the others.
"I could not save your mother. I could not change your aunt's mind as she hid you as a baby and killed herself to make sure you were never found. I have watched the Protectors fall more and more in chaos over the years with no real ruler to command us. Our history is hidden in lies because two people fell in love and one happened to be a queen. I wish to support a new queen who will change this," keeper Grey states and stands up. He walks straight over to me and goes on his knees, holding a hand out flat so I can see the eye rune on his hand. What kind of rune is that? I give Nix a confused look, and he takes my hand, placing it over the top of keeper Grey’s. I feel a shock shoot up my hand at the contact, and my eyes feel locked onto keeper Grey’s as he talks.
"I will be your keeper. I will be your power. I will be your guide in the darkness that shadows the crown. You are Evelina Ravenwood, and I recognise you as a true heir," he removes his hand, leaving a tingling feeling in my hand as he stands up.
"What was that?" I ask, rubbing my hand. If this keeper has done anything dodgy, I’m chopping something dodgy of his off.
"A blessed promise. Come to the Protectors in the morning in three days and make your announcement for the throne. I will be there and side with you. What we just did, means I will die if I break my promise to protect you as my royal," he explains.
"Sounds shit for you if you betray me," I say, making him laugh, but it dies off as I narrow my eyes on him. “Nothing any magic could do to you would be worse than me if you pull back on your promise. I’m trusting you, keeper Grey.”
"We should go," Nix says, sounding somewhat jealous as he wraps an arm around my waist, and I frown up at him. Keeper Grey is somewhat ok looking, but I'm really not into the whole priest thing, and I just threatened him. I know some people like that, but yeah, not for me. Maybe it’s because I said I trust keeper Grey? Does Nix not think I trust him or something? I guess I never really told him that.
"Time to go?" I suggest, knowing we can't really risk being here much longer than we need to, but I also know calling a portal here isn't a good idea. We can get to the ground and call a portal a few buildings away, at least that way they won't track us back to keeper Grey. I frown when keeper Grey waves a hand, a blue portal burning into existence.
"Safe travels, Evelina. This portal will take you to London, where you can find your own way, and the alarms do not go off for keeper portals. Do try not to break anything when you visit me next time," keeper Grey says and Nix laughs.
"Evie always breaks something. I swear it's built in her," he laughs out, and I hit him in the stomach. Asshole.
"Thank you for saving my life as a baby. If my aunt wasn't called, I would be dead. I will protect you for as long as you are loyal to me," I tell keeper Grey, and respect shines in his eyes before he bows. I turn and walk into the portal, not looking back once. In all the years I looked for my past and who I was…I never expected the truth to hurt me as much as it does.
Evie
“They’re back!” I hear Hali shout as I close the p
ortal I opened after Nix jumps through. I turn around just as Star launches herself at me, smacking me onto the floor as her giant body smothers me. I push her off and she only licks my face, looking pleased with herself.
“Star, come,” Trex commands, and Star huffs, but she climbs off me at his strict command. Nix offers me a hand up, and I scowl at the amused grin on his lips.
“That was a lot cuter when you were small, Star,” I say, brushing off the cat hair all over me. White cat hair and black leather do not look good together.
“How did it go?” Connor asks, and I look over at Hali, going to tell her to leave and she shakes her head, folding her arms as she sits on the sofa.
“I’m not a kid anymore, remember?” she sarcastically comments. “And I’ve always wanted to know about your past. Tell us what the keeper said, or I’m going to make you watch more Love Island with me and give all the bacon to Star.”
“Fine,” I groan, watching Star’s ears perk up and knowing I cannot watch anymore reruns of that show that she loves. Hali has a point about not being so much of a kid anymore, and I’m really scared the damn cute cat will eat my bacon.
“Keeper Grey has agreed to side with Evie. We will go there in three days to make her claim in public,” Nix says and Trex nods, a small smirk on his lips.
“Brilliant,” Connor replies as I go and sit on the edge of the seat Hali is in. Azi walks in the room, sweat dripping off his naked chest which he rubs with a towel. Hot damn.
“What is brilliant?” Azi asks, stopping between the sofas. Nix jumps onto the sofa next to Connor, who shoves him to the other end. Trex leans against the window, keeping an eye out. Always the Protector, that one.
“The keeper agreed to the plan and that means Evie is an official princess,” Hali says, and I glare at her. “Princess Evie, the badass,” Hali laughs out, and some of the guys chuckle.
“Princess Evie…yeah I’m going to take a while to get used to that. I mean a princess that once shoved an entire plate of bacon in her mouth, in public, and didn’t even seem to chew it,” Azi says, and I turn to glare at him too.
“None of the princess crap. I’m hardly a princess yet, and even when I am, I don’t want to hear you guys call me it, or one of you is going to find a snake in your bed,” I warn, and they chuckle like I’m not being deadly serious.
“But being more serious, we found something else out while we were there,” Nix cuts into our laughter, and I nod, taking over the conversation.
“We saw Cex, Azi’s brother—” I stop when I see Azi is storming over to me. He leans down and grabs my shoulders tightly, red veins stretching from his eyes as his demon pushes to the surface.
“Who the fuck did you see?” he demands.
“Cex. He was one of your brothers that took you from Hell. He and Erica are doing the nasty, but I suspect he is using her,” I quickly tell him everything, knowing that he needs to know I am okay. That his brother didn’t touch me. Azi finally comes back into control and calms down. I place my hand over his on my shoulder and squeeze once, letting him know everything is okay without saying a word.
“Cex would use her and seduce her into what he wants. It is his sin,” Azi says, and leans back, rubbing his face. I wonder what Cex’s sin is exactly, but I doubt Azi will want to talk about it here. Azi doesn’t give into his sin, but he told me once that when his demon takes over, it is all he thinks about.
“Don’t you think it is about time you explain to us about your brothers?” Nix asks. “And what the hell sins are?”
“I only tell those I trust,” Azi tensely points out.
“I trust them, and you trust me, right?” I ask Azi, needing him to know where I stand on this. If we can’t trust these Protectors, then we can’t trust anyone. I know the Protectors have their own secrets, but they saved Hali and that earns them my trust. For now, anyway. Azi seems to pause to think my question through before he starts to pace.
“I don’t remember being young or being born. There was just me as a young demon, and I appeared one day on my knees in front of my parents. At least they told me that was who they were to me. We don’t look like they did, but we had no one else to guide us,” he starts off a story that he has never told me before. Azi stops and sits on the floor, crossing his huge legs and holding his hands out in front of him. Two balls of flames spark into life, and he shapes them as people. I remember him doing this trick for Hali once, and she loved it. Four men, and in front of them on the ground are four star-shaped objects. The flame men pick them up, holding them in the air and jumping sideways in a circle. The star shape matches a star mark that is on Azi’s thigh. He always told me it was linked to his sin, but not where it came from.
“We claimed our sins and danced all night. I was the fourth brother born. Cex is the second oldest, and the most powerful brother left,” he explains, and the flames fade into ash on the floor as he lowers his hands.
“What are the sins?” Trex asks.
“Our weakness. The thing we struggle to resist. We were told that if we give into our sin, then we will find our end and neither Hell nor Heaven will welcome us,” he says, avoiding telling them what the sin is, but answering in a way.
“The oldest brother…he was killed, right?” Connor asks after a while.
“Yes, because he gave into his sin. Look, the truth of it, I cannot beat Cex. Not alone, or even with help. He is very powerful, very secretive, and has loyalties to no one. I haven’t seen him in a very, very long time. No one has,” Azi explains.
“Then what is he doing with Erica?” I ask. He can’t be with the crazy bitch unless he wants something.
“Erica said she would get him into the grove,” Nix reminds me.
“What is the grove?” I ask, remembering the conversation.
“Fuck no,” Trex growls.
“She wouldn’t,” Connor says, nearly coughing on the pure shock rippling across his face.
“Guys…what is it? Why do you all look freaked out?” Hali asks.
“The grove…it is sacred to us and to be honest, only royals can enter it. Only royals have ever been inside, so we don’t know what it is,” Connor answers us.
“Well that doesn’t help us,” I huff.
“We know you go there to receive the runes that mark the new queen or king and receive extra powers,” Nix says.
“Okay, so say figuratively speaking that Erica becomes queen. How can she get Cex into the grove if only royals are allowed?” Azi asks. He has a point that needs answering.
“The king or queen can take up to four rune knights. The knights are given a bond to the royal, meaning they will know if she is hurt or just needs them for something. Your mother had two knights who both died in the angel war defending your mother,” Connor says.
“My mother fought in the war?” I question.
“I never knew her, but my mother did. She told me stories sometimes. I will tell you them all one day, or maybe even my mum could,” Connor says, and I nod, leaving it for now to focus on the problem.
“You think Erica will make Cex a knight? Can a demon even be a knight?” I ask Connor.
“As far as I know, there is nothing saying a rune knight has to be a Protector. They only need to be strong enough to survive the blessing,” he answers.
“Which an overlord demon could easily do,” Azi muses, and looks to me. “I’ve sent word to my brother, we are meeting him tomorrow, and we can find out what he knows.”
“Good,” I say and look towards Hali. “Hali, you are coming with us tomorrow.”
“Sweet!” she says, smiling at me. She is going to hate me when she realises why I want her to come. One look around at the guys, and they know. We are going to war, and that is no place for a child.
Connor
“Night guys, I’m shattered,” Evie says, yawning as she stands up and stretches. The stretch flashes a little sliver of her skin on her stomach, and simply that movement makes me rock hard. I causally move a cushion onto my lap and sm
ile at her. Her long blue hair sways around her, making me want to do nothing but run my hands through it. It doesn’t help that she has tiny blue shorts and a black tank top on. Does she not get cold?
“See you in the morning,” I eventually cough out and she flashes me a puzzled look.
“Night, Vi,” Azi says, stretching his legs out on the sofa now she is off it.
“Sleep well, love,” Nix says, and she pats his shoulder as she goes past. Star jumps up off the floor and follows Evie to Hali’s room to sleep in there with her. Star very rarely lets Evie out of her sight now, and the odd times they aren’t together is because Evie has asked Star to watch Hali. That cat is no normal cat at all.
“Shouldn’t Trex be back in a minute?” Nix asks.
“Nope. He wanted to check the pass in case the snow has melted, and we can walk to the village,” I answer, and sit up straight. “We need to have a talk. I’ve been waiting for us all to be alone.”
“Let me guess, this talk is about Evie?” Nix asks, and I nod. Azi sits up on the sofa, crossing his arms and resting back.
“Spit it out then,” he says.
“Evie has trust issues and a fucked-up past of people letting her down. I like her, you both like her or even possibly love her. Trex won’t admit he likes her, but damn that isn’t going to last long with how possessive he is.”
“Then what do you suggest, Protector?” Azi asks, looking mildly curious. “I had Evie once and broke her trust. I will never risk doing that again or fucking up, and this situation is messy.”
“I suggest we all take it slow with her until Trex admits his feelings, and we have another chat with him involved. If we rush into our relationships with her, and he gets jealous, we fight and the only person that gets hurt is Evie.”
“Then she will shut us all out to protect herself,” Azi muses. “So, say I agree to this plan, how slow are you suggesting then?”