Marren entered the room first, taking my hand and standing beside me. Then Naloud came in, with a strangely familiar boy. His eyes, black as onyx, his hair kept shorter. His smile reminded me of a familiar face. I scrunched my eyebrows together and cocked my head to the side as I tried to figure it out.
“Guess who?” he said with a tone of arrogance that grated on my nerves.
I shook my head squeezing Marren’s hand. He cleared his throat. “Better make this a little easier on your mother.”
“Mom,” Naloud said, then smiled while turning her gaze to the boy next to her. She held onto his hand and practically bounced in her spot.
Oh wonderful, she has it bad.
Just listen.
“I’d like for you to meet Serid,” she finished.
It hit me with the force a wave that hits the side of a cliff.
“It can’t be!” I laughed and walked toward him. I wrapped him in my arms and then held him at their length. “You’ve grown up!”
“I have, indeed.” He flashed a smile that was full of danger and warning.
“Well, how did you find us?” I asked, trying hard to force back the growl rising to my throat.
“I was walking through the woods in search of berries, and a rabbit or two, when I found Naloud,” he stared down at her with a smile much like the kind Marren gives me.
Oh my.
“And we’ve seen each other every day since,” Naloud finished excitedly. Her long brown curls bounced with her enthusiasm. Even her onyx eyes shone with more light than I’d ever seen her hold in them. Her smile, how bright it was, forced my anger away. I couldn’t be mad at her or Serid. You can’t always choose what the heart desires.
“Come,” Marren interrupted, “let’s discuss all the details over lunch.”
Serid walked holding himself high and tall, like a prince. I couldn’t help an eyebrow from lifting. Marren’s hand pressed on my back as he escorted me to the table. If I said anything to him, in our private way or otherwise, he wouldn’t believe me. He would disregard my feelings as those belonging to a worried mother.
After we were all seated, Marren started with a toast. “To Serid, a man back from the dead.”
He smiled as he lifted his goblet in the air toward Serid, who sat across from me, next to Naloud. Marren, as always, sat at the head.
I thought Serid muttered something under his breath as Naloud and Marren started talking happily. It sounded like “You have no idea…”
My eyes met his. The cold dark depths of the Netherworld stared back.
Chapter 28
Gone
Much of the food had been eaten and wasn’t nearly as dried out as I thought. The ale warmed my blood and put me in a better mood than before. Not enough to cloud my judgment by leaving Naloud and Serid alone, as per Marren’s suggestion.
“No,” I said firmly walking out of the dining hall, into the ballroom, and to my sword. It had taken nearly the entire time we’d been back to recreate a portion of the swords that were taken. Luckily, the Cyrs didn’t get all of them, and I still had my sword. The one Marren gave to me the first time we sparred.
“Relena, don’t be so insistent upon not going. Serid is like a nephew to me. I promise he won’t do anything to Naloud while we are gone.”
“Don’t care.” I pulled on the hilt of my sword, removing it from its sheath and started to swing it in the air. On my third downward thrust, my hand was caught at the wrist. Marren’s deep onyx eyes peered so deeply into mine, he saw my soul, and what burned within me.
He sighed. “Please.”
It came out soft as a whisper with more implied than just a walk. It meant there was something he needed to say to me but wasn’t able to do it here.
I yanked my hand free then turned sharply to place my sword back in its sheath and strap it to my waist. I pulled the bottom of my shirt over the belt and tugged on the end of my vest.
“Fine, but I’m practicing while were out,” I said then left him standing in the middle of the floor.
***
It took several moments for Marren to catch up with me. My thoughts propelled me much farther than I anticipated, fueled by the words Serid spoke over lunch. They didn’t add up, and worse, they bothered me to no end. So caught up in them, so fueled by them, Marren’s thoughts wouldn’t penetrate.
Serid told us that he crossed over with Okelo when everyone else did. He couldn’t say when exactly because he was too young. I knew it was impossible. I scoured each and every face for the hours it took to move the debris and never found his. That was the only time that Okelo would’ve escaped. The only time that Serid would’ve been seen.