“They don’t need to,” he said, nodding toward the moon.
It sat in the very middle of the sky and washed us in light. My hands quivered when the moon reached its mid-way point, the petals stiffened beneath my fingers and within seconds it burst into life, disappearing under a thin layer of smoke. From the white mist three butterflies fluttered joyfully around my head before flying away. I pinched Ethan’s arm and then mine to make sure things were still real as the hundreds of flowers transformed into butterflies. Their wings shimmered in the moonlight and the world around us moved and danced as one – a sea of wings.
“I brought Rosa here once,” Ethan said quietly. “Though, she wasn’t particularly fond of bugs.”
“But butterflies are beautiful.” I smiled and tried not to laugh as one landed on my nose.
“It didn’t matter,” he chuckled, “she couldn’t stand anything that crawled, skipped or flew. It was her worst nightmare.” He paused, “Yet when I returned her to Andor she begged me to take her to see them again.”
“Did you?”
“I planned on it,” his eyes grew hollow, “but never got the chance.”
Without thinking I grabbed his hand and squeezed it in both of mine. “I’m sorry. Truly, I am.” I wasn’t just sorry about the fact he lost Rosa. Guilt buried itself into my bones and scratched at my heart. If what I’d learnt at the House of Adrian had been true, Stephan’s descent into madness and his unceasing hatred could have started because of me. The Berserkers were looking for me.
Ethan squeezed my hands back. “I’m sorry about Roan. The things I said that night were unnecessary and I’m ashamed to have acted that way. Blood or not, you’re family, and we understand that here more than anything.”
“Because of Willow and Lavender?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’d be quite lost without them.”
I let go of him, clutching my hands tightly between my knees. “Roan is as much my family as my father is and my mother was. You can blame my ability to attract trouble on him actually. He started it by giving me hope.”
“Hope for what?”
“That I wouldn’t live a life being treated the way so many others were. Despite being told growing up that I would amount to greater things, I never believed them. After all, in Wetherdon and so many adjoining towns and cities daughters belonged to their fathers. When they came of age they belonged to the men that won their father’s affections, or paid the most for them. When Roan came along he helped me to believe that things would be different.”
“He was your lover?” Ethan asked, full of curiosity.
I almost fell out of the tree. “Daeus, no,” I laughed. “He was my rock; a hand always waiting in case I fell. When Father started to disappear he kept me strong. He was – he is my brother and I will see him again.” We watched the last of the butterflies disappear.
“I never had a brother,” Ethan said, “at least, I don’t think I did.”
“What about the rest of your family?” I asked. “You’ve mentioned a mentor but never anything else.”
“That’s because I don’t have any,” he started. “It’s as I said before. We aren’t born into the bloodline; we’re chosen.” Ethan settled in the tree and relaxed his tired muscles. “Though, I was chosen younger than most are. My mother died giving birth to me and without a father I was just another mouth to feed for the midwives.”
“What happened to your father?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Dead? Uninvolved? Could’ve just been another client if my mother had been a courtesan, I was never told anything about her.”
“Did you go to the orphanage?” I shivered, remembering the state of the orphanage in Wetherdon.
“No. The orphanages were for children who were old enough to work. In Vremia back then orphans were sold into slavery, not adopted out to love and be cared for. As a baby I was as useless as they came so I was taken to the temple of Fire, Manai’s Temple, just before dawn as an offering. They left me atop the altar wrapped in my mother’s bloodied nightgown.” He scoffed and I listened on, horrified. “When I was old enough to understand I was told that Manai sent my mentor, Keagan, a vision of where to find a Demon worthy of his power. Though by the time he reached me I barely had enough strength to hold on and died in his arms.”
“You died?” I couldn’t believe it.
He nodded. “The Eldryn have a trick or two up their sleeves, however, and I was brought back to life. He said that if my spirit was as weak as my heart I wouldn’t have responded and he would have been left heirless.”
“I wouldn’t call that a trick.”
“Trick, miracle, whatever you want to call it. I’d have been happier dying there and then.” He glanced over at me and I must have been wearing quite an expression as he answered the unvoiced question. “Keagan raised me as more of a weapon than a son. Wherever he pointed, I went. Whoever he passed judgement on, I carried out the sentence. I was unbeatable. Nothing more than a crafted blade flung from its master’s hand. He didn’t care that he had power to rival the Daeus already, he wanted more. He wanted kingdoms, people to worship him, women to take to his bed and a thousand armies to fight for his ruling. He wanted chaos…until I put a stop to him.”
“You stopped him?”
“I drove my blade into his chest. When I’d twisted it and gutted him he brought me close and he told me how proud of me he was; that I would take his place and rule the world like he never could. A heart of black moulds a heart of black.” He clutched at his chest. “I didn’t bury his body, I burned it with the powers he’d passed on to me, and I disappeared for a while, trying to rid myself of the darkness that shadowed my every step. Not once in my life had I ever thought for myself; I didn’t even know of the Berserkers.” He hesitated before voicing his next thought. “I’ve half a mind to believe Keagan sided with them. He didn’t come to Adrian’s aid when he called.”
“That’s unbelievable.” I flinched.
Ethan took a moment. “Then, after years of wandering aimlessly I was attacked.”
“Attacked by whom?”
“Who do you think? There was a group of Demons trying to fight their way out of a pack of Berserkers. I’d intended to slip past them until one of the bastards stabbed me, and I snapped. I was on a short fuse on the best of days. The Demons didn’t even have to lift a finger by the time I’d slaughtered every last Berserker. I don’t think they knew what I was until I collapsed. Next thing I know I’m brought to Willow’s, patched up, fed and watched. She was pregnant at the time, and as I told you before pregnancies are rare, so I was never let out of their sight. Lav’s father and Alistair were ready to tear my throat out if I so much as looked at them funny.”
“I’d liked to have seen that,” I joked. He bumped me with his shoulder.