Page 17 of Dark Angel

“You’re home early!” she squeals with happiness, throwing her arms around him. A flash of discomfit washes over his face for a second before he grins down at her. “I thought you were returning next week.”

Will shrugs, “I was. Robert required me back early, though.”

His darker eyes lift to Clarence’s, who’s now making his way towards the two of them. Will’s dark brown hair looks to be freshly washed and still drying into curls around his ageing face. “Glad to see you’re not dead.” A smile toying with Clarence’s lips.

“Glad to see you’re still alive.” Will says before grinning widely and pulling him into a hug. This is their usual way of greeting each other when Will returns from his assignments elsewhere.

It began when Will returned from an unusually difficult trip to France. Will was almost mauled to death by a bear Shifter who refused to be taken to the Bastille for imprisonment for murdering another Shifter in cold blood. Clarence was ten at the time, and when Will arrived home, he told the story to him, Kora and Lily Edevane-Daisy’s mother-who was watching them at the time.

The words spilled from Clarence’s mouth before he could stop them. “I’m glad to see you’re not dead.”

Will chuckled and ruffled his then longer hair. “And I’m glad to see that you’re still alive.” And that started this whole exchange.

Will shuffles off his overcoat and places it on one of the wooden hooks beside the door. Reaching into one of the pockets, his hand comes out in a fist. “I have something for you, Kora.”

She bites her bottom lip with her teeth like a child waiting to be given sweets as Will uncurls his hand. A small bag of loose-leaf tea sits in it, perfectly wrapped still. Kora giggles with anticipation, taking it and sniffing the leaves. The sweet aroma of barley and sugar filling her nostrils. “White tea!”

“From Dublin itself. I saw you were running low the last time I was here, so I thought I would pick up some more for you while I was away. I wanted to deliver it to you in person.” Will explains.

Kora’s cheeks glow as she gives him a hurried hug before running off towards the kitchen. “Thank you!” her yell echoes down the hallway.

“You know she’s going to brew that immediately to try,” Clarence says to his uncle without looking at him.

“Good, because I miss her tea. You have no idea how particular she is with her brewing, but you get used to it. Nobody else in the world can make their tea taste as good as your sister. Of course, Tessa was the only other exception. I do miss her tea…” he trails off into a whisper as his eyes darken at the thought of his sister.

Clarence swallows, looking at Will and touching his shoulder in a comforting way. Will inhales deeply before clasping his hands together and pivoting to give Clarence all of his attention. “We need to speak in private, Clarence, while your sister is occupied.”

His grin flattens as he nods to his uncle beside him. “Sure. We can speak in the study.”

The study has two walls entirely covered in ancient books. Dusty, bindings torn and covers peeling like old worn leather. Stefan’s mahogany desk still sits in the middle with two large upholstered chairs on either side. Papers are scattered about the top, along with ink jars, fountain pens and empty tea-stained cups.

Clarence closes the door behind them and sits down opposite Will, who has his arms resting on the desk between them. His expression deepening, as if searching his nephew’s face for something.

Waiting for him to begin, Will sighs loudly before clearing his throat and saying, “I need to tell you something before anyone else gets a chance.” And pauses, as if thinking over how he’s going to tell Clarence, who’s eagerly waiting. “There was talk in Ireland while I was travelling. Some people were mentioning things about the Battle of Aureum your parents died in.”

Clarence’s breath catches in this throat as he tries to steady his breathing. Nobody has mentioned the battle in years. He can’t understand why people up north would be talking about this when it happened over a decade ago. “What about the battle?” Clarence’s brows narrowing in confusion.

Will lets out another breath, clearly struggling on how to come out with the information. “The battle was between us and the Beneath, or Hell, if you’d prefer to call it that. The other Marked kinds helped us without question during the battle, but it seems as though they are beginning to speak about the encounter once again. I overheard them in Ireland, talking about the Infernals attacking and wanting to rid the Earth of Seraphim.” He pauses, Will’s eyes searching Clarence’s before adding. “While I was there, I also heard them speaking about your parents, and whether they died or not.”

Clarence stares at his uncle, his mouth parting slightly. “Are you suggesting that my parents might still be alive?” questioning his uncle.

“No. Your parents were killed in the battle. I’m just telling you what I’ve overheard while travelling,” His uncle explains slowly. “I don’t want to believe them. I know it can’t be true, but it’s what I’ve overheard, and I just wanted to tell you in case you hear people speaking about it.” His voice remaining calm.

Clarence’s fingers lace together as he rests them against his mouth, thinking deeply. “It’s been fourteen years since they died. Why would this be coming up again now? After all this time?”

Will leans over the hardwood desk and places his head in his palms. “I don’t even believe any of their chatter, Clarence. All I’m saying is that there’s talk amongst the Foreshadowers and Spellcasters. I just thought you should hear it from me first, before you do from anyone else.”

“We need to keep this from Kora. It’ll just hurt her to know, and I can’t even imagine the hope it’ll spark in her to think her parents might still be alive, despite us not seeing them since the battle.” Clarence’svoice raspy as he thinks of his sister happily making tea in the other room.

His uncle nods in agreement, “Believe me, I understand what it’s like to protect your younger sister.”

“Is this why you were sent there?” Clarence questions him curiously. Will rarely talks about his assignments. He’s one of the Elders of the Ascendancy, so their work is usually kept quiet.

His uncle’s jaw clenches as he shakes his head lightly. “I was sent for something else. This is just something that came up while I was in Ireland. But, as I said, you come to me if you hear anything about it.”

Clarence swallows before nodding in silent agreement and standing once again. “We should go out there. I’m sure the tea is ready by now.” Not wanting to discuss this topic anymore. He’s still trying to wrap his head around everything Will just spilled out.

Kora is waiting for them in the drawing room when they come out from their discussion. Clarence plasters on a false smile, not wanting her to worry about anything.

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