Page 12 of Fated Unkindness
It was.
My mother was a powerful seer, but she didn’t like to talk about her gift. She said that it was a gift and a curse. Regardless of what she saw, sometimes someone makes a decision that changes fate, and there is no running from fate once the path is paved.
“The feelings you are getting. I think they might be a sign of you beginning to come into your power, Rae. I think you’re beginning the ascension. If what's happening is your ascension… we need to be on Ravendene soil; otherwise, we are going to have a butt load of more problems than what we currently have. You will essentially become a beacon to the Demetrey if you Ascend here, being that you are the last of your line and clearly very powerful.”
His face blanches, but he has a sort of hard determination settling in his eyes. I know he’s right. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. It makes sense that I could carry the same power as my mother. When she passed away, her power would have transferred to me, but it doesn’t always transfer exactly as it was before. Also, since I have not ascended yet, that power could have been dormant. But as we get closer to ascension, magic usually begins to surface.
Everyone ascends at different times in their life but most commonly it’s at twenty-one, hardly ever later. I don’t know what could have caused mine to be delayed. It's not what I’m most worried about though. I am the last of my line. I will carry all of the power in my line now, and though I know my parents weren’t the most powerful, they had enough. I never thought about it before now, but I’ve felt the potency of it coursing through me even before my family passed away, and powerful is an understatement. If what I have felt grows? It’s not something I’m prepared for. I don’t think anyone is.
Chapter eleven
SIX WEEKS AGO
“Dax!” Mel yells asshe bursts through the workroom doors of the barn. The door bangs as it bounces off the wall behind it. “I did it! I finally did it!” She’s laughing and has a wide smile that makes her big, green eyes scrunch. She looks so much like our mother, even more so when she’s laughing. I wish she could have known Ma longer.
“Whoa, careful Ella. I’ve got my tools out; I don’t want you getting hurt.” I’m the only one who calls her that anymore. Ma and Pop used to before they were killed. I couldn’t stop using the nickname. She keeps jumping and spinning around excitedly. “Melani Fornax-Ravendene. Sit.” I pull a stool out for her.She sits reluctantly, wobbling a bit with her enthusiastic plop onto it. I reach out and palm both sides of her face. Bending down, I put a kiss on the top of her head. “Settle down.” I laugh. “What did you do finally? Or do I even want to know?”
She looks up at me, still grinning from ear to ear, beaming. “Oh, you will want to know.” She giggles a little and starts fidgeting with some of the small tools I have on the worktop. “I was training with Trent, and I finally put him on his ass!” She says with a whoop and a fist in the air.
I’m not looking at her when she says it, so she can’t see the smile on my face. I hide it before I slowly turn toward her. I make my face as blank as possible, but it’s harder to do with her than it is with anyone else. Her smile starts pulling down at the corners and worry takes its place. I stare at her like that for another moment, then swiftly grab her shoulders and kick the stool out from under her as I guide her fall to the ground. With a sinister smile on my face, I tell her, “But you can’t take me down!” and I tickle her at the sides. She laughs and laughs until she’s snorting and out of breath. I laugh with her and help her sit up on the stool again. As she catches her breath, we just smile at each other.
“Really Dax, you should have seen it.” She goes on to tell me the story about how she accomplished knocking Trent on his ass. She’s very animated in her storytelling, jumping around, and reenacting her movements. I just watch her with a slight grin on my face. I should really tell her to stop using profanity, but I don’t think anyone would expect anything less from her, with guardians like me and Trent. Me being twenty-seven and Trent being just barely over twenty. Not to mention, we don’t exactly have the best reputation for being proper gentlemen either. Maybe once we did,but that was before. Trent is a hundred times better than my sorry ass, though.
“I’m proud of you, kid. Let me know when you want a real opponent, and we’ll see how you do.” I tease her. She laughs and pokes me in the side. “I’m just finishing my project here, and then I will be in for supper. Why don’t you go wash up? Yea?” She lets out a small giggle and shakes her head before hopping down from the stool and skipping out of the workroom.
I come out here to clear my mind. I’ve found myself out here more often in recent months, but it’s nights like these when I get some of my best work done. When I’m not training or reading in my library, I’m typically here in my workroom with my forge. Before he died, my uncle was one of the most widely known bladesmiths in the kingdom, and he taught me from a young age how to ease my mind and work out my frustrations while creating beautiful and deadly blades. I’ve been struggling recently to keep the damper on my power, so there are some nights I spend out here well into the dark hours. Actually, the struggle really seemed to start just before Raelle arrived in Ravendene. My emotions have been running away with themselves at times, and when that happens, it’s particularly hard to keep the power in me hidden and locked down tight. So, I’ve been here a lot. Away from Cano, away from Raelle, and away from anyone I could potentially hurt.
Trent pops his head into the workroom. “Hey man, you about done in here?” he looks around curiously. I don’t like people being in my workroom. This is the only place where I can escape. I only ever make exceptions for Ella.
“I’m just cleaning up, I’ll be out in five orso.”
“Uh, I let the kitchen staff know that we will be entertaining tonight and we will be eating on the patio. Just a heads up” he says as he goes to shut the door.
I catch the door with my boot. “What company?” I snap. He knows I haven’t been in a mood that screamspleasure to be around. I don’t think anyone can say I’m ever really a pleasure to be around. Not now, anyway. I know I don’t deserve happiness. I pretend as much as I can for Ella and sometimes Trent and Kait, but other than that, I’m an asshole and could care less about anyone else. Damn them all. Yet another reason why I passed the torch to Cano when it came to leading our territory. I would have let Trent, but he was too young, and with just losing our parents, he wouldn’t have been ready anyway.
When I step out of the workroom, Trent is already at the main house. He’s been showing signs of ascension already, though he still has a year until the normal age of twenty-one. Speed is clearly part of his gifts. We come from a long line of shifters, so it’s no surprise really, more of an annoyance right now though. I let loose a sigh as I turn back to the forge and clean up my tools. I look around, eyeing the blade I’ve just finished. It gleams in the low light of the barn and brings a smile to my face. I let it stay there only a moment before it falls away, as I turn around and look up. “Sure Trent, let’s have guests come to witness the depravity that is my life,” I say under my breath, trudging the distance from the barn to the manor house.
I’m in my room getting dressed when I hear the hum of people talking downstairs. “Wonderful, our guests have arrived,” I say blandly to the empty room as I get dressed. I’m not trying to impress anyone tonight, and this was not a planned gathering. Idress in my usual training gear: black pants, a tunic, and boots. If they wanted to be impressed by anything, they should not be here. There’s a quick, quiet knock at my door, “Enter.” I bark out.
“Sir, the guests have arrived, and everyone is being seated on the patio as we speak,” Miles tells me. Miles has been on my staff—well, on my parent’s staff—since before I was born. He’s essentially family, but keeps things very professional with me at least. He’s much more relaxed around Trent. “Thanks, Miles. I’ll be down shortly.” I wave him off. Taking the glass from the fireplace mantle, I pour a measure from the decanter. I’m not doing this sober, no matter who is down there.
I hear her laugh before I get to the patio. The hair on the back of my neck stands on end. I’m going to beat Trent’s ass if Cano is on that godsdamn patio. Sucking my teeth, I curse Trent for making me have to go through this. Cano is stuck to Raelle ever since she showed up in Ravendene. I at least know that Raelle is here; I would know that laugh anywhere. I can endure her company for a night, but only if Cano has fucked all the way off. Just because she has become close to Kait and Trent, I’ve had to be subjectedto Cano’s company more frequently. Which partially explains why my moods have grown shittier by the day.
I turn the corner, almost to the patio, when I run directly into her. I have to catch her, so she doesn’t fall from the collision. I look down at the same time she looks up and our eyes lock to one another. There is a charge in the air at that moment and a spark on my skin that catches me by surprise. Her full lips part on a quick inhale, and she smiles shyly as a blush runs up her chest into her cheeks on her sun-kissed skin.
“Sorry, I—I was just going to wash up before we eat.” She stammers, brushing a stray hair behind her ear.
I let her go and the electric-charged feeling is gone, but there is still a hum of energy in my gut. The whole interaction was so quick it was almost as though it didn’t happen, but I felt… something more the moment our skin touched. I tilt my head, and give her my most charming sarcastic half-grin. “No need to apologize, love. We can continue when you’re done, if you’re feeling like you need a little more attention than what Cano can give you. I could let you dance on me all night.”
Her cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink, and then she rolls her eyes, turning to the washroom. “I’ll pass thanks. Also, If Cano was here, and heard you say that, you would be on your ass so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you.” She says as she shuts the door. I purse my lips as a smile tries to creep across my face.Doubtful. I’ll let Raelle keep thinking Cano could beat me somehow, for now. I saunter to the patio, and looking around, I see that just Trent and Kait are at the table. I guess that’s some good news. Cano isn’t here. At least I don’t have to put up withthe asshole.
Kait greets me when I come out to sit down with a raised eyebrow and side eye, saying she heard some, if not all, of Raelle’s and my brief conversation in the hall. She has talked to me so many times about trying to be nicer to people, but she should know by now it’s not going to happen. I give her a sly grin, skirting her to sit wide in one of the side chairs at the dining table. I don’t sit at the head of the table. Nobody does. That was Pa’s seat, and I can’t bring myself to sit there, and I suppose Trent feels the same way. It’s just something we do that goes unspoken.
Sipping my whiskey, I let the burn warm me as I listen to Kait and Trent talk amongst themselves. There is a fire burning in the outdoor fireplace to my right, and I use it as a distraction, zoning out the conversation around me, I focus on the flames. Using my gift, I do something I haven’t felt compelled to do in years. I create pictures in the flames. Two fire foxes hopping around back and forth between the flames. I used to do this when Trent was a small boy to make him laugh. Ever since Ma and Pa were killed and I put a lid on my power, I don’t use it for anything if I don’t have to.
“I’ve never seen someone wield flames like that.” Her voice cuts through my concentration, and the fire creatures sputter out returning to their normal lick of flames, reaching for the sky. I don’t turn to look at her right away. “It’s beautiful.” She says I’m taken aback by the softness in her tone, even though I was just an arrogant prick in the hall, and she was just as brash back. If I were looking for friends and she wasn’t with Cano nearly all hours of the day, I would almost want to be friends with Raelle. She is soft and kind, but I've seen her in training when a wicked side has come out. She can put a man twice her size on their ass. Thinking back on the day we met and her confidence when telling me to stop with myshit. It makes my lips twitch—a smile, trying to break through my stony exterior. I can feel my magic humming in my chest already at her nearness. I know it’s my power reaching out for hers.
Raelle doesn’t wait for me to respond as she walks past me and sits in the chair to my left. She’s been here enough times I think she realizes the unspoken rule that no one sits at the head of the table. That is unless Cano is here, he makes a point to take the head of the table every time. Even knowing it puts Trent and myself on edge. Disrespectful bastard.
