Page 23 of The Knight
“I don't know if I will ever be okay.” Her eyes told me the truth of her words, and so did her soul.
After Emma fell asleep during the movie, I watched her as she slept, cradled against me in my arms. I would have been happy to stay there for all of eternity.
Then my father, who wasn't really my father at all, or even a person, really, came into my room. It was interesting just how powerful the ancient magic was. That illusion of a father figure had haunted me for sixteen years up to that point in time. Lamont said that I needed to look like a normal human person with a family, and one day, he was just here, pretending to bea person, pretending to be my father. I didn't understand the ancient powers fully, and I didn’t try to understand. He only came around when Emma was at my house, or when Lamont, Ara, Emma and I were pretending to be on family vacations. It was odd, like a ghost trailing behind me. How it could fool Emma and other humans, I had no idea. I clearly saw through the facade, but then again, I knew the truth, and I knew about the Ancients.
I tried to get him to leave—whateveritwas, but it wasn’t working, and Emma was embarrassed to be found asleep in my bed with me. I just smiled and couldn't help but joke with her a little as she had overreacted. I smiled wide as I walked down the stairs with her, and my “father” disappeared again.
Mary wasn’t home yet, and I knew that I wasn’t going to leave Emma alone. I stayed there while she slept, watching senseless television shows. I was clicking through channels aimlessly when Emma started thrashing on the other couch. I walked over to her and touched her shoulders. She cried out, pushing me away.
“Emma, Emma. It's me, Ryker. You are dreaming.”
She opened her eyes, and her eyes locked onto mine as she started to cry.
“It’s him, Ryker. I saw him—that night. He kept me alive on purpose. He only wantedthemdead.”
“What—?”
“It was him. You were right. He did help me, but he was irritated by the mess of the crash, and he didn’t even care that my parents were dead!”
“I will find him; I won't let him ever hurt you again.” I meant those words, just as much as I did the first time I had said them, and then the second time I had repeated them to Mary. I felt the vow that I had made become stronger, my promise more solid than before, and I knew that I would discover who wasresponsible for inflicting the pain which Emma endured, and he would pay.
Chapter 14
Her soul was so dark that I could feel the darkness, the corruption, swirling around her, twisting itself inside of her, making a home there. It made me sick. I wanted to cast it away. She needed to be trained soon in the ways of her soul, needed to know her soul’s melody—but in order to do that, she needed to know that she evenhada soul’s melody.
“Em—” I called out to her as I unshielded my melody just a bit and let my hand find hers. I knew what she needed. She nearly collapsed into me as she looked into my eyes. I knew that she was on the verge of tears. I wrapped her into my arms, and she let a few tears fall.
“Ry,” she replied in a soft whisper.
“I should have come by this weekend, Em. I knew you probably weren’t doing well, but I didn’t know if you wanted to see me so soon after what I showed you the other day.”
“Ry, I’ll always need my best friend.”
I pulled her face up to look at me; I smiled. I knew that I needed to hold onto her for just a little bit longer. Her pain wasmelting away slowly, and she still needed my nearness—needed my melody.
“Em, I swear, I will find him, and I will give your parents the justice that they deserve.”
She nodded, unable to say anything at that moment. The warning bell rang, and students started hurrying to class. I let her go, and it ached. My guardian knight vow always pulled me to her, especially when she was in such pain.
“I will see you at lunch?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Emma, I wish I could fix everything right now.” I could not have said anything more true.
She held up a hand, “It isn’t your fault, Ry. I’ll see you at lunch.”
I nodded and knew that regardless of my plans, I needed to wait until at least after lunch. Information about the man I was searching for had just come in, and I needed to talk to Mary and Glasson about my plans as soon as possible. As I watched Emma’s retreating frame painstakingly walking to class, I was more determined than ever to rid her completely of the monster who had ruined her life.
“I found him.” I paced the floor in the backroom of the flower shop. I left during lunch, right after I made sure Emma was okay. I checked my phone as I walked out of the cafeteria. Another report came in from one of the Terran colonies which Keil had helped me locate. I had the sketch of the man copied during the summer, and I sent it out to all of the Terran colonies that Keil and Glasson had located, to discover if anyone else had seen the man. To be honest, he looked a lot like Shad, and thatmade me happy, in a way, because, let’s be honest, I hatedthatprince.
I held out my phone to Mary. There was a map, and I knew she didn’t know exactly what she was looking for, but it was the first piece of good news I had received in a long time.
“I heard that you told Emma about your search. She has been just as miserable as she was right after her parents died, you know.”
“It didn’t go over as well as I hoped it would,” I said awkwardly.
She glared at me, and added, “her soul—it’s corrupting again.”
