Page 35 of The Knight
I was worried that I had forgotten something important, so I started to apologize. She put her hand over my mouth.
“Stop it. You haven't forgotten anything.” I kissed her hand, and she smiled, moving it away.
“Are you sure you don't have a melody? You always know what I am thinking,” I teased. She rolled her eyes.
“There are many ways to tell what you are thinking, Kerian. You are not that difficult to read.” She looked at the glass in her hand and then back at me.
She seemed nervous? I didn't understand it. What was she so nervous about? “Are you okay, Analeia?” I asked, gazing into her storm grey eyes. She had seemed tired for the previous few weeks. Had she remembered her past life and wanted to leave? No, that was foolish.
“I am wonderful, Kerian,” she smiled, and it eased some of my worries. “I am more than wonderful, actually, because I honestly think you are already the best future father ever.” She smiled at me, and I shrugged, taking another sip from my glass, letting her words sink in.
“What? A father?” I asked, nearly spitting juice all over her. I held my hand to my throat as I attempted not to choke.
“We are going to have a baby!” she squealed and jumped into my arms. I fell onto my back, my cup spilling into the grass.
“You mean? You are? We are?” I gulped, looking at her. She nodded with a huge grin and kissed my mouth. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her again and again so she would know exactly how I felt about it.
“A father,” I whispered in astonishment—later, back at home—that same night. I played with her hair as she lay on my chest in our bed. The lantern light casted rippling shadows against the walls.
“A father,” she whispered back into the night.
It echoed around me, again and again, and she slipped from my arms, and there was darkness, cold, sorrow, and no more grey eyes, no more warm smile, no more Ana.
The hurt built up in my chest as I remembered her. Images of her and our short life together flashed before me. The memories of Ana slowly faded. It hurt. What we had was precious; what we lost was precious. I knew that, and forever I would mourn it. But as the memories spun and swirled inside my consciousness, I realized something—I realized that I didn't need to hide the box with her memory inside of it. I could remember her with a smile on my lips, her love in my heart. I could remember her storm grey eyes and beautiful brown hair, her laughter and her smile, and it was possible to not hate my existence without her. I wanted to live for her.
I could remember her with fondness. That realization shocked me. We would reunite someday; I knew it. The ancient lands were always said to be a place of rest once our mortal bodies leave this world–a heaven. Ana and I would someday reunite. Lamont had been right. I would always love Ana. While my heart would always have a special place just for her, and for what wecould have been together, and for the family we missed out on having, I also hoped that I could love again, that I could find happiness again. Lamont had given me that understanding, that second chance.
“Ryker,” I opened my eyes to find that Keil was still beside me. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of my memories. The pain of waking up was more acute than it would have been simply from my injuries, because I woke up without Ana, without my child—and for a moment—I forgot what had caused me to wake up in that terrible place—I was disoriented and in pain.
“Ryker,” he called again to me. I turned my face toward the call of his voice.
“Keil?” I mumbled.
“Yes, Ryker, I am here,” he answered, and then, as my eyes rested on his, I felt blackness overwhelm me yet again. Would I ever stay conscious? Was I doomed to play through memories of my life for all eternity? I faded, I must have been in the corruptor’s grasp, I was being tortured for my dishonor.
“I want you to know, Rykerian, that you are a brother to me.” Lamont was walking back and forth in the living room. His wife, Ara, was in the bedroom, resting near Emma, who was in the cradle beside her bed.
“You are my brother, Lamont,” I returned, placing a hand over my heart. It was true. Lamont and I had a friendship that tested the very limits of the guardian knighthood and the heirs. We had become closer than friends; we had become brothers. I would lay down my life for him, and as wrong as it was for an heir to doit for a guardian knight, I knew he would do the same for me. I, however, made him swear that he never would, because that wasmyduty.
“I am so sorry about Ana,” he gulped, looking at me. “This must be incredibly difficult for you.” His melody was swirling with so many thoughts, and I knew that he worried for his little girl, and at the same time, he was concerned about my pain and what I had lost.
“I am nothing but so happy for you, Lamont. You have to know that.” I watched as he nodded at me, folding his arms across his chest.
“I loved her, too, Ryker,” he added, and I knew that he meant Ana.
“I am thankful for that,” I whispered. I didn't want to think about Ana. My melody swarmed with emotions, and I knew that Lamont had heard them. I didn't want to dwell on the pain of losing her.
“I want your happiness above all else in this world. I want you to be an equal; you are my equal.”
I knew these words of his. He had offered them before. I knew this realm was different from Terra, but no matter how many years I would be on Earth, I would always hold firm to my duty as a guardian knight to him. My soul sang this to him, and he nodded, his melody answering back with understanding.
“I ask this, because of what you have lost. I ask because you are the most noble and brave Terran that I have ever met. You are free to decline. I only ask it of you because I hold you in such high esteem.” His melody was shielded. He obviously wanted me to hear his voice first, along with what he had to say, before I heard it in his melody.
“Anything you ask, my prince, I will do.” I bowed.
“Please, Kerian. None of that,” he said, motioning for me not to bow.
“What do you ask of me?” I said from one knee, looking up to him.
