Page 132 of Drawn in Blood
This loss didn’t feel like it did before, not like the loss of her dad. It wasn’t only the death of a parent that she was grieving, but the death of a dream she had kept locked away in her heart since she was six years old. The death of the idea she had of her mother and who she was. The death of a peaceful childhood. It was a new wound, one carved into the scar tissue of the old ones. A death of the girl she once was.
“We’re here,” Eira breathed, as she looked at them both, “for whatever you need. We’re here.” She turned to go back inside, to leave the two to themselves, when Ember stood up quickly, one step toward her.
“I had a mother,” Ember choked out, “at one point. I loved her very much.” Ember steadied herself as she breathed. She didn’t know how to separate Aoife from the mother she knew as a small child and the flawed person she had seen in that cave. “She took care of us because she had to, because it was her duty. She took care of me because of a prophecy she was hoping to fulfill for the greater good.” Ember’s eyes welled with tears as they meet Eira’s. “But you have loved me from the moment I walked into your home, baggage and all, without question. You fed me because you loved me. You gave me a room because you loved me. You bandaged my wounds and scolded me when I did something wrong. You took all my broken pieces and held myhand while I put myself back together again. You never tried to fix me, never acted like I was broken. you never had any ulterior motives. You were more a mother to me in a single year than she was in a lifetime, and you only did it because you loved me.”
Eira’s chest shook, bottom lip wobbling as she blew out a breath. Tears rolled down Ember’s cheek as Theo stood and held her hand.
“Can I come home?” Ember whispered, bottom lip quivering. Theo squeezed her hand as she steadied herself. “Can we come home, Mum?”
Eira wrapped them both in a hug, sobbing into their hair as she kissed Ember on the head. Theo’s grip on her hand relaxed until he let go altogether, wrapping both arms around Eira. Ember had never seen her mother hug him. Had he ever been hugged by a mother before?
Eira took a step back, rubbing the sides of their faces as she smiled. “You canalwayscome home.”
Ember loungedin the den with Fen and Killian that evening, tucked into her chair with one of her favorite books, the latter two playing a very serious game of cards, when a knock sounded on the door.
“I’m getting very tired of surprise visitors,” Fen grumbled, as he laid down a card, taking a swig of his Moon Cider. Ember listened as the front door opened, and she could just barely make out the voice of a man in the other room. A few moments later, Eira poked her head into the room and gave the trio a tight smile.
“Killian love, your father is here.”
Killian’s face paled, and Ember could feel the tether at her chest tighten. They all made their way into the foyer where Magnus Vargr was impatiently tapping his foot, a sneer painted on his face as he adjusted the long coat hanging down to his calves.
“Come back soon, love,” Eira said, as she kissed him on the head and quickly exited the room
“We’re going home, Killian,” he said, as the trio walked into the room, not even giving Ember or Fen a second glance. “Your uncle is waiting for us.”
Ember watched as Killian’s throat bobbed, the muscles at his jaw tensing. Magnus’s eyes drifted to Fen, then to Ember, and the smile painted across his face made her stomach sour.
”Lovely to see you made it home,” he said, his grey eyes looking so much colder than Killian’s as they bore holes into her.
Ember nodded but didn’t reply as Killian took a slight step in front of her.
“What does he want?” Killian almost hissed, magic sparking at his fingertips.
“You made quite the mess last night,” Magnus replied, too calm for Ember’s liking, “embarrassed him terribly. You made him a promise—made this family a promise—and he would like awordwith you.”
Ember's heart sank. What had Killian done?
He stiffened, hands flexing at his sides as he gave his father a nod. He turned to Fen and Ember and gave them both a half smile. “I’ll see you at school,” he said and then turned to walk out the door.
“I don’t like him,” Fen huffed, as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, and Ember nodded her head. She was overwhelmed with joy to be home and back with her family, but she couldn’thelp the guilt that seemed to crawl through her chest, like her freedom had simultaneously sent him to the gallows.
The family packedaround the dining room table that night and feasted on everything Eira could get her hands on. Theo smiled as he signed with Osiris, some conversation about their favorite comic book series that Ember had never heard of, and Fen prattled on about their adventure at the Ostara ball, even when Eira looked at him like she might kill him.
“I ate an ancient cow!” he screamed through bites of potatoes. “And the whiskey was?—”
Eira shot him a look, and Fen’s face paled.
“I-I’m sure it was very lovely,” he continued, as he sank into his seat, “although I’ll never know because I did not partake in such an abhorrent drink.”
Otto chuckled as he shook his head, patting his wife’s hand and mumbling something in her ear that made her blush. He ruffled Theo’s hair and signed something, asking how he liked the food, and Theo’s grin continued to grow.
Maeve smiled as she ate, joining in on the conversation and laughing at her brothers as they fought over the last scone. But there was a shadow there that only Ember seemed to notice. It flitted across her face when she thought no one was looking, as she rubbed the fading bruises on her neck and wrists. Ember recognized that shadow. She had watched it in the mirror when she was six years old, watched as it burrowed into the cracks in her chest ripped open by grief.
Maeve was suddenly older—something in her had shattered in that dungeon, and Ember wasn’t sure if she would ever be the same. She smiled at Ember, and Ember smiled back. The difference between her and Maeve, though, was that Maeve would not be left to navigate this alone.
I’m here.
“We’re very glad to have you home, Mo Chroí.” Otto smiled as he turned to Ember. “I hope you know how much we’ve missed you.” Otto glanced at Theo. “Both of you.”
