Page 58 of Drawn in Blood
Ember swallowed dryly, nodding. Fen, on the other hand, stood at full attention and gave the man a salute, shooting him a rude gesture as he turned and trotted away. Killian laughed, and Ember shoved him in the arm.
“Fenrir Kitt, what iswrongwith you?” she whispered, as they quickly walked toward the Echopoint.
“Relax, Starshine,” Killian laughed. “He’s just having a bit of fun.”
“What’s he going to do? Hex me?” Fen asked with a shrug.
“Or talk to the Dean,” Ember replied, brow raised.
Fen’s eyes widened as he picked up the pace, and Ember laughed as she rolled her eyes, turning back to look at the Warden, now growing smaller behind them.
“Does he look familiar?” she asked.
Fen scrunched his brow as he glanced back and shrugged. “Not particularly, but they all sort of look the same.”
“I think he was at your house,” she replied, puzzle pieces falling into place. “The day that it was broken into, he was definitely there.” Ember remembered the uneasy feeling she had that day, and it felt eerily similar to their encounter moments ago.
“I guess,” Fen shrugged again, “but why does it matter?”
Ember furrowed her brow as she sighed. “I guess it doesn’t.”
The house wasquiet when Ember finally walked up the drive and through the large double doors, but she could hear the distinct sound of humming in the kitchen as the smell of soda bread and roast with potatoes wafted through the entryway. Cutlery could be heard clinking across pots and pans, and Ember quickened her pace to tell Aoife all about her day.
“Mum, I’m done with tryouts,” she called, as she kicked off her shoes. “You’ll never believe what happened. I—" She stopped in her tracks when she walked in the kitchen.
Gaelen was standing at the stove, spooning roast into bowls, and Theo was sitting at the table, brow furrowed as he hunched over a large book. Aoife was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Mum?” she asked, as she sat at the table.
Gaelen set a bowl in front of her, ladling in warm roast as she ruffled Theo’s hair. “She’s busy tonight,” she replied. “Had a meeting she couldn’t miss. She’ll be ‘round later.”
Ember bit her lip as she nodded. So many meetings, so many Helios and secret conversations without any explanations.Ember couldn’t help but wonderwhoher mother was talking to or what kind of job required so much of her free time. Out of nowhere, she had this desire to fly through the door of the Kitts’ with Fen and tell Eira all about her day. All of a sudden she felt pain rising in her chest—a deep ache for a home that was no longer hers, but always would be. A family that filled all the rooms with laughter and hope. A family that shared in each other’s joy and grief.
A family that was no longer her family. Not anymore, not really.
Guilt mixed with grief as she listened to theclinkof her fork against her plate. Her mother had spent a decade thinking she was dead, a decade of grief that Ember understood all too well. So, why wasn’t she here every chance she had? She had buried her daughter and husband, and Ember was wishing she was back with a foster family she had only known for a year.
What she had told Fen still stood true—they were not her family, not really. Not anymore. But that hole they had once filled in her chest remained empty. She prayed her mother would fill it one day.
Ember shook the thought away as she took a bite of the roast and tapped lightly on the table. Theo’s head popped up, his grimace quickly turning to a smile, and he gave her a small wave.
“I can help later,”she signed, as she pointed to the book.
Theo nodded eagerly, closing the book, and quickly stuffing his face with bread and stew. Ember chuckled, ignoring the pain in her chest. Sometimes, in the right setting, Theo reminded her so much of Fen.
The two finished dinner and took their plates to the sink, then raced to the sitting room on the other side of the house, Theo sliding across the floor on his socks and rolling over the carpet as he slipped. His grin lit up his face as it turned bright red. He jumped off the floor, running to one of the largebookshelves and plucking out the book they had been reading together.
“Do you want to learn,”she signed, “or listen?”
“Listen,”he signed back, tapping her collarbone. Ember smiled as she nodded and began where they left off.
After just a chapter, Theo was snoring beside her. Gaelen walked in, casting a charm on him, and lifting him into her arms. Ember smiled as the Merrow took the boy away, off to his room to tuck him in, and wrapped a blanket around herself, quickly drifting off to sleep too.
After a few minutes, or maybe hours, Ember woke to a gentle nudge on her shoulder.
“I have it on good authority that you have a very comfortable bed upstairs.” Aoife smiled as Ember rubbed her eyes, and she picked up the book that had fallen beside the couch. “Your dad always fell asleep reading, used to drive me crazy sharing a bed with a small library.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, like she was forcing herself to relive something painful—something she had placed in a box in the back of her mind, intending to forget it altogether.
“Books are good company.” Ember smiled. “The only company I had for a while.” She laughed, intending it to be a lighthearted joke, but her chest tightened when she saw the pain behind her mother’s eyes. Ember bit her lip as she sat up, looking at the floor.
