Page 41 of Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
“Effrijim? Where is Effrijim?” Parisi struggled to sit up, her eyes glazed as she looked wildly around the room.
“He is with a wet nurse,” Desi told her, taking a damp cloth to wipe her face before gently easing an arm behind her. “My love ... the bleeding ...” His throat closed around the words.
“I know,” she answered, her voice scarcely more than a whisper. “Mags said I should diminish into the Beyond, and I will do so, but not before seeing our son again.”
He gestured toward the woman, who nodded and hurried out of the chamber. He continued to hold Parisi, mindless of the tears that rolled down his cheeks as he buried his face in her hair, his soul screaming out in anguish.
“You will visit me?” she asked, turning slightly in his arms so she could face him. “Where I settle in the Beyond? You will bring Effrijim so that I may see him grow?”
“Yes,” he lied, not wanting her to hear how the L’au-dela, the newly formed organization that ran the Beyond—amongst other things—recently wove protections into the Beyond against those who bore dark power, like him. He knew that once she diminished, he’d never see her again. “Yes, we will see you often. As often as you like.”
“Good,” she said, sagging back, her eyes closing. “So long as we aren’t separated.”
Tears splashed onto his hand as it held hers, his throat being choked with sorrow.
Mags brought in the babe, and Parisi held him for a long time, talking to the babe and telling him how much she loved him, and that he would be fine with Desi.
It almost killed him, but Desi pushed the sorrow and grief and pain down deep so he could give Parisi a serene countenance when she reached for him.
Four litter bearers had arrived to carry her to the entrance of the Beyond. He knew with every morsel of his being that the only way he could provide happiness for her was a sacrifice, and he committed to it without a second’s hesitation.
As the men lifted the litter, he leaned over Parisi to adjust a blanket, knowing full well that when she diminished into the Beyond, she would be bound by grief and sorrow. He placed one hand on her cheek as he brushed his lips against hers. In his other hand, he held the blood moon, and drawing on its power, he whispered into her mouth, “You are the love of my life, and I cannot let you suffer heartbreak, not for a moment, and not for the rest of your life. Fare you well, my beloved. Forget this world, and thrive and find joy in your new life.”
Her eyes opened at his words, but as the spell took hold of her, her gaze softened, and became confused.
She was borne off to join a formal procession with all the denizens of the Court leading her to her new domain. Desi stood in the now-empty room, feeling as if he were made of glass and the slightest breeze would shatter him into a million pieces.
“She will not suffer,” Mags told him from the doorway.
“No, she will not,” he answered, his voice choked. “Nor will our son. I will see to that.”
Mags shot him a glance and seemed to understand. “You wish for him to be raised here in the Court?”
“Yes.” He tried not to think of the sleeping child in the next room. He loved that small, blotchy bundle almost as much as he loved Parisi, but knew what had to be done. “If you will do so, I would be grateful.”
“My Sovereign would want it that way, if the babe could not be with you.” Mags continued to watch him, evidently seeing through to the darkness that he began pulling on to keep the pain at bay long enough for him to do what he must.
He said nothing more, leaving the Court to return back to his own home.
Night was falling when he faced the other princes.
“You have long sought to get hold of the blood moon,” he said, striding into the hall to the head of a long table, around which sat Hath, Wat, Bael, Amaymon, and Ariton, the last two of whom were the newest additions to Abaddon. He pulled off the chain upon which the stone was hung, and slammed it onto the table, making sure he met the gaze of each man there before continuing. “I am willing to trade it and control of Abaddon.”
“Trade? For what?” Hath asked, scowling.
“I will leave. Relinquish my legions. Accept banishment from Abaddon. And in exchange, you will commit an oath upon the blood moon that no harm will befall my child, named Effrijim.”
Pandemonium followed as all the princes spoke at once, demanding explanations, arguing amongst themselves, and peppering Desi with a dozen questions.
He held up his hand and was about to repeat his offer when Bael rose from the table and strolled over to the massive fireplace against the north wall. “Your terms are acceptable to us, with one exception.”
“No harm must befall my child, no matter what the circumstances, for the duration of his life and afterlife. Without that oath, the blood moon remains with me,” Desi said in a tone that bristled with warning.
“A child,” Bael said, waving away the idea of Desi’s sweet—if blotchy—child. “A child is of no matter to us. But you ... you are a matter.”
“I said that I would accept banishment from Abaddon,” he pointed out, pushing hard on the emotions that once again threatened to overwhelm him. He’d spent several hours with his son earlier, trying to commit to his memory everything about him before it was time to make the sacrifice. Mags had been unusually kind to him, helping him feed the babe with goat’s milk before he had to leave. He took what solace he could when Mags swore to him that Effrijim would be cherished and loved by the entire Court. “That must suffice. Without the blood moon, I have no power here.”
“Not here, but elsewhere. No, I believe that Abaddon cannot continue to thrive if its founder—relicless as you would be—can simply return to take over anytime he desires.”
