Fulfilling Fate

The next morning, Zion glared at Suzenne at the table. She looked uncomfortable and I put my hand on his knee. He didn’t respond, though. He just kept glaring at her. Finally, Lebanon cleared his throat.

“Suzenne, there’s something you should know,” he said and Suzenne looked at him. Lebanon looked at me and I nodded my permission. “Aviel got pregnant.” At first, the elder grinned. But then Lebanon finished in a quiet voice, “But the potion you had her drink put a curse on her. It killed the baby.”

All the color drained from Suzenne’s face. She covered her mouth and looked at me. Complete silence had fallen over the table and my mother was crying into Izzy’s shoulder. Heather’s eyes were wide and Kassandra was starting to cry, too. Finally, Suzenne lowered her hands.

“Did- Is it true?”

“Yes,” Zion spat. “And it’s your fault!”

“Zion,” I whispered. “Don’t. It’s not her fault.”

“Yes it is!” Zion yelled then stormed out of the house.

I watched him go with a sigh.

“I’m sorry, Suzenne,” I said but she shook her head, crying.

“No, he’s right. Oh, I’m so sorry Aviel! Can nothing be done?”

“No,” Lebanon said and I noticed he looked a little angry, too. “She’s barren and always will be.”

Suzenne covered her face and I couldn’t take it anymore. I stood up and put my cloak on. Nobody tried to stop me as I looked around. I tried to think of where Zion would go. The horses were all still in the barn so I knew he wasn’t riding. He wouldn’t leave the property, would he?

Then I heard a tree fall and ran around the side of the house, fearing the worse. My cloak flapped behind me as I followed the sound. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Zion angrily hacking at the trunk with an ax. I approached him slowly and he softened when he saw it was me.

“Zion,” I said. “Don’t be like this. It doesn’t do anyone any good.”

“She didn’t even apologize!” he shouted.

“Yes she did. After you left. Come back to the house, Zion. You know it’s not safe.”

“They can’t cross onto the property,” he argued.

“Yes they can,” I reminded him. “Franc is still alive, remember?”

He frowned. “I had forgotten….”

“Where is he? Maybe we can-.”

“I’ll go talk to him,” he interrupted and tossed the ax to the ground. “It’ll be good to get my anger out without you yelling at me.”

I frowned. “I wasn’t yelling at you. I was just-.”

He left, though, and I sat down heavily on the fallen trunk. I covered my face and cried. I understood he was upset but he was being rude even to me. I stayed outside even when it started to snow and heard footsteps. I didn’t look up as Izzy sat beside me. My mother joined us shortly and they both put their arms around me. I sobbed as they held me.

“It’s not safe for you out here,” I said finally and felt my mother shake her head.

“I don’t care,” she said. “We’re not leaving you alone. Not right now.”

“Where did Zion go?” Izzy asked which sent me into more tears.

“He hates me!” I cried. “This is going to ruin us! He won’t listen to reason!”

“Shh,” my mother said in a soothing voice. “He doesn’t hate you. He’s just hurting. I think he really wanted you to be pregnant; more than he let on. He lost a baby before he could even get to know it, sweetheart.”

“So did I,” I said.

She kissed the side of my head. Izzy was shaking from the cold so we all went inside. Suzenne was standing in front of the fire, staring into it with a mixture of sadness and guilt. I stood beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“He won’t even look at me,” she muttered.

“He’s occupied with the prisoner,” I said but she scoffed, looking at me. “I know. He’ll get over it. Eventually.”

“I’m very sorry, Aviel,” she whispered. “Had I known, I never would’ve….”

“My father once spoke about fate,” I said. “Perhaps this is fate.”

She didn’t answer and I heard someone walk in. I turned to a surprise. It was Tomas.

“Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Zion told me what happened,” he said and I looked down. “I’m sorry.”

“Where is he?”

“With Franc,” he said.

“Where is Franc?” I asked. “I haven’t seen any kind of dungeon or anything in here.”

“That’s because he isn’t here. He’s at the palace.”

I stared at him. “Zion went to the palace?” I asked indignantly. “And he just left me here!?”

“Give him space,” Lebanon said from the foyer. He was putting a cloak on. “He’s hurting, Aviel.”

I stomped my foot. “Everyone keeps saying that but he’s not the only one!”

I stormed up the stairs and slammed the study door shut.

+

A few hours, someone knocked.

“Who is it?” I asked, my voice muffled in the pillows.

“Me,” Zion said quietly. “May I come in?”

“No,” I snapped, lifting my head so he could understand me.

He sighed. “Please, Avi. I want to talk to you.”

I groaned. “Fine. But don’t expect me to open the door for you,” I added when he didn’t come in right away.

I put my face back in the pillows when I heard the door open. It shut and he sighed. He sat beside me and ran his fingers through my hair. I screwed me face up so I wouldn’t cry anymore. That’s all I had done this afternoon and I was tired of it.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I’ve been insensitive. I just was very excited when I thought you were pregnant. I didn’t think you’d be upset since you didn’t want kids to begin with.”

“Everyone wants kids,” I said. “Part of me did, at least.”

“Will you look at me?”

“Not yet.”

“I understand.”

We sat in silence for a while. He kept running his fingers through my hair and I started to relax some more. When I was able to think about facing him without feeling like I could cry, I rolled onto my back. I chuckled quietly.

He was holding a large bouquet of some kind of flower. It had purple petals that stuck up in every direction. There were about five petals per flower and the middle was a brilliant yellow that seemed to glow.

“They’re native to Felden,” he whispered as I sat up and accepted them. I inhaled them deeply. “We call them the Sunglow.”

“Appropriate,” I nodded, looking at the middle of the flower.

“I really am sorry, Avi,” he said and I sighed. “I just….”

“Thank you,” I said and kissed his lips lightly.

“Do you forgive me?” he asked.

His face was nervous and I smiled a little.

“Well, with these beautiful flowers how could I not?”

He chuckled and pulled me in for a hug.

“Were you able to get anything out of Franc?” I asked, snuggling into him.

He scoffed. “Yes. That man crumbled the minute he saw me.”

“Really?” I asked, looking at him with a small frown. “But you said he wasn’t talking.”

He smirked. “I threatened to bring you next time.”

I giggled. “What did he say?”

“That my suspicions were correct: It’s a standalone group. They’re small in number so we don’t need to worry too much. Father and Tomas will be perfectly capable of fending them off. We’ll be leaving in two days, by the way.”

“Who will be coming with us?”

“Three guards,” he answered. “One of them will be bringing a large supply of Gerard’s blood.”

“What? Why?”

“For Kassandra,” he said as if it was obvious. “We all knew that, if he was here, it would just be harder on Heather. So, Gerard has been gradually filling multiple cups with his blood. She will drink about every other day.”

I nodded. “I suppose that makes sense. It will definitely be easier on Heather. Does she know yet?”

“I told her when I got home.” The clock struck six and I sighed. “Aren’t you coming to dinner?”

“I’m not hungry,” I muttered and he shook his head, taking my hand.

“Come on. Mother says you have to eat.”

I wrinkled my nose but let him take me downstairs. Suzenne was shifting in the chair but he didn’t say anything. I stared at him pointedly. When he didn’t respond, I kicked his shins and he grunted.

“I’m sorry I was so rude, Suzenne,” he began but she shook her head quickly.

“No, no you’re right. I should have considered all of the risks. I’ll make it up to the two of you.”

“There’s no way you can,” I said. “But thank you for offering.”

She looked upset. I glanced over at Heather, wondering how she took to the news of Gerard’s blood coming here. She seemed optimistic, laughing and smiling. When she wasn’t, she didn’t frown. Instead, she had a small smile on her face. That was encouraging.

After dinner, I popped into our bedchambers to grab some dresses and Eavana groaned, putting a hand on her stomach.

“Ugh, this is awful,” she moaned and I smiled a little. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I assured her. “How long do you think we’ll be gone?”

“It’s a one week journey. I don’t see you being there for more than three days.”

I nodded and grabbed as many dresses as I could carry. Zion laughed at me and I stuck my tongue out at him, letting Patrice put them in our traveling trunk carefully.

“I didn’t know how much to pack!” He just smiled. “Why aren’t we using a painting to go there?”

“The less magic we use to reach them, the better,” he said. “They’ll be uptight as it is with our arrival. Come on. Let’s get some rest.”