Embers and Ashes

Bonus #4

   Melona

  “MEEEEELLLL !!!”, was Cassian’s way of greeting when I had barely stepped into Devlon’s front door when I was grabbed by the massive male and pulled against his body.

   “Cassian!”, I laugh in delight as he spins me. Wrapping my arms around his shoulder where I could smell his fighting leathers, and that mellow tinge of sandalwood mixed with spiced clove.

   Cassian, my big brother Cassian.

   “It’s so good to see you again”, he hums into my neck. “Mmmm, wild mountain lavender and juniper suits you far better then that pitiful wheat sent from the Dawn Court.”

   “Um. . . Thank you?”, I laugh a bit awkward. “What is it with you and that nose of yours.”

   “Scent is essential in reading the people around you. For example, right now Devlon is in the next room smelling irritated and impatient for us to get to business”, he grins. “I think we should keep him waiting.”

   I can hear Devlon muttering something vial in the room next to us.

   “Oh stop being rude”, I huff at both of them and slip out of Cassian’s arms.

   “Come on, let’s get this done and over with”, I sigh and smooth out my simple green wool skirt, and drown top. Making myself a bit more presentable for an offical meeting with my hair tied back in a  tight corded braid.

   “Good  morning Lord Devlon”, I greet with a pleasant smile. Hoping to set him at ease. He only gives me a curt nod before glaring at the large male behind me.

   “Can we please get this over with. I have matters to attend to”, Devlon scowls at the younger warrior.

   “What? You don’t enjoy our little get together?”, Cassian smirks.

   “No”, was the firm answer.

   “Oh good”, Cassian sighs as he takes a seat. “Me either.”

  “So what has Rhysand sent you to do exactly Cassian?”, I offer a change of subject as I claim the last seat.

   “Just making sure that you’re getting looked after, and see how your training has been going”, he shrugs.

   “We haven’t started training yet”, Devlon had the guts to admit.

   “And I’m guessing you have a good reason for the delay?”, Cas prompt.

   “I just needed some time to settle in is all”, I offer a bit of leeway.

   “I wont waste my time on errand of the High Lord. Rhysand may be the High Lord, but last I check he does not spend nearly enough time here to lord over my hard work in keeping my people alive.

   Now, unless we happen to have gotten ourselves into a war in the past week, I will remind you that what I do in my territory is none of the High Lords buiness”, he bites back. “I am not going to train some female to fight just because he fancies it.”

   “Your High Lord gave you an order”, Cassian growls. Leaning forward with his hands braced on the wooden table separating the two males. The only thing keeping the two from throttling one another splintering under Cassian’s grip.

   “Cassian, really, it’s okay”, I try to sooth him. “It’s understandable. He doesn’t know me. He has fae relying on him to protect them, and to keep the peace. It’s a big responsibility. His time is precious. He just wanted to see if I was worth his time.”

   “He just doesn’t want to train you because you are a female”, Cas snarls.

   “I never said that”, Devlon’s voice lowered.

   “But that is the reason, isn’t it?”, Cassian accuses.

   “If I thought that way neither you or that Shadow Singer would have ever been allowed in the training rings”, Devlon snarls back.

   “Like that would have stopped us. Not like you could every stop us”, Cas smirks.

   “Power isn’t everything Cassian”, Devlon snarks back and in that moment I saw a flicker of it.

   If you looked hard enough. If they faced each other just right I am certain others could have seen it. The way their wings flickered in frustration. The hot burning temper in their eyes. The shape of their jaw, and nose. Their temperaments and mannerisms.

   “Has anyone ever told you two how much you look alike?”, I point out just to be funny.

   Cassian’s expression alone could have curdled milk at the thought, “Don’t insult me.”

   The younger of the males leaned back in his chair with a huff, but Devlon. He looked at me with something sad and old in his eyes. Old pain and sorrows that have festered for too long.

   Then Devlon smiled at me.

   He smiled like I was a warm summer breeze kissing his cheeks.

   “Cybele”, he murmured and Cassian paused to watch the strange conversation the two of us seemed to be having without him. “It is an Illyrian name. You should go by it. Very few actually know your name as it is. It’s best we keep it that way.”

   “But Cybele is the name of our Goddess”, Cassian questions.

   Devlon nods, “She will get the respect she needs from it.”

   “Cybele is the mother goddess of mountains and wild animals. A lesser being from the Mother, or a split of her divine being that forged our people. It is reserved only for high ranking families to name their daughters”, Cassian explains. “Are you not named after the King who won the deity’s favor and wed her, Devlon.”

   “As if you do not allow yourself to be called Enalius”, Devlon snorts.

   “A few more well chosen character’s and we’d have the whole pantheon”, Cassian snides.

   “I like it”, I counter with a smile. “Matka Cybele. It sounds perfect. Wait, if I’m getting a name, does that mean you’re letting me stay. That you’ll let me be trained?”

   He nods.

   I cannot help but leap from my chair and make my way around the table to give him a hug. Of which he is very taken aback and unsure of where to place his hands as Cassian laughs at his startled expression.

   “Thank you Devlon. I will do my best to make it worth your sacrifices”, I murmur to him.

   He can only nod with his hands placed on my back before I pull away.

~

   “Don’t ever say anything like that in front of Cassian again”, Devlon said softly as he leaned against a nearby tree while I sat on top of a bolder near the edge of a cliff drop. The ground disappearing under cloud.

   “About what?”, I ask at his sudden appearance out of thin air and the scolding.

   “That we look alike”, he clarifies.

   “Why?”

   “Because there is a good reason for why we look alike”, he sighs and comes to sit beside me.

   I look at him for a very long time.

  “Are you Cassian’s father?”, I ask softly. His jaw clenches.

   “No. . .”, he says lowly, “But my father was.”

   I just gock at him with my mouth slightly hanging open as he takes in a breath of mountain air.

   “My father was war lord before me, but after loosing the use of his wings in battle I was forced early into the role before rivals could get any ideas. I still made sure he was part of my council, and had him travel often as a diplomat. On one such journey he met him mate”, he explained.

   “Cassian’s mother”, I murmur in realization.  

   “It didn’t take long for Cassian to come along, but it wasn’t long after that that my father was assasinated by an enemy camp. On learning of Cassian’s existence I thought it would be my duty to see that he was trained despite his mother never giving up the name of his father”, he sighs and his stony eyes do not leave the mountain range.

   “Is that why you hate him? Because he is a tarnish on your family name as a Bastard?”, I ask.

   “No, that was never the reason. If it was, I would never have let him and Azriel complete the rite”, he sighs. “I can’t stand him because if my father was still alive, he would have been far prouder of him then he ever would have been with me. Even when I was the one who has to keep making scarifices.

   I was the reason my mother, his wife, died during child birth. And he never let me forget it. Not a single day. Even after he had found his little laundress to coddle and coo over.”

   “That’s hardly your fault. No infant purposefully hurts its mother. Those things happen Devlon, and they are no bodies fault”, I try to reassure him.

   “I know that now. . . but as a child it is hard to let go of the only thing you’ve ever been told is truth”, he looks down at my hands. “I came into this world with blood on my hands. I don’t think there was a moment in my life where it wasn’t there.”

   My heart hurt for him. For carrying that weight for so long.

   “I know what that’s like”, I nod and he looks at me as if he expected me to explain. “. . . I was there when my mother was killed by Hybern’s forces during the war. I had to watch silently or her sacrifice would be in vain. I couldn’t do anything.”

   My words made me choke and I had to stop.

   “You where the youngling that Rhysand found in that old manor while holding back the Hyber forces in the Dawn Court reign?”, realization sparked in his eyes. Recondition. “I remember you. By the Mother, you were so small.”

    I fidget under that word. Small, I am always too small, too weak, too pitiful.

   “What got you threw it all?”, he asks hesitantly.

   I smile softly. “Time. . . and friendships. Family.”

   “I’m not good at making friends”, he points out. “. . . And I don’t have any family.”

   “I can be your friend”, I offer innocently and perhaps a bit childishly. The statement still cracked and smoothed a smile over his lips all the same.

   “I’m a very difficult male to get along with”, he laughs bitterly.

   “Oh, I’m very well aware, but I am sure that there are habits of mine you can’t stand”, I say and poke his shoulder. “You can’t expect perfection from everyone Devlon, and of course from yourself.”

  “Yes, I can”, he grumbles. I roll my eyes. “Stubborn Illyrian.”

   He smirks, “You’re no better. . . I suppose I could use a friend, but let’s be sure that we don’t kill each other first.”

  “When are we starting training then?”, I tease.

   “Tomorrow”, he answered.