My Midnight Boy

Chapter 32

 This upload is really late, but it took a while to think it through.

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Godwine's dying breath was the worst sound that had ever met my ears. It had been a wet rattle deep in his chest as he drowned in his own blood. It still rung in my ears a week later.

As did the snarling face of his assailant as he was dragged away and restrained by two of Aelfgars brothers. He had acted alone, not on Aelfgars orders which was a big relief.

But the fact the Godwine was dead was hard to believe. Every time I turned a corner, entered a room or even blinked I expected to see him in front of me. Tall strapping and charming as always. But he never was.

His murderer suffered public execution where he was impaled with 439 knives, one of for every year he had lived. I didn't attend the trial or the execution but Gannon explained it in bloody detail later. How many times he had screamed, at what point he had died, the sheer quantity of blood; I don't think he left out a single detail.

I did however go to Godwine's funeral, they sent him out on small burning raft into the middle of the lake, the funeral of a warrior. I was the only one who had cried whilst Aelfric had remained stoic with one arm looped around my waist holding me close against his side. His head was bowed, his hair falling across the top of my head.

The Dark elven royal family attended both the execution and the funeral. Although Aelfric and Aelfgar weren't exactly back to being brothers they were talking.

I was still wary of Aelfgar but not nearly as much, Gannon seemed to feel the same way. I caught him watching him out of the corner of his eye many times but never brought it up. There was no need. We both felt the same. So there was a truce, but how long would it last?

The house would be empty for long periods of time and I would be alone, then it would all turn around and suddenly I would be surrounded by brothers. It was more complicated now that Godwine was gone, as if now it was more a game of politics then love.

It made no sense, everything had gone on before he had arrived and then he had appeared in my life and every-time he had been around I felt somewhat safe. With him gone I felt like a tightrope walker with no net.

Aelfric was tense as he too was wary of the dark elves but he was trying to patch things up and prevent the war that we all felt brewing under the surface.

It wasn't until a few weeks later when Aelfgar came to the house for the first time I felt as though everything might be fine again.

He seemed vacuous at first, sucking the life out of me, Aelfric and my tiny kitchen. But as he grew more accustomed to everything the feeling eased. It was the first time Aelfric and I had been anything close to alone when Aelfgar left.

"So how are we then?" He smiled his eyes heavy lidded from sleep deprivation.

"Lonely." I admitted but smiled up at him stroking my hand across his creamy smooth jawline.

He laughed softly in sympathy and leant forward so his forehead bumped mine. "Your never alone." He whispered.

I smiled and kissed him quickly before turning away to look out of the window at the darkening sky. My parents had been gone for weeks now and Christmas had been and gone with no word from them.

"Do you miss them?" He asked wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my head.

"I haven had time." I mused.

"Elven civil wars will do that to you." He chuckled.

"Do you think it will happen?"

"At the moment? I don't know. We need to be happy with how life is now."

"Again, I haven't had time." I sighed.

"We have all the time in the world."

That reminded me of something that had been praying on my mind for days. "No we don't." I said weakly. "I have roughly sixty seventy years and you have millennia. How long can this last Aelfric? I love it, I love you. But we don't have forever."

I felt him sigh behind me and then he pulled me tighter against him. "Your right of course, My little Luffkin." Then he turned me to face him with a sad look in his eyes. "I have to go." He kissed me on the forehead and left before I could even open my mouth.

The room was cold without him.

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The next chapter will be the last on my midnight boy and well you'll just have to wait and see but i dont know how happy this ending can be.

Larf wombatty xxx