Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 171: Augur

"He'll recover faster now that he's back in your domain."

Xaphile jumped and turned to see his uncle leaning against the door frame, watching him with his legs crossed at the knees and his arms folded; his tail was flicking to and fro, but his eyes weren't nearly as hard as usual.

"I hope so," Xaphile said back, sitting down on the bed and tiredly unlacing his boots. "I'm gonna do my best to make sure he recovers to full health. Every time I think of what was done to him, I get angry all over again."

"Natural," Vordt grunted, closing his eyes. "It'll take a long time for his heart to heal, and if I must be honest, I have some worries for the future because of what sort of things he's been through."

"What worries?" Xaphile asked, head flying up. "You don't think he'll have any serious medical problems or anything, right?"

"He definitely will with his left leg," Vordt said grimly. "You can see it when he walks. Even though his leg was healed by the truest of all healing magic, he still has problems with it because of how long the blood flow within his limb was restricted by the broken bone." 

The world dissolved.

"What are you saying?" he whispered. "Are you saying he..."

"He likely won't be able to run properly, or climb, or be very active even after he heals," Vordt said, closing his eyes. "Once his wings emerge, he'll be able to fly like the best of us, but landing will be a very big problem for him since I'm not sure if his leg can handle any sort of impact." 

Xaphile set a hand against his forehead and clenched his jaw since this news was a weight that threatened to crush all good feeling right out of him, but then, a wave of fierce determination flooded through his body.

"Even if that's the case," he hissed, balling his free hand into a fist, "it won't matter. If he wants to run, I'll run for him. If he wants to fly, but can't land, I'll catch him in my arms. If this leaves him unable to do things like the other faeries around him, then I'll strive to be that much more attentive so he won't ever feel like he's different."

He raised his head, planning on making it clear that he would do his best, but his heart skipped a beat and his throat closed tight.

Vordt was looking at him with eyes that cut clean through his soul.

A mixture of emotions abruptly flooded through him, since his uncle was radiating anger, pain, jealousy, envy, all mixed with something warm and bittersweet.

The intense feelings clashed together across their marks in a confusing jumble.

"You're good to your brother," he said quietly, in a voice without inflection. "If your father had been half as good to me as you are to Adariel..."

When he trailed off and closed his eyes, Xaphile stared at him in shock and confusion until he opened them again. Vordt looked as if he were about to say something else, but instead he glanced at Adariel's sleeping face, then right back at him.

He looked surprisingly torn.

With a sigh, Xaphile took the initiative and stood up, walking across the wooden floor and stopping right in front of his uncle, refusing to break eye contact.

"What my father did to you was seriously fucked up. I know that," he said softly, then stepped forward and hugged the man tightly. "Even if it takes the rest of my life, though, I swear I'm going to make you smile one of these days, you prickly old bastard."

Vordt jerked.

"What did you just call me?"

"A prickly old bastard," he said, pulling back with a smirk. "Its fitting, don't you think?"