Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 36 - Hiraeth - Something and Nothing

"Is it weirdto say that I miss this place?"

"You mean the place where we went through hell every night-"

"And the place that made us sleep-deprived."

"Hey, I'd take any one of those nights to replace the ones we have now."

"This, my friends, is where we went from being boys...to men."

"Okay, Junior."

"This is not the place where we became men!"

"No? Then what was? The moat? Because I specifically remember all of us acting like sissies because everyone kept making fun of each other's junk-"

"That is enough of that, gentlemen. We're not here to compare cock sizes."

I break into a sprint at the sound of the last voice, my eyes already burning and making my vision hard to tell where I'm going.

"Then why are we here? I thought we couldn't get in-"

Ignoring the other blurry body figures in the room, I focus on just the one and run into her open arms. Gods the number of times that I've wished and prayed to every God and Saint that they'd let me see her one – just once – before life was taken. I prayed that though I was likely to die here alone with no one else but the girl for me to really keep living for, that I would at least know if she was okay. No one knew that we associated with each other because we never talked where people could see. I never cared, but she was always so adamant about not being found. Even this is a typical Aracely move.

"By the Gods, you're a twig," she marvels, pulling back despite my death grip on her. She looks exactly how I remember her. The only mother I've known and remember knowing, though we share no relation in blood. She's always taken care of me and watched over me when I had no one else. Well, not no one, there was Siscilla, of course, but Aracely was different.

"And you're...still old," I say in between sobs. Per usual, my attempts to banter with her are ineffective.

"Oh, come now. The Hira I knew would've never let anyone see her cry." She wipes away my tears. As I feel her own hands rub the edges of my cheekbones, I become suddenly aware of just how much weight I've lost in the passing days. It's not like they provide me with a mirror for me to look at, though I am partially grateful for that. I probably look like a beat up ghost.

"You stay here as long as I have with no one of familiarity to speak to," I retort, suddenly embarrassed and ashamed and annoyed. "See if you don't cry at the first sight of a familiar face – and that's not even going to mention the things I've had to witness and follow me into my nightmares."

Her face instantly softens and she pulls me to her again. "I'm sorry, child. I've only missed you is all."

"I missed you too." My voice cracks, and then I'm crying like a lost child all over again. She squeezes tighter, and this time I can hear my back crack when she does so. I don't mind it and squeeze her back as if it's the last time I'll do so. For all I know, with my luck, it could be.

There's a pointed cough, and I look up to find several men and a strange woman standing around us. "Aracely..."

"They're friends. They won't harm you. You can trust her," she tells them. I relax a little, but then my body tenses when one of them raises his hand. I mentally slap myself for the reaction. I'm used to raising hands ending up causing pain, and I'd flinch if I hadn't been practically trained to make my reaction near nonexistent.

He ends up just lowering his hood, but I didn't need him to do that to know that he's the Sinister Fox. That was made clear with his mask and the blue coloring of his cloak. He's her brother. My eyes start to burn again, but I manage to swallow them down. Sadly, my effort does me little good when another one of them lowers his hood, revealing Prince Darius to be beneath it. The others follow after that and I find all twelve men in his guard standing before me. The same twelve men she risked her own life to save by quite literally throwing them out of harm's reach.