Adriana
Leaving Venus to occupy herself outside, we follow the elf girl, Kata, into her home. Immediately I can understand why she isn't too happy with her situation. I have little time to take in our surroundings before my ears are bombarded with the sound of people arguing, rather loudly I might add. The sound of a child crying also reaches us, before we hear a smash, as if glass has been thrown. My heart speeds up.
Upon hearing the smashing glass, Kata mutters, "I'll kill the bastards," fists clenched. Eros pushes past me and follows her lead, apparently now more irritated at the fighting going on in the next room.
We are lead into a living room with minimal furniture, most of it being soft, earthy colours. Normally these tones would be quite calming, but the atmosphere is extremely heavy. Alec is stood closest to the doorway, fangs bared and looking close to transforming completely, so I quickly look away. His sister opposes him by the window, standing defensively.
That's when I notice the bundle in her arms, crying out and pushing against her.
In that moment, I don't care that I'm afraid. I don't care that I'm in a room filled with clearly angry supernatural creatures that are a thousand times stronger than I am. I find myself stepping forwards towards my sister.
"Emily?"
Becca's bright purple eyes find mine, her snarl now directed at me. My head is pounding and I have to hold in a shiver, but I still continue slowly forward. Multiple people are watching us at this point as Becca growls lowly.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" her voice has a raspy edge to it.
I stop walking, unsure of how to answer. All I know is that she has my sister in her arms, and that Emily is frightened. Judging by the way Becca is sneering at me, it doesn't look like she'll be willing to let me hold my sister anytime soon.
Kata takes an offensive step forward, planting herself confidently between the two siblings. I take a quick glance around, noticing everyone quietly watching the two women's stand-off, even Alec, who seems to have regained a little control. He meets my gaze, an apology written on his face.
"Let the child go, Becca. I've had enough of this shit already," Kata crosses her arms, scowling as Becca makes no move to release Emily.
"I don't take orders from you."
Kata's hand reaches for a dagger at her belt, but before she has chance to withdraw it, Eros's deep voice sounds beside me as he clears his throat. This causes an almost instantaneous change in Becca's posture, her eyes finding the fey Prince's. She grins widely, but her eyes remain intimidatingly dark, the shade of purple bold against her pale skin. She waltzes towards Eros, practically dripping in pride as she hands my sister over to him and gives me a snide sideways glance.
Something tells me she doesn't know he's pissed with her.
Eros takes Emily from her, now taking the beating from the clearly aggravated child. He just stands their wordlessly staring at Becca, an unreadable and worryingly calm expression on his face. This causes her to become hesitant having evidently expected some kind of positive reaction, or just any reaction at all.
The Prince slowly takes a few steps back, his eyes never leaving Becca's as the rest of us become steadily more confused by how the scene is playing out between them. We all watch intently as he lowers himself down, loosening his grip on my sister, all while keeping complete eye contact with the girl in front of him.
Emily wastes no time running to me, tripping herself on the way and practically throwing herself at me while her sobs fill the room. Without thinking, I find myself on my knees in front of her, her head buried in my chest and my arms wrapped around her. I know I haven't always been the most attentive or understanding big sister, but right now, I'd give anything to take all the fear away.
I stand, holding Emily close. She wraps her little legs round my torso and continues to shake, not looking up even for a second. That's when I notice how incredibly thin she's gotten; the fact that I can feel her ribs protruding as I rub circles on her side disturbs me, though I'm trying my hardest not to let her recognise how horrific it makes me feel.
A hand on my shoulder makes me jump slightly, which makes Emily's cries worsen again, and I look to my side scowling. Eros doesn't remove his hand however; he's not even looking at me, his eyes still locked with Becca's. His thumb moves in small circles as both Becca and I watch his face.
"I've already had to deal with one traitor this week," his voice is calm but dominating. He doesn't say anything else, waiting for a reaction.
It finally hits Becca that she may be in trouble. She pales, her voice scratchy and small. "What do you mean, Sir?"
He sighs, a frown breaking his previously unreadable demeanour. "Don't give me reason to believe I have to deal with another."
Becca's mouth hangs open, her eyes gradually fading to their more human-like blue. "B-but I would n-"
"You deliberately went against orders and left a member of our team compromised."
"I saved the girl!"
"I entrusted you to protect both the girl and her elder sister which you are more than capable of doing and yet you left Ria to fend for herself."
"Oh please Ria would only have gotten in the way it'd better if she wasn't here in the first place!"
"Oh enough!" Our heads turn to Kata whose voice echoes through the house. She stomps up to Becca, daring her to respond. "You need to learn some fucking respect. While I agree that it's inconvenient for a human to be with us, if our leader tells us she's with us now then that is fucking final. You don't get to abandon one of our own."
I stare at Kata, shocked that this elf I have only just met is defending my place here.
"And while we're on the subject of respect," she steps to the side, pointing towards Alec and then Becca. "I invite you into my house and you turn it into an absolute shit-tip with not even a 'thank you'. Do neither of you see anything wrong with this picture?" She gestures to broken ornaments strewn on the floor, along with a torn up cushion.
Alec looks at the mess in shame. It seems as if he lost control, as if a part of him could no longer be contained. He looks so much more ashamed than his sibling though, who only looks at Eros pleadingly, though he takes no notice of her. His eyes are now locked on the hand that still rests on my shoulder, still drawing little circles. It appears he's in a world of his own, his jaw clenched and fury in his dark eyes.
"Eros," I almost whisper. He comes out of his daze and gulps, nodding. His hand shifts from my shoulder to the centre of my back, leading us out without saying a word.
*****
Eros
I have no fucking clue what to do.
It's as if everything is falling to pieces. And contrary to what Becca and Kata might think, it's not because of the damn human.
The fucking human.
Sure, Becca may have been motivated to do what she did because of her disdain at the situation with Adriana. But one peep into her little brain tells me more than I need to know.
She's not even remotely concerned about the welfare of the children.
Probably wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't me asking.
While I've known this for years, it still gets to me.
Sickening.
I suppose it was only a matter of time before things started collapsing. Someone at some point was inevitably going to make some stupid series of mistakes because of this fucking compulsion to kiss my arse and the fact that it's now begun drives me up the wall.
I need to send the siblings home.
I can't have them around anymore. They'll mess everything up. I'm already having to deal with Roma on top of everything else and now this. They've succumbed to the compulsion too much. Especially Becca.
I didn't even realise what was going on around me until the little human spoke my birth name.
The name that I hate.
It doesn't piss me off as much coming from her though.
Nodding, I briefly look at her tired green eyes. She spends a lot of time now terrified and it shows on her more than she thinks.
I should never have brought her with me.
My hand has been on her shoulder absentmindedly this whole time. I don't know what possessed me to do that in the first place, let alone keep it there. Lately it's like I just can't think.
Despite not realising it was still there, I don't have the heart to let go just yet. Once Becca had stopped with the disgusting begging she ended up seething. I don't need her taking it out on anyone else right now. Especially not someone who can't fight back.
Kata follows us as I lead Ria out and away from the chaos, though I wish she didn't. She only presents another thing for my mind to be consumed by. The utter disregard for her offer of security to us shown by the siblings makes my blood boil, and I have a good mind to force them to replace everything they have damaged if they do not offer this themselves. She's putting herself in a great deal of danger welcoming us into her home, it's no wonder she was so pissed when Ria, Mahlia and I arrived. I don't particularly want to hear about it right now, though.
Now in the kitchen, I draw a chair out for Ria before heading to the sink for some water. I decide to take the sisters some too. It was no surprise to me that Emily looks so thin, however it is concerning. I can't imagine why Roma would have her starve when surely he must mean to keep her alive. What use would she be otherwise? It doesn't make any sense.
Taking a seat next to Ria, I place my forehead in my hand. Nothing that wolf does makes sense to me anymore. And he just has to complicate things by not only going after Emily for who knows what reason, but Ria too...
"Are you ok?" Ria's small hand touches my arm. I'd zoned out again, not even noticing that Emily had stopped crying and that Mahlia had joined Kata in sitting opposite from us, both of them now having a drink in their hands. My jaw slackens a little when I turn my head to the human girl.
I just nod, not really knowing how to respond. Obviously I can't just tell her everything that's running through my head. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite, I don't know.
She hates me poking around in her head, I know. Honestly I can't fully explain why I keep doing it. It's not like I specifically need to; she's not a threat, no matter how many times she tries to scheme to take Emily away and back to her shitbag of a father. Sometimes I just do it without even thinking about it. Like now, I can hear her cogs turning and I'm not even trying. I don't even have to push past anything to listen in like with most people. How can she expect me to stay out when it's just so easy? Her thoughts do shock me sometimes despite how easy they are to access though, now being an example. Her concern is genuine, not fuelled by some compulsion or desire planted there by what I am. She is genuinely wondering whether I'm ok, just like she would for anyone else. I will never get used to the way she is completely unaffected by me.
I switch my attention to her face, watching her brows furrow, not really believing my nod but not choosing to push it. I can tell she's frustrated by my lack of openness and vacant expression, thinking up a few profanities as at this point she's cottoned on to the fact that I must be in her head again.
I smirk at her.
She rolls her eyes.
Cute.
Mahlia clears her throat, raising a brow at me.
"Yes?"
The witch sighs, shaking her head at me. "What am I going to do with you boy."
My hand moves from my forehead to my glass of water and I take a swig, wondering what she means by that. She only shakes her head, changing the subject.
"What's your next move? Now that Roma has turned against us we have little time to figure things out. It won't be long until he comes here."
Of course I already know the danger we're in here. Roma will know that Kata holds the nearest safe house to the forest and this will be the first place he brings an army. Mahlia had told me he was injured in the fight, but I don't see that holding him off for long. The first mistake I made was not getting us as far away as possible from Kellen's hut as soon as I'd heard what happened between them when I sent them to get Emily. I should have changed the plans as soon as I'd heard and told Mahlia to meet us elsewhere. It was just hard to believe.
I clear my throat, trying to come up with something. "As much as I'd like to rest I think it's best if we get as far away from here as possible. We should contact the other safe houses, let them know we need to rethink locations. They need to move just as much as we do."
Kata places down her glass, looking critically at the table. "And where exactly are you going to go? You can't use existing safe houses and you can't just camp out somewhere and hope for the best with a human and a child."
I don't answer. I can't. I don't have any ideas of where to go. Wherever I can think to go, Roma will think to look. He knows us too well.
"Eros are you even listening?"
"Yes Kata I'm listening."
"Then why aren't you answering me?"
I clench my fist, frustrated. I don't know what to do. They always look to me for answers and I can't fucking give one.
"You've got nothing, do you?" Kata stares at me, her own fists clenched as she stares hopelessly at her drink.
Standing, I exit the room, making my way back outside.
Author's note
Eros's POV... How we feeling?
This is the first update since moving away for uni. It's taken a lot to motivate myself to get this out, so thank you for your continued support. Your comments and voting always help so much.
So Eros is in a pretty tough situation... Any predictions?
★Please vote & comment★