Dakath
As we all waved to Bailey and Rina at the edge of the dock our massive ship was departing from, I glanced to my right at Tristan, whose jaw clenched tighter and tighter the further we drew away from his family.
Should I console him? Would it upset him?
We didn’t necessarily have the rapport of friends, but we were brothers in arms, and I knew I wouldn’t want to feel alone in his position if our places were swapped right now. Knowing that, I took a chance as I reached out and set my hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly to show my silent support.
I hoped he didn’t see it as me pitying him or seeing him as weak because that was about as far from the truth as it got. I had respected the hell out of him ever since he approached us during the ball for the chance to get his family out of the Thaician Empire. It was a ballsy move, which could have easily ended in his death if Malakai heard about his offer to break his prized possession out of the castle along with abandoning his post. He did it all for his family, and now he was risking it all again for families that weren’t his own. Families like my own that were killed or lived in terror of Malakai’s reign.
The least I could do was show him that he wasn’t alone, even with his family staying behind.
He kept his hand up and a smile plastered over his face, waving at Bailey and Rina until they were just small dots in the distance. Eventually he dropped his hand, and his shoulders sagged forward. His head fell as they disappeared completely. I kept my hand on his shoulder as Kyella shot me a look of concern, tears misting her golden eyes.
Elijah and Kolvar instinctively flanked her and ran their hands along her arm as she wiped at her eyes and shook her shoulders, as if she could shake off her emotions with the simple move. I knew not only was she sad to leave them behind, but I knew that her true suffering came from watching Tristan’s own. She was empathetic through and through, and it was one of the purest things about her. The way she grieved and fought for others because she could always see a situation from someone else’s perspective was commendable, but it hurt her.
Her love for their family was clear as day, and the bonds had strengthened tremendously in a short amount of time, like our own with Kyella. Some may find it disingenuous or impossible, but the thing about found family and love, was that when your soul found others that vibrated on that same frequency as your own, social constructs and what was deemed acceptable faded away. All that was left was the overflowing feeling that you would do anything to see those people smile and protect them at all costs. That was what we had all found, despite a cursed divide separating us for so long.
Tristan lifted a hand to lightly rest over mine as he choked out, “Thank you.”
“Of course,” I murmured, half-shocked by his thanks.
He was struggling to hold it together now that he didn’t need to show them how strong and confident he felt so that they wouldn’t worry as much—especially Rina. Bailey was wise enough to know all the different ways this could end, but Rina needed to see that her dad was a warrior and would come back to them.
My own throat clogged with thick emotion as I swallowed and added, “You don’t need to thank me. We are all a family now. This is what we do for each other.”
His head bobbed as his hand slipped away, and I took it as a sign that he might want some space alone. Lifting my own, I took a step back, and Kyella instantly threaded her fingers with my own as she came to my side and offered kind words to the stoic vampyre looking back over the water we’d crossed.
“We are here for you, Tristan. Always. We will see them again soon.”
Glancing over his shoulder, his silver eyes shone in the light of the early-afternoon sun as he forced a tight smile back to his face. “Thank you, Kyella. You should get some rest while you can. Elijah told me you were up all night reading journals and old texts. I will keep an eye on everything up here and alert you if we need you.”
Gently tugging Kyella away from Tristan to give him some time to work through his emotions, I nodded at him as she said her goodbyes. Navigating along the deck of the ship didn’t prove to be as difficult as I thought, despite more than fifty people either working or chatting together amicably in the space. As we approached, the crowd parted for Kyella and the chattering died down to pure silence, only the whistling wind audible as people averted their gaze and bowed their heads in what I knew they meant as a sign of respect. We’d personally picked every crew member aboard our ship, and their intentions were pure.
However, knowing Kyella, she wouldn’t like this at all.
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, she came to a halt in the middle of the deck and glanced around with confusion knitting her brow together. I watched as her lips thinned, and she huffed quietly before placing her hands on her hips. “All right, listen up!” she yelled, dragging all their eyes off the deck and onto her.
“I may have been named Empress, and while I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your respect and acceptance of me,” she began, turning around slowly to look each crew member in the eye as she spoke, “I don’t want you to think that we aren’t equals, because we are. We all chose to be here fighting side by side in this war, so please, do not feel like you must tiptoe around me. We are comrades, and you have my respect as well.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle as many eyes widened at her request to treat her as their equal. This is exactly how I pictured her as the Empress when we first learned that Myrin named Kyella her successor. She would never think of herself above others or wish to be treated differently, unless it was a self-righteous prick of a lord that tried to question her character and ability to lead.
The looks of awe turned into full smiles and nods in her direction as they returned to their groups or tasks. Perhaps one day they would feel brave enough to speak with her, but this was a good start.
Once we descended the stairs below deck to the level that housed the sleeping quarters, she all but collapsed onto the bed in her cabin and sighed. “Maybe I should have listened to you all and slept last night,” she admitted with the same tinkling laugh that made my heart soar each time I heard it.
Kolvar quickly crouched at the edge of the mattress and began to take her boots off, spurring Kyella to sit up and try to bat his hands away. “You don’t need to fuss over me,” she grumbled.
“Now, now, what have we told you before?” he countered, easily grabbing her hands with one of his and continuing to unlace her shoes with the other. “It makes us happy to take care of you, so just let us, darling. It doesn’t make you weak.”
It was interesting to hear him say that when I had just been thinking that about Tristan. He and Kyella were always wearing a mask of strength, even when it was clear they were hurting inside. Honestly, I could say the same about myself ever since I’d fled the Thaician Empire many, many years ago.
Perhaps it was the mark of a survivor—to show everyone else around you that you were okay even when you weren’t. Because being weak or asking for help wasn’t an option when you were barely getting by. All it would take is one person to exploit your weakness, or to see that they could control you with the guise of a helpful hand, before twisting it for their own gain. You just kept going with that facade until one day it became a permanent part of you—like a shield no one should have to wield.
I was lost in my thoughts as I gazed at Kolvar rubbing her feet and Elijah biting into his wrist to press it to Ky’s full lips, her eyes narrowing at him.
Eventually her voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Dakath?”
Blinking rapidly, I refocused and found Elijah and Kolvar both drinking from her wrist, the sight making my cock instantly hard. Clearing my throat and shifting around, I responded, “Yes, Ky?”
