“It will never work! And what are you offering, Uncle?” Darcassan now sounded as hysterical as he claimed they had been. “He’s not going to–”
“Look! Rift!” Snaglak pointed at the rift that clearly led to a spot outside of the Thompson Center.
Their horses along with Helgrom’s pony, HT, were swishing their tails and whinnying at them, seeing them through the rift, too.
Snaglak immediately slapped Glom’s butt, which had the naki jumping and hissing before he said, “Home now. Home, Glom.”
Lesson
“Where exactly were you, Aquilan?” Vesslan’s voice–suddenly shrill–carried from the hallway through the closed doors and into Aquilan’s bedroom in the palace at Tyrael where Rhalyf knelt by Declan’s unconscious side.
Rhalyf was slowly, laboriously unpicking the elaborate spell that bound Declan so thoroughly. The young man had been tucked lovingly into Aquilan’s bed by the Sun King himself before Aquilan had rushed into the hallway beyond to stop Vesslan from barging in and causing more of a scene than he already was. Elasha followed after.
“And what was an orc and a–a naki doing in the palace? If that blasted beast shat in here, I’ll have its head!” Vesslan growled.
From the smell that kept wafting beneath the closed doors, Rhalyf was pretty certain that Glom had pooped royally somewhere nearby. He was only surprised that Snaglak wasn’t still there picking the fangs out of the soft and smoking excrement. But the orc, Finley and Helgrom had gone to retrieve the Bastons and bring them to Declan’s bedside taking Glom and HT with them.
“I need to prepare them before they see Declan like this,” Finley had said of Michael, Shonda and Gemma as he had perched next to Declan on Aquilan’s bed. He held onto one of Declan’s hands tightly, his thumb running over the back of it, giving Declan comfort. “I know that they love Helgrom and Snaglak, but… but it should be me who tells them about who Declan is since he can’t do it himself. When they see him with white hair, red eyes and pointed ears… Well, it will be a shock.”
“You’re right, Finley. You should be the one to tell them. Prepare them. But do you think…” Here, Aquilan had paused and grimaced. But then he pushed on and asked, “Do they know anything of the Kindreth?”
“Oh, I’ve talked their ears off about Vex. So yes, they know all about the Kindreth,” Finley assured the Sun King.
But that just had Aquilan looking more alarmed. “Really? You mean you’ve told them about the Night Elves in the context of your game? Your game where the main enemy is King Xelroth Vex?”
Finley blinked behind his round glasses. “Ah, I see your point. But I’ve not made him some kind of cardboard, cut out villain! He’s complicated and… Well, they aren’t the sort to blame Declan for anything his birth father may or may not have done.”
“Merely seeing Declan look so different may upset them,” Aquilan pressed. “An elf. A Night Elf. Not at all the person they took in–”
“But he is! He’s not changed!” Finley insisted, back going ramrod straight.
Aquilan gave him a gentle smile. “And your good heart sees that. But, unfortunately, I know all too well how people can react badly to red eyes and white hair.”
But Finley vigorously shook his head. “They’d never do that. All their lives, they’ve experienced people judging them by how they look. They’d never do that to Declan. He saved Gemma and me. That’s all that matters.”
Humanity’s mostly former obsession with skin color was mocked by the Aravae as dark skin to pale and every shade in between was prized. Beautiful in its own way. But put red eyes and white hair into the mix and suddenly color mattered very much. Rhalyf hoped that finding out Declan was a completely different species wouldn’t cause a problem in the Baston household.
“I will have rooms prepared for all of you so you can stay near Declan as he recovers.” Aquilan’s anxious gaze swung back to the unconscious young man.
“I doubt we’ll leave this room,” Finley admitted as he gazed down tenderly at his best friend.
“Actually, I may need a little privacy to work. Not to mention, there might be cast-off magic,” Rhalyf pointed out dryly. He had no problem with Finley watching him work, of course. The young man had a natural understanding of when to be quiet and when to speak. Plus, he doubted he could have crowbarred Finley off of Declan. But the others? “A crowd in here would not be conducive to my concentration.”
“Whatever you need, Rhalyf,” Aquilan quickly said, but then added with a faint smile, “Though I am a little surprised as you always seem to delight in an audience to show off your magical prowess.”
He did. But this magic was going to be Kindreth in nature. He’d already had to remove the glamour from his eyes to see more clearly the intricate weave that bound Declan. So far no one had pointed out that his eyes had been red, likely just assuming it was magic covering them rather than magic being stripped away. But someone might figure it out if they saw it long enough.
“That is true, but I think the less people who see Declan without a glamour the better. After I release him from this spell, I won’t want to put another on him for at least a day,” Rhalyf told him. “So while the Bastons and Finley will be welcome to remain, your brother and–”
“We have to tell Father about what happened!” Elasha had been rubbing her hands anxiously together as she gazed at Declan from Aquilan’s book-strewn desk.
Darcassan was not by her side. He’d slunk to his rooms, after nearly collapsing from exhaustion on the way back from Chicago. He also likely rightly knew that the moment his father heard about this, he would get no sleep at all. Better to hide and hope for Vesslan to calm down.
“Do we?” Helgrom asked, his amber eyes glowing in the dimly lit room. “I don’t see why we do. It is not as if Declan is here in any royal capacity.”
“This is simply his home,” Aquilan added softly and there was a tenderness that appeared on his face that had Rhalyf sighing. Aquilan who had proclaimed so certainly that he was not going to fall in love anytime soon…
Rhalyf glanced towards the balconies that overlooked Tyrael. The night still reigned on Earth, but Rhalyf could feel the Sun beginning to rise. This room with its massive windows and balconies would likely be the last place Declan should rest. But taking him away from Aquilan’s protective presence was not going to work. After he rid Declan of the restrictive weave, he would create a set of shields that would keep this room pitch black.
