Declan nodded again. They were at the door to the bathroom. He could see a massive two-basin sink with an even more massive mirror above it. He didn’t look at his reflection. Not yet.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” Finley asked.
This time Declan shook his head. “I need a minute to…”
“I understand,” Finley said.
Declan tottered inside of the bathroom. He rested his hands on the cool stone basin and stared down into its depths. There was very little light in here. But he didn’t need it. He could see clearly. He thought about washing his face. He would do that.
In a minute.
He looked up at himself in the mirror.
Red eyes.
White hair.
Pointed ears that poked through that hair.
Elf.
But still him.
Still…
He looked deeper into the mirror.
Father?
There was a beat and then softly, My Rahven. My son.
In The West
“So there was a nest?” Vesslan pursed his lips before taking a sip of the chilled sparkling wine.
Even though it was only afternoon, Aquilan had suggested the wine to relieve the tension in his elder brother as he told him some of the truth of what had happened in Illithor. Oh, and to keep him away from Declan. Far away.
For his part, Aquilan nursed his own flute and simply nodded. They had made a semi-picnic out of this meeting in the garden. Not a nude picnic however. He could imagine Rhalyf screwing his nose up if Vesslan actually took his clothes off and joined one of their nude picnics.
“I’m off my food,” he imagined his best friend saying and nearly snorted.
Despite Vesslan being firmly clothed, Aquilan hadn’t even touched the food though it looked delicious. There were delicate cream cheese sandwiches with paper thin slices of tomato and cucumber, curried chicken salad rolls with crisp lettuce, and cured ham with melted swiss on mini sweet rolls. Fresh cut fruit filled iced bowls and there were several small cakes. A certain white cream one with raspberry filling was his favorite, but he had no appetite. Declan was still deep asleep despite Rhalyf having freed him of the constraining spells.
White hair. Red eyes. I haven’t seen those yet. My Shadow. Lovely. But will he wake up? Of course, he will. Vex wouldn’t leave him if he were that ill.
“Well! The Radiant Council will have to be told, I suppose?” Vesslan turned that into a question. It should have been a statement.
“You think they shouldn’t be informed of a giant Leviathan nest? Ten times the size of any we’ve ever encountered?” Despite his detailed–and very disbelieving–response, Aquilan was only half listening to his brother. His magical senses were stretched upwards and towards the West.
My bedroom should be in the East like Declan said. But I’m glad it is in the West for now so that he is more protected from the light. Rhalyf spelled the room so no illumination will get in, but still… Is he comfortable? Is he in pain? Is he–
“You handled the problem. The nest is no more,” Vesslan said with a shrug. His elder brother then devoured a cucumber sandwich in a few bites. His eyes half closed for a moment with delight. These were human dishes. It made more sense to eat the local foods than to import everything from the Lieran plane. Evidently, Vesslan enjoyed some of humanity’s offerings. He dabbed his mouth with a napkin then continued, “So the threat is gone. We don’t really need to bother the Council about it, do we? It seems like unnecessary drama.”
Just as Vesslan said that, Aquilan felt a trickle of magic that became a flood. Like night casting its inky fingers across the world. Declan was awake.
My Shadow!
Aquilan half rose from his chair, ready to fly to the young man, but then Vesslan’s words registered and he sat back down again. Declan was awake. Declan was awake! But he was king. And as king, he needed to address this.
