I looked out into the ocean. Sunlight shimmered in the lazily rolling waves. A light breeze played in the lush vegetation on each side of the patio. Colorful butterflies fluttered their vivid wings over the bushes between the glass branches of the dead coral. The picture was almost idyllic, painted in watercolors and filled with soft sounds.
In contrast, the glass depths of the palace looked like a menacing reflection of the abyss below. The ripples of the water in the numerous pools inside, reflected in the myriad smooth glass surfaces, creating a mesmerizing but nauseatingly sinister light show. Yet Kye was there, always standing between me and the danger. I couldn’t come close to him, but I didn’t want to see him walk away any further.
“You’re safer out here,” Kye repeated gently.
I tilted my head, surprised by the realization I was about to voice.
“Funny thing,” I said. “But I feel safer next to you than anywhere else in this world.”
It was understandable, I reasoned. His curse gave him the power to kill on touch. There simply wasn’t a more effective weapon out there. And if so, then who could guard and protect me better than Kye?
A flash of vulnerability crossed his face and disappeared behind a neutral expression, as if he was afraid to show or evenfeelthe emotions my admission caused in him.
“Alright,” he said quietly. “Come along then. Keep close but...”
“...not too close,” I finished for him. “I know. I’ll keep beyond arm’s reach.”
He nodded before walking across the dining room, then down the short corridor that led to the great hall. Either timidly or respectfully, the guard stayed behind, and I joined Kye on a narrow ledge by the wall. That narrow ledge with its jugged edges was all that remained of the floor in the great hall. All the glass walkways and bridges were now gone. The many artfully arranged pools had merged into one giant gaping hole in the middle.
“It was stupid of me to post guards here. Stupid and selfish,” Kye muttered, thoughtfully.
“You didn’t post them here to fight the monsters for us,” I argued. “You needed them just to raise an alarm.”
He flinched, stretching his neck uncomfortably. “Which proved useless. Had I known those abominations would raise such a racket—”
“But you didn’t know that. You couldn’t have known that. No one could. There’s no need to punish yourself with guilt over it.”
“Guilt,” he echoed with a sorrowful smile. “The gods know I’ve felt more of it on any given day in the past century than in my whole life prior.”
My gaze drifted to the giant portrait on the wall across from us. It survived last night’s devastation, the string of pearls under it remained untouched too.
I studied the image of the happy family playing in the ocean waves, the face of the little boy erased with the canvas shredded into rugs.
“Is that boy you?” I asked.
He followed my gaze to the picture, then quickly turned his head away.
“Yes.”
I waited for him to say more, but he remained quiet.
“What happened to the picture?” I asked, breaking the grim silence.
“I destroyed it.” He shrugged, lifting his chin to pretend it didn’t bother him.
He was a good actor, I had to give it to him. Only it was too late for acting between us. I’d been learning to read his true emotions better and better every day.
“Unfortunately, I’d broken all the furniture in here first,” he said. “There was nothing left for me to climb to reach the canvas. So I just tossed a few pieces of glass at it.”
“You must’ve had quite a fit,” I said evenly.
He folded his arms across his chest, leaning a shoulder against the wall. “You have no idea my dear Maren, what this temper can do when it’s set loose.”
“I think I’m getting a pretty good idea now,” I assured him.
That said, he’d clearly made some progress since those early days. Kye was capable of compassion and regret. I’d seen him contemplative, restrained, and caring of others. I didn’t think I would’ve tolerated him as well as I did now had I met him one hundred years ago.
“Why didn’t you touch the pearls then? They’re lower than the portrait.” I pointed at the long string of giant pearls draped below the picture.
