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I don’t ever want you to feel like you can’t come home, that you aren’t welcome. As long as you have the use of your two legs, I expect you to come home whenever you can and let us love you. That is our right as your parents. Okay?”
Relief washing over me, I laughed. I laughed whole-heartedly at Tess’s sleep talk and just at the fact that she was okay.
I should’ve prepared for the worst. I almost lost her today. The thought scared me—more than I would have ever believed possible in my past life.
Don’t be sorry for spending that much-needed time with your family.”
My arms were already stretched out wide, ready to embrace my one and only beloved granddaughter, but oddly enough, instead of coming into her grandfather’s arms, she bolted away from me and toward the boy. My granddaughter… you’re going the wrong way.
“Arthur! You’re alive!” Tessia flew into his arms so fast that she almost knocked the boy back down onto the ground. Meanwhile, my arms stayed outstretched. Maybe the passing breeze would accept my embrace…
A wave of emotions, some of which I hadn’t even known I could feel, washed over me. “Arthur! You’re alive!” Her face was already buried in my chest as she finished her sentence. “Yeah,” I said, gently petting her hair, “I’m alive.”
“Wait! Art, turn around.” Tess was obviously out of breath, but she was also aware that something was different with her body. With a sigh, I began, “I already saw everyth—” “Now!” “Yes, ma’am.”
“Former king? More like whipped dog,” I mumbled to myself as I turned my back to them.
A friend… my best friend. In Elijah, I now had an entity in this life that I’d wanted so badly in my previous one: a person I could let loose and be a child with again, no matter how old or grand I was before.
Was it naive of me to wish everyone would just work together for the good of all?
I wanted to catch up to Arthur, not because I wanted to be better than him, but because I wanted to help him. He seemed to always be facing his own battles. As his best friend, I wanted to have his back, whether in good times or in war.
Arthur is only human and he places great importance on his family and his friends, and particularly so to one person,” he said, raising his index finger. The sinister smile on the mask most likely matched his own expression, I thought. “Tessia Eralith…” I whispered, unable to hide the smirk on my face.
Then our eyes met and Tess immediately blushed. I gave her a playful wink in response. “Hi there.”
I won’t let anything happen to your precious granddaughter.”
“It’s nothing, sir. Tessia has helped me several times as well.” “Oh? Like how?” He tilted his head. I had to think for a second before responding. “In keeping me sane at times.”
There was no denying that my attitude toward and care for the elven princess were different from anyone else’s, but it wasn’t possible for me to confidently act on those feelings at this stage.
“I do, but I also find myself unable to say for certain that I know what ‘like’ and ‘love’ actually mean. I hope the answer will come with time, but until then I’d like to improve myself before even thinking of asking for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”
‘I knew Papa liked Mama.’
You will have enemies and you will have obstructions in your path, but through all of that, what I can tell you is that you need to have an anchor, an end goal. What do you want to accomplish in your life? That will be what determines your path.”
“I have no reason to use magic at the academy—for the time being anyway. Besides, you’re coming back to school tomorrow. I think I’ll be able to survive until then.” She gave me a playful wink, dispelling her previous awkwardness.
I may have been only hallucinating, or it may have been just my wishful thinking, but I thought I saw my friend. I thought I saw Arthur.
His friend.
Just as I felt everything fading, I heard it—a blood-curdling roar piercing through the heavens.
As impressive and awe-inspiring as the dragon was, though, my heart began to truly tremble in fear when I saw the boy below it.
And seeping from him, surrounding him like an aura, was a blatant rage, so fierce and violent that, uncontained, I felt sure it would burn me to ashes. The very air seemed to warp around him, and the earth beneath him crumbled under his might.
As he got closer, it dawned on me… He wasn’t even looking at me. His gaze had never been directed at me. I was stunned. My feet stayed glued to the ground as he simply strode past, ignoring me and everyone else here.
Arthur passed by everyone else, disregarding his dead or dying peers and friends, then kneeled down in front of the elf princess. His dragon craned its neck down toward her as well, and for that long breath of a moment, there was only silence.
I regained my balance and looked back up at Arthur, whose back was still to me as he gently stroked the elf princess’s head.
Tessia was all right. Bruises and scrapes were visible on her smooth, pale skin, but thankfully they were only surface wounds. She was okay.
My head pounded as I walked toward Lucas. Nothing else mattered. Not now. Not until I took care of the pest.
I was less than a foot away from Lucas, who continued to back away from me. “‘Desecrate’? ‘Kiss your feet’?” I recited through gritted teeth.
All in all, I thought I probably looked like a homeless vampire who had just feasted on someone, then proceeded to dance in the pool of their blood.
