After I had spoken to Val, I couldn't wrap my head around why my dad would do something like that. I didn't want to believe it could be possible. Until I started to consider the position my pack had been in five years earlier. Our crops had all gotten grought and started to wither. The dirt was dry and lacked nutrition. It was a hard few years in the north. Most all the packs had trouble growing food and money had gotten tight for everyone. Being most of our pack's trade came from art and trinkets and instruments we created, money had gotten drastically tight for us.
I thought back to my fifteenth year, just before I had grown enough to leave the nursery. I didn't see my mother much. She never came to visit and I heard whispers that she had gotten terribly sick. My father came to see me every week. I had confronted him about it after the whispers had become overbearing. I remember him telling me she had very little time left and the two of us sitting in an eerie silence.
I woke up drenched in sweat with dreams of the hard years and my mother's sickness. Nearly every night for almost a week. The more time passed between her story, the more dreams assaulted me, and the more I came to understand that her story was likely very true. Afterall, my father would have crawled through hot irons with both legs chopped off if it meant saving my mom and I knew it.
Only for his actions to save her to get them both killed five years later. A bitterness filled me over it all. It was a terrible situation for all parties and no hands were completely clean.
Except ours, Everest reminded me. I frowned at all of it. Stewed in my own disbelief and grieving and guilt. I couldn't shake myself out of it and on top of my dreams of home, new dreams had started to torment me also. Dreams of Val's long eyelashes and full lips and honey thick voice. I hated myself for having them and they came anyway.
Four days of torment was enough and I finally left my bedroom. I had Frankford lead me back to the nursery even though I knew the way.
"Today is a training day for the kids."
"Training?"
My question answered itself as soon as the large double doors opened to an empty cafeteria and we walked deeper into the nursery to a side door out into the garden. There across the yard were ninety tiny faces all holding spears with rubber tips at the end. Only ten kids had been excluded, and the ten of them were in diapers. I scrunched my nose at it. Back home in our pack, only the leaders underwent extensive fight training.
I spotted Donte and Emerald together at an end of the yard with haystacks designated for practice throwing. I ran towards them, getting close just in time to see Emerald land her spear directly in the centre of the haystack where the middle was red.
As I approached, Donte turned back to spot me and grinned hugely.
"Watch this."
He threw his own spear, extending his entire arm to do it and missed the center only by six inches or so. I grinned back, impressed. Emerald stuck her tongue out at him and teased loudly.
"Still not better than mine though!"
I threw an arm over her shoulder and stared at the two of their practice targets. Four spears riddled different spots across the targets. Emeralds typically sat close if not directly on the center, while Donte's seemed to have more of a trial and error to them.
"Thats very impressive, I think you've got a natural talent."
Emerald beamed at me, green eyes shining. I ruffled Donte's hair like usual.
"And you seem to be a fast learner."
I was relieved to see them so relaxed. As though the tragedy was moving away from the front of their minds. Most of the kids from our pack seemed to linger close to Emerald and Donte. I turned back to the two of them after counting the twenty five heads that seemed to be ours.
"Have any of the other pack kids given you trouble?"
Emerald shook her head quickly.
"No, everyone has been pretty nice so far."
"They better be."
Donte's eyes were edged with the same determination from before. He and Emerald both seemed to have taken their roles as the eldest very seriously. I thanked the Goddess for their wellness and turned to survey the youngest members of our group.
The triplets had been born only three and a half years earlier. Rosie was sitting with her sister Daisy near their own target instead of practicing. The third of the triplets, Lily, was talking to a girl from the Valeriano pack about target practice when I approached them. The Valeriano girl hid behind Lily nervously and Lily comforted her.
"It's okay Esme, that's just Liana."
Esme peeked up at me curiously and I waved at her.
"Hi you two. How have you been doing?"
Lily shrugged her little shoulders and blinked up at the bright sun in her eyes.
"I miss my mom."
My chest ached a little and I hugged her.
"I know Lily, I'm sorry. But how are you doing here? Is everything nice?"
Lily shrugged again, paused, and then exclaimed excitedly.
"Tomorrow we get porkchops, like back home!"
I smiled at her and nodded. Everything seemed to be in acceptable order. All of us missed home but none of the kids had been mistreated. Which was for the better, because if any of them had been harmed I would have burned this place to the ground.
When I turned back around to find Frankford, he was gone. I looked around the yard where all the kids were training and didn't see him. Confused by his absence, I wandered back into the nursery. There I saw Liam speaking to Frankford and the two of them turned to look at me. I could tell from the look in his eyes that Liam wanted me dead. I resolved not to address him at all.
"Good news lady, you've been upgraded from prisoner to guest."
I scrunched my brows, confused.
"What's happening?"
"Val says Frankford doesn't have to keep watching you now."
Hearing her name made my throat feel dry. Then I felt a strange sort of sadness and irritation at the idea of being by myself here. Frankford wasn't exactly talkative company but his presence was comforting.
"Why not?"
Frankford raised a curious brow at me. Liam seemed completely unamused.
"Because he has other shit he's more useful for than babysitting."
I ignored Liam and turned to Frankford.
"Take me to her."
Frankford had a wisely knowing look in his eyes and he nodded his head at Liam. Liam's face was hard and his jaw was tight. It was the same look he had when the two of them interrogated my father. I followed behind Frankford quickly, desperate to escape the awkwardness of being a foot away from someone who wanted me dead.
As we moved back towards the bedrooms I started to grow nervous. I actually hadn't thought this plan too many steps further. I was still in my pajamas and Val's bedroom was kind of a place that felt nerve-wrecking to be near. We made it to the door and Frankford gestured for me to go in.
I avoided the daring and observant look on his face. It was unlike him to be so smug, but I had asked for this so he couldn't be blamed. I pushed the door open without knocking and let it creak closed behind me.
Val's room was dark with thick curtains blocking most of the light. Her scent flooded every inch of it and I squinted in the dimness, trying to decipher where she was. My heart was thumping so loud I could feel it in my throat. The bed was large with four posts going all the way up to the ceiling, also draped in curtains but thinner ones. I inched closer to the bed, staying at least a foot away.
Finally I saw her, hair wild and unkempt from sleep. Her shirt was slipping down her shoulder, exposing smooth olive skin. My heart wouldn't stop racing wildly and I took a breath to try and steel my nerves.
"Va-"
Before I could even finish her name, she jumped up terrified and wild until she locked eyes on me. Her eyes filled with a shock first as she looked me up and down hastily, as though she wasn't certain if I was really standing there or not. I noticed the state of her and an increasingly familiar sense of guilt crawled up my spine.
She looked impossibly tired. Sunken eye bags were so dark they were noticeable without the need for any light. It occurred to me this could be part of the reason Liam hated my guts also. I swallowed the thump of my heartbeat in my throat as Val climbed out of the bed and walked around it towards me.
Her proximity overwhelmed my senses. The woods, fir trees and pinecones and fall. Her starving eyes ran rampant over my face and down my body. She looked like she was in physical pain from having me so close. Finally, she turned away from me and took a breath.
The skin at the base of her back was exposed. Taught with muscles that were all tensed. Finally she grabbed something from the edge of her bed and turned back to me.
"Put this on."
Her voice was gravelly from the sleep but she looked serious. I opened my mouth to question her but the agony dripping on her voice stopped me.
"Please Liana."
The strain of the word when she said my name made me shiver and I pulled the jacket over my shoulders like she asked. Then I stepped back from her slightly, trying to ignore the way her scent draped over me and dressed me head to toe.
"What do you need?"
Every syllable was drenched with desire. She couldn't hide it if she tried and I could feel an animalistic sort of hunger swelling in my own stomach which I pushed down and stomped on inside of my head. Everest seemed to be relishing in the closeness to our mate, especially now that she could feel the scent seeping all over us. I remembered why I had come and pouted.
"Why are you taking Frankford away?"
My voice was quiet and it sounded a little childish to me as I said it. Val blinked a few times like she was trying to diminish the fog of sleep. Then she seemed to register what I had asked and a humor tugged at the edge of her lip.
"Taking him away?"
I frowned at her teasing. He had become a symbol of familiarity to me and I wasn't quite ready to lose it yet, even at the threat of being immature. Then Val's eyes darkened as she scanned my face and she seemed to be fighting some undecipherable battle.
She stepped closer, closing the distance between us. Her eyes peered down at me with a strange look in them, something hungry and encompassing. She tilted my chin up to look at her and frowned. I was fairly sure she could hear the slam of my heart in the darkness. My cheeks were hot and I squirmed under the fire of her gaze. Seeing my visceral and obvious reaction to her touch seemed to comfort whatever irritation she was battling.
She let go of my chin reluctantly and I swallowed my own realisation that I missed the feeling of her touch. Then she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck as she allowed her eyes to soak me in. I tried to ignore the heat of them as they moved across me, lingering on my neck and other places.
"Alright, then Frankford will stay with you."
The reassurance made me feel much better. I opened my mouth to thank her when she spoke again in a lowly and carnal voice.
"Is there anything else you need?"
I could taste the implication behind her words and my cheeks burned. My knees were weak despite my original intention to remain calm. I shook my head fast and stepped back again, unstable from the tension.
"Thank you."
She looked starved, hungry. She composed herself well despite it but her hunger was obvious in the lingering of her eyes on my lips.
I quickly started to walk away from her towards the door. When I escaped the room unscathed I almost forgot what I had originally went in for. Until her door shut behind me and Frankford chuckled.
"You must really enjoy my company, lady."
My cheeks were red, I could feel it without even looking and I felt like I could explode from the embarrassment. Finally, I had calmed myself down enough to groan at him.
"Shut up, Frankford."
The old man smiled and shook his head.