I can hardly swallow, barely breathe as I await her response.
What human would want a noctis around them though? Someone who serves as a constant reminder of the fear and suffering they've had to endure their entire lives. Especially a Devonshire noctis, at that.
She blinks back her surprise. "You're...you're not staying here?"
I shrug, the sharp shoulders of my cape rising behind me like black, ominous mountains and making Bastion jolt in his mother’s arms. "There's nothing here for me. Besides, you really think my father would allow me to stay after what I've done?"
"You're his heir."
"He can't afford to have an heir if it's one who can’t be controlled, let alone one who sympathizes with humans."
She smirks, lost somewhere in her own memories. "Must be a Devonshire trait to go rebel against the status quo." At first, I don’t understand her meaning, but then she clarifies. “Halira was the same way.”
Sometimes I forget that they knew each other, and that together they saved the realm from darkness. For a time being.
“Well, not all Devonshires.” Forlorn, Fox looks back out across the Shadowthorn. "I appreciate the offer, Malachi. Truly. And I can't express my gratitude enough for what you've done for me and my boys today. But, where I'm going, I'm afraid you're not welcomed either."
"Where you’re going?" I say, taken aback by how certain she sounds, like she already has a place in mind.
As far as I knew, there was nothing beyond the Shadowthorn though. Once the realm lost its magic, the Eyve—home of the druids—was ransacked and then abandoned.
But my gaze falls upon the dark forest before us, a horizon of black branches that stretches as far as the eye can see, and I remember something my father said not a few days earlier.
"You're returning to the Shadow Crusade."
She looks stunned that I've pieced it together so quickly, and maybe even wonders if she should deny it. Instead, she fixes her expression with steel.
"Something like that," she says. "The boys and I will be fine."
Curiosity has always been a weakness of mine. As a boy, I'd ask my mother a hundred questions a day about why plants grew at different rates, why the seasons changed, how fire was made. On days when I'd exhausted her with my inquiry before it was even lunch time, she'd tell me that sometimes curiosities are best to be left unasked and unanswered.
Despite wanting to ask Fox a dozen questions—such as where the Shadow Crusade has been hiding all this time, how they've been communicating with her, and how they plan to ensure her safety once she enters the woods—I let my imagination conjure as many answers as it can. Like many other communities, they have likely gone underground, making it more difficult for the noctis to find them. I doubt they've been able to communicate with her since she's been in captivity, but we've had plenty of prisoners brought into the cells since then. It’s possible that some of them might've been involved with the Shadow Crusade as well and that they fed her intel of an escape plan. As for her safety in the Shadowthorn, that'll have to remain a mystery.
"I understand," I say after a time, not because I have all the answers I want but because I’m sure she’ll give me none. "I suppose this is where we part ways then."
"I suppose so."
There's a bittersweetness on my tongue. It seems I may never know the meaning of family again.
Fox lowers Bastion to the ground and ushers him to his older brother.
Surprising me thoroughly, she throws her arms around my back, my neck too high up to reach.
"Thank you again, Malachi. For everything." And then, she jerks me lower, my ear coming within reach of her mouth as she whispers so quietly that even the boys can't hear. "You underestimate your father's need of an heir. The man struggles to trust anyone but his kin, even if they stab him in the back. He wants a Devonshire on the throne, and you're all he's got."
I pull away to stare down at her, but she pulls me back in.
"If you want my advice," she adds, guilt edging her tone for even considering giving a noctis a piece of advice. "He'll forgive you if you show him you're still on his side. Go participate in the Hunt. Bring back a kill. Gods, impress him by being among the few to kill one of his prized possessions. You have nothing to fear from him. He was raised to be loyal to his family, no matter what, and I believe that still rings true."
A humorless laugh escapes me. "Oh yeah? He sure didn't seem to show you any loyalty."
"I don't count. I don't have Devonshire blood in me. Neither did Alphonse. Wrong side of the family."
Fox gives my back a pat before returning to her children. She hoists Bastion back into her arms and settles him on her hip. To Eirrick, she hands something silver, the blade catching on the sunlight shining high overhead.
I chuckle to myself when I feel the empty sheath on my belt. My father might've beaten her, maimed her even, but he was never able to kill her spirit and cunning.
As I watch the three of them enter the dark woods, I wonder if I should follow after them. It’s more than wanting to keep them safe. I'm so curious to see where they'll go. But I get the impression that she’s more acquainted with those woods than I am, and she’d lose me the moment she noticed me tailing her.
