Swiping my plastered hair from my face, I turned to see the lightning highlight the sky where red eyes of the pookah glared at me through the gale winds as if it had something to prove.
Rolling my own eyes, I released the shadows. “Thank you for the shelter, Lir.”
The sea king grunted once, turning his back to shovel in more coal. “Off with ye lass, get dry. It’s gonna be a long nigh’.”
I pursed my lips, effectively dismissed. Turning towards the cabin, I stumbled against the harsh rocking. It was the least graceful I had ever felt in my entire life, and I threw open the door like it was my lifeline,slamming it shut.
Best to leave the laughing crazed wind talking water fae to his own resources for now.
Warmth and tranquility embraced me and I sighed with relief when the rocking of the ship disappeared and the floor beneath my feet was level…unmoving. Thank the goddess this cabin was enchanted to provide all our needs, including a stable surface, much like the cabin of the Wildwoods.
Steaming warm fluffy white towels shimmered in front of me and I snatched one up with a sigh, rubbing my wet face raw, bringing back to it what the icy ocean and bitter winds had stolen.
Tossing the now damp towel aside I grabbed another, walking towards a roaring fire emanating from a large steel potbelly stove. Wood was neatly stacked from floor to ceiling against the walls surrounding it. Glinting in the firelight, Riella’s bás fang spear hung nearby where Emon and Riella sat.
Our daughter's face stared vacantly into the fire and her body trembled harshly with chill. My soulmate was swiftly drying her off to bring warmth back to her cold petite frame but failed to see that it wasn't just her skin that was frozen.
My boots, full of water, squished noisily before I crouched low in front of my sweet little faeling. Her eyes were still solid in that beautiful vivid green but they stared past me, haunted and full of pain. My hand reached out to gentle Emon's aggressive drying and he paused confused, pulling away the third wet towel he had used. Taking the heated towel in my hands, I cloaked her in its warmth then cupped her sweet cherub face to look up at me.
"Riella?" I said gently.
A pair of emeralds turned outward, finally registering that I was there and large pools of tears began to fill her eyes.
"Oh Riella," I sighed, pulling her shocked towel clad body to mine, tucking her into me and turning towards the fire so that she could feel its blazing heat.
Emon watched us with worry furrowing his brow.
Our daughter's chest rattled then and a soft heaving cry broke the sound of the crackling fire. Turning her face into my wet leather, she began to sob. Her entire body trembling anew but this time not from the cold.
I breathed a sigh of relief that she was feeling again. A heart that was frozen would never heal and would fester. I would not want such a fate for my daughter. I wished that she'd never beharmed in the first place, but we were fae, and this was a cruel world.
"It's okay," I said, stroking the wet strands of her disheveled braid, rocking her to me. Emon shifted closer, draping another warm towel around me before wrapping his arms around us both.
"Little Umbra?"His worry penetrated my mind.
I looked up into his strong golden gaze, pecking his lips softly,"All will be okay now."
Riella choked, drawing our attention back to her. Using her arms to wipe her nose loudly, snot and tears smeared across her forearm. I grimaced. Tissues shimmered into our laps and we all stared at them blankly before Emon grunted and plucked one from the box, deftly wiping up the aftermath of her mess.
"Why do you cry, my little cub?" he rumbled from his chest.
More tears pooled in Riella's eyes before she buried her face back into me, shuddering with renewed grief.
Holding her tightly I hummed. "Oh, little chickadee. I think I know why…it is the caoránach, isn't it?"
Riella sniffed loudly, rubbing her face against me, her soft whispered yes barely audible.
I kissed the top of her head and allowed her tears to fall, rocking her steadily as she grieved the slain demon mother of worms. Emon plucked another tissue, his face stricken, holding it at ready but looking incredibly lost just the same.
Suddenly snatching it from his hand, Riella blew her nose loudly, like a bellowing horn inside the ship's cabin, and then returned to her crying. And so, the process continued as minutes passed by and tissues piled up beside us. When her body slumped against me and her breath evened on a slow exhale, Emon scooped up the mountain of snotty tissues and threw them into the fire, returning quickly back.
"I know she wanted to hurt us," Riella whispered, "but when I…when I—" Her lip quivered and more tears slid over her bronze cheeks, staining them in rivulet paths.
I tucked back her hair tenderly. "I was four when I first killed a fae," I confessed to her softly, staring out into the fire, feeling Emon's saddened gaze raking over my profile. "I was careless, fearless, playing beyond the boundaries of our home, on the outer crater edges of the Nocturnes." Riella's wide eyes peered up at me and I smiled remorsefully into the flames. "She was very beautiful, the blood fae that attacked me, I'll never forget her hair was just asred as my blood when she tore into me with her fanged teeth, right before the shadows pierced her heart.”
Riella's small hand reached to gently cradle my face, drawing me back from the memory, and I tilted my head into her soft touch.
"My mother found me hours later clinging to the lifeless blood fae's body. I couldn't let her go, part of me felt that if I never did, I could bring her back. Find a different way." I sighed and turned to press my lips into her hand with a gentle kiss. "We will never know for sure but there was one thing my mother said to me that I have never forgotten."
