Page 72 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

“You turned back time so brilliantly in Lasting, Fifi! I know you’ll figure it out!” Charlie encouraged her.

She smiled at him. “Yes, I think I will. But I’m not actually sure how I did that, let alone how I’ll use the gate to get us back to our Nightvallen. But I do sense that, at least mentally, it will help me to use that gate. It’s where we want to go. Maybe figuring out how to get to when we want to go will be aided by that.”

That had made sense as much as anything had. Seeing Fiona turn back time in Artemis’ ziggurat had been unbelievable. If she could do that, Ryder was in agreement with Charlie that she could get them back. But if they had to remain in this time and live to the present… well, they would figure that out, too. But he sensed that couldn’t be the case. They would have revealed themselves at some point. Wouldn’t they? Thinking about time travel truly made his head hurt. He hoped it was easier on Fiona.

Each of them had been dropped off at another level of the tower with him, Khos and Grayson being given the topmost quarters. Khos had already ensconced himself on the foot of the bed, looking at him with big eyes that begged him not to send him off. Ryder stepped inside and Grayson actually giggled.

“What?” Ryder asked.

“I’m just reminded of the human custom of carrying one’s bride over the threshold,” Grayson admitted.

Ryder smiled down at him. “That is very appropriate, I think.”

“I don’t know. Our ‘wedding’ in Lasting left a few things to be desired,” Grayson dryly responded.

“The honeymoon will have to make up for it,” Ryder said and carried Grayson to the bed.

He gently laid Grayson down upon it. Khos shifted so that his head rested on Grayson’s legs, keeping him warm. Though his beloved was claiming that he was “perfectly fine” and that his “strength was returning” and that he could “do things for himself”, Grayson almost immediately sank into the bedding with a sigh and his eyelids fluttered shut. Ryder pulled his boots off and set them down on the ground by the side of the bed. He grasped a blanket that lay across the foot of the bed and lightly put it over Grayson’s already sleeping form. Khos gave a snort and closed his eyes too. A sleeping Childe and a sleeping Dire Wolf. That was definitely what every Weryn Vampire needed.

“Do fledgling sleep this much?” Ryder found himself asked Eyros.

Eyros had come up softly behind him and was gazing down at Grayson and Khos while Elgar hovered in the doorway. It took a moment for Ryder to realize that Elgar was afraid of him. He desperately wanted to grab Eyros and leg it out of the room. Sadness gripped him. While the Eyros Vampires might have been shocked at seeing Ashyr, Wyvern and Mirryr in their midst, the truth was that they would have been terrified of seeing him. Weryn. The Butcher. No longer the Soldier.

“Every fledgling is different,” Eyros answered. “And I can imagine that one of us being turned would be different still. I don’t think anything is wrong if that’s what you’re worried about. He is peaceful. But he’s gone through quite a lot.”

Ryder nodded.

“He used Kaly’s gift, you know? In the hallway?” Eyros asked.

Ryder nodded again. “Fiona couldn’t turn things all the way back. I have a feeling that she needs to be close enough to the moment to do it so he got some Kaly blood.”

“But he received more of your blood, Weryn, so… there’s that.” Eyros’ hands lifted then fell. “I wonder if he’ll have all three gifts in the end.”

“You don’t sound too happy about my blood being inside of him. Is it just as bad as Kaly blood in your mind?” Ryder asked a touch bitterly, but then before Eyros could answer he held up a hand. “I’m sorry. I don’t blame you for saying that or feeling it. I feel it too.”

“Kaly knew how to destroy us,” Eyros said quietly. “I thought I knew all of our weaknesses, but they truly understood us even better. Played us like a master conductor in the end.”

“Maybe beyond that, too. You and Grayson now both are connected to him,” Ryder said. “Kaly sliced themself into pieces, because of grief at Daemon’s loss and perhaps because they feared that Daemon loved them least of all. So they set up a test for us to prove just how unworthy we were of that love. But when that didn’t work in the end, they linked themselves to all of us so that–”

“Then Daemon would love them?” Eyros shook his head and pinched the top of his nose. “Well, I can see it! Unfortunately, I can see that quite clearly. But it’s absurd, you know?”

“Yes and… no,” Ryder said. “Because now you have a connection to Kaly you didn’t have before and so will Grayson.”

“An unwilling connection,” Eyros hissed and began to pace.

“Maybe at first, but not in the end.” Ryder tucked the blanket more around Grayson. “And I think it’s helped things actually. Between all of us. Made us more connected to each other and to Daemon.”

“That sounds so bloody sweet! But when is Weryn sweet? When is Eyros sweet? And when in all the dark worlds is Kaly sweet?!” Eyros stopped his pacing and faced Ryder with a heaving chest. “They aren’t. We aren’t. And how we get there from here is not sweet in any way.”

Ryder’s eyes flickered to Elgar who stared anxiously at his Master. Elgar who clearly would do anything to spare Eyros one moment of this misery.

“Elgar,” Ryder began, “would you mind bringing me some blood wine? I need to start restoring myself so that I can feed Grayson.”

“Yes, but… Master, you should come with me.” Elgar reached out to Eyros.

Eyros’ left eye twitched, but he swallowed and smiled. “No, no, I should stay here for a moment. I will follow after you in a bit. No worries.”

“But, Master–”