Reaper's Nox (Chapter 5)

5

Ronie’s eyes felt like they were being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles when she woke up from her sleep. She realized that there was something or someone warm against her back. Slowly, she moved the fur off her legs and twisted around to see who or what was against her. She took a sharp inhale of breath as she looked at Maddox. He was under a threadbare blanket with his back against hers. He looked peaceful without the pained look on his face he always seemed to wear as of late. Just gazing down at him made her anger simmer. He forced her to leave them without trying to protect them. The reasonable side of her protested that he had saved her after all. She brought her right hand up to her forehead as she gently shook her head.
“He stayed awake as long as he could before ‘is eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer,” Ronie heard a sultry, eastern European sounding voice say.
Ronie turned to sit upright in the bed, resting her back against the headboard. She let her gaze fall on the feminine figure at the hearth. In the dim light of the fire from the hearth and the candles that burned in various places, Ronie could make out that she was a very physically attractive woman. Long chestnut colored hair hung past her wiast. There were small strings of braided hair mixed in with the loose curls. She watched as the figure stirred the contents of the pot hanging over the fire.
“Where are we,” Ronie asked, her voice sounding weaker than she had intended.
“Aye. You ‘re on the boarder of the Winter Court. Well, not exactly on it. Close enough to be a good distance from the Unseelie capital.”
Ronie’s brow knitted in confusion.
“The Faelands. The land of the Fairies.” After informing Ronie, she turned and picked up a wooden bowl. Taking the ladle, she dipped some of the contents from the pot into the bowl. She turned back toward Ronie and held the bowl out to her.
Ronie eyed her before reaching out for the bowl. It was smooth and already warm with the contents of the pot. She welcomed the warmth in her cold, stiff fingers. Peering over the top of the bowl, Ronie sniffed the liquid. As soon as she did, her stomach rumbled with hunger.
“Tisn’t much, but you’re welcome to whatever I have so please eat what you want.”
“Thanks,” Ronie said softly and smiled gently before she brought the bowl to her mouth. The still warm liquid almost made it into her mouth before the bowl was yanked from her grip.
“Hey,” she cried surprise. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Maddox who was holding the bowl. He wasn’t looking at her, though. She noticed that he was glaring at their hostess. She looked from one to the other.
“Are those things in this? Either physically or their juices, Magpie,” Maddox asked her sounding suspicious.
“Why, Maddox, don’t you trust me anymore,” she replied sounding emotionally wounded, but looking anything except that.
Ronie watched him bring the bowl to his nose and heard him take a whiff of the liquid. He then, brought it to his mouth and took a small sip. His brown eyes seemed to flash as she watched him. His eyes narrowed and he slowly held the bowl out for Ronie to take. She took it with hesitation as she shifted her gaze back to their hostess. Her eyes met with Ronie’s and she gave her a toothy grin. Ronie swallowed hard as she realized her teeth were all pointed.
“Go ahead and eat. You’re going to need your strength,” Maddox urged Ronie gently.
Ronie lifted the bowl to her lips and let the warm liquid flow down her throat. She felt warm and tingly inside. She sheepishly held the bowl out and asked for a second helping. The woman named Magpie stepped forward and took the bowl, refilled, and handed it back to Ronie. She watched as Magpie grabbed another wooden bowl and instead of the contents of the pot, dropped some strange looking berries in and handed it to Maddox. As Ronie slowly drank her second helping of soup, she watched Maddox take the bowl of berries and start to eat them. A strange look of relief came over him. She cocked her head curiously at him.
“What’s that,” she asked him half expecting him to lie to her.
“These are blackberries and raspberries that have been tainted by Fae magicks. If humans eat them, they are doomed to remain in the Faelands until they die.”
“Then you aren’t human, are you,” she asked him.
“I was once upon a time. I was here for hundreds of years before we met. You see, I am a changeling. I was stolen from my human mother by my Fae mother and raised to be a Fae. The longer you eat the fruit here, the more like them you become. Sadly, changelings aren’t really accepted in the Courts no matter who stole you.”
“What do you mean? Who stole you?”
“In the days that I was taken, she was known as the Queen of Air and Darkness but in more recent times she goes by Mab. She is the leader of the Unseelie. Her grip is tenuous at best but because she married the King of the Unseelie and then murdered him, she gained the faction’s support.”
“If you were taken in by royalty, why would you ever go back to the mortal plane?”
“I do not agree with the wonton violence of the Unseelie ways. If I stayed, I would be forced to do more and more heinous acts. I don’t have the fortitude for that, so I denounced my right to the throne and fled the Court. I was on the run when I crossed paths with your mother. She helped me escape and I agreed to become your guardian.”
She watched him as he spoke. When he was finished, he snuck a glance at her, and their eyes met. He reached for her hand and let his rest on top of hers.
“Ronie, I am still the same person you have always known. All that is different is my age.”
She pulled her hand away from his as tears filled her eyes, “You took me from my family. How does that make you any different than the one who took you?”
“You’re right. I should have left you there to die with them even though your mother and father wanted you to live,” he shot as he moved off the bed.
She stared at his back with her mouth agape. It wasn’t like him to say something like that, but then what did she really know about him despite his claim to be the same person. She couldn’t see his face to know what he was thinking. Usually, she could read him pretty well, but maybe it was only what he wanted her to think. She moved her gaze to the fur covering her. She was letting herself get lost in her own thoughts when a folded paper with her name written on it and a feather were placed within her line of sight. Her brow knitted in confusion as she reached out with her free hand and picked up the feather. She vaguely recognized it as the same color as Conway’s wings. The paper with her name was definitely by his hand. Her hand started to tremble as she lay the feather down and reached for the folded paper. She felt a slight tug at her other hand and looked up to see that Maddox was gently taking the wooden bowl from her. She let him when their eyes met. Her still sore eyes stung with fresh tears as her hands fumbled to unfold the paper.
 

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Maddox lay there under the threadbare blanket with his back against Ronie’s. She had finally stopped crying and drifted off into a real slumber. He lie there feeling her back swell and fall with her soft breathing. In the past he would have smiled and gave her some sympathetic words followed by some uplifting ones. The most he had ever done was wrap his arm around her shoulders in a chummy manner. As he “grew” with her, he had become quite fond of her. He’d be lying if he didn’t admit that a tiny piece of himself weren’t a tad bit jealous of her. She was getting to have a decent childhood. Some of his scars still hurt when they got too hot. There were still nights he couldn’t sleep for fear of what the dark would bring. He was also afraid that he would wake up to find that he hadn’t escaped at all. He absently rubbed at his left wrist as a phantom pain shot through it. There was a time when he had stopped eating the berries to keep from becoming more Fae, but he found his frail human body couldn’t continue without them. If he was honest with himself, he was okay with dying. Especially, if it vexed his maam. As he closed his eyes, he could clearly see in his mind’s eye the beautiful creature that rescued him from his sorry state. He would never forget how her golden-brown eyes shown like sand reflecting the sun at high noon. He could almost hear her soft voice asking him to stay with her. He smiled gently before he opened his eyes. It was a few more seconds before he remembered the situation and lie there listening to Magpie talking to Ronie.
He barely stopped her from swallowing the soup. He wasn’t certain how her body would react to the berries nor was he willing to test it. Still, his actions were met with hostility and instead of responding he reacted. Guilt sliced his thoughts as he reached for the backpack he had packed for this occasion. He hesitated before he opened the small front pocket and pulled out the letter and feather. Selfishly, he hoped this would make her less angry with him but he doubted it. When he turned back to her, she was gazing at the fur that covered her legs. He moved closer and placed the items on the fur under her gaze. He watched her as she registered the items. She had reached for the feather first and seemed to recognize it. After a moment, she replaced the feather and picked up the paper with a trembling hand. On instinct, Maddox reached for the bowl knowing she would want to use both hands. This seemed to surprise her as she looked up at him. When their eyes met, his heart ached. He wished he could protect her from what was to come, but he could only protect her physically. He was just going to have to be emotionally available for her in whatever way she needed him to be. As he looked at her with the tears in her eyes, he was stricken by how much like her mother she looked. Perhaps it was her eyes shining like two topazes. He wanted to take her into his arms. He always felt that way when he saw her crying. He took the bowl from her and watched her fumble with the folded paper. He opted to turn away from her. He walked over to the dingey round table to the right of the hearth and placed the bowl down on its surface. Turning, he faced the hearth and fixed his gaze on the embers under the pot. His mind took him back to the events of the night before. He had frozen when he spotted Margaret’s charred body. He wanted to scream in rage and grief. She was the best mother figure to him and certainly his closest friend. Until her, his existence was meaningless to any other living being. His maam certainly didn’t care for him past his physical beauty. All she had wanted to do was take something pure and twist it into something of her own creation. To Maddox, she and the Angels were exactly the same: cold and empty. The only exceptions were Ronie’s siblings and her father. The rustling of paper brought him back to the present. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. Behind him, Ronie sobbed. His ear twitched slightly as it picked up the faintest sound of his name being called. Turning to face his charge, their eyes met again and this time he gave in to his urge to hold her.