Heirot

Tenara met his eyes, watched the storm rage. "The crown prince of Arken," she said, her mouth dry. "Edan..." The memory flashed bright and vivid and she stared off at the wall, watching it unfurl. A sword through her chest. A being appearing out of the swirling storm and smoke. The prince's flesh melting away beneath her hands. "I killed him."

Vlad blinked. Edan. There was a lot to process in that single word. If it was true, then Hajara might be at war with Arken. Again. Had Shea commanded it? Or had the prince acted alone?

Of all the questions, the one that made it out of his mouth was accompanied by a proud, sadistic grin. "How?"

Tenara flexed her fingers, looking at her hand. Her jaw clenched. She wasn't certain how to tell him without telling him everything, and everything felt like a heavy weight in her throat. "Magic," she said, lifting her watery gaze. "Melted him down to scorched muscle and blackened bone. I hadn't any control. I don't think I meant to kill him, but I did, and now I don't feel sorry for it." She felt around her wrist for where her bind used to be. The thing that kept her from crushing buildings or blowing up entire city blocks when something made her mildly peeved. It was gone. Had been gone for a week or more. She'd lost track of time...

Vlad followed her gaze. It took a few seconds to notice what was missing from her arm. "You're controlling your powers?"

Tenara winced. "No." She wrapped her fingers around her wrist. "Its..." A heavy sigh escaped her, and she deflated, the weight of her story dragging her down. A second later she took a deep breath and meant only to tell him about the sword, but it all poured out of her.

She told him about being drugged in the Indigo House, and the privateers who held her in the belly of a ship for the weeks it took to travel from Hajara to the northern tip of Arken. How the bind hadn't snapped open so she could use her powers because she was sedated most of the time. Fed bone broth and water and... She hesitated. Elias came into her mind, pushing his tea towards her. Tenara blinked, and continued. She told him about waking to find Edan in the middle of his ritual, and how he'd driven the sword into her chest. She told him about Thvoros, and how the ritual was to bring him into the world for some reason, and how—for whatever reason—they were bound to the sword and, she supposed, each other.

For a good half hour, Vlad attended to her story. He paused her on a few cases to interject questions, but mostly he just listened. He'd been afraid he'd never hear his daughter's voice again, and it was a relief to see her alert and talking. But hearing that gentle voice tell him of the nightmare she'd been living in for the past month took some of the charm from the experience. He wrestled with his temper and let her go at her own pace, but the details were so infuriating. It wasn't the right time to deal with these feelings, but it didn't make the truth less brutal.

He hadn't been there for her for a month. He'd been powerless - a feeling he hated worse than death. Meanwhile, her closest thing to an ally had been a monster that was draining her strength to survive. And he hadn't even really digested how to talk to her about the Indigo House, or the awful stunt they'd been using to get his attention in the city. Not that it hadn't worked...

"Beryl's been trying to bring food up all day. Think you can eat something?" he finally said.

Tenara wiped her eyes and nodded. "I could eat her out of house and home, if she lets me," she said, trying to crack a joke. "Is Thvoros okay?"

He frowned at the mention of her 'ally', but didn't choose this moment to fight with her. "I will ask," he agreed, not sounding happy about it. "I'll be back soon."

When he was out in the hallway, he took a few slow, deep breaths. If not for Beryl's kindness, he might have punched a hole in one of her walls just to let some of this anger escape, but he managed to hold back and go down the stairs instead. Beryl was in the back yard hanging up tablecloths to dry when he located her. "She's awake," he said when she noticed him.

The woman put a hand to her chest and sighed. "Thank goodness. Stew's on the stove, just help yourself to whatever you think she'll eat."

"I'm in your debt," he said, looking around. "Where's the other one?"

"If you mean the tall one, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him all day. I'm sorry to say it, but I think he might've taken his leave sometime in the night."

Vlad snorted, rage and relief warring for control. "Good to know." It was just as well. He didn't want that creature anywhere near his daughter. But she'd seemed almost attached to it, and it pissed him off that he'd have to tell her the alien had abandoned her. He shook his head and went back inside for the stew and a glass of water before bringing it back to Tenara's room.

"It's me," he said at the door. Perhaps he would need to start getting used to knocking before he entered her room, if his daughter was old enough to sneak out to the Indigo Room. He lopped off the thought before it could solidify and walked in. "Stew," he announced. "Brewed in the tears of your enemies."

A slight smile curled the corner of her lips as she slid to the edge of the bed and placed her bare feet on the floor. She tested trying to stand, but her legs shook just a the slight pressure of her weight, so she drew herself back onto the bed, sitting cross legged and dragging the covers into her lap.

"Do you know where the sword went?" she asked. "I should clean it. I covered it in blood and I don't want it to rust..."

Vlad kept his expression neutral. "The innkeeper took it when we came in. Doesn't like weapons inside. She probably has it in storage. If you want, I'll go get it; what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Please. It's important. It can't get lost. If it get's lost or stolen..." she touched her chest. It had been a miracle she'd gone in the right direction—towards Thvoros and not away. If she'd gone further from him, the original scar—the wound that should have killed her—would have opened back up and finished the job. "Thvoros and I are literally tied to that thing. If anything happens to it, or we get too far away from it, Thvoros and I are dead."

Vlad's eyes flashed. If Thvoros had taken the weapon with him.... He turned and was gone in a rush of air, teleporting immediately to the backyard where Beryl nearly jumped out of her skin. "The sword... where is it?" he demanded.

Beryl glanced around. "Are we under attack."

The vampire reined in his temper. "No, I... just need to see that it's safe. That the other guy didn't take it with him."

Beryl still looked spooked, but she put down her laundry and led him into the kitchen, where the weapon was stored in a broom closet. She'd thrown it in the back without much ceremony. "It looked like it had been...used, so I didn't want to touch it. It's in the back there."

Vlad reached in and drew out the weapon. Dark, dried blood and dirt coated parts of the blade. "Thanks," he muttered, and disappeared again.

Beryl scratched her head in annoyance. "These people are a mess," she sighed, and went back outside.

The vampire returned to Tenara's room and held up the weapon so she could see it was there. "It's here. But Tenara, this Thvoros character isn't. He left in the night."

She scoffed a little. "That's not possible. He can't go too far without it. He'll unmake or disappear—" she paused. "Maybe he's invisible. Sometimes he gets invisible. I mean, not totally. I can see him, but other people can't." She put down her stew and shifted to the edge of the bed, testing her strength again. Her legs shook as she stood and she clutched the covers before trying to take a step towards her father and buckling towards the floor.

Vlad could see it coming a mile away, but didn't try to stop her from testing her strength. When she buckled, he zipped forward and scooped her up. "You are your mother's daughter," he sighed, sweeping her legs up gently under his other arm. "And like her, you will have to indulge me in carrying you. In my current mood, if the floor hits you, I might punch a hole in it. Beryl will be sad."

He sighed. "Where would you like to go."

Tenara smiled softly at her father. She could see the weight of what she'd told him. He was trying to hide it behind his snark, but she could see it nonetheless. It was probably a good thing she hadn't gotten to the part where she tried to sell herself to afford food and a room.

"I guess... and it is going to seem really silly... but can we wander around? Maybe I'll see him? Maybe he's in one of the other rooms?" He likely thought she'd gone mad in the month they'd been apart. Wouldn't most people go mad after being drugged, abducted, sacrificed to an otherworldly being, and had said being attached like a leech to her for a week?