The clock on the hearth ticked softly as the morning light faded into midday shine. And I didn’t move. Instead I sat with Decklen and my aunt at that table Decklen and his father had carved so long ago, as I read and reread both mine and my aunt’s letters.
I touched them both softly, the letters were blurred and streaked in places and I realized that while my mother wrote this, she must have been crying. She must have known what it meant for me to have to read this.
She must have known that in order for me to live, away from this and a trapped life, she would most likely be making the ultimate sacrifice.
And she was only asking for one thing in return.
To protect her sister.
It was the least I could do.
I looked up at Decklen who stood leaning against the stove the sun shining on his ebony hair in a way that turned it slightly blue. And I looked at my aunt, my mother’s little sister. How I knew she was her little sister, I wasn’t sure, but from the tone in her letter, it was from an older sister trying to protect her younger sibling.
I looked at her and realized that I believed her. I folded the letter and put it away into the envelope.
“Well?” My aunt said tentively.
“I believe you.” I said.
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Then you understand why he can’t-
But I cut her off. “I believe you about them. But not Decklen. I don’t know why or how, but this is all too much of a coincidence that he’s involved so intimately with me. We’ve lived together for over a year. He’s family. The only one I’ve had for a while now. I trust him.” I turned to him, “I trust you.”
Decklen smiled. “Thank you mon coeur.”
“But Rheya, he could.”
“No, he wont.”
“Actually, mon Coeur. I’m afraid I must agree with your aunt.” Decklen said.
“What.” We both said.
He smiled.
“With everything that has happened so far, one important thing has stood out the most to me. We still have no idea what I am.”
“I thought we discussed that already. That you’re a changeling or a kith you called it.”
“But I’m not am I? I’m one of them, the methods to turn me into this was as your aunt described. But I do not look like them not as you have described now do I? We only have a theory as to why I am allowed on the property. I believe that I am dangerous. Especially to you Rheya. And I believe that whatever clue is in that letter. You shouldn’t show it to me. I’m only guessing because you put it away too quickly.
I nodded somewhat guilty.
“Good. The less I know the better.” He said.
“But you’ve wanted to know what you are since I’ve known you.” I murmured.
He looked at me softly. “Not if ever meant harming you. Or anyone you may eventually care for.” He said looking at my aunt.
She looked at him and recognized what he was saying. A truce.
For now.
Until he proved to be dangerous.
She stared at him and as I watched, an understanding seemed to come between them. It was one I understood and didn’t like.
The moment he became dangerous. He would leave.
I vowed to never let that happen.
It was a few days later that I remembered the time limit. At the start of my twentieth year. I would be turning twenty in eight months. Which meant I had eight months to find the things my mother was talking about and get them off the property so my aunt never the wiser, could live her life in solitude.
I was petrified. One month ago, Decklen was handing me a letter. Now It seemed I would spend my life guarding, I didn’t even know what.
But, I was alright with that.
Even in school I had never taken to what everyone had wanted in life. And I already knew where I would hide the things when I found them.
Where Decklen and I had first met. We both state that we met in the park. But the truth was, I had seen him wandering around the park earlier that day, shouting for someone to hear him. At first, I had thought he was just crazy. A mad man running around in turn of the century clothes looking haggard and petrified. It was when he tried to touch the dog that I ran away.
But I couldn’t forget his face. Broken and scared. So utterly hopeless that I went back that night.
I would hide it there.
And if they got close, I would simply move it. So I would live a life of wandering, and I was okay with that.
But to be honest, I didn’t know where to begin to look. And I had eight months to figure that out. But no one knew this place better than my aunt and Decklen. I would have to ask them, but Decklen had already decided to distance himself from this I thought.
So that only left my aunt who though at first had shown irritation at my secrecy decided to accept it.
“It just hurts. I have been guarding them without complaint for years. I think I have earned the right to be trusted.”
“I agree with you.” I said.
Decklen watched from the kitchen as we tossed things about in his ancestral home.
“And I thank you, but it still hurts.”
I didn’t say anything. Growing up in an orphanage I had known what it meant to not be trusted. I sat up suddenly.
“What is it?” Decklen asked despite himself.
“Something my mom said in the letter. That a benefactor would make sure I was very well off.”
“Yes, when she left, she took a good number of valuables with her. More than enough to secure housing for at least thirty years.”
“Or nice enough housing for twenty.” I said.
Cherise nodded, “Yes.”
“Well.” I said slowly, “I haven’t seen a dime.”
“No, what did you call your home Rheya? A step further from a halfway house?” Decklen said.
“The audacity. I will be in contact with that orphanage as soon as.” My aunt said.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m here now.” I said.
“But you should have been living comfortably not struggling.” My aunt said.
I shrugged in answer and started to flip through some papers in silence while my aunt sat in quiet fury.
Night fell, and we still had nothing to go on. I didn’t know what I was looking for, some texts or a weapon maybe. I moved from my bed to the couch in the room Decklen had once resided in. As I was sitting, he appeared by my side as he always did when I thought of him. He grabbed the throw from my bed and wrapped it around my shoulders.
“What is it coeur.” He asked me.
“I thought you didn’t want to be involved?” I asked him.
“This is something else.” He said almost to wisely.
“The woman Jackie.” I said.
“The one who picked you up?”
“Yes. How well do you think she really knows my aunt?” I asked him.
“You think she might have taken the money?”
I shrugged. Now that he said it out loud, I didn’t believe it for a minute. She had been too kind. Too warm to have any ugly intentions. But Decklen surprised me.
“It’s likely. If her family has been taking care of yours for years, then the daughter of their ancestor would probably be less inclined to show loyalty to yours. Maybe when she returns, I will look into it.” He said.
“So, you’ll leave?” I asked.
I felt my self-start to panic as I always did when Decklen talked of leaving.
“For a little while. I think it may be best to have some time apart. Things have been… odd lately for lack of a better word.” He said to me.
“I told you before, I’m fine.” I said frowning.
I knew he was skirting the subject of something we left unspoken. Because if I voiced it out loud he would leave.
For the better part of a year, my feelings for Decklen had become more than whatever we had before. Something I had spoken of only once, to be rejected gently if not firmly.
I suppose my constant defense of him had made him nervous.
I put myself in his shoes and thought about what I was doing. Blindly defending him without knowing what he was. After only knowing him for a year. I only knew the little he had told me in the first couple days of knowing him. Once he’d recovered his bearings, he’d clammed up and told me little to nothing about who he was. That had been more than a year ago.
For all I knew, Decklen knew exactly what he was and who I was and had in fact wormed his way in and bided his time. And like a fool I had been taken in. I shook my head at that angrily.
“Your right. Maybe some time apart would be smart.” I said standing.
I was angry. Angry at the way he tried to make me see things without saying anything. Giving me lessons and guidance like I was a child. He was twenty-three not forty three. I thought.
“I’m going to go to bed.” I said not looking at him.
“Rheya.” He said softly, almost pleadingly.
“Please go.” I said.
He sighed and touched my hand softly. “If it were any other way.”
“That makes it worse.” I snapped bitingly. I pulled away and walked towards the bed knowing he had already left me with my thoughts…
I woke the next day and after getting out of the bed and not seeing him anywhere I went through my morning routine in a rush. He wouldn’t leave like that I thought. Not without saying a real goodbye.
We’d agreed to that much.
When I had confessed. He’d told me if he left, he would make sure it was with a proper goodbye. Whatever that meant.
I rushed down the stairs to see my aunt in the kitchen. She smiled at me.
“Jackie was just here to drop off some supplies. I must say I almost said something about this orphanage business, but I choose to let it go, that’s what you wanted right? Come one then, let’s have some breakfast, it’s a dreadful day.” She said.
I nodded as I looked at my aunt. I had been there a few days and already I could see a change in this woman. She had a sense of vigor that had not really been their when I had first arrived. It’s amazing what someone’s, anyone’s presence can do when your lonely.
And I realized that this vibrancy would essentially vanish when I left. The thought left the bread in my mouth to dust. I looked away from my aunt guilty. I looked down at my breakfast of scrambled eggs, cut bread, bacon and fresh fruit. She must have woken up early to make this I thought.
“So, I thought perhaps we could search the upstairs for clues.” Cherise said.
I nodded turning back to my food trying to ignore the fact that Decklen was still nowhere to be found. As if able to read my mind she spoke.
“I say, where is this Decklen of yours. He hasn’t left your side since arriving.”
“We decided some time apart would be best.” I said somewhat numbly.
She didn’t say anything at first.
“You know, I have been meaning to say this, but I felt it wasn’t my place.” She took a breath, “But your life with Decklen.”
I already knew what was coming. He’d said the same thing. It wasn’t right, or normal. It was indecent and inappropriate.
“Well, I’m glad you weren’t alone.” She said.
I looked at her slightly jarred. Suddenly the tiredness crept upon me and I placed my head in my hands.
“Rheya, what is wrong dear?”
“I’m just tired.” I said. “Of pretending that things aren’t important. That I don’t care about him.” I said.
“You love Decklen.” Cherise said slowly.
I nodded into my hands. “Not that anything has ever come of it. He said no. That it wasn’t right, or natural.”
“As he should have. He cannot give you a life Rheya. Even with a life like ours. He knows this, accepts this it seems like. It makes me think I have misjudged him completely.”
“So what?” I asked her. This woman I had only known for a few days. “I stop?”
Cherise hands gripped mine and I looked at her.
“Never stop loving Rheya. Love him fiercely and passionately. But when the time comes let him go, as you must. For both of your sakes. He will have to let you go as well.” She said.
I laughed bitterly. “Have you ever been in love?”
It was her turn to laugh. “Once, in a life I’ve all but forgotten. I had a love that shown like the sea just beyond us.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“What always happens. He loved someone else.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. It was a pure love and sweet. And all the more cherished because it ended. All wonderful things come to an end Rheya, such is life.” She said rubbing my hands softly.
I felt the corners of my mouth tugging upwards slowly.
“And besides, his love to another gave me the most wonderful gift.” She said.
“What was it?” I asked.
She smiled, “You.”
“You loved my father?” I asked.
“I did. Very much so. But he loved your mother. And she loved him just as much.”
“That must have been hard.” I said.
“It was at first. But it was something I had to move on from, and I did in time.”
“But how did my father know about all of this. Was he part of the family.” I asked.
Cherise shook her head.
“Cleos’s family has been part of the story for generations. A select few are told of the stories though they cannot see the changed. He was one of them. Eventually they are brought here, to be given the sight. That was where we met.”
“And he stayed.”
“Eventually, you see once changed they spend quite a bit of time practicing seeing without seeing. To act as if they don’t exist is quite hard once you’ve seen one. He stayed with us for over a year. And in that time.”
“He fell in love with my mother. And you him. That must have been hard.” I said.
“It was a long time ago dear. But once he married your mother. He started talking of leaving this place. The world he told us was large and beautiful and we needed to see it. We had never left the manor in all our lives. His stories made your mother excited, and it made me afraid.” She said.
“There are two types of people.” I said.
“Yes. And I was the type who wanted to stay here. And your mother.”
“Wanted to see the world.”
“Something I’ve been telling Rheya to do for quite a while now.”
We turned at the sound of Decklen’s voice. He stood in the doorway staring at us quietly. I stood and walked into his arms.
“I’m sorry coeur.” He said softly running his hand down the length of my hair and pulling me close.
“Me too. Don’t break your promise.” I said. “Don’t leave without saying anything.”
“I swear I won’t.” He said solemnly.
I pulled away embarrassed and I walked back over to the chair. Decklen sat down next to me.
“I took a walk on the property, you have kept it very well maintained.” He said to my aunt.
“Thank you. I truly don’t have much else to do, so the least I could do was keep it beautiful.” She said.
He smiled at that.
“So, our plans for today. We’ll search the upstairs and look for clues as to where my sister hid the contents of that chest.” My aunt said.
I nodded for the moment content.