Chapter 39:...and the devil you don't
I now have an editor, so you all shouldn't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore.
:)
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"No way." Ethan shook his head as he considered the possibility that his redheaded wife was the direct daughter of a dragon, making Lord Delmar that dragon. "No, no there's not a chance in hell."
"Why?" Beth asked.
"Because he would've had to use a disguise gem for... for forever." He replied. "Anyone who wants to can see through mine. And even if he had a better one,
someone
would've seen through it by now."
"What about Elder Goman though?" Kendra countered. "Right before he sent me back with the weapons, we talked about his disguise-- well, it's not a gem; it's a piece of dragon steel. A large piece."
"How big?" Alana asked.
"About like this." Kendra indicated a three inch circle with her hands. "And maybe half an inch thick."
The wood elf whistled. "That's enough dragon steel to take a
major
enchantment."
The dragon huntress nodded. "And he said that no one had seen through his disguise so far, and he socializes with some of the most powerful magic-users of our age."
Ethan looked at Rachel, who looked frozen.
He stepped over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
She looked at him with wide eyes and worked her mouth for several seconds before she finally got a single word out. "Speed."
"What about it?" He asked.
She worked her jaw soundlessly for several seconds until Alana came up and took her hand.
"Hey, it's okay. We're all here for you."
The redhead nodded, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Speed. The day I first heard of you two--" She indicated Ethan and Alana. "--he was so fast."
"Who was?" Ethan asked.
"My father." She nearly whispered. "He encircled me in a ring of fire and I air-rammed my way out. But before I could take a step he'd already..." She covered her mouth. "He was already in front of me. He moved faster than the air-ram; faster than anything I've ever seen except..."
"Except...?" Ethan prompted, but he was pretty sure he knew what she was going to say.
He was right.
"Except Kyrupto." Rachel finished. "My father moved as fast as a..." She shook her head. "I always wondered how he did it, but I never thought that... how could he...?" She looked at her husband, eyes wide and looking like a lost, scared little girl. "Help."
He pulled her into a hug, though he made sure the redhead could still hold Alana's hand as he did so.
She did.
He could actually see the wood elf's hand turning slightly white from the pressure and a slight grimace of pain on the brunette's face, but Alana made no effort to extricate her hand. On the contrary, she introduced her other hand to hold her best friend's hand more closely.
"The black dragon." Kendra breathed.
"What?" Ethan looked at her.
"The black dragon." The dragon huntress repeated. "Dragons don't usually work together. A Drago might force a weaker dragon to work for him, but dragons of similar power levels don't usually work together for long. Well, not closely anyway; they just don't. The black dragon has been working closely with Lord Delmar for years. If Lord Delmar is a dragon, and dragons don't work together long term, then logically..."
She let that hang in the air.
"Holy shit." Ethan breathed, still holding the woman who he now realized was almost certainly the black dragon's daughter. "Holy fucking shit."
For almost a whole minute, he held Rachel while everyone else just stared wordlessly at each other.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
No one even closed their mouths, which were universally all hanging open.
"I... I don't... wow." Ethan finally managed to get out, but he wasn't sure how to finish the sentence. He looked down at the mass of red hair that slowly faded to blonde at the tips.
Wow.
That was just...
Wow.
"Hey beautiful." He whispered into her ear once he'd collected himself. "How you holdin' up?"
She lifted her head to look into his eyes. She had such big, beautiful, blue eyes. They were absolutely captivating, and right now looked like a deer in the headlights mixed with a sad, lost, and frightened little puppy.
"Hey, how's my wise redhead?" He asked again, reaching up and cupping her face in his hands. "How's she doing?"
"She's... uh, she's... um..." Rachel blinked several times.
"In shock?" He offered.
She nodded, her lip quivering slightly. He leaned in and planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
"Hey, I've got you." He said softly as he drew her into a hug again. He caught Alana's eye, and tilted his head to indicate that she should come closer. The wood elf did, and made Rachel the center of a 'hug sandwich'. The redhead seemed to let out a sigh of relief at his first wife's closeness. He didn't say anything about the revelation because he didn't know what to say.
He just held her.
He held her close, gently stroked her hair, and let everything he felt for her leak across their bond so she could feel it.
After several seconds, she spoke. "I'm the daughter of your mortal enemy."
"And I love you very much." He replied.
"I'm the daughter of a dragon." She whispered.
"Yes you are, the baby in Alana's womb is too, and Alana herself if you go back far enough." He said softly. "And I still love you all very much."
She pulled back slightly to look at him, searching his eyes. After several seconds, she spoke. "None of this changes how you feel about me, does it?"
"No." He said gently, but firmly. "Not one bit. And even if it did -- which it doesn't -- it still wouldn't change the fact that I married you. That means I stick around in good times and bad; for better or worse. I would be here for you even if it did change the way I felt about you, which again it doesn't."
She gave him a half smile. "It changes how I feel about myself though."
"Oh?"
"I... I don't..." Her breath hitched and she swallowed hard before continuing. "I don't have the words to explain right now."
"Okay." He nodded, then gently stroked her face with the back of his hand. "I won't push, but let me know when you're ready to talk about it."
He looked at her for a long moment, recognizing that she was easily both the strongest and weakest of his wives at the same time. She had a profound strength of will that rivaled Alana's; perhaps even exceeded it. However, underneath that tough exterior she was still a nineteen year old girl who'd never been properly loved as a child, leading to emotional scars and the walls she had built to protect herself.
She nodded, then thought to him: *Thank you my lord, for not pushing, for letting me...* She swallowed. *I really appreciate it.*
*I'll always be here for you.* He smiled back. *Always.*
She gave him a smile as her face twisted slightly like she was about to cry. He pulled her close again and just held her.
He didn't know what else to do.
* * *
Sarah winced slightly as the old woman carefully made a tiny slice in her skin with a small, razor sharp knife, then held a glass vial under it to catch the tiny trickle of blood.
"What's that for?" The innkeeper's daughter asked, trying not to fight too hard; the old woman had promised that it would hurt much worse if she fought.
"Drawing blood." She replied. "I can't figure out what powers those muscles without examining you." Something about her tone was excited, and her eyes twinkled as she looked at the tablespoon or so of Sarah's blood in the glass vial.
"It's..." Sarah faltered, wanting to explain but having trouble admitting it out loud.
"Yes I know you think it's a demon." The old woman laughed mirthlessly. "I'll forgive your backwards thinking since you clearly don't know better. Ah, that should do it." She removed the glass vial which was now mostly full with perhaps two tablespoons of blood, then put her hand over the cut mark. Sarah's skin tingled for a moment, then the flow of blood slowed, and then stopped altogether.
The old woman had healed her.
"Thank you." Sarah said, relieved that she wouldn't be bleeding until the wound healed naturally.
The old woman gave her a strange look, then shook her head and carried the vial over to one of the tables covered with strange instruments. Sarah craned her neck to watch since she didn't have anything else to do. The old woman dropped a single drop of blood onto a small piece of glass, then set another piece of glass over the first one, making the drop of blood spread. Then she slid the pieces of glass under a strange contraption.
The contraption had a dozen different magnifying glasses in successively smaller and smaller sizes. They were arranged all in a row, and Sarah couldn't even imagine how magnified they could make things. The glass with the blood was slid into a slot under the final lens, and the old woman looked through the top lens.
"Hmm, seems normal to me..." The old woman mused.
"It does?" The Innkeeper's daughter asked.
"Oh dear." The old woman looked at her. "What little secrets are you hiding? Best to tell me now because I will find them."
Sarah gulped.
* * *
Ethan flopped down on the bed in the captain's cabin, hoping that Rachel would be okay. He figured she would be eventually, but right now she was a hot mess. He almost smiled at the accidental double entendre, then he shook his head. She'd wandered away to the front of the Argo with Alana in tow. He felt like he should be there for her, but she seemed to want some space right now.
*Hey, is Rachel okay?* He asked his first wife.
*I think she will be eventually.* Alana replied. *I think it's just shock now, so I'll watch over her for a bit. Relax, I know you're worried, but she'll talk when she's ready.*
