Page 46 of Dormeo
EPILOGUE
ASH
"You're staring again," Gaap teases, sprawled across Lily's velvet chaise lounge with a glass of wine dangling from his fingers.
Lily tears her gaze from the window, where the Viking practices with his sword in her courtyard, his muscled form gleaming with sweat in the perpetual twilight. "I'm observing. There's a difference."
"Observing very intently," Rose adds with a smile, curled up against me on a nearby sofa.
Barghest lounges at her feet, his flames casting dancing shadows on the ornate walls.
"I'm merely fascinated by his motivations." Lily sniffs, turning her back toward the window. "Who risks everything for a stranger? It makes no logical sense."
To a demon maybe, but humans are odd.
"Some would say the same about a demon princess harbouring a human warrior like he’s a science experiment to be studied." I point out, my tail curling possessively around Rose's waist. “He’s not a pet, Lily. What are you going to do with him?”
Lily raises an eyebrow, and Rose giggles.
I fight the urge to go out to the yard and strike him down in a fit of jealous rage. Only Rose’s soothing touch stops me.
The power emanating from Rose has only grown stronger in the weeks since she chose to stay. Even now, it pulses between us, an invisible current that makes the air thick with potential.
I drink it greedily, growing stronger by the day.
Nobody fully understands it, this symbiotic connection that seems to feed us both. But Rose has theories.
"I’m just teasing," Gaap says, ruffling Lily’s hair, much to her annoyance. His usual playful demeanour slips slightly. "Must be nice having such entertaining company. Some of us are stuck waiting for your father to send us interesting playthings of our own, and he’s been slack as of late. When will he be back to his usual delightful scheming self?"
Rose leans forward. "Have you heard anything? About the woman in the crate?"
"Father remains locked away with his new... guest. I suspect we won’t know what’s going on until it’s almost over." Lily perches on the arm of Gaap's chair. "But that's his way. He loves nothing more than keeping us all dancing to his tune while he plots and schemes."
Rose ponders Lily’s words.
"It will make sense eventually," I assure her, even though I’m not entirely convinced. "For now, we focus on maintaining order while he's occupied."
"Which reminds me..." Gaap sits up straighter, his earlier melancholy falling away. "I have news about the ship that the Kraken took down. The one we thought might have carried your sister."
Rose tenses. "Clara?"
"She wasn't on board when it sank." Gaap's expression turns serious. "We found traces of her presence, but nobody. Whatever happened to her, she's still out there somewhere."
"But where?" Rose whispers. "And why hasn't she tried to contact me?"
Suddenly, it hits me. Father’s words to Lord Farly… “I don’t have your daughter.” He meant Clara.
Anger bubbles up inside me, both at him, and that it took me this long to figure it out.
He knows where she is.
I pull Rose closer as Barghest lifts his head, sensing her distress. "We'll find her." I promise. "Whatever game my father is playing, we'll figure it out together."
Rose nods, but her gaze drifts to the window.
Somewhere out there, her sister is alive.
