Wicked Game

Fifteen

"I sipped the moonlight from her lips and stumbled home drunk off the taste of her."

~

Her eyes flew open.

Athena gasped and sat up, heart pounding at an erratic pace. The waning moonlight filtered in through the curtains, bringing with it a gust of wind. She shivered gently, the cold trailing down the skin of her spine doing nothing to soothe the hot blood rushing through her veins. As she buried her face in her hands and drew in a breath, she could almost smell the dewy scent of wet grass still emanating off her skin.

She could hear Daniel calling her name, the concern in his voice evident. Closing her eyes, she exhaled, before looking up.

He stood near the bed, arms folded against his chest. She shifted slightly, giving him space, and he sat down beside her, turning to look at her with a worried expression on his face. She looked away, trying to calm the wayward pacing of her heart.

"Visions," she mumbled. "She's sending me visions."

"What?"

"The witch," she said shakily.

"The witch?" He echoed.

Her fingers reached out to clutch the coarse fabric of the bedsheets. "I saw her again."

"Athena," he spoke, and she turned to look at him. "The witches are dead."

"No," she shook her head agitatedly. "Not all of them. She first appeared to me a few weeks ago. She said I had to find her to get the answers we seek."

Athena waited for a response, but was met with silence. She studied his face, watching as the warmth of his eyes was replaced by incredulity. "A witch," he repeated, staring at her in disbelief.

She nodded. "The first time I saw her was before we left Arlana. She said that there exists in Mumora something that we desperately need."

He clenched his jaw, folding his hands against his chest. "And you believed that? Never for a second did you stop to think that we may be walking into a witch's trap?"

She narrowed her eyes. "And how is travelling to Elderfrost with no inkling of what we may find any less of a trap?"

Daniel sighed and looked away. "What else did she say?"

"That evil isn't stirring, it has already risen. She told me to find her, and said that she possesses the answers we seek."

Daniel trained his eyes on the window. "And what of the vision you had today?"

Athena closed her eyes. The vivid images came to life in her mind, ever detail seared into her memory like hot iron. "I saw my birth."

Daniel's brow rose skeptically. "Your birth?"

She shivered slightly, goosebumps rising on the back of her neck. "Daniel," she turned to him. "How exactly did my grandfather defeat the Queen?"

He frowned slightly. "He killed her."

"I know," she pressed. "I want to know how it happened."

Daniel shrugged. "The prevalent narrative is that they surrounded the Queen, and King Teyrnon cut off her head."

He paused, waiting for a reply. Athena hummed softly, lowering her gaze to her hands. "Doesn't that seem a little too easy to you?"

Daniel stared at her. "I didn't see it happen, but I was there on the battlefield. Winning that war was anything but easy. The last hour of the final battle was unlike anything you could possibly fathom."

He turned to face the window. "Most of the witches were dead. The Queen was surrounded, we thought we were close to victory." He closed his eyes, sighing softly. "That was when she unleashed it. The disease. It spread its tendrils across the land, and the very earth was scorched black. One by one, the elves and men that it touched started falling. All across the battlefield, hundreds of them dropped to the ground. We tried to wake them up, but couldn't. When they finally rose, their minds had been wiped blank. Their strength had multiplied tenfold." He drew in a breath. "Their only purpose was to kill."

"There were a few hundred of them, and thousands of us. We tried everything in our power to kill them, but nothing worked. Fire could hurt them, but it was not enough. They would have slaughtered hundreds of men, and our own, were the Immortals not immune to them."

Athena sat back against the pillows, her eyes on his face as she listened.

"And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The Ancients paused, as if frozen in place and time. We looked around, stared at each other, but no one had an inkling of what was going on. That is when a cry pierced through the air. The Queen was dead."

Daniel sighed gently. "All of a sudden, they turned around and took off. Every single one of them. We chased them as they ran to the forest. Lighting our torches, we followed, determined to wipe them out no matter what." He raised his head to look at her. "They had disappeared. Vanished, as if plucked off the face of the earth. We scoured the plains of Elderfrost for days, swept through every inch of the forest, but there was no sign of them."

"Daniel-"

He held up a hand. "You are a child, even if you think otherwise. You are fortunate to have only ever known the peace, Athena. Every second of the War felt like an eternity, and the memories haunted me for years to come." His eyes hardened. "The witches are ruthless and unfathomably powerful. They will draw you in and earn your trust, before swooping in for the kill. I know not what the witch told you, but to know that they may still be alive, and to allow yourself to be manipulated by their words without saying a word of it to myself or your father was not only naive, it was nonsensical."

Anger rose within her. "You left," Athena spat out. "Only to turn up six months later with a half hearted explanation."

He stared at her, exasperation writ on his features. "You think I wanted to go? That all those months were a walk in the garden?"

"I never said they were," she said. "However, if you didn't think I deserved to know anything then, then I don't owe you an explanation now."

Daniel met her gaze, studying her silently. Her eyes were steady as they stared into his, yet the hurt in them was evident. He sighed, taking both her hands in his gently.

"Why does this bother you so much?" he asked softly. "I left without you because I didn't want you coming with me. I didn't want you on this quest either." He squeezed her fingers gently. "You're not meant for any of this. I'm a soldier, you're not. You're worth more than that. I left alone because I'm expendable. You aren't, Princess."

Silence settled in. Neither person spoke as they held each other's gaze, his words hanging in the air between them. Athena leaned forward, grabbing the fabric of his shirt as she tugged at it gently. His heart sped up as she pulled him closer, her face inches from his, looking up at him with those wide, beautiful eyes. Her raven hair tumbled down her back, and as her fingers brushed softly against his collarbone, every inch of his skin felt electrified. His hand dropped to her waist, wrapping around her small figure as he pulled her impossibly closer.

She buried her face into the crook of his neck, her warm breath intoxicating. Her arms came up around him, fingers digging into his back.

"You're not expendable," she whispered. "Not to me."

The first light of the sun kissed the horizon, and the sky blushed, as warm tangerine hues spread outward into the ominous darkness of the withering night. Dawn was upon them.

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