Lilith & Hunter: The Raven's Nest

New Resolve

Lilith

By the time we arrived at my home I had finished telling Darius everything I knew about Hunter's past. That his father was the emperor's secret brother. That the emperor had offered his brother the protection of our coven knowing his brother could not use magic. That his brother had refused and left to build a life for himself not connected to the emperor. And how he was murdered. I told him how the emperor believed the attack was made by a rebel group that had found out about his brother's relation to him. That Hunter was the only survivor of the attack. And that emperor Belos had personally seen to punishing those that attacked his brother and his family.

Once I was finished I notice Darius had a far-gone look in his eyes. I offered him to come inside so that he could relax a bit. He nodded with a blank look on his face and followed behind as we entered my home. Once inside he made his way to the living room and slumped himself in a chair processing the information I had given him.

I knew that this was a lot of information to take in so I wanted to give Darius some time to himself to put his thoughts in order. When the emperor told me all of this it took me some time to regain my composure even though I didn't know the people involved in his story. I can only imagine how hard it must be for Darius to hear about his mentor's secret life and how he was murdered.

While he stayed sitting in the living room I took this as an opportunity to take Hunter upstairs to his crib and also to get the staff emperor Belos had given me for Hunter. I kept it hidden in my bedroom closet in a secret compartment under the floorboards. The staff had arrived along with the gifts we had received from the baby shower. It was inside a golden case with the mark of the emperor's coven. When I had first seen it I was surprised and even went through Odalia's notes to see who had gifted it. The case did not appear on the list and even after I asked Odalia she said she didn't recall seeing anyone drop off such a case. Nor had she seen one get packed to be delivered to my home with the other gifts.

Once I had opened the case there was no doubt in my mind that it had come from Emperor Belos. When I saw the staff in the case I was reminded of the staff the Golden Guard would carry but at the time I never would have considered that it was his. I never saw the Golden Guard's staff up close so I just assumed that it was just similar because the emperor had made it.

The emperor had noted that this staff belonged to Hunter's father. I wanted to show it to Darius to verify once and for all if it did indeed belong to the Golden Guard. Even now I still had a hard time believing that he was Hunter's father. But this staff would cast out any doubt I still had.

When I went back downstairs Darius still hadn't moved. He looked like he was in some sort of trance as he stared at the coffee table in front of him. His face was void of any expression. Odalia mentioned that Darius had taken his mentor's death quite hard. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to discuss this matter with him. Or at least not so close to the anniversary of his death. On the other hand, he had a right to know and this staff would get rid of any doubt of whether or not the Golden Guard was Hunter's father.

Without saying anything I went up to him and placed the staff on the coffee table so it would be in his direct line of sight. Once he saw the staff his eyes went wide. He moved to touch it but stopped his hand just inches away. His eyes started to tear up again and the expression on his face was that of surprise.

"Where did you get this?" he whispered. His eyes were still glued to the staff on the table.

"It was given to me to one day give to Hunter," I replied not mentioning who emperor Belos had said it belonged. "I take it you have seen this before?"

"Yes of course. It's undeniable this belonged to my mentor. It was a well-kept secret but he couldn't use magic. He never told me where he got this staff from only that it was the reason he was able to use magic." replied Darius pulling his hand away from the staff but not pulling his gaze from the staff.