Book One: Time Of The Clan

chapter 30

"Reese! This is so boring!" Atticus flipped the book upside down angrily.
"Atticus? Do be gentle with my books, killian won't let me hurt you physically, but physical pain is not the only way to harm you. If you don't read those books, and you start to practice magic without any background knowledge, you run the risk of injuring yourself. Would you like to have all your openings reversed? Your organs shifted? Your skin to break out in hives? Magic can and will do all of that if you're not educated." Reese went on. "Furthermore, you are to address me as master or teacher. As I am both of those things. We are not close enough for you to dare call me by my name." Reese glared at him.
Atticus threw his hands up in defeat, why should he argue with the great master Reese? "I hate it here. Stupid. It's stupid." Atticus grumbled. He opened the book again. Something had caught his eye.
"The great heavenly leaders. Alexander, Joanna, lex...."
The list went on and on. He went down until he saw the last few names.
"Sylvester and Lyra, and their three children. Luna, Atticus, and Grim."
"Ree-teacher! My name! It's in here!" Atticus grinned.
"I did tell you that it was the history of magic. Of course it includes the heavenly leaders. It's got records of everyone from heaven and hell. I even have a book with the records of human. All that were important at least." Reese explained.
"I still don't like the books, but I guess this makes it a little more interesting. What did these people do?"
Reese walked over to the bed, sitting down beside Atticus.
"Alexander was one of the first heavenly leaders. Joanna was the first woman who became a heavenly leader. Her daughter, Lex, united the different kingdoms that made up heaven. Heaven today is now untied, but during lex's time heaven was no where near as perfect as they tell us today. Though, that's not the case even now. Heaven is rather corrupt even still. Especially with the new king."
"Teacher?" Atticus felt the memory of Aamon and killian pop into his head. "Why do you think killian didn't tell me about Aamon? Why didn't I know?" Atticus asked.
"It's a sensitive subject. He doesn't enjoy talking about it much. He hasn't even said much to me. You can bring it up with him, though, he might want to know how you figured it out." Atticus didn't want killian to learn about him meeting with Pedro just yet. Soon, but not yet.
"You said heaven got a new king?" Atticus frowned.
"Yes. Your eldest brother, Grim. He took up the throne after your father passed away. Your sister rules underneath him, supposedly." Reese glared at the text.
"Is something wrong?"
"I don't think your brother came to be a king by good means, is all. I think its rather suspicious that the former king was ill, and then passed away as suddenly as he did. He was strong for many hundreds of years, why was it now that he passed? And to sickness?" Reese sighed. "Keep reading, I expect one of these books to be finished tonight, and another one by tomorrow. Your choice. The third will be homework to read with killian, or by yourself. I still expect presentations." Reese stood up. "I'm going to shower, please, try to behave yourself while i'm gone." Atticus nodded.
He picked up the book again, he saw small pictures of each heavenly ruler, and even him and his sister, but his brother grim wasn't in there. Frowning he picked at the side of the book.
"How is grim not in here? Me and luna are, so where is he?" Atticus mused. He continued flipping through the book page by page. He had finished about half of it by the time Reese had left the showers. He took over 45 minutes, a great feat. Though, Atticus could imagine washing long hair might be difficult. Killian never took that long of showers.
"Teac....oh." Atticus diverted his attention; Reese had walked out with nothing but a towel around his waist.
"Eyes off, I have a soon to be wife." Reese chuckled.
"I know! I heard. I'm not interested, you're just pretty. That's all." Atticus flushed slightly, grinning at Reese.
"Good. If you need any...sexual help I'm sure killian would love to assist you." Reese teased. "He talks all about you. He truly does love you. Y'know, I can't wait to marry my betrothed, however, as you heard I cannot as of yet." Reese gained a wistful look on his face. He looked as if he were longing for something that had been taken away from him. Atticus watched as Conner prepared some small packets and began to warm up water.
"Tea?" He asked.
"Now, Atticus? I won't keep you overnight again, but I expect for you to be mature and actually read those books." Atticus nodded clutching said books.
"Thank you, Reese. You may leave." Killian chuckled at his behavior; he knew that Reese wasn't hounding Atticus because he wanted him to read as much as he was hounding Atticus because he wanted to keep his books safe.
"Now we're all alone. I missed you last night. I had to hug my pillows because I couldn't fall asleep without something to embrace." Killian grumbled. He pulled Atticus onto the bed. "Those books can wait, I can't." He pulled Atticus's face close and left a small kiss on his lips. Killian left small pecks up and down Atticus's neck.
"Clingy much?" Atticus licked his lips with a grin.
"Very. Now, tell me, what were you actually doing before Reese found you?" He asked, a growl present in his voice.
"Would you believe me if I said nothing?" Wringing his hands nervously, Atticus yawned.
"No."
"Yes?"
No." Killian raised an eyebrow at Atticus, a disapproving look fluttering across his face.
"Well....i was doing nothing." Atticus grinned at the wave of frustration that crossed killians face.
"That's a shit faced lie. I'm not going to pry because I value your privacy, however, if I feel that whatever you're doing is dangerous I will intervene." Killian buried his nose in Atticus's neck, breathing deeply. Atticus nodded and hesitantly reached a hand out. He linked his hands with killians, rubbing circles on the back of it.
Atticus broke the comfortable silence by asking, "why didn't you tell me Aamon was your brother?"
"What?" Atticus felt nails fig into his skin.
"Fuck...ow! Killian!" He yelped.
"I'm sorry...I...!" Killian paused. "How did you know?"
"Reese...uh...he gave me a book...it has the bloodline of all the royals, heaven and hell. You and Aamon were on the same family tree, labeled as brothers." Atticus explained. He cupped the stinging hand. Killian's nails had cut thin lines into them and small dots of blood had welted up into the wounds.
Atticus attempted to kick his hands in hopes that it would heal the way it did when he licked other wounds, but it was to no avail.
"Atticus? You're bleeding! Did...did I do that? He grimaced. Killian summoned a roll of gauze and some bandaging. He wrapped Atticus's hands carefully.
"Aamon...he always craved the throne. I never felt safe with the idea of him being a leader. He was cruel and unjust. He hurt anything that breathed just because he could. I had a cat named Mali. He left her outside in a pool of water, stuck so she couldn't get out. When the ice froze, inevitably, she froze with it. She was the first of many creatures to lose their lives to him." Killian paused for a Moment. His lips trembled as he fought back his emotions.
"It's okay to let it out killian, it'd only me and you here. And maybe mephisto, considering that bastard and his trinket that he left with me." Atticus chuckled. Killian smiled and continued, despite his eyes watering ever so slightly,
"We had a little sister once. She was so, so small. And so, so sweet. I loved her. But at two years of age, she died due to a strange illness. Her mind was corrupted, her body became like a thick goo in some places. There were little parts of her that remained...good. She became a spirit of bad energy. Her skin flaked off, her eyes bled, her fingernails grew....it was a sight for sure. The doctors said it was abnormal, but they couldn't do anything. I knew Aamon was behind it. He had practiced bad magic for a long while, and I know he was jealous of all the attention she got. Our baby sister, no, my baby sister was sealed away and killed. I still remember how her soul screamed as she was eradicated. It's haunting." Killian was trembling at this point of the story. "After that, my parents became numb. My mother hid herself away and my father became abusive. He beat me and Aamon any time something happened. The seventh were harassed baches my mother no longer serviced him in bed. The kingdom began to fall apart. My mother later took her life only a few years later. My father became a tyrant. He had many consorts. If one didn't please him? Off with her head. Me and Aamon watched so many people suffer throughout our child. I hated it, but Aamon? He reveled in it. Aamon was studying dark magics. You see, in our culture, its not the oldest that takes the throne, but the strongest. All remaining siblings must fight for the throne. To the death. Aamon surrendered and ran away when he fought. He has built his own kingdom. A weak one, but a kingdom nonetheless." Killian grimaced as if he just tasted something fowl.
"I miss them everyday. My mom and my sister. The worst part? My sister never got to experience a childhood. Though, with how our father was...she probably wouldn't have had one either way. My father thought women were weak. She would have been disposed of." Small tears made their way down killians cheek.
"Wow. That's...that's horrible." Atticus was breathless. He remembered aamons cruelty towards his subjects, but Atticus had never thought it would be that.... graphic from the beginning.
"When I grew up, I fought Aamon and won. My father rests in the underground tombs. The tombs are carved deep into the ice.
Killian pulled Atticus into him.
"You're the first person that I have shared that much with. It's rather freeing."
"I would hope so. All that...especially as a child is...well...horrible!"
"Indeed. Also, I know you went into the chambers below the castle. You didn't even try to hide your necklace." Killian chuckled, a watery smile crossing his face. Silder chimed in response.
"That brings me to me next question, I suppose. Since I clearly can't hide anything from you, I must ask, why are the wolf people locked down there?"
"Wolf people?" Killian paused a moment.
"Do you not know? There are people that have been locked down there! I was told that killian locked them down there!" Killian pulled back slightly.
"Hey, I didn't lock anyone down there. The dungeons haven't truly been put to use since I was king, apart from your enchanted necklace at least." Killian mused. He tapped the bed with his fingers.
"Then who was the 'killian' that they talked so much about?"
"Possibly my father. We shared the same name."
"Possibly. Me meeting with the wolf people was supposed to be a secret anyways. Why are you not mad about silder?" Atticus asked.
"Oh? I am. However, I am aware that I cannot stop you if you truly want to do something. If this is important to you I will support it as long as it's doesn't become a threat to our immediate safety. Speaking of threatening jewelry, where is mephisto's compass?" Atticus rummaged through the dresser for a moment before pulling it out.
"Here." Killian took it.
"Now that you have silder, I am sure that you wont be needing this." Killian glared at the object; it crumbled slightly before falling into ashes.
"Especially now that it is in...less than good condition" Atticus grinned.

Word count: 2057