The Magic of Three

10.

Finding Fitz was proving more of a struggle than she'd thought it would be. She jogged past the library towards the grand staircase, he had to be in the stables. It was the only place she hadn't checked.

The day hadn't started out well and she cursed as the stinging in her arm flared up as she jogged down the stairs. It had been nearly three days since the near-death experience and the nurse had insisted she stay in bed until she deemed her arm well enough to move. The small trips to the bathroom had seemed like mercy but the ferocious woman had even limited her toilet breaks to twice a day. It had been torture, utter torture.

She grimaced as she thought about the amount of classes she'd missed, she didn't have the time to fall behind in weapons practice especially not with the stronger undead coming on to the blade-seer's lands. She'd heard the nurse's whispers, as quiet as they'd been in the dead of night as the woman had conversed with another. There were hordes of undead attacking them now and it had only gotten worse, Caleb hadn't been seen for days and the nurse had made it clear she thought the old man had gone to the tribunal about the recent occurrences.

As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs a shiver passed through her as the icy air touched her skin. Someone had left the double doors of the entrance open and she strode through them quickly when she heard the clanging of the bell signalling the end of the morning classes. A group of voices came from one of the rooms under the stairs and she pushed the doors shut with her back and breathed out in relief as they closed with a squeak.

It was even colder outside and she rubbed her shoulders in an effort to warm up. Her breath formed small clouds of mist in the frozen air and she quickly jogged around the massive building to the rear of the mansion. A slight hint of ice covered the grass and dark clouds covered the sky; it looked like it would rain soon.

Her stride slowed down as she saw the wooden structure of the stables around the corner and her footsteps crunched on gravel as she entered the building.

It was empty and the horses didn't acknowledge her as she creeped forward. A horse brayed from one of the stalls further along but otherwise it was silent, the actual horse stalls were quite big and bales of hay were stacked in most corners. The smell of wet hay crept up her nostrils and she wished she'd brought apples to feed to the horses.

She crept forward and almost smiled when she heard his voice, he was here. She stopped for a second as her thoughts turned to how she would apologise, he had saved her but his trek in to the snowy forest hadn't been by choice. Her mind flashed to the look of utter betrayal in his eyes as he'd gazed down at her when she'd said sorry. She exhaled, he'd forgive her, he had to, she would beg it from him.

"I'm sorry".

The words made her pause behind the stack of hay that separated her from him and she, unconsciously, peeked in to see who he was speaking to. Her eyes widened as she saw him sitting on a bench with Tia in his arms, the small girl's brown hair was loose and cascaded down her shoulders prettily. She watched as Fitz played with a strand, twisting it between his fingers.

The girl looked up at him but the girl's back was to her so Erena couldn't see her expression.

"I love you so much Fitz", the words were so full of hope that Erena felt her teeth grit.

Fitz gazed down at the girl in his arms and Erena watched as he brushed his lips on the girl's forehead with a strange look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry", he repeated and this time she recognised the emotion on his face all too well; regret laced his eyes.

Tia gave a small sob, "I don't care that you went to look for her", she said before pausing and Erena found herself pushing forward to hear her next words, "You could have told me- you just left me- all alone". Fitz's expression remained still and Erena watched as his fingers continued to play with the strand of Tia's hair. He didn't say anything and she almost wished he would speak, say something. But he stayed quiet and even Tia seemed resigned to his silence. Erena watched as the girl burrowed deeper in to his chest.

"How did you even know she was being attacked", she crept forward as Tia's head bobbed up to look at Fitz. Erena had been wondering the same thing ever since she'd gained consciousness after that fateful situation.

"My magic", Fitz's voice lacked any emotion as he replied, he didn't elaborate further but he didn't need to. Both Tia and Erena knew what he meant, Fitz's magic manifested in a way where he could feel changes in magical energy and pinpoint exactly where it had come from. He must have felt her magic pulse as she'd descended in to her vision and raced out to find her when he'd located her outside of the mansion.

At that instant Fitz looked up and Erena found her eyes clash with his blue ones. She saw his face tighten as his gaze traced her features harshly before resting on her eyes once more. She felt her lips move in an act of surrender, her eyes glazed at her silent apology and they stayed locked in each other's gazes for a heart beat but at the last moment his eyes flashed with a strange emotion. She saw the tightening of his jaw as he looked back down at the girl in his arms.

It was a dismissal. She felt something sink inside her. The look in Fitz's eyes were all to clear, he hadn't forgiven her and he wasn't going to. She crept back from the couple and found herself walking slowly back towards the house. The wind had started howling around her and the slight drizzle of rain started to pour down.

The cold didn't bother her this time and had she not moved her hand up to wipe the rain from her face she would have missed the tall man creeping in through the iron gates of the entrance. Her eyes widened as she saw Caleb look wearily around him before striding towards the house.

It wasn't his arrival that had shocked her in to stopping and she released a breath as all thoughts of Fitz left her mind. The pale man had  smears of  blood stained on his face and hands. Caleb never hunted but it hadn't looked like he had been on a hunt, there had been no blood on his cream robe but the red sticky scrapes had been all too apparent on his white skin. She waited for a while and as the second bells for the start of the evening classes rang, her feet trudged in to the house quietly. The beginning of a headache pounded at her temples and she felt almost glad that the nurse had forbidden her from going to any classes.