Dark One- The Khiara Banning Series Book 1

Eighteen

(Here's Chapter eighteen, my wonderful readers! Nineteen should be edited by tomorrow, so I'll post it either when I'm done editing it or the day after.)

Bacon. That’s the first word my mind supplies as I sit up, yawn loudly, and sniff the air. Definitely bacon. I look around the room, and the events of last night come back to me in a whirlwind.

Oh God…I look around the room again, and take it in this time. The words “I will never regret” float around in my mind as I look at the wall where it’s written in so many different languages. I now know what they mean.

I get up and walk towards the enticing scent of food; my panic slightly ebbed as my stomach takes over the task of thinking for my brain. “That smells good,” I say as I walk into the kitchen, only to see that Cael’s been rather busy. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, toast and fresh fruit is set out on the small kitchen table.

“I figured you would have questions. So I thought food might distract you for a bit.” He admits with a sheepish look plastered on his face. His hair is still messy from having slept, and his blue eyes seem impossibly light against the backdrop of his black curly hair.

I shake my head, “It won’t distract me. I can ask and eat at the same time.”

He smiles and rolls his eyes, then runs his hand through his infuriatingly unruly hair. “Of course. You’re taking this awfully well, you know.”

I smile, albeit shakily. “Give me time. I just woke up.”

He walks over to the coffee maker and pours some coffee into a huge mug, then goes to the fridge to add some milk. “I figure a big cup will be good. We have a lot to talk about.”

Nodding I sit down at the small kitchen table where the food is laid out buffet style. I pile some food onto the plate he’s put down for me, and thank him when he hands me the huge mug of coffee.

“Soo,” he says, looking everywhere but at me. “I should probably be honest with you.”

I take a huge gulp of coffee and then sigh. “That’d be nice, yeah.”

“This isn’t the way I wanted to tell you, but nothing is going the way it’s supposed to.” He looks at me finally, his blue eyes so, so sad. “The day we met at Cara’s party was a mistake. I’m…I’m not supposed to exist for you, not yet.”

I put my coffee down. Narrow my eyes and bite my lip. “I don’t understand…”

He sighs. “You were born in Ireland; your birth parents were Irish travellers, Maria and Ewan O’Leary. You were sick, and the midwife didn’t think you’d make it through the night – and you probably wouldn’t have.”

Chewing on a piece of bacon, I nod again. “Yeah,” I say once I’ve chased the bacon down with a sip from my mug. “My parents told me I was really sick when they found me.”

Cael winces and shakes his head. “Well yes, you were. But that was after…”

“After?” I prompt.

His voice softens as if to lessen the blow of what he’s about to say. “That was after you were cursed, by the Goddess Morrigan. Your birth parents were selfish people, Khiara, and the Morrigan preyed on them, as she does selfish people. She is a Goddess of War, and often takes the shape of a crow because they are natural tricksters. In the world of Gods, she is known as the Crow Goddess.”