Mara - The Lady Grief (Completed)

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2650 B.C.E., Tower of the Watchers, the Desert

Winter, Month of Shabatu, One Year and Eleven Months after Mara's Rebirth

Thane

"Motherfu-vipers!" Holsten shouts as Nasir pins his arm down on the floor.

"Again, you lose," Nasir leans back and folds his arms over his chest, smiling.

Gray growls to himself, his hands shaking a little as he sits near the two arm-wrestlers and waits for his turn.

The wind howls, shaking the tower and sending it creaking. Fucking sandstorms. We haven't been able to travel for nearly two weeks. Two weeks too long, if the agitation of my female is any indication.

I let my eyes drift over my warriors, all ringing the outer walls with the exception of one bit of space holding the elderly males and the females with the babies.

It still amazes me that we all fit in this space. It also amazes me how much food the corpulent Positite packed, although that's fast becoming short. We'll have to hunt, soon. I won't have my Lady going hungry and quite frankly, I don't have ceaseless amounts of blood unless I eat myself.

My eyes drift over to my Lady and Poppy. I smile at the little female who is gazing at me curiously.

She takes her fingers from her mouth when she catches my eyes. "Story?" she asks, before popping her fingers back in.

My lady gives me a warning look. I may have told my little fire demon about the Eulepedia demon the other day. The little mite had nightmares. Apparently she hates worms. Who the fuck knew?

"A princess story?" I ask her.

She smiles and nods.

"Right, well, a princess story... ah, once there was a princess, long ago, really long ago, and one day she was out in the meadow picking flowers, when out of the sky came a Rohora demon with four heads and wings as big as-"

"Oh, for the love of Nateos. Learn to tell bedtime stories, you fool," the old Patriarch huffs.

I scowl at him, but my expression softens when I see the laughter on my Lady's face.

"You tell a princess story, then, Patriarch," I challenge him.

"I will, young fool."

While the Patriarch tells his story that I admit is better than mine, I dare to walk over to my Lady.

"Can you tell me what's in the jar, Princess?"

She eyes me warily. "Two hearts," she says quietly.

I raise an eyebrow. "Now, that's a story that's better than a princess fairy tale."

She smiles sadly and glances at Poppy. "You said, her father, he's in the Underworld being punished?" she asks me softly.

"He is," I answer.

"Do you... do you know what he did?"

"Yes," I growl out. My hands shake with rage towards that male. This precious baby lived in a fucking cellar, for gods sake, because of the evil in that male.

"I had heard her mother, then her, their grief calling out to me. I was too late, Captain," she says tearfully. "I couldn't save her mother. And... there were two Fourth House soldiers. They wouldn't let me explore the house so... um... Thelios killed them. He set them on fire. Their bodies burned and their spirits were trapped. I thought I could set them free, but all I got was these hearts and two shades who keep following me."