Of Soot And Cinders

XIII

A|N: 1k guys, thanks so much!!! It means the world! And to show you that here's some fluff (but not entirely because I also thrive in plot) because I really just need more happy things in my life rn and so do Soot and Grimm, hope this happiness helps you as much as it helps me
Also hope the length makes up for the wait (that's what he said)
Lots of love
Crucible

GRIMM

He clung to me like he was hanging off a cliff and I was the single rope keeping him from falling, and I clung to him so he knew that I wouldn't let him fall.

We had reached my room hours ago, from what I could tell of the sun through the window. My rooms at the estate here were nowhere near as extravagant as those at the royal palace but it never bothered me. The bed was comfortable enough, and large enough for both me and Aita to fit, though he was so small it hardly made a difference, and with how close we were pressed together...

Our legs were entwined, one over the other, interlaced like ribbons on Madalena's dresses. The height from the top of his head to his hips fit within the length of my torso. He was so small, some of it I knew was from malnutrition, his arms were nearly as thin as my fingers, nothing but skin and bone, his hips and cheeks were sharp. And his legs, or rather just the one seemed to have a few places where his bone dug almost painfully into mine. Though it could have just been the angle that it was folded.
I didn't care though, because right now I had him in my arms, and I wasn't planning on letting go.

It had nearly killed me when Wolf has said that we needed to leave the royal palace, that his lead would only meet us out at the southern castle. But with much reassurance from Madalena I had left, though my heart had stayed back with Aita.

Wolf's lead had almost been worth it. When I had turned eighteen a Lady of the royal court had come to me, pulling me aside during the birthday festivities. Lady Marionette Whitehead was a fearsome woman, she—and her late husband—owned the largest trading company in all of the northern continent.
My mother had worked hard when she was alive to gain the favor of the Whitehead family. It had been her last act as queen to sign a treaty with them to open up the kingdom to trading from everywhere under the supervision of the Whiteheads.
And so not only had the two women ensured economical security for the entire kingdom but they had gained a friend in each other.
When she had finally pulled me away the words out of her lips had startled me nearly to death.

"I don't think my sons death was an accident."

It was the only part of the conversation I could remember clearly, I knew I had confessed to her that I wasn't aware she even had a son that had died. I knew her step sons, they were two of my top knights. But she told me of another, the child of her and her mate, a boy of six who had died while she was on a trip of foreign affairs. Her second husband, Lord Tremaine, had been tasked to watch her child but had sent word halfway to her destination that the boy had fallen into the river and drowned, his body washed away by the white rapids.
I knew she had cried while she told me, and I knew they were tears of anger. She didn't think it had been an accident.

I had searched mercilessly for years and found nothing. It was only with the help of Wolf (which earned him the esteemed spot as the future kings beta) did I finally find a small clue. But the one Wolf had pulled me to the estate for this time was much more important.

He had found a maid belonging to the Whitehead estate. She was old and had worked for the family for fifty years. When Wolf pulled me to talk to her she was crouched in a pasture, holding a lamb in her lap, watching her small herd graze.
She hadn't even greeted us before she spoke her only words, "The boy wasn't dead when he left the estate, and it wasn't the river that took him."