Page 20 of Ashborne Phoenix

Her eyes slowly turned round, until the whites showed all the way around. “Vane… did you—”

“He’s dead,” I croaked. “He tried to take her and I… he’s dead. Oh shit, Mother. He’s dead!”

The night was a blur.

Mother’s reassuring whispers.

A hot bath.

Thick, soft towels that felt like blades on my sensitized skin.

Servants that wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Whispered conversations in the hallway outside the door.

And a dizzying swirl of emotion and confusion that slowly blurred my sight.

That night comes into focus only for a few moments.

I knelt on the floor, naked as I was born, my mother standing over me, holding my face, her eyes glowing with power as she beamed at me and whispered over and over.

Don’t cry.

He should never have done that to you.

He deserved to die for that.

He learned, didn’t he?

The power… you grow, Vane. You’ll continue to grow. I’ll help you.

Give it to me.

You’re too young for the Dominus. You can’t be expected to walk through the inevitable challenges, or carry the responsibility for all the Cruors of the Kingdom. At your age, I’d never ask that of you, Vane. It isn’t your time yet.

I’ll take it from you.

You don’t have to carry it.

Give it to me.

I’m here. Let me help you.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

I was too weak. Too frightened. So, I gave it to her. The deepest well of power. The darkest strength. I gave her the mark that only a man had ever held. Begged her to carry it for me until I was strong enough to bear it.

And I screamed, clawing hands into her back as she embraced me, then tore it from me.

She’d saved me.

And I was so fucking grateful.

Forgiven