Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (27 page)

“How do you just accident
al
ly leave a realm?” Dani asked, her face screwing up in confusion.

“I didn’t know there was a portal there,” he said quietly. “I didn’t even know portals existed. I just stumbled upon it, I guess you could say. And then I was in a new place and I stayed there.”

He’d been sixteen when the Harpies had attacked Oileán na Túir that time, and Garrick’s sister had been an unfortunate casualty. Being that Harpies feasted on Fairies’ essences, the female Fairies were quickly hidden away along with the children, so that the men could fight off the attackers. Garrick had been out and about with both Abby and Cedric. He’d told both of them to get to safety, but Abby hadn’t made it inside in time.

Knowing that Cedric could defend himself for at least a little while, Garrick had tried to fend off the Harpies that had nosedived in to get her. He’d succeeded for a few seconds, until more Harpies swarmed in, overcoming him and separating his sister from him.

He’d begged her to trace away, even while fearing that the Harpies would track it, but Abby had been too afraid, had frozen in place against the threat. Garrick continued to fight them though, and had eventually harmed them enough that he could run in the direction the others had carried Abby. He half-ran, half-traced until he found her, the sight so horrific he had never been able to forget it. H
arpies were huddled around her and one fed
off his sister’s essence as her life faded from her body. Garrick rushed forward, his sword arcing as he connected with each of the winged bitches that had felled his sweet, innocent sister. Only when the screams and screeches of the Harpies faded did he finally drop to his knees, begging Abby to wake up.

She didn’t.

She never stirred. Not even when his tears splashed onto her face, or when he picked her up in his arms and carried her home. Not even when he laid her in her bed, taking care to situate her pillow under her head and the blankets over her body. Not even when his parents came in screaming and crying, yelling at the fate they and their middle child had been dealt.

The last sight Garrick had that day was his father punching the wall repeatedly as his mother rocked Abby in her arms. He’d had to get away, unable to deal with their pain on top of his own.

He’d failed them. His entire family. Abby. And he’d failed himself. His parents hated him, blamed him for her death.

He did too.

And so he
’d left, needing a reprieve
from the heartbreak within the Cyne cottage. He’d walked for hours, thinking about his sister and how she’d looked when she died, and how she was when she lived. He
’d
stopped frequently,
sometimes to
let the tears seep from his eyes, other times to lurch up the contents of his stomach at the thought of never seeing his sister’s smiling face again.

The moon
had risen
high in the sky before he’d finally stopped wandering. He
’d
found a good place to sleep behind the bushes, planning to possibly trace home when the sun came up the next day. He’d stepped through the heavy bushes, using his magic to light the way through the darkness. There
had been
a large boulder, covered with moss of blues and oranges. It had looked comfortable enough, and Garrick
had
sat down so he could rest his back against the hard surface. Only, instead of resting against the boulder, he
’d fallen
through it.

“And that’s how I ended up in your realm,” he explained, looking down into Dani’s bright blue eyes. It startled him to realize why he’d found her eyes so mesmerizing. They were the color of the Caireal seas when the sun was high in the sky. They sparkled like the surface of the water as though her eyes were made of the seas themselves.

She
gazed
breathlessly up at him. Her eyes morphed into sadness as she fought back tears. “Harpies killed your sister. And yet you’re willing to rescue one? Two?” she corrected.

His hand came up and he ran his fingers through her soft, red curls. “Yes,” he said. “I have to if I want to save others.”

Dani stopped dancing then, which forced him to stop as well. She pulled her hand from his and brought both of her arms up to wrap around his neck. Pulling herself to him, she rested her head on his shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault. You were only sixteen.”

Garrick closed his eyes, hearing the words he’d so desperately needed to hear all these years. Even if they came from someone who didn’t know this realm’s customs, the words themselves—coupled with Dani’s opinion—w
ere
more than he’d ever hoped for. His arms came up to her back, bringing her closer to him. He kept his eyes closed, enjoying the feel of her in his arms as her scent hit his nose.

She
was a vision. He’d never imagined she could look so beautiful, not that he h
adn’t always found her so anyway
. It had been ages since he’d seen the fancy dress of his realm, and with Dani wearing the clothes he’d grown up fantasizing ladies in, he realized just how much she put all the others to shame. He looked over her, memorizing every aspect of her beauty. Her blue eyes shown as she
peered
up at him, her red hair gleaming in the light as her pink lips parted. Her cheeks blushed as he looked at her, almost as though she could sense where his thoughts were.

They swayed back and forth for a time, just holding each other as other Fairies danced excitedly around them. It wasn’t until there was a tap on his shoulder that Garrick realized they weren’t even listening to the same song.

“Are you quite finished?” Cedric said. “Can I have the guest of honor back, or do you want to keep smothering her to death?”

Garrick
pulled away
. Her eyes remained locked on his as she breathed heavily. Oh yes, her thoughts had been going the same direction as his own. He only wished he’d kissed her.

Cedric reached around him and grabbed her hand. “Come, my lady,” he said. “Let us dance.”

Garrick stood there, feeling his heart pound as Cedric whisked her away. There was a pang of jealousy that she was in his cousin’s arms. The cousin who
m
he’d rivaled all his life for the favor of ladies far and wide. Another part of him was raw from what he’d told her of losing Abby, her death fresh in his mind.

****

“You seem distracted,” Cedric commented.

“Yes.” She focused on him for the first time since he
’d
led her away from Garrick. “I am.”

“What has he told you that’s upset you so?” he asked, almost as though he was actually sorry she was sad.

“Uh, nothing.”

“He’s not worthy of you, you know.”

“And what do you know of his worth?” she asked angrily.

His eyebrows rose. “I know that he ran off in the middle of a war, leaving
me
for dead. I know that he left his family behind, leaving them to mourn for not only Abby, but for him
as well
. And I know that he, and you, have both been lying to me since you arrived.”

“Lying
to you?”

“Yes, you say you’re from ‘
Ohio
,’ and yet there is no such place. Don’t you think I have the maps memorized? Know which
villages
exist and which ones do not? For that matter, I can’t tell what clan you’re from, and you’ve yet to betray any hints of that. The only thing I can tell about you is that you’ve lost your essence. Though
how you escaped the Harpies with your life intact
makes you that much more of a mystery.”

He thought she was a Fairy?

Thinking back, Dani recalled what Garrick had told her about Harpies taking Fairies’ essences. That it either left them dead, or as weak as a human. That was it! As weak as a human, which she was! This was freaking priceless!

“The only reason Garrick hasn’t been punished yet is because I’ve yet to figure out a fitting punishment,” Cedric continued. “Though I do see that my attraction to you has twisted him up something fierce. That seems adequate enough for the time being.”

Ignoring that remark, she looked up at him. “You do know he didn’t mean to run away, right? It just happened.”

“How so? How does one just
accident
al
ly
run away?” he asked,
appearing
as though he were indulging a small child in a fairytale story.

“Something happened to him
.
He was just out, clearing his head and gr
ieving his own way. Then he was
taken away.” That would be the best way of explaining it.

Cedric’s eyes narrowed. “He was kidnapped? By who
m
?”

“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “And then, not very long ago, he ended up where I was.”

“Which is?”

She glanced over at Garrick who had
finally agreed to dance with someone
.
He didn’t look happy about it, and honestly, she didn’t like seeing it.
She hoped he wouldn’t mind what she was telling his cousin, but she saw no other option. “I was held prisoner.”

His eyes widened slightly. He stayed silent, though he pulled her off the dance floor and led her back to the thrones. “You must either be very valuable or a very good liar.”

“Why one or the other?” she asked, momentarily distracted.

“Because why would anyone hold someone prisoner unless they are powerful? If one is being held as a slave, then they are traded or sold quickly. Only those of great importance are held. Maybe for ransom. Or maybe for other reasons.”

“I guess that makes me valuable then.”

Cedric smiled. “Indeed. So, how is it that the two of you came to meet each other while being imprisoned?”

S
he shrugged. “
We were placed in adjoining cells. We became friends, and we helped each other escape.”

He was leaning forward in his throne now, a single fingertip tapping his chin. “And why did they take Garrick?”

She thought about that for about one-point-five seconds, using the only thing that could possibly make sense within this realm, where the Institute didn’t even exist. “Because they recognized the resemblances to the Blue Blood royal family.” Well
,
well, wasn’t she getting to be a good weaver of lies?

Cedric believed it too
.
S
he could tell by the paleness of his face. “So they were going to hold him for ransom,” he said, understanding why someone would hol
d his cousin. They did
look similar to each other. The eyes were the same color, and so was the build. There were only a few differences, like hair color and the shapes of t
heir noses and lips. Definitely
related, though. That was for sure.

“Why wouldn’t I have ever heard of his imprisonment?” he asked.

“Maybe word got to the castle, but it never made it to you.”

His jaw tightened as he
flicked his gaze
out at the crowd. “That is possible. Maybe father…
.
No, my father wouldn’t have known either. He would have done anything to get Garrick back.” He faced her again. “Why didn’t Garrick tell me?”

“If you were in his shoes, would you tell him that you were captured a few times during your absence?”

“Yes,” he replied hastily. “Well, maybe not. I don’t know.”

“Punishing him doesn’t really feel like the right thing to do now, does it?” she asked, though she hadn’t phrased it like a question. Cedric just looked at her. “You don’t think that losing his sister and losing your trust is punishment enough, even though he never actually did anything wrong?”

The Blue Blood King smiled. He stayed like that, lost in thought with that
grin
on his face. Until finally, he said, “I like you, Danielle Weston. It’s not often that I meet a lady who uses her head.”

****

Garrick watched as Dani excused herself from Cedric’s company. Knowing it was only a matter of time before she’d need to “powder her nose,” he waited for his chance to get near her again
; his agreement with Cedric be damned
.

The pain caused from Abigail’s death was still fresh on his mind, and every sight of his family only seemed to drudge it up more. And little Marian, well, she made it all the worse. Though Garrick was younger than Abby, he still remembered what she looked like as a little girl. Marian
was
just like her, with her chubby cheeks and long brown curls that hung to the middle of her back.
Abby had had
their
father’s eyes, too.

No one in his family said anything to him, didn’t gesture for him to join them, and didn’t make an effort to join him. He couldn’t blame them though. He was responsible for Abby’s death every bit as
much as
it was the fault of the Harpies who actually took her essence and her life.