Uninvited Guest

[Elyna]

The young woman watched her lover, heart tight with concern as she watched the struggle he had to speak. What was this sickness and why was it plaguing him? It had come with his frustration and anger about their marriage record and it refused to budge, like a virus that had taken root. Perhaps it was one born of emotion, if not an illness, for pain had seen it appear, she daydreamed wondering if undoing that pain would help it pass. Foolish thoughts. However, listening to what the man had to tell her couldn’t do any harm. If it helped Malcolm rest easier then perhaps it might just help.
He'd caught her attention with her name, but her mouth parted in shock and then horror as he proceeded to air the details of their life and the pain they’d caused Vanessa and his family, in front of that woman. If there were things he needed to say about Vanessa, he should have said them privately. Now, of all times he wanted to speak freely and openly? He wanted to divulge all the weight of guilt he’d been carrying around since their affair had started. Bile threatened to rise once more and she remained, silent and motionless as he continued to lay their lives bare, exposed to the woman who wouldn’t even pay her the courtesy of a name. Her tongue felt dry in her mouth, her own breath coming in uneasy gulps as she forced herself to remain still and not simply walk away. Tears built in her eyes before she wiped them away, staying true to the promise she’d made to herself. No more tears for Malcolm Krome.
You are my world – but. But the sacrifices have been too great. But it was all a mistake. But it’s your fault Vanessa tried to kill you and your unborn baby. But it’s your own foolishness that saw Marcus take his revenge from your body. You are my world – but this should never have happened. You prevented my saying goodbye. You destroyed my family. If we hadn’t – if only we hadn’t fallen in love. Her heart thumped painful against her chest.
I cannot live in the shadow of the dead.
He turned to Violet and relayed her crimes so easily. The Burhan lifted a copper gaze to the blonde and watched her, impassive. She feels terrible. Elyna found herself biting her tongue again, hands white as they gripped the shirt she’d intended to repair. Why did he think that one action deserved another? Pain had been caused by their affair – but it did not justify the actions that Vanessa had taken. He refused to see that though, as he refused to see that Violet should be punished for her wrongdoing instead of begged for forgiveness. Vanessa had made her own choices. If a wife disobeyed her husband and was beaten, was it her fault for transgressing, or the husbands for beating his wife? Malcolm seemed to believe it was the wife’s wrong doing that deserved the punishment, where Elyna believed that the Husband should be strung up for his abuse.
He apologised to the blonde woman and Elyna found herself staring at the tree behind the blonde’s ear. Another apology to Violet, for being unclear. An apology for kissing her, for laying his hands on her. She could barely see him when he turned back to her. His hand extended and rested over hers and she nodded, once.
“I know,” she replied. The skyrider felt as though she could be leagues away. “I know that you’re telling the truth.” She blinked, once, twice and struggled to find strength, “I am sorry you were unable to resolve things with Vanessa and say goodbye,” the corner of her mouth tilted in a faint smile. “Of all things…I would have understood the need to say goodbye,” an opportunity she’d been robbed of when Yoreth had died. Perhaps it would have been upsetting, perhaps it might have caused an argument…but it would have been better and beneath it all she would have been able to understand.
There was so much she wanted to say to him, yet as much as Malcolm had deemed it acceptable to speak so openly in front of Violet, Elyna knew she could not. “T-this is not…” she swallowed “this is not a conversation you and I should have been having with another.” Her gaze shifted to Violet, burning. “By including her in our personal affairs, you have elevated her beyond a member of your team of Knights. Benjamin is not here, Roland, Kathryn – none but Lady Warrick.” The words she spoke were flat.
The world felt as though it was twisting beneath her feet. “Malcolm…Vanessa chose her own actions. No one forced her hand, you cannot make someone into something. We can only ever be responsible for ourselves,” she told him. There was so much more that she refused to say and held back on her tongue. If Elsie, Luke and Herself were not enough to help Malcolm forgive himself for falling in love – then they would never be enough. She wanted to scream at him and then she wanted to walk away. Too often though, she’d been confronted with the stark reality of life without the mortalborn and no matter her silent agony, she made her choice. Life was unbearable without Malcolm in it, her children needed their father. Maybe, maybe in time he would move on from Vanessa and his guilt. It was a thin thread of hope but she clung to it like an anchor. Other voices whispered, what if he never did? What if it took a decade or a century…what if it never happened?
The young woman turned to Violet, “if you ever think to drug or poison another soul, Violet, I will put a three-inch steel-bodkin through your pretty little face. If you ever seek to cause trouble for myself, or my family, I will see you hung for the attempted murder of a commanding officer – I don’t care that you feel terribly or that you only intended to help Malcolm relaxyour actions could have cost lives of the Iron Hand, they were stupid, reckless, dangerous and the actions of a spoilt child and NOT befitting a knight of Moseke. The only reason I’ve not requested a warrant for your arrest and execution, is that Malcolm seems to think himself responsible for your actions. Your life is in his hands,” Elyna stood then, calm and smoothed her hands on her shirt as though they’d been discussing the weather.

[Violet]

“Oh, my deepest apologies my Lady.” She sneered. Was it really so important to that petulant viper that she get the respect she ‘deserved’? Violet would never call anyone, even a commoner, down for not using her titles. They were not things that were so important to her that she bothered treating people as sub human that didn’t use them. “While we’re on the subject, just Violet will do. I don’t need the validation.” The stormy and threatening gaze of her blue eyes had drifted away from Elyna again and back to Malcolm, the rage disappearing from her gaze and being replaced by conern.

He began speaking about his past and about Vanessa. Violet quietly wondered if Elyna was confused. She knew, perhaps better than Elyna, why he spoke about his past in front of her despite Elyna’s stiff and horrified look. She was the echo of the past, someone that reminded him deeply of a woman he loved. It was something she had nearly died over that morning in the tent. But she was ok with that. She had caused him to lash out at her by bringing up those all too painful memories. It was certainly not the only reason, but it was one of the reasons she would never report him no matter how jilted she may get.

Violet was pleased that Malcolm was finally getting off his chest how he really felt about his situation with Vanessa and how Elyna had completely stolen from him any chance he had ever had to make peace with his past. All for the sake of treading lightly around her feelings. Elyna’s feelings, it seemed, were truly the only ones that mattered at all. A lump formed in her throat when he stated that she was his student and a knight and nothing more. It hurt to hear it again.

“You need not apologize to me. I am responsible for causing your reaction, by tampering with the wine. I gave you my word and I meant it. I would never tell anyone.” Her tone was very matter-of-fact, indicating that she didn’t want any argument from him about the matter. It was her fault and that was the way it should be.

She had to fight her lip curling in disgust as he was reduced to begging Elyna to believe him as he always was doing. Was marriage supposed to be like this? Constantly vying for the acceptance and approval of your spouse? Her parents had never behaved like this. No, Violet was certain that this had do with the emotional terror that was Elyna and how she always needed to get her way, never seeming to care how she treated her husband in the process.

Violet let Elyna say her peace, biting her tongue when she had insisted that he was ‘elevating her’ beyond the position of any of his others knights. Was the woman so daft and so completely keen on keeping her under boot like a dog in the dirt? She thought it spoke volumes about the woman. Those around her were lesser beings, deserving of lesser treatment unless they held a title that was a high as hers. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she sunk back against the back of the chair, letting the two of them talk out whatever needed to be talked out.

Her attention was grabbed when the viper’s copper gaze was turned on her. She proceeded to lecture her, threaten her, call her a spoilt child. Violet’s lips parted, her mouth hanging slightly open as she was both shocked and appalled at the treatment she was receiving. “I owe you absolutely nothing. I have apologized to Malcolm and I have admitted my fault in it. I have even said that it is my fault he put his hands on me. Because it was.” She pushed up in the chair, sliding to the edge as her back straightened and went stiff. “Don’t you ever presume to threaten me again, my Lady. What pain I caused Malcolm is only a small, small portion of what you have done to him, all for the sake of your precious feelings and ego. The biggest threat to his happiness? You need only look in a mirror.”

She was nearly spitting she was so angry. Her blood felt hot and she knew that her face was flushing. It felt like liquid fire was coursing through her veins. She stood so abruptly that she nearly knocked the wooden chair over. “The only reason I am still here is because he needs to get back to bed. Malcolm may bend over backwards to make you happy, but you won’t be getting the same treatment from me, Lady Burhan.” She ran a hand through her golden locks, attempting to calm her nerves a bit. How did he even put up with this kind of behavior? Was it like this all the time?

Her blue gaze shifted back to Malcolm. “I apologize. I shouldn’t have done this in front of you, when you are feeling so ill.”

[Malcolm]

His birth had been a trial by fire. It had started with a fever, one neither parent could comprehend. Mortalborn children were difficult to carry to full term and Malcolm had been no different. At first his mother had worried that he was too small, then too big. He had grown faster than any of the children born that same year, and people were starting to talk. When he had come down with a fever, they feared the worst, and then the worst had happened.
Aruki had leaned in to take the child from his bed, his skin burning up, swollen veins shooting hot blood through his body. Malcolm's breathing had been laboured and by the fifth day, the village healer had come to look him over.
“Nothing I can do,” the man had said. “If the fever doesn't kill him, his inner fire will. Take him to the cold region,” the man’s parting words had warned, “it may save him.”
Aruki, however, was a stubborn woman, and it was only with reluctance, on the seventh day, that she had boarded a ship to head north to the snow covered mountains, praying the trip would save her son.
But they didn't make it that far…

Malcolm sat, pinned to his chair in silent horror as Elyna made her promise to Violet and then rose, ready to walk away, they were both so good at walking away. Staying took courage, staying took real guts.
It was Violet that stole his breath, her retort blindsiding both of them. Malcolm shook his head, he didn't agree with what she was saying, there was no way she could know anything about his relationship with Elyna, outside of what she had seen with her own two eyes, not enough, he thought, to say such things.
Malcolm shot to his feet, finger pointed and ready to accuse. “You're far too fa-,” he lost his breath, “too familiar!” He tried again, and wobbled backwards, eyes falling closed.
Was it the sun, he wondered, had he floated away towards one of the white-hot orbs in the sky and burned up? It was a familiar warmth, almost comfortable, but as it intensified, the pain willed the man back to the world of the living.
Malcolm opened his eyes and looked down at his hands to see flames dancing away from the tips of his fingers in slow motion, gradually creeping up his arms over old scars. He moved, too slow, and tried to shake away the fire before it could crawl any further, waving his burning limbs out in front of him. Sight and sound was but a blur, and in the midst of the panic, he looked for Elyna, but as the fire rose to lick at his shoulders and the tips of his dark curls, he felt himself falling, and when he hit the ground, the world went black.

[Elyna]

For someone who never usually used her title, Violets abuse of it annoyed the skyrider. The younger woman made her promise not to pass on Malcolm’s response to her drugging and it was all the colonel could do, not to lash out physically. Instead the shirt was thrown down onto the chair in an effort to dispel some of her growing anger. At least the woman was left stunned, mouth opened as Elyna’s promise sunk into her skull. The young woman’s eyes widened and she joined the colonel on her feet. The skyrider stood still, considering her options and the target that Violet presented. It was an old habit and one she struggled to shake. Violet was currently more muscular, and in terms of strength might come off better in a fight.
Elyna balled her fists at her side. What did Violet think she wanted from her? Nothing. All that the blonde managed to spew was the truth. It was only right that she should admit her fault, did she expect a reward? There were actions to consequence and the young woman didn’t seem to realise the precarious nature of her position. Elyna had not been making a threat, but an honest statement of her intention. Violet had avoided the hang-man’s noose for her crime thus far, and seemed, like Malcolm to pass off the drugging of his wine as something like an immature prank. Perhaps that’s what it was at the heart – but it didn’t change the action.
Violet joined her on her feet and the skyrider tilted her head to one side. Violet was also taller than she was – but then so was everyone. She retorted with Malcolm’s pain. The biggest threat to the mortalborn’s happiness was herself. It was enough to see the bile twisting again, burning through her veins as she stood and fought to remain impassive. Were they not her own fears? That Malcolm could not be happy with her…not when he’d sacrificed so much at the beginning of their relationship? There was so much war in the world and they seemed determined to tear each other apart. Before she could answer the attack, Malcolm stood and her attention snapped to him. He claimed her thoughts, her feelings and desires. Even if the negative seemed to out way the balance of life, he was the sun and the moon in her sky.

Violet wasn’t wrong, Malcolm did look as though he needed to get to bed. He pointed at the blonde woman and retorted. Then he fell. Elyna dropped to the ground, knees pressing into the soft earth as she caught his fall. Cradling his head with her arms before setting it in her lap. Her gaze darted down the length of his body, and he was abandoned. She cast him away from her and ran. Sprinting over the slick grass and diving into the house without hesistation. She had seen this before. Her heart felt as though it was in her throat, breath came ragged and fast. Her ears roared with the sound of the distant see and she dove into the bathroom, collected the bucket of cold water they kept beside the tub and returned. Sprinting down the garden she threw the liquid over the man, his arms and hands. Without waiting to see the effect, she turned again and ran once more.
“Violet get a blanket!” She yelled as she vanished down the path, a blanket could put the flames out – couldn’t it? She slipped into the kitchen, stumbling and hitting her head against the door frame. She felt warm blood trickling down her temple and wiped with away with the back of her hand. The kitchen tap was pulled on full blast and the bucket lifted. She ran out again with the filled vessel, arms stronger than she’d expected from carrying their children. The second bucked doused the man and the sound of running water splashing into the empty sink was all that she could hear. That and her own frantic breath.
“Malcolm? Mal?” She dropped down beside him, “Mal?”

[Violet]

He leapt to his feet in a feat that was surprising for a man as ill as he was. Violet took a step back, bumping into the chair. As he raised his finger, she knew then and there that he was going to defend Elyna. The woman had just threatened to put a bolt in her face for something that was none of her business. What did he expect her to do? Thank her for her kind ‘mercy’ and be on her way? No, Violet had endured enough of this woman’s vile venom for the sake of being polite.

But he was unsteady on his feet and his eyes closed as he wobbled around. She saw it coming, her hand lashing out to grab him to prevent him from falling backwards, but the tips of her fingers merely grazed the skin, just missing her grab. Thankfully Elyna had seen it coming to and had caught his fall, hopefully preventing him from making too much of an impact and breaking anything. His head was cradled safely, though something was wrong. Fire was spreading quickly from his fingers up his arms. Was this what it meant to be an Aukari?

Elyna had dashed off towards the house and Violet was left standing there, stunned. The woman had returned post haste with a bucket of cool water that splashed on his body and hissed and sizzled against his flesh and the flames. It didn’t put all the flames out though. She heard the word ‘blanket’ and ran to the house herself, grabbing the first thing she found that looked even remotely like a blanket. Running back out, she crashed down into the grass and began to smother the flames that were still there. Elyna returned with another bucket and she jerked the fabric back to let her douse him again.

Afterwards when the flames had died and left them an unconscious man, she covered the burned and sopping wet form with the blanket. Oh great, I’ve killed him, she thought to herself, panic clenching her throat and spreading across her body. When she was sure he was breathing, she spared a glance to Elyna. “I’ll help you get him to bed.” She wouldn’t hear any argument from the woman and helped her hoist his limp body up the stairs and finally set him gently on the bed- a feat.

With tears blurring her vision, she looked around the room, the panic only growing the longer she lingered. “Please send for a doctor,” she stuttered out before she clambered down the stairs and out of the front door into the inviting warmth of the Ymiden sky. As soon as her boots hit the dirt outside, she took off in a run down the drive and towards the street. In her mind she kept picturing Malcolm’s unconscious body, steaming and covered in burns. She couldn’t get the image out of her mind as she blindly ran down the street, tears streaking from her eyes.