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“Only a monster could kill his own brother,” one of the women in the group near us hissed.
I recognized her a little. She looked kind of like Locha.
Realization hit me, then.
This was her family.
Since Zoran couldn’t hear her words, and therefore hadn’t been hurt by them, I decided that ignoring her was probably the best way to take away the power of her harsh words.
Zoran and Crest had been enemies for a long time. They hadn’t fought since Zoran had gotten his magic, so Zoran had let him live as long as he could.
But every water fae knew that waking Heliai was a death sentence. If she had gotten loose, the oceans wouldn’t have been safe for any of them. Despite the fact that they were related by blood, Crest had to pay the price for his actions.
Shared blood wasn’t an excuse, or a free pass to act shitty. I knew that as well as anyone.
Zoran signed, “Say your final goodbyes.”
I voiced his words, quietly.
Everyone remained silent, though I heard someone from Locha’s family sniffling.
Slowly, the rafts on the beach propelled themselves to the ocean, and then onto the water.
None of us spoke as we watched the rafts float further and further away until they had disappeared entirely into the setting sun on the horizon.
“Despite everything, I wish you peace,” Zoran signed to them. “Do not challenge me or the Aboa, and we will have no other problems.”
I quietly translated the words.
Though a few of the family members glared at us for a moment, one of the women finally burst into tears.
The glares vanished, and most of them nodded at us.
Zoran took my hand, lacing his fingers between mine as we walked away from them.
“Do you want to stay and mourn?” I asked him, my voice barely above a whisper. The wind blew against us lightly, carrying my hair out behind me and toward the ocean with its rolling waves. The sunset was a masterpiece of reds, oranges, and yellows that I could’ve watched for hours.
He squeezed my hand once.
No.
So we continued.
Both of us were silent as we headed to the castle, and I couldn’t help but try to see things from Zoran’s point of view.
He had killed the brother who had tormented him as a child and despised him forcenturies. There must’ve been a sense of relief to knowing that threat was gone, that he wasn’t going to end up with a knife in his chest one night while he was sleeping.
But on the other hand, they had still known each other all that time, even if they had hated each other. They had still grown up in that toxic family together and struggled with the mixture of love, hate, and fear that grew in a home like that.
So he must’ve been feeling some sense of loss.
And that, paired with the utter exhaustion of transporting all over the elemental lands, after comforting a group of people mourning fae he had actually liked…
What a shitty day.
I wanted to make it better for him, somehow.
I brainstormed options—I could offer a back massage, or a blowjob. I didn’t know how to give either of them, but how hard could it be to figure out?
