Airel - Aaron Patterson [135]
And yet he would refuse to ask why. He knew such a question had no answer. The deeper one penetrated into the deep and the void, the more obvious it became that every question found its beginning and end in El. Now, yet again, Kreios had been brought back to the bedrock. The foundation of All. And it was unglamorous, and it was unlovely; and yet—for some reason that he did not yet understand—that did not matter.
He thought of Airel. In a very short time she could have been, could have done, so much. The waste was vile and unspeakably bitter. He had been so foolish to hope that hope would bud and bloom into peace, once he had put an end to the Seer.
His poor, wretched, wicked brother had chosen a far different path, one that had burned with fire and fury and the self. Kreios had dared to believe that he would be filled with relief. But the cup he now drank was not what he had expected.
Light flowed outward from his body on feathery strands, waving in the breeze. He slowly became lighter, the earth releasing him from its hold, and he took to the air, gentle as the breath of his newborn baby girl so very many years ago.
He spread his arms and raised his head, rising up above the trees. He gathered his resolve as he gathered speed, launching himself into the sky, flying straight up, leaving thunderclap behind.
The sound scattered a few birds. Michael stopped along the path through the woods. Kreios headed north.
There were still enemies to vanquish. The Brotherhood was leaderless. There were many yet to kill. And Michael would be the last.
***
Kim’s body lay silent, her breathing rapid, the shock claiming ownership over her. Beside her, by a tuft of grass, the bloodstone lay blazing red, whispering. Alone, abandoned, and left. In an instant, she awoke, startled, and looked: red.
Epilogue
Airel’s body was cold and wet in his arms. The shiver that he waited for, that should have come from her chilled body, never came. She was completely still, eyes closed. She looked like an angel. Her skin, pale, smooth, fair; her lips full, the faintest red flushed within. What have I done? Why was he so confused and mixed up over this girl? It was just another job. He couldn’t count how many times he had had to do something just like it in the past. He was even good at it; had been doing the same things for far longer than he could remember. He could make instant friends, could find out if the target was one of the Sons of God in a week or less.
But Airel had been different. He had wanted that, though. He had wanted her to be different. He had hoped it was just a mistake, a wrongful mark. They had to have botched things somehow; it had to have been a case of mistaken identity. But then he had fallen for her. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
If you love her so much, why did you betray her? His mind flickered backward to his mother—how his father had murdered her in cold blood while cursing her to a slow and painful eternity in hell. The next thought was inevitable, and it hurt more than he could express: like father, like son…
He had known that trying to negotiate with his father was pointless, but he tried anyway. After a horribly long night, he had barely escaped with his life, leaving his mother to die. James had sealed it up, had demanded and extracted his complete and utter obedience.
Michael walked into the open meadow and began to climb the long winding stone stairway that led up to the back of the house. He didn’t know he was sobbing, that his tears were falling onto Airel’s face, until he walked up to the big windows and saw his reflection in the glass.
He abhorred his reflection, felt guilty that he didn’t hate it enough. He pushed the door open and walked into the large ballroom. He then carried his one and only up to her room and laid her gently on the bed.
Michael was not expecting the fury of the storm of his own grief as it overtook him. He collapsed over the body of his beloved, whom he had murdered, and he buried his head in her wet hair, sobbing, “I’m so sorry! My love, I’m so sorry!”
He tried to breathe in