Claiming The Remnant

Chapter 83

[ Garrett ]

"Yes, yes." Ethyn hung his head sadly. "I just…" He started. "The thought of…"

"It's alright, I get it. Likely I would have done the same had I been in your shoes." It had been weighing heavily on me with the way I’d felt about Taiya as it was. "That being that case, I'm surprised you stopped at one punch."

"It was the shock. I've never hit someone out of anger before."

"You threw a good punch." Both our mugs were empty giving me a good excuse to leave the table. Back to Ethyn while organising the refills I gave my slightly aching nose a little rub.

"I learned how to fight, I just never had to outside of training."

"Training paid off I'd say. You ever want to spar -" I left the offer there. "You know, I'm not going to hurt Esther. I was only doing my job."

"I know."

"As long as Esther stays Esther, there won't be an issue." Shrugging, I put the fresh tea on the table.

"Father said that too. Was she really that bad as this 'Taiya'?"

"Yes and no."

"Come on, tell me about her."

"And spoil the surprise if she suddenly wakes up as her old self?" The jest didn't amuse Ethyn as much as it tickled me. "What do you want to know?"

"She was a criminal- what did she do?"

"Little bit of everything. A lot of low level theft, damage to property, public nudity, trespassing, selling drugs, selling stolen property, breach of the peace, public intoxication, public intoxication on a horse, my personal favourite - public intoxication while in charge of a fesnyng. The list goes on. Then the more serious crimes, high profile theft, assault, assault with a weapon, assault with intent to kill, mutilation of a corpse, desecration of graves, murder. The only thing missing is arson."

"I don't think she likes fire." Ethyn whispered with furrowed brows. Before I could pick his brain about that thought the Prince carried on. "A fesnyng? What was she doing with a group of ferrets?"

"Causing the most unimaginable chaos." I reminisced fondly. "You don't seem that concerned."

"Considering you left her to commit numerous crimes instead of leaving her to rot in the dungeon I'd say neither were you." Ethyn countered. "Why ever not?"

"Taiya saved my life more than once so I felt I owed her. Her life was pretty tough so I felt bad for her and at the bottom of it she was actually a nice person I suppose." I really should have conceded on that notion a long time ago instead of being at war with myself. "She just couldn't escape her past, nor her mouth. Ye Gods, she had a mouth on her. That lass knew more cuss words than Cook's made meals. Oh, and the blasphemy, you've never heard anything like it. I promise you."

"You two sounded pretty close -"

"Let's not go there, Ethyn. Leave that past in the past. I'm with Jo now. Pretty sure Jo is my Mate too."

"Oh, ok, ok." Ethyn looked rather surprised. "What does she look like out of her shift?"

"I've never seen her out of her shift. No way, I simply can't have." Taiya had outdone herself there. Ethyn looked confused, fidgeting with his mug and watching me with those grey eyes that were so much like his Father’s. "For her to sustain a shift the way she does she just has to have a head full of blue hair but I've never even seen a single hair that was blue. The form I always saw her in was petite with wild, tight black curls, rich tan skin and brown eyes that were warm and mischievous."

"So different to how she looks now." He mused, dreamily.

"Yup, not the delicate flower she's become. You heard of the Blue Shadow?"

"Yes."

"Taiya."

"Really?" He exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeh, she would swing her nickname around like it was the epitome of fame. Now that I know she can shift and there is a whole bunch of that blue shade lurking in her somewhere it all makes a lot more sense. Always seemed impossible before.” The memory of her escapades had a smile resting on my lips. “I’d catch her committing insanely pointless and miniscule crimes, which she never even tried to deny, and sure there were some of the bigger things that I mentioned but there were some extenuating factors to those.” It sounded like I was defending her life of crime. In a way I kind of was. She was a gutter-rat. Every interaction we had was an offense against the Kingdom, my King and my title. My hate, my resentment was mostly on principle. With a man like Vacirin pulling the strings and the struggle of being practically magicless (I’d thought she had a little something but not a Shade) I pitied her. Taiya’s life had been a hard struggle through no fault of her own other than an inability to keep her mouth shut. “So there was all this low level, innocuous stuff with ‘Blue Shadow’ splattered all over it. Sometimes from witnesses, sometimes a blue hand print, sometimes it was Tayia outright shouting about it with great glee but then there were these calculated crimes with no clues, clashing eye witness accounts and so on but still with the whisper of ‘Blue Shadow’. Taiya always denied it. I believed her. All accounts pointed to it being someone else, someone with blue as their Shade using the same nickname or copying. Something like that. Now I know it was all her. So f*****g sneaky.”

“Extenuating circumstances?”

“Uh-huh, " The main extenuating circumstance was Vacirin. The things he had forced her to do… and I'm sure I didn't even know the half of it. Certainly she had killed for him. Taiya and Jo had both been under his thumb from such a tender age. The scar along my jaw twinged. I rubbed it. Someone owned by that scum had killed my brother. I'd never asked Tayia if she knew who had taken Kieran's life on Vacirin's behalf. I blamed Vacirin. I blamed myself. I blamed Kieran for being such an i***t. I didn't blame the poor bastard who was sent to do that monsters bidding.

Sometimes I wondered if she knew. Maybe that's why Taiya asked me a zillion times how I got this scar. Trying to pick my brain to see what details I knew. Ye Gods she drove me insane with it. Jo never asked. Not about the scar. Not about my Brother…

The thought was more than uncomfortable. I wasn't going there.

"Like what? Isn't crime, crime?"

"Life just isn't that clean cut." I didn't want to go into the whole Vacirin situation with him. If Taiya was in there somewhere she'd hate that. "There was a death at the Last Shade Tavern. Not a swanky place but not a dive either. The owner's Shade is red so the clientele isn't always the best and she gets a lot of vandalism but doesn't normally make an official complaint about it. She just accepts it as the norm. Probably the murder would have been ignored too if the guy didn't have a respect Shade. Anyway, I get down there and Taiya is in cuffs. Nullifying cuffs. She was pale, looking like she was trying not to throw up but I figured it was because of the massive thorns in her arm and side. By all accounts he attacked her first. She retaliated with non lethal force but the guy wouldn't back off. When he started growing thorny vines around her she stabbed him in the heart. Taiya killed him in self defence and everyone knew it but because she had no social standing and he had with his head full of bright yellow hair they were prepared to hang her for murder."

"How did she get away?"

"I slipped her the key." My admission came without shame. "The City Guard is a different faction. I have some sway but not total authority - I couldn’t have just let her go. Gave her something for the pain too. That's when she confided about the allergy to that particular drug."

"So you knew then, when you -"

"Yeh, I knew. I thought if I just gave her a small amount it wouldn't be that bad."

"Well, that's a lot to think about.” He paused to gather some thoughts. “Are we really just executing people so haphazardly?"

"If I can help it no… but the system isn't great and the City Guard is relatively separate." I admitted. From how involved I’d been with Taiya is crimes in the city you would have thought I was part of the City Guard. "Your Father has promised me a meeting, we are going to straighten out some of these issues- find a better path."

"A better path…" Ethyn smiled. "So she was a criminal, very artistic with her words, what else?"

"She'll eat anything but she has a thing for those honey dipped nut rolls. The ones at Mishna's Bakery are her absolute favourite. Loves drinking. Can't imagine Esther on the hard liquor but Taiya was a big fan of spiced rum. Big heart for animals. Top notch fighting skills, with or without a weapon. She taught me." Ye Gods, did she teach me. "If there is some Taiya hiding in there she would definitely love to see you fight. Her little saying was no one wants a partner that can't fight, f**k or finance." Ethyn had a massive grin on his face at that. "What?" Curiosity drove me to ask.

"Your Jo has been having quite a gossip with my Esther… apparently your skill in the bedroom had been compared to writing poetry upon the skin." The grin became a smirk as I blushed hard. Rather unexpectedly as well. "I didn't take you as a man to be embarrassed by such things, Garrett." Ethyn teased.

"Not usually but, err, things have been difficult between us the last few days. Took me off guard that they said something so… romanticized."

"Father did mention there had been an incident of some sort. I'd assumed, wrongly it seems, that it was done and dusted. Did you want to talk about it?"

My throat was tight. Tears tingled in my eyes; hot, heavy and ready to fall.

"A problem shared is a problem halved." Ethyn offered. "But if you don't want to, I understand. I know I come off as a bit of a nosey gossip."

"Much like your Father." I tried to joke. It sounded strained.

"Being Royalty is a great excuse." He winked.

"Indeed. If you promise not to punch me again, we can talk about it." Warily I looked him in the eye.

"Deal." Was all Ethyn said until after I'd continued to stare at him. "I promise not to attack you. Better?"

"Yeh, that will about do it. More tea. Definitely need more tea for this." As I set about making more tea I pondered how I wanted to phrase the events. "So, we all know each other - Jo, Taiya and I. Taiya and Jo go way back but I only met them about four years ago. On a casual basis I slept with both of them regularly.” I watched the anger rise in Ethyn. As he pulled his self control together I sipped my tea. “Now that Jo and I are exclusive Taiya’s presence, even as Lady Esther, is difficult for Jo. Emotions are hard for Jo, react first, think later. A few nights ago we were in the courtyard gardens and there was a scream. On investigating we found Esther had collapsed, she died a few moments after I arrived. You need a break?” Ethyn’s golden skin looked pale, like weak winter sunlight.

“No, please, continue.”

“I started chest compressions and mouth to mouth.” The memory was harrowing. The emotions it stirred sat heavily on my heart. “The rational went out the window for Jo. All they could see was my lips on hers and they spiraled. Jo trashed my quarters and slept with someone else while I was trying to keep Esther from dying. Immediately followed by trying to keep Zach alive after he had a burnout. While I was barely functioning after finding Jo with this woman I was summoned to help with Esther. At this point I find out Jo tried to take their own life. Way too much on my plate so helping Esther was a total disaster.” I thought of her, so frail, begging her mother. “Which reminds me, she can’t swim. Deep water terrifies her, Taiya almost drowned as a child.”

“That makes sense.” The Prince nodded gravely. “Last night she fell in the hot springs. Mon foudre was almost inconsolable. She actually thought I was going to let her drown.”

“Mon foudre?”

“My thunder - I think. Do you have a nickname for Jo?”

“Butterfly. Zach said it was mon papillon?” I smiled. This moment, shared between the two of us, felt so comfortable. Rarely had I had the opportunity to speak with someone in this way. “Where was I? Ah, so I had a huge melt down while helping Esther. She was so broken and it’s my fault. I’m in total disbelief that I am still Captain, let alone unrestrained and alive. Jo has been avoiding me. They hurt me but I need them, I need them so much right now and somehow I have to keep it together because Jo needs me to be strong, everyone needs me to be strong.” My voice cracked slightly.

“You didn’t break her Garrett. Esther is a Yelka, this is her winter. When the ice breaks she will have so many blossoms. Consider this; on the streets her path was forged - a cycle of crime that hopscotched between survival and consequence. Here I will give her all the paths. Esther will thrive, not survive. The opportunities she didn’t have before she will now - starting with learning to read. Taiya emerges she will be enrobed in the riches of this life. Luckily I’ve got all her ‘F’s’ covered.” Ethyn swigged his tea like it was a taste of victory. “Finance is more than covered. Fighting - well I might not be upto Tayia’s standard but I’m sure I can impress mon foudre enough for now and as for f*****g… well I think she almost unraveled when I ate her out under the table this afternoon.”

“Ye Gods man,” Coughing, spluttering and generally choking on the mouthful of tea I’d been drinking at the time of Ethyn’s revelation I got up to fetch a towel. The tea was burning in my nose but also, more importantly, it was dripping down Ethyn’s face. “Sorry about that…”

“Quite alright Garrett - probably about time I washed my face.” The Prince winked and left me stunned. There were no words. None. I could just about point him in the direction of the bathroom and that was it.