-Katherine- Darius was not lying when he said he found it hard to sleep. In the middle of the night, I found him standing by the window, the fireplace behind him burning and casting a beautiful light on him. He was half dressed, wearing only pants, but I could see the worried expression on his face. I could see the way he looked out of the window, as if something might come running towards the house and attack us. I sat up a little, watching Darius, seeing the pain in him and how tight his body had gotten as he held himself in a defensive position. He sipped a little from a wine cup, and I felt my heart ache at the sight of him. I knew there wasn’t much I could do for him. My father had been a fighter too, and my mother did tell me sometimes he could act "funny" when he got home. I never truly understood why until I grew older. Or maybe now was when I truly understood it. Now I saw it. I saw how much it changed you and how dark it made you. I felt so bad for Darius because I didn’t k
-Darius- Katherine had received a little training in fighting. I could see in this world the other me had trained even more since Acan wasn’t in the way of her lessons anymore. But Katherine hadn’t been taught the same. This Katherine in front of me. She hadn’t experienced the same things. She might have the memories, but all those techniques and lessons the other Katherine had been given didn’t miraculously transfer to this Katherine. I watched as she swung her smaller sword around. It was made for her. Mine was too heavy. She smiled a little, and she looked very good in her training clothes—tight pants and a shirt—looking almost a bit like a pirate. A very sexy pirate. I knew Katherine thought this would ease my mind, and I did think there might be a chance it might. I still felt on edge. I thought the moment we came here and I could see my family in this great place, I could calm down again. I could be me again, but it wasn’t that simple, and Katherine noticed. She saw that I was
-Katherine- Darius and I went riding today. We had been at the estate for a while now, and I could see the changes that were happening in us. Good changes. The ones I had hoped I would get to experience at some point. I had begun to lose myself as well. I had done things I never thought I could do. I had lost myself in ways I hadn’t realized until Darius and I began becoming our old selves. We began playing around, laughing, and enjoying our time, and our son slowly felt at ease too. I hadn’t noticed I was stressing him out as well. He was so tiny, and I had thought he didn’t want to sleep a lot, but after coming to this place and settling down, he suddenly slept a lot. He had felt on edge too. After all, he had saved my life by letting me borrow his powers, and he knew there were dangers out there. He might not be able to speak yet, but he knew there were dangers. He knew letting down his guard was not something he could do in the castle. But out here? Out here, he felt good. He fel
-Katherine- In the middle of the night, I began hearing whimpering. It confused me, and I turned and looked over my shoulder, seeing Darius moving his head from side to side. His whole body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. The sheets barely covered him, and yet he was sweating so badly. I moved closer to him, reaching out and gently shaking him. He continued to whimper, so I called out to him. "Darius?" He continued to move his head around and be trapped in the nightmare, so I shook him harder. "Darius!" His eyes sprung open, and he clutched my wrist, making me hiss in pain, but I didn’t tell him to let go. I saw how lost his eyes looked, as if he were unsure of where he really was. Then he began calming down and saw who was in front of him. "Katherine?" he whispered. "I’m right here," I promised. He pulled me closer, crashing his lips against mine and shocking me with the power and passion behind the kiss. He pulled back only to pull me closer, then he had me get on top o
-Darius- Katherine had a point. I couldn’t hide forever. I couldn’t act like we weren’t needed yet, because we were. Just this letter from my brother spoke of how he was clearly pushing the people again, because who would pay for his war? Who were the ones who had to give up the money and the men? Acan wasn’t the one going into battle. He wasn’t the one joining the men out there. He knew how dangerous the Dark Ones were, and so he hid behind his high walls. He made others do the dirty work. He made them sacrifice everything for him. It was disgusting, and it only fueled my anger towards him. I didn’t want to go back, though. I didn’t want to risk Katherine or my son. Henry deserved to grow up somewhere safe where he didn’t have to put on a well-practiced mask to please the people around him. He deserved to be a young boy, running around and riding, chasing girls, and learning how to use a sword. He shouldn’t be burdened with social conduct and politics. He shouldn’t be burdened with
-Katherine- Some time passed where Darius and I continued to be happy, spending some lazy days in bed, training, riding, and enjoying our time with our son, who was growing so fast. It felt like I was blinking once, and suddenly he had changed before my eyes. I couldn’t wait to see the person he would grow into and the powers he would slowly develop. We didn’t show those powers until we grew older, but the magic was always inside us. I knew his powers, though. He had lent them to me when I was in trouble. Shapeshifting was an incredible power, and we would have to teach him to use it for good and not abuse it. He could truly hurt some people if he wanted to. But magic wasn’t evil. Only the person, so all Darius and I could do was love our child and make sure he knew every day how much we cherished him. He wouldn’t lack anything in life. We would make sure of it. He brought us so much joy, so of course, it was our duty to bring him joy too. That was a parent’s job. Becoming one was a
-Darius- Pregnant… Did I hear correctly? I knew how long it had taken the other Katherine and me to have their first child… or our first child, and now Katherine was telling me she was pregnant. She was pregnant! I could hardly wrap my head around it, and I kept looking at her, unsure what to say. My thoughts wouldn’t come together. I just kept looking at my beautiful wife, who seemed so confused that I wouldn’t answer her, but I sat there like a mute person. I hadn’t expected that. I thought we would wait years for a new baby, but now Katherine was pregnant again. She was making our family grow, and that happiness completely overwhelmed me. I had not expected how much it would stun me. Not because I was sad. I was just so overjoyed that I didn’t know how to respond. "Darius?" she called again. "Yeah…" "You sound disappointed," she whispered, but I shook my head, finally coming back to myself. I pulled her closer, then kissed her over and over, shocking her as I did. She let out a
-Katherine- I looked around the bedroom that Darius and I had stayed in for a few weeks now. I hadn’t realized just how much I longed to stay before I actually had to leave. I looked around the place, feeling such joy in my heart and thinking about all the good things that had happened here. I knew we could come back and visit, but once we had taken care of Silver and Acan, we could never come here to escape again. We could never spend weeks where it was just Darius and me acting like a lot of responsibilities weren’t waiting for us. I knew I would be a very involved queen in the affairs of Adorna. I would be making huge choices, and therefore, I couldn’t be running around like there weren’t people depending on me every day to listen to their problems and find a solution for them. I had to find a way to make things great again. I had to find a way to make the people happy every day, and I knew what a challenging task it was to make everyone happy. There were always those who just wou