The Thirteenth Watcher: Epilogues (Cont.III)
Love:
“Another perfect Quirit, boys.”
The grumble rolled across the room as several well-dressed men leaned back in their chairs as a man, dressed in white uniform pulled all his winnings over to his already massive pile. “Another round, or shall we call it a day?” The man winked as he watched the others slowly get up and take what was left of their money and pride with them.
“You know, you shouldn’t take advantage of the other healers.” The female voice came from behind the figure’s back.
The man turned slowly to see Laura Ryhart, her blonde hair down to her shoulder and her beautiful eyes smiling with the light of the beautiful room. He rose slowly and kissed her on the cheek, “Come now, honey. How do you think we afford all this wealth. Our lives are built on the shoulders of many a sucker.”
“It doesn’t help that the pieces of the key that we were each given seem to give us unnatural good luck.” Laura looked past Blackheart as a crash came from the table, “Falzar! Blackheart! You brought the baby with you to poker?”
“Propaganda, dear,” Blackheart said with wink, “After all, who would believe there’s anything up the sleeves of a man whose toting a baby with me?”
“Our son is not propaganda,” Laura said glaring at Blackheart. The glare broke a few seconds later with a laugh, “Leave it to you to corrupt our children into being like you.”
“And what’s wrong with that? I lived to fight another day, I’m rich and happy and have a beautiful wife.”
“Adventure is not for our son,” Laura said with a light scolding.
“Adventure is for everyone, dear. And I hope our son would one day be in some way involved with a great epic like our own. Remember, we are the heroes of the century and everyone around here knows that,” Blackheart said, following Laura into the beautifully decorated bedroom of their honorary palace. White curtains flapped in the light breeze and cooled the white marble floor and white pillars that climbed to the blown glass ceiling. Laura continued to march, setting Falzar Gobudan Ryhart back in his crib. She turned once more, staring at her lover, dressed in the white uniform of a Bouatian hero. He had been quite uncomfortable at first with the clothes, but was beginning to like it.
“Still, he’s not that old yet. So let’s not try to fill him with foolish fancies yet,” Laura said with a smirk.
“Foolish, hey?” Blackheart turned and swept Laura from her feet, letting her crash into the white crushed velvet sheets of the bed.
“Careful! You’ll hurt Eza!”
Blackheart stared down at Laura’s belly, concealed behind her flowing white and gold gown, the gown of the healer’s order, which she had refused to give up. They had both kept their lives, but had moved them so that they could be close together. Blackheart knelt down and kissed Laura’s belly, “I’m sure she’s as tough as nails, especially since she takes after me….”
“You?”
“Yeah,” Blackheart said crawling up to Laura and kissing her lips softly, delicately.
“God spare the world if these kids are like you,” Laura said with a smirk.
“Looks like you’re doing fine by me,” Blackheart said, kissing her again. Slowly, the curtains around the bed closed shut as the two rolled over and enjoyed the pleasure of their company as they had and would the rest of their lives.
An hour passed and Laura lay asleep as Blackheart stood on the balcony, staring out into the distance. The stars shimmered in the sky, several moving slowly in spirals around the sky, as they sometimes did in the Bouat sky, perplexing and confusing most astronomers of the time. The stars, however, were not what Blackheart was thinking about. He found himself thinking of Adelia, somewhere out in the world, roaming alone in the darkness. He looked down at the key piece that hung from his neck and stared down at the merchants closing shop.
“I wonder where you are, Adelia….I wonder if you’re happy, or sad, or in love, or alone, or together. Did you ever try to find love or did you just accept that you couldn’t love because of who you were? What are you doing? I….I wish I knew sometimes. It’s not been easy to make my own decisions without my amulet, but I’ve gotten by. I just wonder if all those years ago I made the right one.”
“You did.” Blackheart turned to see the shadow standing just beyond the curtains of the window.
“I didn’t know you were awake Laura,” he said stepping into the room and letting the moonlight spill in. He stopped and stared, “Adelia?”
Adelia smiled, a faint curve of the lips and her eyes barely shining, dulled by the shadow that crawled around them slowly. “Yes.”
“Wha…what are you doing here?” Blackheart glanced over at Laura who lay asleep.
“Don’t worry, she won’t wake, I’ve cast a small silence spell over her, and your child. He’s beautiful, and you’ve got another on the way?”
“A girl, Eza Adel, after you and Eza….”
“Thanks for the explanation, being the protector of darkness I wasn’t smart enough to figure that out,” she placed a hand on her hip and laughed. “You haven’t changed at all. You wear better clothes, but same old haircut and manner.”
“Why change?”
“Indeed,” Adelia said. “I thought I’d come, I…..needed to see you again. I know I’m not supposed to…but I wasn’t feeling myself.”