GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Jul 13, 2023 18:05:46 GMT
 Mid-May 2022 The clouds had been low enough that it had felt like they were touching the top of the hotel. He’d stood by the balcony doors, staring up at that leaden blanket, listening to the small sounds of Destiny getting ready, the clack of Berlioz following his mistress around. That was meant to be some sort of sign wasn’t it? Was rain on the day of a – Grey swallowed convulsively, turning away from the pewter vista. It wasn’t a funeral, not in the traditional sense. They hadn’t sat in a church and watched that tiny coffin be brought in. They hadn’t heard some priest’s perfumed words about a life that had been cut short before it had started. Even if either of them had been up to it, Grey wasn’t sure it would’ve happened. That wasn’t their way. With linked hands he’d drawn Destiny into the elevator. It was the first time they’d emerged from the cocoon of the hotel since they’d come home. The place was hushed, most guests likely still asleep or hunkered down, away from the clouds that threatened, but weren’t supposed to split and pour down rain. If it wasn’t for the concierge behind the desk – wise enough to stay quiet and keep their head down as the two of them moved past him – it might have felt like they were the only living souls in this town. Unfortunately that wasn’t true. Leah was out there somewhere. Back under her rock, living in some palatial mansion with the son of a bitch who’d painted the target on his own brother’s back. Conscience free, probably celebrating what she’d done. She wouldn’t count the number of days she had left alive. It probably wouldn’t even occur to her that he and Destiny would find steady ground around after this. She’d won and the glow of that would probably keep that lump of coal in her chest warm until she decided to try and kill him finally. Try being the operative word. Grey bent as he ushered Destiny into the car, fingers reaching across her to buckle the seatbelt for her, his lips pressing against the side of her head as he eased back up. She’d hollowed him out this time, left both of them as shells of who they’d been, the surface glaze of who they appeared to be on the surface shot through with cracks. One blow might have looked as though it would shatter them both, but Leah’s hand didn’t get to be the one on that weapon. His throat had felt as though it was closing up since they’d stepped outside, the comforting words he wanted to murmur trapped behind the lump that had been there since he’d arrived at the hospital. Grey reached for Destiny’s hand as he pulled out on the road, the one that wasn’t holding onto the carved oak box that had been delivered to them – all that they had left of their son. ”There’s a grove a couple of miles out from the falls,” he whispered finally, as the scattered fringes of the more rural homes around town fell away in the rear view. ”Oaks. Mountain ash nearby. It’s … peaceful. You can hear the falls from there.” A wash of white noise that drove all those tangled thoughts from your mind and bathed you in a feeling of peace and power. Maybe centuries ago their people had planted it, tended a place that was sacred to them. Now he couldn’t predict if there was anybody else who even knew it existed, but that was for the best. Cory had sworn that Petyr was somewhere safe now, somewhere he would be protected and happy, watched over by him at least – although he was beyond either one of his parents. What they had left of him here would be same. Protected, kept somewhere only the two of them knew about, somewhere where he’d be surrounded by that feeling, a blanket of sorts wrapped around the wadding of his parents’ love. Sniffing in a breath as his voice hitched on that thorn in his throat, Grey blinked back tears. There’d been an endless spring of them in him since he’d walked into Destiny’s hospital room, bubbling up in him whenever his mind drifted to their loss – which it felt like it did 24 hours a day. His fingers squeezed Destiny’s, reassuring her maybe, trying to steady himself too. Some part of him still wasn’t ready for this. It felt like another nail in his heart, driven home to pin the loss there until he entirely accepted it. The clouds continued to lower, seeming to brush the tops of the trees. He glanced up at them as he pulled off the road, picking his way up a track that still showed the broken branches and crumpled undergrowth of his last trip up it – probably the first time it had been used in decades. An aisle that led to wherever they’d lay the box. Twigs drummed against the sides of the car. Grey flinched, glancing at Destiny again as he slowed down. They were nearing the top. Maybe he could force the trail a little further, or it was on foot from here. ”You OK to walk from here?” he asked lightly. ”I can get closer maybe … it’s a few hundred yards …” Through trees that gathered thick around them like silent mourners, shrouded in the darkness of the sky. He’d bulldoze the car through them like a tank if he needed to, not caring around the cost of the damage, only about what was right for the two of them now. |
|
DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
|
Angel
Jul 27, 2023 19:44:09 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Jul 27, 2023 19:44:09 GMT
 ━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
She wanted to do something for him━something right. Grey had suggested it when she’d asked about burial rituals, and it seemed like the best way they could honour their son. Their little baby… all that was left of their hearts wrapped up in a wooden box.
Later, she wouldn’t remember getting ready. She wouldn’t remember getting annoyed with Berlioz as she tripped over him with almost every move she made, hissing at her dog to stop walking under her feet. He never did. She almost appreciated it.
She would remember taking Grey’s hand in the elevator, her other arm wrapped so securely around the box that she almost worried she might crush it. She’d remember laying her head on his arm, letting her tears fall without a sound. She probably wouldn’t remember the way he’d helped her into the car and kissed her head, or the tiny smile she’d given him for his efforts. She’d be thankful for Grey for the rest of her life, though, all these little moments when he was there accumulated into one giant ball of who they were━a representation of their love.
Destiny wouldn’t remember most of this drive, either, especially not while it was a hazy flash of colours behind her tears. One hand stretched across the console to hold Grey, the other wrapped around Petyr, her thumb rubbing back and forth on the box’s edge, caressing it like she would’ve on his cheek whenever he was sad. And happy. And maybe just because. She’d done it as Cory had held him for her, letting her see Petyr as he should’ve been.
When Grey finally spoke, Destiny looked over at him and nodded. Even if it would’ve been a large movement━which it was not━he was still driving, and it wasn’t much of a response. “Okay,” She whispered, then added, “That sounds… good. Nice.” As nice as any final resting place could be. She was letting Grey take charge here; he knew what they were supposed to do to make it right, and he was the one who’d found the place. Destiny… was a little bit useless in the endeavour, as per fucking usual. Whether it was protecting their baby or burying him, she couldn’t…
Hearing his sniffled inhale was the last straw. Destiny let out a quiet sob, her eyes shifting out the window again. She felt him squeeze her hand and she squeezed his in return, thankful for it as the feeling washed away the numbness in her fingers.
She felt the ground change from within the car, bumpy and uneven, jostling them around somewhat. Her fingers tightened around the box, terrified that it would go flying from her lap. It wouldn’t━the trail wasn’t that bad━but she didn’t want to risk it. She watched through the windshield as the branches began to bow forward more and more, narrowing the trail until the car could no longer fit through. “Yeah, we can walk.” Destiny croaked, flashing another small, fleeting smile at him before she climbed out of the car.
Carefully cradling the box to her sternum, Destiny reached out with her other hand and took one of Grey’s when she met him at the front of the car. She let him lead her through the last of the trail, working their way inside the grove he’d mentioned.
She felt the power first, knowing there was something in the surrounding nature that had significance. The old oaks, or the mountain ash━whatever it was, it was telling them this was the place. Destiny hoped Grey could feel it, too.
Only at the last moment did she release his hand, taking a few quick steps ahead to lay her palm on the biggest oak tree. “This one.” She said, as if she’d had a conversation with it, and stepped back to look at Grey again. “Is this one okay?” She asked, both for the ritual and as Petyr’s dad.
Destiny would’ve laid the box in front of the tree━just to see if it looked right there━but she didn’t want to let him go yet. She wasn’t sure if she ever could.
GREY MADDOX |  |
|
GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Aug 3, 2023 18:41:11 GMT
Mid-May 2022 If Malcolm had been allowed to decide what happened to her, his mum would’ve probably ended up somewhere like this. The last few years of her life had been wrapped up in the shroud of her husband’s madness, the life finally snuffed out of her by Malcolm’s infidelity. Had it been a surprise to him that her family had taken charge of what happened to their daughter afterwards? Shouldn’t have been. Either way it meant that there was a stone in the little local graveyard for her. A place for the son who’d never remember those few months he’d had with her to visit. The scrawny little figure sat on the grass in front of the marble slab, fingers tracing over the words – Emily Maddox. Wife. Mother. A light lost too soon. The words felt like they’d carved themselves back into his heart as he’d knelt next to that hospital bed, his own son’s light extinguished before he'd even been born. They hadn’t had months to get to know him, to see just how his name fit, what he’d inherited from his mum, from the dad who’d never expected to become one. Grey felt every single wound that had been cut into his heart, every one that had been cut into Destiny’s. His gaze had ticked to the box clutched into her hand as he’d driven. It wasn’t inscribed like the stone had been, nothing in the grove would be either. Grey knew he’d still feel them written through him though, words that nobody could erase. He was a father, as much as Destiny was a mother, Leah had taken their son, but she couldn’t entirely take that from the two of them. Grey drew in a deep breath through his nose at Destiny’s quiet agreement. Everything had felt muted since that night, as though they’d been wrapped in a shroud too, one they were supposed to fight their way free of, but neither one of them was ready for that yet. ”It’s a spot for someone like us,” he whispered. Powerful as much as peaceful. A place for a father to take his son one day, to walk among those oaks and let him feel the power that would one day be his. There’d been no doubt in his mind that Petyr would be just like the two of them – a darach, one free of the curse that’d darkened his father’s family for too long. He clung to the tether of Destiny’s hand then, trying to draw the pain from her in a way. Fingers linked, understanding and support offered in the squeeze of their hands. If he’d had to he would’ve carried them both there, driven the car through the trees until the damn wheels came off, it meant nothing in comparison to the two of them. Returning her smile, his expression weak as the sun that tried to break through the clouds, Grey nodded and slipped out of the car. ”It’s not far,” he promised again as he met her at the front of the car and took her hand. He lifted it to his lips before he drew her off the path. They didn’t have to go far before the power began to build like ozone in the air with the arrival of the storm, a crackle over his skin, in his lungs as he breathed it in. ”I found it not long after I arrived in town,” Grey explained quietly, his voice hoarse with the feel of it all – almost as though generations of their kind were standing there with them. ”I was trying to find some sign that I wasn’t … the only one here.” Some sign that the druid was here, that he could snuff the hypocrisy out of this place, to bring the power back out of that corrupt grip and transform it into what it always should’ve been. Destiny’s fingers slipped from his as they reached the ring of trees that marked the outer edge of the grove. Huge old oaks and the far more slender drunks of the ash trees. Come autumn they’d erupt with bright red berries, a fitting tribute for the child who would remain here forever. Grey let Destiny move ahead of him, standing at the edge of the grove, his throat working as he tried to imagine going back afterwards, their hearts left right here with Petyr. He lifted his hand, grinding his thumb and forefinger into his eyes as they threatened to fill again. When it dropped, Destiny was already moving towards the biggest tree in the grove. His head tilted back, his eyes drifting up that thick twisted trunk. It’d probably been here long before the Founding Fathers had even started marking out spots for their mansions. ”It’s perfect,” Grey said hoarsely. He moved towards her, reaching out to settle his palm against the tree the same way she had. ”It’s the centre of things, they’d have made it their most sacred spot, their altar. Do you feel it? It’s still here, it’ll … he’ll be safe here. The ones that came before will make sure of it.” Especially once they’d performed their ritual. Slowly, Grey sank to one knee before the tree, fingers brushing away last autumn’s dried leaves to reveal the roots that spread out around the base of the tree. Old and gnarled, still marked here and there with signs of what had been. ”Come here,” he breathed. Looking up at her, Grey held his hand out to Destiny to settle with him. ”There’s things we can do for him … things we should do.” Words that would inscribe their memory, their love on this place, that would leave the mark of their power over the tree and their son for centuries to come. |
|
DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
|
Angel
Aug 28, 2023 17:50:22 GMT
ANGE likes this
Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Aug 28, 2023 17:50:22 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
And she’d always wondered, too, if he’d pick up an accent on certain words before he went to school. If he’d call her “Mum” ‘cause he heard it from his Dad, and if his eyes would sparkle the way Grey’s did when he looked at her. Those precious moments when Cory held him for her were all she had, and she’d cherish them forever, but she knew Grey hadn’t had that. All he’d known of Petyr had been lifeless, a son who couldn’t even look at him with the recognition that Grey was his dad.
As they walked towards the spot, Destiny looked over at the side of Grey’s face, wondering how much he’d look like his dad if he’d been allowed to grow up. But he’d always be their baby, their Peter Pan, who got to be a little boy forever. It was easier to think of him that way━in Heaven, where Cory took him, never needing to grow up and face the hardships of adulthood. But, God, she’d give anything to see a furrow in his brow, to see him cry or get angry, even if no mother would want that for their kid; it would mean that he was here, with them, coming to this place to learn about what they were, not to be buried.
He would know that others had come before him, the ones that Grey was looking for. She squeezed his hand again, smiling lightly as he spoke. She knew he didn’t mean her, not exactly, but it’d worked out that way. Grey wasn’t alone, and he never would be again. None of them would, Petyr included.
She finally slipped from him as they arrived, her free hand going to the tree, wanting to be sure that Grey felt it, too. That he knew this would be the best spot for their son if he couldn’t be in their arms.
“I do.” She whispered, leaning sideways into his chest, nodding through the tears that gathered in her eyes again. Her face twisted, the edges of her lips turning down with another sob building just below the surface. She managed to temper it by not breathing, her mind swimming with the words, over and over: He should’ve been safe with us.
Destiny didn’t say it, though━didn’t remind Grey that his sister had ripped parenthood from them. Neither of them needed to hear it, she knew Grey was feeling it just as much as she was.
She shifted as Grey kneeled in front of the tree, revealing the giant roots below them. Destiny took his hand and carefully lowered herself to her knees beside him, the box clutched against her side like she couldn’t trust herself with it.
As soon as she was sitting, Peytr went to her lap, one hand curled around each of her boys as she settled on the ground. Someone had taken advantage of the wide roots, carving symbols into it, things she’d remembered from Grey’s books and that slideshow she’d seen of Noah’s. One even matched the box’s carvings, and she slowly tore her eyes from it to meet Grey’s.
She nodded again, this time in understanding. He’d mentioned some of this at home, like finding an old oak tree to bury him under, though she assumed there was more to do. “Like a ritual?” Destiny whispered, motioning with her head to the roots. “Do we… carve more of that stuff? The same things that are on here?” She asked quietly, eyes flicking to the box, their son, her thumb sliding over the carvings gently.
GREY MADDOX | |
|
GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Sept 2, 2023 18:02:07 GMT
Mid-May 2022 Petyr would’ve known love from them both – fierce and unbreakable – no matter how he would’ve turned out. Both of them had seen a twisted version of what love could be from their parents, the knowledge passed onto them twisted and incomplete. He’d never planned on being a parent, but when the chance had been there Grey had found himself vowing that he would do it differently, that they would. Petyr would get the best of both of them, would be the best of them because his parents had worked so hard to make it that way. Would the part of him that had been crushed by the loss of their son start to really recover now? Infused with something like hope again, an echo of what they giving Petyr here, what he would give this place. The fresh growth of it easing through the blackened ground of his heart as he realised this was the best that he could do for him now. This place would be something more because of their loss and they needed to hold onto that as they did the memories of Petyr. Historians had called places like this – sacred spaces – memorials to the ancestors. They’d seen the way people had buried their dead there, the objects buried with them, the scant remains of the rituals that had been performed by those who’d loved them enough to do such things. They thought they understood it all, but there was so much that was still beyond them. People like that didn’t feel the power that was left there – that was the true moment to those that were lost. Forget grave stones and crosses, those vanished in the end, this remained and Grey knew that Petyr wouldn’t be alone here, just as he wasn’t in Heaven, Cory had promised. Destiny’s dad had taught her what he’d thought she’d needed to know, had ended up being the first blood she’d spilled, but he’d neglected to tell her about all of this. There was a network of their kind out there, invisible threads criss-crossing continents and centuries. Under his tutelage he’d tried to show her that and now Grey could see it as Destiny felt what was here. He drew her in as she leaned into him, dipping his head to press his lips against her forehead as grief rolled in again. Nuzzling against her hair, trying to hold the two of them together until those cracks truly started to heal. Like a broken bone the evidence of their grief would always be there, but they would be strong and whole again. The evidence of the first thing to tear through him felt scratchy against the waistband of his jeans as he dropped to one knee in front of the tree. There had never been anybody to care about his sister the same way he and Destiny did their son. If she was lucky her dad would’ve at least paid for a funeral instead of just digging a unmarked grave somewhere, he didn’t think she was that lucky. As Destiny settled down with him, Grey slipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve the handwritten words, the small vial he’d put together and infused with power. What they would need to mark the place for their son, the blood welling out of his finger that morning to seal it all. The pocket knife he would used to add his own symbols to those that had faded to near invisibility there. Blue eyes on blue – Petyr’s would’ve remained that way, he was sure of it – Grey nodded at Destiny’s whispered question. ”Yeah, a ritual. It’s to mark the place – to add Petyr to the ones that are already here. Linking them all together.” Melding that power, infusing this tree with all that his son would’ve been, all that he was despite his distance from them and the future that had been taken from him. ”There are symbols, words to speak as they’re inscribed. A bit of both of us here…” He set the vial on the ground in front of them, reaching for the knife first. The symbols had been carved into his brain before, he didn’t need the guide of them and he wanted Destiny to have a part in this. ”Can you repeat these while I inscribe the tree? I want him to have both of us right here with him.” One more connection in the scant handful of them they’d been allowed. As though it felt the power start crackling between them the wind rose, rustling the leaves overhead. It was like the grove came alive as the words were spoken here again and the pale wood of the tree shone through the cuts through its bark again. As fresh as their grief. ”We’ll put him at the heart of this,” Grey explained hoarsely when the first stage was done. The blade was set aside, his fingers scooping away at the leaf litter and soil at the centre of those roots. A small mound built to the side of them, the shallowest of resting places, but it was enough. Grief filtered fresh over his face, lending a sheen to his eyes as he glanced back at Destiny, then down at the box. ”He’ll be safe here,” he repeated, unsure if Destiny would be able to part with what they had left of their son. Reaching out, he settled his hand on hers. |
|
DESTINY BACCARI
Darach
Posts: 180
Age:
25
Occupation:
Mystic Daily Owner
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Grey Maddox
Played by:
Julia
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 17:51:44 GMT
|
Angel
Sept 18, 2023 17:21:01 GMT
Post by DESTINY BACCARI on Sept 18, 2023 17:21:01 GMT
━ i'll stay awake at night with just my skin and bones ━
She still had regrets. Guilt. She wished she could’ve done more. She wondered, too: if her body hadn’t gone through it before, would she have been able to keep Petyr? Lots of women had stressful pregnancies and still had their babies. Why did Petyr have to be the one who didn’t make it? Why couldn’t she have gone instead of him?
Destiny tried not to let all of that cloud her focus on what was happening presently. This was for Petyr because he wasn’t coming back. The least she could do now was make sure it was done right for him.
Nodding slowly at Grey’s instruction, she watched him retrieve a few things from his pocket, and used the hand not curled around Petyr to take the paper. “Yeah,” She croaked, like she had a choice. Destiny blinked away her tears to see the words clearly, swallowed the lump in her throat, and began reciting them. It was all vaguely familiar from their lessons, and, as she went on, her voice evened out━became less crackly. Destiny shifted to sit on her hip, brushing against Grey as he moved, with Petyr still resting atop her thighs.
The wind picked up the leaves, though it didn’t distract either of them━Destiny only held Petyr a little tighter. She didn’t glance at the symbols Grey carved just yet, not until she’d finished reading, but she felt the power that tickled her skin, raising the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck.
Finally, after Destiny slipped the paper into her own pocket, she watched the scores in the roots shine as if someone was inside and holding a flashlight up at them.
Though she nodded and watched Grey scoop out a spot for the box, she had no intention of letting him go. She hadn’t even thought about it yet, about leaving him here. Destiny knew that he’d always be with them, the sentiment about keeping loved ones in your heart, but that wasn’t enough. The box’s contents were all that was left of the son that was supposed to be with them.
Destiny watched all of that grief look at her in Grey’s eyes, her own expression reflected in his from behind the haze of tears. She knew she was supposed to put Petyr at the base of the tree, that Grey laid his hand on hers to encourage her, to help, but she couldn’t move. Her free hand cradled the side of it, and she shook her head weakly. “I can’t,” She whispered, “I don’t… I don’t wanna let him go. He was s-supposed… supposed to be ours,” Maybe it didn’t make sense━he always would be theirs, no matter what━but they were the only words she could muster up. “Our baby. How are we just gonna… leave him here?” Grey had already said it━he would be with the others that came before him━but that wasn’t enough for her. It wasn’t fucking fair.
Destiny shifted forward, pressing her forehead to Grey’s cheek, shifting to bury her face in his neck. She sobbed, shoulders shuddering, lifting and sagging into Grey, wondering how it could still hurt as much as it did the moment she’d lost him.
Sucking in a shaky breath through her teeth, Destiny eventually gathered herself together and leaned back again, wishing they could have more time. Wishing that they could’ve had any time at all with him. She looked at Grey, the silent ‘I love you’ expressed with every fibre of who she was, and then at the box━at their son. Destiny lifted it slowly and pressed her lips to the wood, trembling as she kissed him. “I love you,” Destiny whispered to Petyr, and she let Grey have a moment, too, before slowly and carefully lowering the box into the grave with him.
As soon as Petyr was in there, she reached out to slowly push a handful of dirt onto the box━and that was all she could take. Destiny quickly threw her arms around Grey’s middle, trying not to fully hinder his movements, though that wasn’t her main concern. Not now. Now, she needed him. She needed his touch, the comfort he brought, the knowledge that they were suffering in the same way together. She latched on, pressing her face into the side of his chest, still able to watch Petyr if she opened one eye.
It was too fucking hard. She didn’t want to leave Grey to do the rest of it, maybe that wasn’t fair, but she just couldn’t. He was supposed to be their future, everything they were gonna look forward to, and now he was just gone.
GREY MADDOX | wrap soon? |
|
GREY MADDOX
Darach
Posts: 170
Age:
29
Occupation:
Owner of Grey Haven Hotel
Status:
Engaged
Partner:
Destiny Baccari
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 19, 2024 20:19:32 GMT
|
Post by GREY MADDOX on Oct 14, 2023 20:55:48 GMT
Mid-May 2022 It had been obvious to him long before Malcolm had died that everything would’ve been different if it had been his dad that he’d lost first instead of his mum. Grief might have kept her hollowed out, but the darkness of what was in Malcolm wouldn’t have smothered their lives like a noxious cloud. Maybe they’d have moved on from the village, found a fresh start elsewhere. It would’ve meant that he didn’t have the same sort of connection with his darach side, but it was a sacrifice he would’ve made at the time. Feeling Malcolm’s touch on all of that had left him feeling sick, especially after his affair had become apparent. Just cut all of that out of his life and Grey would’ve found himself free. In those dark days after they’d lost Petyr he’d wondered if Destiny had felt the same way. If she’d managed to get away that night, instead of being found by Leah, would she have found a fresh start for her and Petyr? Their son might’ve lived, well beyond the corruption that followed his father. Destiny would have taught him what he was, he had no doubts about that, but it would’ve been somewhere else, somewhere safe. Now their son would never leave this place. His life would root here, which meant theirs would. Their lives would be stunted for the loss, but Grey knew Destiny could no more tear herself free of it than he could. The only one who was leaving was the person who had cost them their son in the first place. It felt wrong to think of revenge now, but it flickered at the edges of his mind, as it had done since the night his sister had killed her nephew. Grey tried to blink it away as he focused on the scant memories he had of his son, his hopes for Petyr’s future. All beyond reach now, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t hold onto those intentions and try and build their lives around them. Grey passed the words for the ritual to Destiny. They would do this right, even if so much else in their lives was still twisted by their mistakes. Power slipped around them like the breeze, rippling through the space, through time, from those who would be here with their son until they could be. Light suffused the symbols, feeling as though it glowed in his chest too. Like the space at the roots of the tree, his heart felt hollowed out. Focused on the box, he wondered if he would have to take the box from Destiny so that he could put Petyr in the ground. His eyes closed, tears scoring a burning line across them. He squeezed Destiny’s hand lightly, understanding shimmering over his face. ”He’s still ours,” he managed hoarsely. ”A part of him’s going to be here, but every part that matters will be with us.” Grey lifted his other hand, settling it over a heart that ached like a wound torn clean through his heart. His gut had hurt the same way – betrayal overlaying that ragged wound that had almost killed him – for months after he’d escaped to New York. In time it had healed, but he doubted his heart would now. The scars would remain behind, carved deeper than any other he’d ever suffered. Failure. Grief. Anger. All three coalescing as bright and as hot as the sun. What remained of his life circling around it like planets caught in orbit. Tears rolled down his face, the cracks in the wall that held his emotions opened wide. Both arms slid around Destiny, holding her close as her own grief spilled out. They stayed there, as they had that first night, locked together by the loss of the tiny life that should have been there between them. Instead there was that cold wooden box, all that should’ve been reduced to ashes and that pain. A deep breath, seemingly drawn from the one Destiny inhaled steadied him enough that he could let her go as she drew back. Grey ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, sniffing the tears back as he met Destiny’s eye. They hadn’t needed the words at the start, just the light that had passed between them, and it felt the same now, only it was their love that slipped between them. His hand settled on Destiny’s back as she lifted the box to her lips, passing that same love to their son. He couldn’t do the same, but laid his fingertips lightly atop it as Destiny’s whispered words slipped away on the breeze. Grey’s head hung low, the words feeling as though they were torn bloodily from his throat. ”I’m sorry,” he managed hoarsely. ”I love you and I’m so sorry I couldn’t change it all. We’ll always love you.” My son. The words stuck in his throat like thorns, not shaken loose even as the shudder of a sob rolled through him. The box was so small, almost swallowed up by the tree, its roots a cradle for their son. A scatter of dirt rattled lightly on its lid as Destiny pushed it in. Just a moment later she was clinging to him. Grey drew her close, his head dipped, curled into her as his other hand moved over the pile of soil, using his power to have it silently filling the hole that he’d dug. The light burned brighter in the runes he’d carved, as though Petyr had infused the tree with the power that should’ve been his. ”Watch over him,” Grey whispered aloud. ”Take care of our son until we can again.” His hand laid over the ground for a moment, as though sealing the pact he’d made with their ancestors. While the ritual had happened the breeze had lifted, but now it seemed to circle back around the two of them with the coming of dusk. The sky began to deepen its colour on the horizon, dusky plums and purples streaking the sky, becoming a backdrop for the light that built here on the ground. As though drawn by the power tiny fireflies began to fill the air, pinpricks of light swirling around them in a cloud. It was easy to imagine Petyr, a toddler still unsteady on his legs, chasing after them, delighted by all nature could bring. Slowly Grey began to rise, drawing Destiny with him. He moved into the centre of that cloud, drawing comfort from the lights as they coalesced around the two of them and gathered in the roots of the trees. A celebration of their son and all that could’ve been, a comfort for the parents who would now make their way back out of the woods with the best part of them left behind here. |
|
