A Grim Love: Can't Fight Time (16 page)

Morrigan paused, and took a shaky breath in before blowing it out. “Only a select number of people know what I’m about to tell you, Samuel.”

Grim didn’t know the woman sitting across from him. Where was his mother; the woman who was constantly hysterical, hated humans, and was always disappointed with her sons? The woman in front of him now seemed scared, fear in her eyes. Whatever secrets she carried with her weren’t easy ones.

Grim didn’t speak, didn’t so much as twitch a muscle. All he did was wait for her to continue, wait for her to tell him the deep, dark secret she kept so close to her.

“Your mother went into premature labor because one of the Castoff royalties attempted to assassinate her. We were never sure who exactly it was, but we knew they were exceedingly powerful.”

Red curls bounced as Morrigan turned away from Grim and seemed to look into the past. “Ivona wasn’t just the Bloodspurn queen, Samuel, she was everyone’s hope.

“Your father had been working with Yin and Yang to try and come up with a way to keep her alive after the birth. They were close too, but she went into labor after the assassination and died.” Her voice was so low that Grim had to lean forward to hear her.

If what she was telling him was true, then he might not have been the cause of his mother’s death. If Yin, Yang, and his father had been close to discovering a way to prevent her death, then she might’ve still been with him.

“You’re sure it was Yin and Yang father was working with? They aren’t allowed to meddle in reaper affairs,” Grim said with just a sliver of hope in his voice.

Morrigan nodded as her eyes darted around the room. “I’m sure, Samuel. Yin and Yang were trying to find a way for humans and reapers to have children without the human dying. Because if they did…” she let the thought trail off.

Grim knew the answer. It was the reason reapers and humans had first mated. Reapers needed humanity, because humanity kept them from being lost and consumed by their own power. When the power had consumed reapers in the past it had led to battles, wars, senseless murder, and had almost destroyed them all.

“Why would the Castoff want to stop this?” Grim asked, not understanding how having humanity could be detrimental to reapers.

His mother shook her head softly at him. “You can’t think of the reason, Samuel?”

Grim stared at his mother for a long second. Slowly the pieces came to him. Why she’d married his father and claimed to be part of the Darklore kingdom. Why the Castoff kingdom had tried to assassinate his mother. It all came to him slowly, but clearly.

“They think that if we mate with humans too much, then we would become humans ourselves and lose our power,” Grim said lowly, realization dawning on him.

Morrigan nodded, her hands clenched tightly in her lap, bunching the fabric of her dress. “They fear losing power. Can you then understand why we wanted you to marry the Castoff princess?”

The change to Felicia didn’t surprise him. It was all connected, had been in play before he’d been born. “Keep your friends close…”

“... and your enemies closer,” Morrigan finished with a proud smile.

“She could also have information about the kingdom that could’ve been useful.” Grim added instantly absorbing her secrets as they came to light.

Morrigan nodded. “This game is very old, Samuel. And while the players might have changed, the positions and stakes never did. It goes back to our history, to the founding of the three kingdoms.”

“What does any of this matter now? Why should I trust anything you’re saying, Mother?” Grim asked, more out of curiosity than because he thought she was lying to him.

Morrigan reached forward and gripped his hands. “If you believe nothing else, Samuel, believe that I love you.

“And it matters now, because I--I feel something in the air,” Morrigan sucked in a shaky breath and looked around the room as if there were spies in every shadow. “Something is about to happen. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it. Trust me on this.”

Grim felt her hands shake in his grasp and he raised her fingers to his cheek. “I trust you implicitly.”

Grim opened his mouth to say more, wanting to know more, but a knock on the door interrupted him. “Grim? Do you have a second?” Felicia’s girlish voice asked from the doorway, as she peeked into the room.

Turning away from her son, Morrigan rose from the chair. Once again the haughty mentality he’d see her wear since he could remember was in place. She turned and smiled at Felicia, and switched to English. “Dreadful business, this wedding; I am truly sorry, Felicia. I would have loved to have you as my daughter-in-law and not some… human.”

Grim now understood his mother’s hate over the wedding and Nina. It wasn’t that she hated humans, but that she was worried about the past repeating itself. She didn’t want Grim to fall into the depression that his father had, to repeat his mistakes, or worse.

“And the swords are back up, Mother,” Grim said as he rose from his seat.

A harsh laugh greeted his ears, before cold lips pressed against his cheek. “I will see you later, Samuel. Hopefully by then you will be dressed properly.” Morrigan turned her nose up and left the room in a swivel of green skirts.

Closing his eyes to compose himself, Grim turned and smiled politely at Felicia. “Come in.”

“Thank you, Grim.”

Grim paused as he went back to the mirror to fix his tie.
Did she just sound condescending?
he wondered as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Dressed in a pink and black striped dress with random bows everywhere, Felicia couldn’t have looked more like a child. Her gentle, but pale makeup also made her look exceedingly young and vulnerable. Grim’s lips twitched;
Nina had called it; She does look like a pedophiles wet dream.

“What can I do for you, Felicia?” Grim asked as he slipped his tie pin into place. He switched his thoughts from the centuries-old game played with reaper and human lives to the woman he loved. He wouldn’t let anything ruin this day, not even his own dark thoughts.

“I just wanted to wish you a happy wedding. I did not want there to be any bad blood between us,” she said calmly, scratching delicately at her covered wrists.

“I appreciate you coming to tell me that. It is very mature of you,” Grim acknowledged a note of pride in his voice as he turned to face her.

Felicia smiled a bit too brightly, her tone just a bit too sweet. “You are far too kind, Grim.” She rose from the chaise and smoothed her pink skirts while covertly scratching her waist.

“Good bye, Felicia.” Grim said with finality as he turned his thought over to his most important person.

Felicia smiled as she sailed past him, a cloud of black stripes, black ribbon curls, and pink bows. Her voice practically dripped sugar. “I’m sure I’ll see you soon, my future king.”

***

The wedding was more spectacular than Nina could have ever imagined. It was a bona fide royal wedding, one that even the queen of England might have blanched at.

Everything was in deep reds and glittering gold, colors of the Bloodspurn kingdom. It was strange to see such intense colors in such a bleary and dark place, but Nina supposed she shouldn’t be surprised because the Underworld itself was intense.

The only thing that ruined the event were the angry vibes she got from the guests. No amount of color could replace the black hatred almost every guest shot her way. Nina couldn’t hold the small shiver that wracked her body as she stood by uri in the hallway and smiled to the people as they moved to sit down.

Reaper custom dictated that she greet her guests in her wedding dress before the ceremony began, and Nina didn’t see any reason not to. Besides, they were breaking enough rules by getting married, the least Nina could do is at try to participate in the customs.

Uri tried to lighten the mood. “Don’t worry about them; they’re just jealous because you look so hot.”

Nina hid her laugh behind a cough as she clutched Uri’s arm and tried not to trip on the train of her dress.
Careful, careful,
she counseled herself over and over.

Looking down at herself in her scarlet mermaid gown with an inverted flange skirt, she couldn’t help but amaze at how stunning it looked. The dress was accented by dozens of teardrop-shaped pearls sewn into her hair, and a necklace and earring set. The pearls reminded her of the glass crystals hanging all around the thrones as she looked through the doors and into the room.

Nina stared transfixed at the swinging teardrop shaped pendula, curiosity getting the better of her. “What are those? The vials behind the thrones,” she whispered to Uri, remembering to keep her blissful smile in place.

“Trophies,” Uri whispered back. “They’re the ashes of the people old Bloodspurn kings have killed.”

Nina’s smile cracked for a moment before she regained her composure. Grim’s words resonated in her mind:
The Bloodspurn kingdom has the fiercest warriors.
He hadn’t been kidding.

She could understand why Grim didn’t want the crest hung around the castle, everything about the swords and vial signified bloodshed and war. Nina had known, from the first moment she’d met him that Grim had tried to conform to the rules, and tried to keep himself and his kingdom in check. And now it made sense why he was so stringent about rules, why he’d tried to keep himself away from her.

He didn’t want to repeat the past. He didn’t want to be the cause of another battle or war. It was in the teardrop vials hanging behind the throne, like a mother’s tears forever falling: Grim didn’t want that to be his legacy, didn’t want murder, mayhem, and death to be his signature.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nina regarded Uri. “Do you want to be king, Uri?” Nina asked curiously.

Uri turned his head and smiled at her, and for the entire world the smile looked pleasant and doting, but to Nina it looked strained. “I used to.”

“What changed?” she asked.

Uri cocked a brow at her, and Nina had the sudden urge to roll her eyes. Grim’s comment, “curiosity killed the cat,” came back to her. It wasn’t her fault that she was forever curious, wanting to know as much as she could. Maybe it was something in her genes.

“Why are you so curious?” Uri turned and nodded to a reaper who was rocking the whole skull-and-bones look.

“Just am.” Nina shrugged lightly.

Uri gave her one of his winning smiles. “I saw what it really meant to be a Bloodspurn king. And as beautiful as you are, Nina, I would never want to be the Bloodspurn king. I don’t begrudge the life Grim has in front of him.”

Carefully, Nina transformed her face into a mask of neutrality. The way Uri had said why he didn’t want to be king disturbed her. It was as if he knew something they all didn’t. Her eyes caught on a glint of glass, the vial. Shaking her head, Nina realized maybe Uri was just being cautious, wary of the past failures of kings. She could understand why he wouldn’t want Grim’s life, if arranged marriages, political games, and murderous kings of the past were what you had to look forward to.

Music started, and Nina and Uri began to walk down the aisle, hundreds of reaper eyes fixed to her. “Uri--” Nina began, wanting to give him some sort of assurance, and maybe take a measure of it for herself. She’d been too naive in accepting Grim’s proposal. He was a king, after all! No matter what her plan past this point was, if she went through with it, she would be a queen.

She really didn’t want that.

Uri squeezed her hand comfortingly. “Sorry if I scared you, Nina. Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry about anything else past this moment. Just be happy.”

Looking dead ahead, she spotted Grim standing beside his father. Tuoni spotted her and  gave a wiggle of his fingers and an exaggerated wink. Again she wasn’t sure whether he was crazy or absolutely sane. They were at a beautiful but gloomy wedding, and the king was smiling as if he was at the carnival.