Redeemed by Rubies (A Dance with Destiny Book 6) (8 page)

“…They had to cut her.”

The man nodded again. “But she was already in such a state… in so much pain. They were trying to hurry because… well, she was fading fast.” He glanced back towards her. “Anyway, I didn’t lie. I was pulled out of her belly, scar and all.”

“Yet… the Elven songs couldn’t close the wound?”

“Nope.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I inherited that little
gift
from my father. He left me with many such reminders… reminders that I wasn’t
normal
.”

“You never knew him?”

The man shook his head. “No one did. Not as far as anyone would admit, anyway. It happened many years ago now. My mother was just outside the forest—not too far from where we now sit. She was picking some fresh flowers, just there.” He motioned with a nod in the direction Jenevier had just left Nilakanta. “They say she had a basket full of daisies when it happened.”

“When what happened?”

The strange man met her steady gaze. “When hell spilled forth onto Ashgard.”

Jenevier swallowed hard. “So… your mother was attacked by a demon during the apocalypse.” She lowered her voice. “…Just like Jezreel.”

The man perked up at the mention of the woman’s name. “You know Jezreel?”

Jenevier nodded. “We were childhood friends—spent every day together… right up until I was forced to leave.”

“Childhood friends?” He snorted out a laugh. “Childhood friends with an Angel?”

“I wasn’t an Angel then. I was born in Moorglen. I am an Ashgardian.”

He narrowed his gaze. “And you expect me to believe you were born a human and just
became
an Angel?”

“Yes. Just as Jezreel was born a human and
became
an Elf.”

The man fell silent and looked away.

“I was born and raised in Moorglen. Jezreel and I moved to Tamar Broden when we were eighteen.” She stared into the tiny, dying flames. “We were so happy there… for a time.”

“…What happened?”

Jenevier sniffed, wiping her eyes, replacing her tears with a soft smile. “Oh, the usual—death of a loved one, cursed by a Prince, taken in by Guardians. You know… teenage-type problems.”

The man huffed out a laugh, then smiled. He had a warm, gentle smile.

“You are quite handsome when you do that.”

He looked up at her. “Do what?”

“Smile.”

Jenevier couldn’t be certain, but she believed his cheeks flushed red.

“What is your name?”

He quickly glanced at her and then away. “Why do you care?”

“Just because I do. So, are you not gonna tell me?”

“You haven’t said your name, either,” he grumbled.

Jenevier stood, dusting off her bottom before walking over and extending her hand.

“Hello. I am Jenevier Olesia Embarr. Well, that was my birth name. I now go by another.”

The man stood, grasping her forearm. “Which is?”

She smiled. “Kagi Naga, Empress of Jinn. But you can just call me Naga.”

He returned her smile. “Baytac. Baytac Mossgrove. Nice to meet ya, Naga.”

“Likewise.” She bowed in her Dragon manner. “I’m glad we aren’t strangers anymore. My, you are a very large man… for an Elf. Standing beside you, I would have to call Kias… dainty.”

Baytac snorted out another laugh. “Standing beside
you
, I would have to call Kias… dainty.”

Jenevier quickly clamped her hand over her mouth to halt her coming giggles.

“That’s awful,” she said through her fingers.

“Awful, but true.” He smiled. “Elves are like that—elegant and noble and… dainty-like.”

“But not you.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I have been given many labels; dainty was never one of them.”

“The only thing that marks you as Elf, is your scent. Well, sort of.”

“So, you’re like one of those Guardians, huh? Nose like a hound.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, I picked up a few things during my years with them.”

Baytac only snorted again.

“You do not claim the misty-colored locks of an Elf, my raven-haired friend.” She smiled. “What about your ears?”

Baytac pulled his long dark hair back. “Only partially. My tips aren’t pointed. They are gnarled and bent.”

“Tell me. Why do you live out here all alone? I thought Elves dwindled when they were parted from their kind.”

“Ah, yes. But the demon in me thrives upon solitude.”

Jenevier nodded. “Yes. They do try to find what bits of silence they can.”

“You know about demons?”

“I know of demons and devils, dark Angels and Archs. I even know a bit about Mermaids and Fairies. Just a bit, though.”

Baytac smiled with only one corner of his mouth. “So… you came here to see Jezreel?”

“In part, yes. I came to speak with Dofarel. Getting to visit with Jezreel is just an added bonus.” She sighed. “I haven’t seen her since the night of her wedding celebration.”

“That long?”

Jenevier nodded. “I’m not a very good friend.”

“Well, I’m sure you have your reasons.”

“I
have
been a bit busy, yes.” She studied him for a moment. “Tell me. Why do you get such a sparkle in your eye when you say her name?”

“Her? Her who?”

“You know who… Jezreel.”

Baytac blushed. “Princess Jezreel was kind to me… always. No matter what happened with the other kids, she always protected me—fed me sweets and told me stories.” He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye. “I can see now… most of those stories were probably about you. Anyway, she was the only mother figure I ever knew.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded. “My birth mother was one of her attendants. Jezreel doted on her. They were close because… well, you know.”

Jenevier only nodded her understanding.

“When what happened… happened… Jezreel took me in—raised me as one of her own.”

“I suppose your mother was alive when last I was here then. Hmm… I don’t recall any pregnant attendants.”

“She was probably already bedridden by that time. Like I said, I was a large baby. She was still in her second trimester when normal chores started to become impossible.”

“So, tell me. If Jezreel loved you and cared for you… why did you move out here all by yourself?”

Baytac snorted. “You’ve looked at me, right?”

Jenevier only furrowed her brows. She didn’t answer.

“Some things can be overlooked when you are a child,” he said. “Not so as you get bigger. And I got plenty
bigger
. The limp, the scar, only one good eye, my twisted back and crooked nose—kids can be pretty cruel. When my hair started getting longer, Jezreel showed me how to mostly cover all the bald spots. But it wasn’t enough. The teasing and taunting only got worse. One day… I just let ’em have it.”

“What did you do?”

“I turned on them—all the boys who were laughing at me. I beat them up pretty bad. I mean, they are just so… dainty.”

“And you are not.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “And that’s not even the worst part. Prince Thandyl was one of them.”

“Prince Thandyl?”

Baytac nodded. “Jezreel and Kias’s first born.”

“…Oh.”

“Yeah. When I walked in and saw Princess Jezreel bent over her oldest son’s bed, sobbing her heart out while Kias was healing him… I couldn’t take it. Couldn’t take what I had done to the only person who’d ever shown me even a hint of kindness. I broke her heart. I couldn’t live with myself. I came out here that same day, and I’ve never been back.”

Jenevier lightly touched his arm. “I bet
that
broke her heart as well.”

Baytac jerked away. “I’ve told you my story. Can you leave me in peace now?”

“If that is your wish.” She turned to go. “I am truly sorry for the part I played in your tortured life, Baytac. Had I the power… I would change your world.”

“Your part? What have you to do with me?”

She turned back to face him. “I married the Prince of Hell.”

“You are wife to that devil?”

Jenevier shook her head. “Not anymore, no. But our time together yielded me my precious son, a son Apollyon had thought perished with me during childbirth.”

“…Like my mother,” Baytac whispered.

“Not exactly. Well, not the conception part.” She swallowed hard. “I loved the man… and he loved us. So much so, his broken heart was cause for his rebellion, his apocalypse.”

“Then… that is why the demons came? Why my mother was…”

She nodded. “Why you were born, yes.”

Baytac’s muscular arms began to tremble.

“It was not by my fault or by my actions, no.” Jenevier took a deep breath. “But, yes… I was indeed the cause of it. Well, the
loss
of me.”

“Then why didn’t you stop it?” Baytac suddenly yelled. “When you found out he thought you were dead, why didn’t you go to him?”

“I did. But by then, two years had passed. The damage was done.”

“Two years? Why the hell did you wait two whole years?”

“By then I was on Jinn—stolen from my home, hidden by a Shinobi. I knew nothing of Apollyon’s war. Not until the day I faced him in battle. Alas, that does not ease
your
pain. As I said before, if I could change your world, Baytac, I would.”

The man’s anger slowly engulfed him. Jenevier watched it wash over him in an all-consuming wave.

“Please… don’t do this,” she said. “I only asked for your forgiveness, offered my apolo—”

Her words were cut off when Baytac seized her throat, squeezing. Then, the enraged Elf felt the cold steel of Iole Máni pressed under his chin. His grip slowly began to relax.

“Mind your temper, Brother,” she warned. “If you wish to have a go at me, then let’s do this properly.”

Baytac stepped back. “What are you talking about?”

“If releasing your anger will help you to feel better, then arm yourself. I will fight you… if that is what you want.”

Baytac snorted then spat upon the ground. “Go on. Get out of here. Snapping your tiny sparkling neck won’t change a damn thing. I never want to see you again.”

“As you wish.”

Jenevier once again bowed in her Dragon manner before turning to go. She had only made it a few yards back the way she had come, before Baytac’s pained cries reached her ears, cries soon followed by the familiar thomping of rapid arrows hitting that old stump.

“I guess he decided to work it out on his own. Huh, Taka?”

The little Dragon Pixie purred in response.

She sighed softly. “I guess I’ll be paying for those old sins as long as I yet draw breath. The ripples that war caused… there’ll be no end to them.”

Jenevier had walked near enough to the open field to see the sunlight peeking through the forest’s edge, before she heard the rapidly approaching footsteps. She spun just in time to block Baytac’s blade with her claws.

“I changed my mind,” he hissed.

“Yeah. I can see that.”

When he drew back for his next swing, Jenevier unsheathed Amatiste and countered his attack. The battle was on, and Baytac would not go down easily. The large man matched her, blow for blow. Jenevier had no intention of hurting him. Which was a good thing, seeing as how she had her hands full simply trying to defend herself.

“Baytac, you do realize I am not actually the demon who raped your mother.”

“Perhaps not,” he said through a growl. “But you are the creature who freely offered up responsibility. Now, if you don’t stop holding back, I
will
kill you.”

“I have no intention of causing you more harm.”

“And I have no intention of mourning your death.”

As Jenevier stepped back to evade his next volley, she stumbled over a fallen tree limb and rolled end over end to the very edge of the forest line.

“Get up!” Baytac charged her as he screamed.

Jenevier did get up—scrambled to her feet and ran a few paces before turning back to face him.

“Don’t make me do this, Brother. Yes, I willingly offered to be the outlet for your rage. But if you try to land a mortal blow, I will stop you… by any means necessary.”

“I told you before, Angel, I am
not
your brother!”

“But you could be,” she said in a low, pained voice.

When Baytac brought his broadsword down once more, Jenevier blocked the attack with her wing, then instinctively swiped across his lower legs with Amatiste. The giant of a man went down hard.

“Oh my god… Baytac!” She hurried to his side. “I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

Her words were cut off when he once again seized her by the throat.