Found(138)

“No, my son.” Her voice sounded strange in his ears and he pulled back to look at her.

“Why not?”

“I won’t live that long. Look.” She indicated her face and Xairn saw to his horror that her formerly smooth skin was now lined with wrinkles. As he watched, more lines encroached, etching themselves into her lovely features, turning her old and haggard. Streaks of silver grew in her hair and her hands grew withered and gnarled.

“Gods!” he exclaimed, panicked. “What’s wrong? What’s happening to you?”

“The cage I was placed in was a stasis holder.” Her voice sounded scratchy and high, the voice of an old woman. “When I came out of it, my artificial youth was compromised. The years are catching up to me now—three years for every one I was in stasis. It is a deadly process—one I’m not strong enough to withstand, I fear.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xairn’s felt hot tears spring to his eyes. “Why didn’t you stay in the cage? I never should have broken the lock!”

“I wanted you to.” She raised a withered hand and brushed his cheek. “I wanted to hold you in my arms one more time before I died. I love you, my darling. Love you so much. Please forgive my absence from your life.”

“You couldn’t help it,” Xairn whispered, his voice breaking as the tears came faster. “I could never…never blame you.”

“Thank you, my son. I love you.” She smiled at him and even though her face was withered and old, he thought her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Tell me this at least—do you have someone to love you? Someone to care for you?”

Xairn thought of Lauren. Of how he would never be able to go back to her now that his Scourge nature had reasserted itself. “Yes,” he whispered hoarsely. “There is a girl I love. She’s kind and beautiful. I…I think you would like her.”

“I’m so glad.” His mother sighed tiredly. “So glad that you’re not alone. That you have someone to love you.” She shook her head feebly. “I must go now. Promise not to take any more of your father’s power—it leads only to corruption and evil.”

“I…I promise,” Xairn whispered. “Mother, please don’t go. Don’t…don’t die.”

But it was too late. Slowly her green eyes closed and her chest rose and fell once more. Looking at her, Xairn knew it would never rise again. She was gone.

“Mother!” Throwing back his head, he howled his grief to the universe. Dead, she was dead! He had found her at last only to lose her forever. It seemed so unfair, so wrong. He wanted to kill, wanted to die, wanted to dive into the blackness of space and let the airless vacuum take him so he wouldn’t have to feel the unbearable pain of her loss.

Suddenly he heard a soft sound at his feet.

“Ssso, you have freed her at last.” The AllFather was watching him from faded red eyes but Xairn thought he looked stronger than he had a few minutes ago. Was his power returning?

Doesn’t matter if it is, Xairn thought, turning a murderous gaze on his father. I can fix that. He felt the greedy, grasping fist rise inside him once more, ready to take, ready to inhale his father’s power and leave him a dry, desiccated corpse at the foot of his own throne.

But then he remembered the soft voice of his mother. “Inhaling his evil will taint your soul!” she’d said.

“That’sss right, it will.” The AllFather chuckled weakly, his eyes glowing brighter as he read Xairn’s thoughts. “Ssso you cannot take my life. I know you, my ssson—you will not go against your mother’sss dying wish.”

“No, I won’t.” Tenderly, Xairn laid his mother’s body on the ground and turned to face his father who had somehow gotten to his feet.

“I knew it.” The AllFather’s hissing laughter filled the air. “Knew you were too weak to truly challenge me.”

“I don’t wish to challenge you,” Xairn said, taking a step toward him. “I wish to kill you.”

“What—?” the AllFather began, his crimson eyes wide with surprise.

Xairn plunged the cryo-knife into his chest, skewering the twisted black lump that served as his heart. “Die, Father” he whispered. “Die.”

The AllFather’s body froze in shock and a thin layer of frost formed over his rigid torso. Xairn watched dispassionately as the male who had raised him with such misery and pain fell to his knees and the life left his eyes.

As the AllFather fell, it seemed as though some connection between them was severed. The strange, greedy hand Xairn had felt inside himself was being pulled out, like a tooth being yanked out by the roots. He cried out in sudden pain, one hand clutching his chest. Then he collapsed at the foot of the green etched throne, falling helpless between the bodies of his mother and father.