Leaving Daniel

Rosemary’s knees dipped just a little as she carefully placed her leather bag of holding on the floor outside the infirmary door and peeked around the corner. Daniel was snoring softly on the bed by the window in the early morning light, but from the colors that radiated from his body, she could tell he was on the mend.

His wounds were almost healed, and once he awoke from his drug-induced slumber, he’d be as good as new again.

Knowing he was too sedated to wake up and stop her, Rosemary crept in like a thief in the night and gently sat at the bedside, then took his hand and kissed his knuckle. “Please don’t look for me, Daniel. I’m sorry I’m such a coward, but I just couldn’t face you. I can’t go on these adventures with you that you have planned; I’ll only hold you back.”

While she hovered over his face, Rosemary took inventory of his handsome features and locked them into her memory. “I will love you until the very end of it all.” She pressed her lips to his one last time, relishing the taste of him, and hoped it would last her all her days.

A sweet grin came to Daniel’s lips as the touch of his mate reached through the paralyzed fog he was wandering through in his mind making Rosemary turn away. She knew that when his eyes opened again, they would fill with tears, and she hated herself for it.

The heel of her hand pushed into the mattress, and Rosemary wiped her tears away with her fingertips while she walked away from Daniel forever.

Despite his fervent objections to her plans, Nicholas walked along the cobblestone path with Rosemary to the stables to see her off, then made one last-ditch effort to bring her back to reason. “He’ll come looking for you as soon as he realizes you’re gone, Rosemary. You’re his sole reason for being here. He’ll never stop trying to find you.” Nicholas watched Rosemary step up onto the carriage seat as Uzzi climbed in on the other side and gathered the reins while his white hair blew across his face.

“Convince him.” Rosemary shut her eyes and shook her head at how cold she sounded. “I’m sorry, Father. I…this is for the best. He has many plans, and great things await him, but I can’t be part of them anymore.”

Climbing up the step to kiss her goodbye, Nicholas bent down to look into her eyes. “You can come home whenever you wish, my darling one. You belong to the North, and it will always wait for you.”

With a tight-lipped grin to mask her doubts, Rosemary glanced down to the horse, shifting nervously in front of them before looking back at him. Even the animals sensed the disturbance brewing in the air as the warlock tried to fight the narcotics in his blood when the growing presence in Rosemary’s womb called out to him for help. “I know that. I love you.”

After placing a kiss on her forehead, Nicholas backed away and watched the wagon make for the narrow path that led away from the safety of the enchanted city by the sea. His wife made a similar trip only a handful of years ago and never returned.

There were many dangers along the three-week journey to the Westlands, and Nicholas looked up to the sky above him then closed his eyes as he prayed for the safe passage of his youngest child. “Blessed Fates, whatever path lies before her, make it a gentle one.”

Taking one last look back at her home, Rosemary grasped at her chest as the pain of never seeing Daniel again began to prick at her. “I love you, always.” She kept telling herself that she was doing this for him, no matter how much he demanded her to stay and accept what Fate had gifted them.

The further they traveled from Daniel and the rougher the terrain became, the more her little one protested inside her with its jabs and kicks. The ancient spirit housed within her belly cried out to Daniel with every ounce of strength it had. Rosemary did her best to comfort the life force within her as she rubbed her soothing hands over her belly.

As the horses crossed over the North’s border into the unmanaged territories, the unborn soul screamed out its final plea for rescue, and Daniel’s eyes snapped open. He raised himself on his elbows in bed, and his eyes darted around the room. A tetchy buzz rose from his skin as he balled his fists to stop the pins and needles sensation that enveloped them. Fearing the worst, Daniel called out into the hall. “Rosemary?”

When no answer came, he threw off the covers and took the clothes from the chair beside him. Pulling on his pants, Daniel searched his mind for traces of her in the spaces he could reach with the fledgling powers.

The farther she got from home, the thinner the connection became. She was nearly out of his mind’s grasp, and Daniel knew that she was no longer in the Woods, wherever she was.

In fear and rage, his whole body trembled as the furious storm started to build in the pit of his stomach. His teeth chattered while he pulled his shirt down over his head. When he slumped down on the bed to strap his boots, he clenched his jaw in a rabid-looking sneer as he tried to contain the fire that itched to be unleashed.

Calling out the warning to her in his mind so great that she closed her eyes and gasped in panic from about fifty miles away, Daniel laid proper claim on his mate. “There’s nowhere you can run to; you belong to me. I’m coming for you.”

He stormed through the halls of the main house, and the cyclone of every dark emotion known to man churned inside Daniel’s mind and swam through his bloodstream. His heart pumped wildly, his hair floated on the wind, and he appeared truly mad when he reached Nicholas’ laboratory. “Where is she?”

Nicholas moved cautiously as he rose to his feet to avoid sparking the blaze when he saw the crazed man in front of him. He’d faced down many enemies in his three thousand years, but none so menacing as the man who stood before him now staring him down with a face so cold it chilled him to the bone.

“She has left for the West to be with her mother’s people.” Nicholas swallowed hard and waited for whatever might come next.

Daniel breathed heavily through his nose and gritted teeth as the words sunk in. Wrenching his neck to calm himself, Daniel looked at the table beside him, then the storm inside him broke free.

The table smashed into the wall across the room without Daniel lifting a finger, and every precious vial broke into a million pieces. With a laugh somewhere between insane and grief, Daniel pointed at the man he now called his father. “How could you let her leave? You had no right!”

Nicholas sighed at the mess Daniel made and crossed his arms. “She’s a grown woman, Daniel. Would you have me keep her prisoner? Restrain her, perhaps?”

Daniel punched the wall with a roar, then collapsed into it and closed his eyes as his emotions became uncontrollable. Through pained gasps and tears, Daniel continued to pound his fist against the wall. “She’s pregnant. How could you just let her go?”

Nicholas leaned into him, careful not to touch the Firebreather. “She loves you, Daniel, but her guilt and fear know no boundary. She won’t hope that you’ll accept her now.”

“What do I say to make her believe me when I tell her it doesn’t matter?” Pointing to his chest, Daniel rocked in pain. “I love her still.”

“You keep saying it until she understands, until it is the only thing that reverberates in her ears. You show her every day that it’s true.” Nicholas backed away and tilted his head to the window. “If you leave within the hour, you’ll be able to catch them in a day or two. In Rosemary’s state, they’ll need to stop frequently.”

Closing his eyes, Daniel thought about Rosemary sleeping on the cold, hard ground, and it was the last straw stacked on a psyche that was already carrying more than it could bear. While the thin blue glow of his flame permeated his body, Daniel turned to face Nicholas and shook his head. “No. I will go to her now.”

A feeling of dread came to Nicholas as a mist of blackness rose from Daniel’s feet and consumed him inch by inch. It was a trick used by the dark witches of long ago, but Nicholas hadn’t seen it used in at least a thousand years. “You’ll never find her. You can’t travel somewhere you’ve never been before.”

As his molecules departed into the air, Daniel’s eyes turned black, and an unworldly voice came from the pits of Hell. “Yes, I can. Nothing will keep me from her ever again."