"Over the last year or two, I noticed the gem changing with the more we talked about Etani, it would glow and pulsate with the more people, and the more emotions that seemed to be flowing," Versalis started, sitting down at her side on the dais with his shoulder resting against her leg. Alaric and Epharis standing on either side of her.
The rest of the crowd were sitting or standing on the ground, watching with rapt fascination.
"After a time, I started testing it to see if I could get it to glow more, because it was a part of her, and I wanted to convince myself that there was a way to save her."
Looking away from him, she motioned that she wanted the quill and Epharis swept from the room to fetch them for her. She wrote down 'three years?' on the parchment and offered it to Versalis.
"Yes, it's been three years and a few months," he said, cutting off his story.
She stared at him then looking to Bast for confirmation. The goddess nodded her agreement.
"So, I was testing it for a few months and the more I tested it the more I seemed to feel her there, until one day I was certain I felt her hand against my cheek."
He was still speaking, but her attention had been drawn away by someone else entering the hall. It was a young woman with waist-length crimson hair and a pale face, dressed in a dark blue, corseted gown with a long sleeve white tunic under it. Her amber eyes swept the room before finding Jaia, and she made a beeline for him, coming to sit at his side. Etani's stomach clenched as the stranger kissed Jaia's cheek, their eyes meeting for one moment.
She wanted nothing more than to destroy that woman in that moment, to rip her apart and watch the life drain out of her stupid amber eyes. To see how well that crimson hair blended in with blood.
Her sudden homicidal desires had her seeing red for a second before she jerked at a touch and she looked up to see Bast was touching her shoulder, her white eyes intent. Forcing herself back to the conversation, Etani did her best not to look up again.
"And that's when it started to heat up and didn't stop. Before I knew it, my shirt was smouldering, and I managed to rip the chain off." He pulled down the front of his shirt to show the group the mark there. Etani leant forward to see it, noting with silent anxiety that the little arms seemed to be a fraction longer. "I panicked, thinking I might have damaged it, and was trying to clean it when I noticed that my skin had started to expand and change colour. I stopped trying to clean it and just let it sit there for a few days. There was no denying it was her skin that was growing from mine, and it took months for her to start to take shape. Then she was fully formed, and only a few hours ago her eyes opened."
There was silence as Etani watched the vampire, fascinated by him and what he would do to keep her safe.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Daemon demanded, but Versalis was unashamed.
"Because if I was wrong, that would have been a million times worse. To get your hopes up and then just shatter them like that? No, I was going to wait and tell you when I was certain." He looked up as she traced her fingers through his hair, and his eyes softened. "After that, it was just a case of figuring out if it was truly her and then seeing who wanted to meet her. We wanted to be sure everyone was prepared to deal with the addiction again."
Resting the parchment on the arm of the throne, Etani scribbled down two words and offered it to Versalis, who frowned.
"Letari and Kai… they went crazy when you died, so they were locked up in the dungeon. But they stopped screaming about a year ago, and have simply been crying since."
Versalis looked to Jaia and Etani's eyes followed, but immediately wished she hadn't. They were holding hands, and she swallowed to keep herself from screaming.
She had never felt such jealousy before, nor dealt with the murderous rage that came with it. As a result, she didn't know how to process or get rid of it.
"They stopped crying earlier; likely within seconds of her eyes opening," Jaia said, his eyes boring into Etani, but she refused to look at him again. She placed her hands on the armrests of the throne and pushed herself up, her feet feeling heavy and useless as she stepped towards the edge of the dais, intent on going to the suffering pair.
Daemon was before her in an instant and she immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, her cheek against his collarbone as he carried her from the throne room, a small army following after her. She wanted to cry, though she didn't really know why, whether it was because she was alive, had lost three years, or because of Jaia, she wasn't keen to try to figure it out, but she knew she needed to keep her face neutral while she still could.
***
Leading the march through the halls of the castle and down into The Basement as it had been named, Etani was disgusted to see the signs of the redhead's presence in small pillows and little delicate figurines. Etani very much wanted to smash them, preferably over the woman's head.
Instead, she clutched tighter to Daemon, and he smiled, seeming to be able to sense her mood.
"It's going to be okay," he murmured.
She nodded, but she didn't believe him.
Leading her down the second flight of stairs, the cry from the cells was enormous the instant they entered the sub-basement, and she looked around to find three occupied glass cells, one containing Kai, the middle containing Letari, and the third containing a man fully clad in black leather with a muzzle strapped to his head. His eyes were golden, and he looked like he bit people for fun. Black-brown hair and slightly purple-olive skin topped it all off, his hands bound securely behind him, though he was free to roam his cell. He approached the glass, and the muzzle gave a soft tap against the glass as he watched, fascinated, as Versalis set Etani down and let the two prisoners go.
Letari tackled her, and Kai was only an instant behind, both hugging her hard enough to make her body scream in pain, but she didn't care. She kissed them both in silence, holding them to her and she squeezed them back, unable to get back to her feet on her own, but not caring either way.
After a long time, Etani finally motioned to the third cell. His eyes bored into them with malice that didn't seem rational.
"He was running around mutilating people. I don't know why; apparently for fun," Versalis explained.
Etani's brows lifted in interest. It wasn't all that long ago where she had been doing the same thing, and she saw what might have become of her, had Jaia and Kai found her instead of Epharis.
He was staring back at her, his eyes crinkling in a smile that made her shiver, and a part of her was growling, not in fear but in a need to join him on the hunt.
"He won't talk to any of us," Daemon said, watching the three of them on the floor, though everyone else had stayed up in the living room.
Etani nodded, captivated, until Letari bit her. She looked down, grinning at the tiny creature whose teeth were entirely flat.
"She can't talk or walk yet," Versalis said, bending down to slide his hands under her arms and help her to her feet.
Kai was clinging to her still, and Letari was crying. They headed upstairs to hear the news from the others while she, Versalis and Daemon lingered.
"How are you feeling?" Daemon asked.
Etani shrugged, thinking, before she trailed her index finger down her cheek, from just under her lower eyelid.
"No one thought you were ever coming back. He killed you with a soul blade. It's never possible to escape one of them unless the blade is destroyed."
A movement from the cell had Etani looking to the caged man. His eyes had narrowed, prowling along the glass with his bare feet silent on the rough stone.
Motioning for Daemon to turn around, Etani used his back to lean on as she scribbled, 'a lightning bug with Versalis' voice brought me back.' She showed it to him, and the two men exchanged a glance.
"You'll have to explain it to us fully later," he said.
Etani nodded her agreement. There were so many things she wanted to ask and tell them.