The Future King and the Commander's Daughter

Emotional Mess Pt. 2

He announced, “I’m hanging up. Get that paper trail done as soon as possible. I won’t leave without her.” My dad said, “If she doesn’t want to come here then stay there with her. I’ll come to you to talk to her. I’ll get you a house in the area.” Marcus ground out, “She’ll come home.”

I needed to know so I voiced my thoughts. “Who could’ve done this? Everything we have says she’s a beautiful little girl who the queen adores.” Marcus scoffed, “The peace, love, and harmony Queen did not do this. We will get answers. I just need to get in there.” He hung up the phone. Silence descended on us like a graveyard. Confusion ate at us along with guilt.

Gunner and my mom slipped out of the room. My dad was crestfallen. He said, “I failed her.” I argued, “No, Alania did.” Astrid agreed, “She did.” Cali ran into the room and went to Harper. He asked, “Are you ok, Cali girl?” She scoffed, “Me? I’m worried about you and Gunner!” She told me, “I still got the…” I waved her off, “We can talk about it later. I was worried about you, not the mission. I’m proud you managed to get it done, but that’s all on hold.”

Logan said, “Dad, this isn’t your fault. She wasn’t with us.” I agreed, “According to Marcus’ anger there’s no one trying to stop him from getting to her. He’s upset with what he’s seeing and frustrated. I don't think she’s talked to him yet. How did this happen without her fairy family knowing? Why aren’t they in this realm with her? Or seeing healers before coming to humans for help? If someone attacked them there would be a fairy with her.”

Benjamin answered, “She had to have fled. Have we gotten any news the Holloran’s are falling from power?” I checked everything from my phone. Astrid answered, “No, we don’t. Aaron has people everywhere. No one is saying anything about it. He even had people who saw fairies that live in Faerie acting normally.” They would die. Slowly. I told her, “Keep them under watch.” She nodded, sending me all her understanding and that she was handling this.

My mom’s horror flooded into me along with Marcus’ intense fury. I started to call him but he didn’t answer. I ground my teeth. Logan asked, “Has Marcus ever felt this angry?” I wanted to lie, I really did. For the first time in my life I disliked that was not how we worked as a family unit.

I answered, “He hasn’t.” Logan punched the wall. He yelled, “I KNEW IT WAS WEIRD! She shouldn’t have felt like nothing all these years! I f*****g knew it!” I told him, “It’s not your fault.” He didn’t believe me but he stopped talking. Which I did not care for. I hadn’t found anything when I looked into his concerns. I should’ve said f**k all and gotten into Faerie. Haley was the first partial for a Hackura King. We obviously didn’t know everything about how that would work. I should’ve trusted Logan’s instincts more.

I kept trying to call Marcus. Eventually I cursed, “He’s not picking up the damn phone!” My mom re-entered the room saying, “He’s there with her as is Aaron now. He just went to them. Haley will be released into Marcs’ custody. Gunner worked very quickly and efficiently.” She put her arms around him.

She continued, “Aaron was able to pull everything together with Gunner’s help. He’s there with them now. There’s nothing we can do now but wait.” Something I was usually decent at. Well, not when it came to Astrid or my boys. Ok, my brothers too. This was hell waiting to hear what happened to my sister. I needed to rage. I needed to destroy people and rip them apart with my bare hands.

Astrid held me as the rest of the mates did. I pulled Evin and Logan to us. Torvi ran in and Astrid pulled her in our group hug. She asked, “What the f**k?” Astrid told her, “It’s Haley.” Torvi gasped. I told my brothers, “Omnia bene agant. Marcus ibi nunc est. Mox parvulus noster domi erit. vindicabimus quid illi factum sit (Everything will be ok. Marcus is there now. Soon our little one will be home. Then we will avenge what has been done to her).” They both nodded but didn’t say anything.

Marcus’ fury hit again and I was calling him all over. What was pissing him off so badly? Evin asked, “Why does his anger keep mounting?” I noticed Gunner and my mom exchange a look. Cali definitely noticed too and distracted Harper from seeing it. My eyes narrowed. I needed to see those pictures they’d put in her chart. I needed to know what the hell was going on.

Marcus’ need to kill hit again. Astrid stepped out to answer the phone. That wasn’t good because she was my anchor at the moment. Hopefully, it was a quick call or the room would suffer my wrath. She came back in announcing, “The hospital is processing the paperwork. Aaron is having them prepare AMA documents for Marcus to sign. We need paperwork to go into the human systems that Haley was admitted at the Hospital Marcus was working at later tonight.”

Gunner instantly got to work declaring, “I’m all over that. The humans will have their paper trail.” Marcus’ anger hit again and we all threw things. What stalled us was my Uncle Zader coming in asking, “Brother?” I shot my mom a look. He’d been visiting Aunt Rashe’s family. She must have told him to come back. Or dad pulled him. Considering my dad seemed confused by my Uncle’s presence it wasn’t him. Which meant my mom was handling things. Thank Aesir.

My dad went to his knees asking, “What are you doing here, Zader?” Uncle Zader snorted, “I was visiting Rashe’s family, not solving world peace. I was already cutting the visit short based on your feelings when Veronica texted. What’s going on, big brother?” My dad told him, “It’s Haley. She’s in an exorbitant amount of pain in the human realm.” Uncle Zader winced which meant he’d also felt Haley’s pain. Our cousins probably did too. Hopefully, someone distracted Miley and she didn’t notice too much.

Marcus’ astonishment hit and I shouted, “Why won’t he answer his f*****g phone?” I’d been calling him repeatedly. Haley was feeling dumb and despondent. Why? Astrid rubbed my back saying, “Aaron is texting me.” She didn’t say that before which meant he was saying things I wouldn’t like. She continued, “Marcus is trying to calm her down. Thankfully, Aaron’s the only one who can hear them talking. The human doctors don’t think she’ll go with him. They are very worried about her mental state.” Not enough considering one wanted to put her a strait jacket.

I demanded to know, “What is she saying that has Marcus this upset? I want a goddamn name! I want to know who did this.” She checked her phone and sighed, “She hasn’t said.” Was she scared? That was a dumb thought. I could feel her terror that had been fading since Marcus joined her. Why wouldn’t she tell Marcus a name? At this point he’d have let her know that he was her brother.

Marcus’ agony was filling the bond. Did she not accept us as family? That thought nearly sent me to my knees. Astrid’s relief hit me. She told us, “They are in the car. Aaron said she looks better even from when he arrived.” I saw my mom and Gunner locking eyes again. I was going to get those pictures tonight.

Astrid continued, “Aaron is going to open a portal right out the hospital once they get to the safe house. You worked fast, Titus.” He shrugged and I knew he felt it was the least he could do. I was certain he had someone track down someone with a house near them that was Hackura and paid them far too much for it.

My feet felt like lead and I was not alone in that feeling. It was physically hard to move given the amount of pain Haley was in. I dragged my Evin and Logan outside with us. It felt like we were using all our strength to make our feet move. Torvi helped Logan and Astrid had me while I had Evin.

I spotted Ophelia, my mom’s friend, and a child psychologist, watching us. She was supposed to be out of the realm. Which meant my mom called her to help with Haley’s mental state. What the f**k happened? And WHAT did those pictures tell my mom and Gunner that had her calling Ophelia home?!

A portal opened and I barely kept our group from falling into a heap. Torvi gasped, “O numen superum. Aesir vires omnes da nobis (Oh goddess above. Aesir give us all strength).” The words of how she looked better were running through my mind. I’d tortured people to death who looked better than my little sister did right now. I noted the blood on the back of her hospital gown and fury filled me. She had been sexually assaulted. My baby sister was r***d. All while I sat in this realm and called myself the Crown Prince and protector of the realm. I was a fraud.

From a cursory glance not only was she beyond injured, but she was also underweight. Practically emaciated for a supernatural. Hell, a human would consider her malnourished. Hurt echoed in our bond when she flinched away from dad into Marcus. Dad whispered, “My beautiful Princess, what happened to you?”

Haley cringed further into Marcus. He softly told her, “That’s our dad.” She looked back at him and nodded. Marcus offered our group, “Talking is not her strong suit. I had to give her Dr. Pepper to talk to me.” He would use that as a bribe. It was his favorite drink. She looked far more timid than any fairy I’d ever met. This wasn’t how this meeting was supposed to go.

No, she was supposed to be bubbly and a little timid. She was supposed to run around the realm and tell us the difference between here and Faerie. She was supposed to dance and enjoy being outside. I thought she’d be tan too with a beautiful sun kissed glow, but she was almost ghost white. I thought she’d show off her talents at instruments since most sky fairies had that inclination towards music. This was not the picture I’d had at all.

My dad announced, “We need to get her to the hospital.” Haley started crying and her terror filled us all. Marcus assured her, “I’ll treat you myself. I am actually a doctor.” She nodded and whispered, “Just you.” Those were not the first words I thought I’d hear my sister say.

Marcus agreed, “Just me.” I wanted to argue, but I knew I couldn’t. I wondered if anyone else felt her excitement seeing us all. I doubted it since I had her bond so close to me I watched catching all the fragments of emotion as if that would make up for me missing the abuse she obviously suffered. She was excited to see us, but that scared her. She was scared to believe in us, and that cut me deep.

Marcus started towards the hospital and we followed. He took her to our family's wing whenever we had to be brought here. We usually went down a different hallway for when our mate’s gave birth. We weren’t supposed to be here for this type of injury. Everyone was whispering as we walked by. I couldn't bring myself to even look them in the eyes. My failure as their future King was in front of them.

My mom sobbed, “What did they do to our little girl, Titus?” My dad answered, “We will find out.” I watched Marcus walk into a private room to treat her. Everything in me screamed to follow him and help. I was a doctor too, but she clearly was afraid of doctors. That was an easy conclusion to come to. The question was why. I didn’t like the options my mind formulated.

I waited to hear her screams as her pain flared in the bond but nothing happened though. Harper said, “He must have sedated her.” I replied, “No, he wouldn’t. You don’t give fairies drugs when they are hurt or they could start popping away from you. We have some trial and error options, but he wouldn’t test them out right now given her state.”

My dad started pacing the halls which made the staff more nervous. I gave them the signal to scatter and they quickly did. Their curiosity was written all over their faces though. Haley’s identity was clear as day to everyone who saw her. Our long awaited Princess was home early and injured. That would fly around the realm faster than any news had since her birth.

Miley flew in the room squealed, “Daddy! Everyone said Haley’s here. Can you introduce me so I can play with her?” Uncle Zader quietly replied, “Haley is hurt really bad, Miley bug. You can see her later.” Miley gasped, “Hurt? What do you mean? What happened?” It was a damn good question.

He answered her, “We don’t know yet, but it’s not good.” No f*****g joke. Helena ran in after her apologizing, “I’m sorry, Zader. She heard the news and just took off.” My Uncle shrugged, “It’s fine. Go with your mom, Miles. We will find out what happened to Haley.” Miley crossed her arms, “You’ll make them pay, right daddy? They can’t get away with hurting her. We don’t let them do that to this family.” He agreed, “They will pay. I swear that to you. No one hurts our family.” Miley nodded and left with her mom.

Marcus came out of her room. He told her guard that someone must’ve called because now Blade, Javi, Thomas, and Sasha stood guard, “No one gets in but me. Are we clear?” I twitched to countermand that to include us both, but he was right. She didn’t know or trust me. He had a rapport with her, and I didn’t. That cut worse than any physical wound I’ve ever had.

Torvi threw herself into his arms. Probably to keep him from destroying the hospital ward. She asked, “Is she ok?” He scoffed, “She is not ok. She’s been abused and conditioned. WHAT THE f**k?!” My dad questioned, “What do you mean?” Marcus explained as his fury lashed out in the bond, “She BEGGED me not to let someone r**e her when she thought she’d fallen for my trick to bring her home.” Astrid kept me upright.

Gunner suspected and my training told me it had happened this one time. Her words didn’t provide me with warm feelings that my assumption it was just this one time was right. She begged not to be r***d? Begged? That implied this didn’t just happen once. Everything he was saying implied this was long standing. My mind wholly rejected that. It could’ve been a one off. I did not ignore this pain in the bond. I did not fail to find out Logan’s theories on the bond to leave her to suffer r**e and abuse. I didn’t let my anger I felt for mom keep me from diving into that small connection we had. No. I didn’t do that. Did I?

Marcus continued, “She thought she was going to be punished for leaving her abusers behind. She didn’t speak until I gave her Dr. Pepper. She was screaming at the doctors when I got there that she was good.” I asked, “Abusers? Plural?” He replied, “The bruises on her body couldn't have been done by one person. I estimate at least three attackers.” Dead attackers.

His voice broke, “She screamed that she would be a good girl; she just couldn’t take it anymore she had to leave. When I asked her what happened she said bad things happen to little girls who tell. Someone has been abusing her FOR YEARS! HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN AND WE DIDN’T KNOW?”

Yet another good question. The bond should’ve told us, but outside of the bond we’d paid people for information. I’d paid MILLIONS of dollars for the pittance of information I got on my sister. There was absolutely no way the people who took pictures of just her face didn’t realize her state.

If she’d been abused I now knew why we never got a full body shot of my little sister. Those people took our money and lied to our goddamn faces. That was bad for them because they were tangible to me. Something and someone I could hurt for this.

Alania’s days were numbered, but they had been for about thirteen years now. Her being a terrible, lackluster mother was sealing her fate. I’d contemplated letting her die after a few hours of torture. Now, I had plans for YEARS of her descent to death.

My dad said, “We will find out. I promise all of you we will find out.” My dad sank into his seat. My mom asked, “Titus?” My dad cried out, “She must hate me. I left her there with those sick people. I’m her father. I’m supposed to protect her. I had no idea that she’d been r***d. My little girl. My little Princess.” My dad broke down in tears. We all did.

I locked eyes with my brother Marcus. I let him know that no matter how long it took we would make them all pay for this. Marcus shifted his eyes to dad. He said, “I think she came to this realm to find you, dad. I don’t think she hates you. She knew she wasn’t just a fairy. I didn’t have to try very hard to convince her we were related.” That was something. Not much but we were scraping the bottom of the barrel here. We’d take anything we offered that moving towards anything positive.

My dad put his head in hands, “She cringed away from me.” I pulled Astrid tightly against my chest because mine was aching. There was a burn from pain I’d never felt. I quickly realized it was a feeling of being rejected by a family member. Fairies would pay in droves for this. Her feelings told me she didn’t feel like she rejected us, just that she was being cautious. Her face didn’t show that though. That was odd. Fairies were insanely expressive. I’d have to look into their partials more. Thought the ones I’d seen were all expressive, even more so than humans.

Marcus knelt down saying, “Dad, between every answer I got out of her she was silent for twenty minutes. Even before she started talking it took ten minutes for her to nod at me.” Ophelia joined us. She softly told us, “If she’s been conditioned and r***d, it was likely by men. She can feel you through connection with her. That will help, but if she’s been in an unsafe environment we will have to prove to her this is a safe place.”

She glanced at all the mates then landed on mom’s face. She said, “She will naturally be more comfortable around women. Men, keep in mind this is just from what I’ve overheard you saying and observing her first interaction with you, outside the family may never be tolerable to her. She may always fear them. I’ll know more after I talk to her but thank god our Hackura blood runs through her veins. It will help her more than her fairy blood. This is going to take a lot of daily sessions to establish a rapport with her. Then I have a feeling after I get her to open up. Just give her time. Show up for her and prove that you’re different men than she’s used to. Don’t push her though, everything will have to be on her timetable.”

Bitterness flooded me. Ubbe voiced all our thoughts, “So, we can’t talk to our little sister? Or give her a hug? After waiting thirteen years to know her, we can’t even try?” Ophelia softened, “You can of course talk to her, and I’d recommend doing so. Just don’t expect her to talk back. Marcus will be someone she considers a savior.”

She turned to him adding, “As a fairy, she will feel she owes him. I suspect it will be more than that though. Given what we know about some fairy groups and how they feel about partials; it’s highly likely given her state he’s one of the first people she’s met to show her kindness. I think we have to assume that being the Princess of their race didn’t spare her those judgements and hatred for being a partial as we previously thought.”

Marcus felt excited, hurt, weary, and a whole lot of guilt. Guilt that she’d talk to him over us. I sent him my love and understanding. War waged on his face. He needed to make someone pay. That’s what we did when one of our own was hurt, and we were all adrift right now. I had my own mental list of those that were going to talk to me and answer for this.

My dad said, “We can do that. We will do whatever she needs.” Ophelia touched his shoulder gently, “It’s not your fault.” He disagreed, “I am King, the protector of the realms. It’s absolutely my fault. He walked away from our group, his devastation, dejection, and guilt blasting through the bond. I sent him all the love I had to spare.

Marcus offered, “I’ll go talk to him.” Mom needed to, but she’d say that soon enough. He didn’t need us right now, he needed her. Histeck hissed, “It’s not dad’s fault! Let’s just declare war and open season on fairies.” I liked that plan. A lot.

My mom tisked, “Now son, that would be obvious. We should give them a taste of their own medicine. We paid for information about Haley. Don’t bother denying it. I know all of you have. I have myself. We start there.”

Her eyes blazed, “We start with the people who lied to our faces. Then we take a few fairies here and there. They will never even know we are their enemies until it’s too late.” I said, “Astrid, let’s go. We have a demon to find.” She agreed, “Of course.” I stalked out and was about to leave then cursed, “Damn it!” My children needed me. Astrid asked, “Bjourn?”

I opened a portal to our boys. I took a guess I knew where they’d be. The place I took them to think. The hill overlooking the castle. I pulled Hastein to me and he cried, “She looks terrible.” I whispered, “I know.” He asked, “Why dad? Why would they hurt her? Was it our fault? Did they do it to get to us?” I told him, “I don’t know that yet, but it doesn’t sound like she knew anything about us really. I doubt this was something against us. It sounds like it just might be against her.”