Warmth and Safety

Chapter 6 Part 1

Wandering through the streets had been fun, but Daniella found herself tired faster than Mari and Infero. He remembered she’d been up with him at five, and began to wonder when the other two woke up. Sensing that Mari was the night owl his brother was, he dedicated to let them continue on without himself and Daniella. He gave Mari and Infero some money to stay out with and began ushering his flame home.

About half a mile from home, she leaned against him.

“So,” He started, genuinely curious, “Are you okay with the nickname now?”

“I never wasn’t, to be fair.” She tried her best to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. “Mari is a bit protective of me. Her brothers are, too.” She added.

“A bit odd, if you think about it. Aren’t you her guard?”

Daniella laughed, “Sort of. I was mostly a babysitter. I have combat training, but I didn’t get any more training than her until we were teenagers.”

He raised his eyebrows, “And you were her guard before then as well?”

“Yeah,” She said, “I was selected to be her guard when I was a child. The palace thinks I was about five. She was about four.”

He huffed a laugh, “And your parents were alright with that?”

“I don’t have any parents.” She said, “I mean, at some point I must have, but I was found by one of the temples to Delora. I never met my parents.”

He paused, processing the information, “I’m sorry, Dani.”

She shrugged, “It’s fine really. I had the priestesses before I began working with Mari. And like I said, Mari and her brothers always did their best to protect me, too.”

He remembered Michael’s outburst at the palace. “So, you took the place of a confidant or an adopted sibling then? They just called you a guard because that was the training you’d have when you were old enough.”

“Sort of.” She sighed, “Mari and her brothers had pretty limited interactions because of the whole sacrifice business. Part of what I was there for was to keep her mood in check. We certainly got into fights sometimes, we’ve shared a room since either of us can really remember and that sort of just happens, but for the most part it was just making sure she was okay. And that we never left the palace walls. We were told as soon as I was there that no one chosen would be leaving the palace again until the sacrifice.”

“That must have been hard. You must have been eager to get outside.”

She shrugged, “We had the courtyard to go outside. But yeah, for a while on and off, I was excited for the sacrifice to be over with.”

He stiffened. “I’m sorry you were pulled into this. I know your role in this isn’t very clear ye-.”

Interrupting him, she said, “I’m assuming my role is to give Mari someone to bounce complaints off of until she feels as comfortable talking to you as she does me.”

“I doubt that will ever happen.” Ignis said, trying not to linger on the subject for too long, he added, “You’re basically a sister to her. No one will ever earn that kind of trust from her again.”

“Right, I’m sure she’ll trust you as her husband enough to talk to you about somethings.” She said, quietly.

His heart sank. He wanted to argue with her, nearly wanted to yell out. He had no intentions of marrying Mari anymore. In less than a week, he’d decided he never wanted to marry Mari.

A beat went by, and she absentmindedly rubbed his back, soothing him like she often soothed Mari. Like the priestess had the child earlier today.

“Do you remember any of your time in the temple?” He asked, glad to change the subject.

“Not really. I have dreams sometimes of the temple, that almost feel like memories, but nothing I can actually remember. I remember the stories they used to tell about me, since they shared them with a few guards.”

“Oh really? Any fun rebellion at the ripe old age of five?” He chuckled, imagining a young Daniella being difficult was a hard thing to do.

“No, nothing like that.” She laughed with him. “Apparently, I’m part sss. They said with my height, they were sure I was several months old, until the doctors came to look at me and confirmed I was a newborn. I stayed tall and strong the entire time, and dark, so they decided I was certainly part sss and part titan.” She laughed.

“I’d love to see you in some greek attire. They’re right, you’d be able to pull that look off easily.” Some part of him wanted that story to be true. The idea that she was a misplaced Greek goddess made his panic from the previous night completely dissipate.

“Flirting again already?” She teased, “You have a short memory.”

“I think I’m just being friendly, Dani.” He lied.

She snorted, “Sure.”

Getting to his apartment building, he opened the door to usher her towards the elevator again.

Waiting for the elevator, he leaned over to her. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of flirting now and again, is there?”

“So you admit you’re flirting?” She said, giving him a playful side glance.

The gesture stole some of the air from his lungs. He remembered the chase from his dream the night before and cleared his throat.

“I think you like when I flirt with you.” He said, adding, “Besides, I only have a year left to be a bachelor. Shouldn’t I enjoy it?”

Suddenly, her smile flattered, but just for a moment. “Well, you can waste that year flirting with your fiancee. Have you even spoken to Mari today?” She quickly clarified, “And not at dinner. Just to her.”

He shuffled, waiting for the elevator to reach their floor. “No, she doesn’t seem particularly interested in me right now.” The debate to tell her resurfaced, but he tampered it down. If he told her, he had no idea how she’d react.

“Well, she won’t ever be interested in a man who’s too busy flirting with someone else.”

He laughed. If only she knew. Catching her giving him a more serious side-eye, he corrected himself. “I guess not.”

“Why are you so calm about her spending so much time with Infero anyway? You seem to have some idea of what’s happening.” She said.

“Do you?” He looked at her, playfully, but dropped his smile when he noticed she was still very serious. His heart started to pound in his chest as the worry started mounting again. “I cannot make her decisions for her, remember? I need to give her space. If she chooses my brother, then she does. We’ll work that out later.”

Opening the door to their apartment, he followed her inside and headed to the couch.

“You’re right.” He added, trying to remind himself of his earlier decision. “I shouldn’t be flirting with you. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

She sat down quietly. “You are also right.” She sighed, “I do like it when you flirt with me. However,” She quickly added, “I’m not the one you have to marry at the end of this year.” She looked at him, and he froze. “She’s my best friend, Ignis. Couldn’t you at least try to make her happy?”