Dark One: One for Sorrow... (The Khiara Banning Series Book 1) (22 page)

I put my coffee down. Narrow my eyes and bite my lip. “I don’t understand…”

He sighs. “You were born in Ireland; your birth parents were Irish travellers, Maria and Ewan O’Leary. You were sick, and the midwife didn’t think you’d make it through the night – and you probably wouldn’t have.”

Chewing on a piece of bacon, I nod again. “Yeah,” I say once I’ve chased the bacon down with a sip from my mug. “My parents told me I was really sick when they found me.”

Cael winces and shakes his head. “Well yes, you were. But that was after…”

“After?” I prompt.

His voice softens as if to lessen the blow of what he’s about to say. “That was after you were cursed, by the Goddess Morrigan. Your birth parents were selfish people, Khiara, and the Morrigan preyed on them, as she does selfish people. She is a Goddess of War, and often takes the shape of a crow because they are natural tricksters. In the world of Gods, she is known as the Crow Goddess.”

“Wait, what the hell? I don’t understand…” I whisper, my food and coffee forgotten. “You’re not making any sense.”

Cael looks at me with eyes filled with a misery, ages old. “There is much that you still don’t understand, and that humans shouldn’t
have to
understand. There are many lower Gods and Goddesses, but there is only one Almighty. He is the one we all refer to when we say God, but the truth is so much bigger.”

“Did he create everything, then? Like the Bible says?”

A brief smile, “No,” he says, “He didn’t. There is truth in every religion, but none of them
are
the truth. The Bible and books like it, they’re just stories humans used to explain things they know little of. Things evolved mostly like you think you they did. Science properly explains many things, but of course, much of the world has yet to be scientifically discovered yet, because you don’t have the technology. What we call Gods and Goddesses, are simply beings that formed naturally in the cosmos who found a home on Earth just at the dawn of its life. As for our God, He was…elected, you could say, to protect and watch over humans, even after they have passed. He
did
create the Angelic race, though, in
your
image, not his. So you could say the human race is older than the Angelic race, and our language, which is based off of the original language of the Godly entities.” Somehow, through my confusion I motion for him to continue.

“Earth was divided into three realms upon God’s decision to watch over the humans, the world of the living and the
physical body
, then the world of the dead which is actually split into two halves, Heaven and Hell, and the in-between or Limbo as it’s affectionately known; the latter two are realms of
spirit,
that simply cannot be seen by most people, although there are those who can see beyond. See, before God decided to watch over the humans, spirits were flying everywhere once people died, all willy-nilly, and it was pretty chaotic. He intervened very early on, mind you. The other Gods and Goddesses govern over whatever they please, and there are multiple entities that work together to oversee things. Finally, there are the five Gods of the elements that the Fae worship, to which they are referred to in the Faen language, as simply Mother Earth, Grandmother Spirit, Father Fire, Sister Wind, and Brother Water. They bear different names for different human cultures, mind you, but they’re close to the Faen people.”

“Fae? As in fairies?”

He nods. “Yeah, they’ve existed alongside humans since the dawn of man. Most look just like humans, and are roughly the same size and stature, but there are some that are so small they could fit in the palm of your hand. When they die, their bodies succumb to their particular type of magic, so if they were a Water Fae for example, their body would simply dissolve into water as soon as they were placed into a river, and their soul will either be reborn, or remain part of the environment.”

“That’s beautiful…”

“It is indeed.” He says.

“How did…your kind come into being?”

“God called upon his heart when he was first elected to govern over humans and created us. The only difference is we are made of pure light and do not have physical bodies for our souls, unless we are banished to the physical realm, and we are supposed to serve only God, our Father.” Three fingers on his right hand twitch, as if he were about to make a gesture, but he stops himself.

“So I was cursed,” I whisper. “Why?”

“Morrigan came to your parents as a nurse named Morgan. You see, when you were born, your pure soul was like a beacon, and Angels – Fallen and otherwise – Gods, and people able to see what they should not, knew that something was up. She knew that you were very sick and would probably not make it, and thought it was quite a shame. She asked your parents, if they could would they rather be rich and young forever but have to give you up, if they’d do it.” Tears form in my eyes. I know the answer.

“Your mother said that you’d be dead soon anyway, and your father agreed. Morrigan was angered by their lack of compassion, and cursed both your parents, and you. She gave your parents immortality, but no riches, and you…I’m so sorry.” He whispers the apology like it could possibly help put my life as I knew it back together. “You were cursed to have no soul mate or Guardian.”

Everything seems to shatter into a thousand pieces after that. I’m vaguely aware of calling Cara to come pick me up and to bring me some clothes, of Cael apologising to me over and over again, but I can’t understand words anymore. Can’t look at him anymore. Can’t understand why this would happen to me.

Once I get into Cara’s car, I apparently tell her where to go, because she nods her head and starts to drive, but I can’t remember where I told her to go.

When I finally come back to my own mind, I’m standing on the Pipton Bridge, looking down into the water.

“Wanna talk about it?” asks Cara, gently putting her hand on my shoulder. I shake my head. My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it.

“I want to explain, Cara, but I don’t know how.” I look at her. “I’m scared…”

My phone vibrates again.

Somebody calls my name in the distance; Cael.

“He followed us,” says Cara. “I need to know what happened, I’m worried about you, Ki-ki.”

I can see him at the beginning of the bridge, the wind whipping around his already messy hair, this way and that. “Please!” he shouts.

We don’t move from our place in the middle of the bridge, and wait for him to come to us.

Cael’s eyes are wild with panic when he reaches us. “Please. I really need to tell you something; it’s important.”

“Why should I listen to you when all you did was keep things from me for so long?” I know how irrational I’m being because the situation is a lot more complicated than I can even fathom, but I don’t really care if I’m being honest. How could he not have told me earlier about everything?

He seems suddenly aggravated. “I just wanted to keep you safe! You don’t understand! I was supposed to keep you safe and I…” his voice breaks as it cuts off, his electric blue eyes pleading with me.

This just irritates me, again irrationally but I still don’t care much – maybe I’ve lost my mind? “Keep me safe? What are you, my Guardian Angel or something? I mean
obviously
I don’t understand!”

I can see that my words have hit Cael like a slap in the face, because he knows that one of the rules of the curse means that I’m to have no Guardian, I can tell just by the tears that well up in his eyes.

But then he says, “I-I was…but not anymore.” He reaches out to me, but I don’t take his hand because of the shock coursing through my body. This situation keeps getting more convoluted as time goes by and I just can’t keep up.

“What?” is the only thing I can possibly think to say.

He retracts his arm and raggedly runs his fingers through his hair. “I
was
. But I didn’t do a good enough job. I didn’t keep you safe. I let my own emotions get in the way, and I interfered when I shouldn’t have. Remember the first night we met? That empty, sick feeling you got? I got that too. For you, it seemed like I’d contracted some type of bug, I’m sure, but to me, it felt as if my whole body was on fire and that something so very precious had been
ripped
from me. That was our tie being severed, my Guardianship being taken away, and for the first time, you truly felt alone, didn’t you? Because of that stupid,
fucking
, curse.”

“Why?” I ask. He just stares at me, his chest moving up and down and up and down, so rapidly that I’m almost afraid he’ll start hyperventilating.

I reach out a hand to meet his, that’s been hanging in the space between us. His tears finally spill from his eyes. My heart does something like a flip in my chest.

“Because I
love
you!” he says, his voice rough, raw. “You could hate me for what I am and for what I’ve kept from you at this point, but I need you to know that I love you, and I have since the moment I laid eyes on you; on your
soul
. It’s the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen, ever will see, and I will
never
stop loving you, Khiara. I love everything about you, even your flaws, because you’re
human
and I will
never
be human,
ever.
My body will never
feel,
the way yours does. If I jumped right now…”

I gasp as he points to the water, picturing him plummeting onto the rocks that lay just below the surface; the water here is pretty shallow.

“I would heal within minutes. If I were to get shot, it would knock me down but the bullet would disintegrate from my flesh and all of my wounds would close up, as if they had never happened. I have been alive for far too long, but I only started living the night we met.”

I don’t know what comes over me but I walk over to him, take his face in my hands, then pull it towards me and kiss him on his full, beautiful lips. I kiss him for every time that I have ever wanted to but was too afraid to do it. At first, he doesn’t kiss me back because I think I’ve caught him off guard. But then, he lets go and kisses me back with a fierce passion. It’s a heart stopping, world spinning, crazy kind of kiss. It’s wonderful.

It’s like truly breathing for the first time.

And
yes
.

Yes, if there was ever doubt in my mind before, it’s gone now because I am in love with this boy, this
angel
, that I’ve only known for about a month but who’s protected me my whole life. I think in some way that’s why I felt like I’ve known him forever.

I have, haven’t I? Hasn’t my soul always somehow recognized him?

A startling amount of wind picks up all of a sudden, and I hear a loud clap of thunder, which makes me yelp and open my eyes, all thoughts of passion thrown from my mind. The first thing I notice is his expression, apprehension.

“Sorry…”

“Was that you?’ I ask, my voice shaking a bit. I don’t actually know what he’s capable of.

He gives a nod, and then a shake of his head, and then another nod. “Kind of. It’s uh, well, I caused it.” Then he blushes and looks down at the ground, “Would you believe me if I said that right now, God is really, really pissed off with me?”

I nod my head, because at this point; I can’t
not
believe.

“He can’t give me another chance at being your Guardian, and because I blew it, He’s really angry but He ordered the Gods of thunder and rain to show us a sign.”

Another clap of thunder resounds, as if to agree with Cael’s statement, and then it starts pouring rain.

“He’s also kind of rooting for us. I’m not the only one who has a weakness for you, it seems.” In seconds we’re soaked from the cold rain.

“He’s got a funny way of showing it,” I hear Cara mutter.
Oh crap, Cara!

“How long have you been here for?” Asks Cael and I at the same time, both blushing profusely.

Cara shrugs, like it’s no big deal, “As you might recall, Khiara called me in a catatonic state to come pick her up and ordered me to driver her here. I’m just the chauffeur.” She puts her hands up in a very
I surrender
kind of way.

“So…” I say awkwardly. “You saw all of that?” Cara nods and then shrugs her shoulders.

“I guess you’re probably wondering why I’m not freaking out about the curse?” She asks then.

Cael laughs breathlessly and looks between Cara and I, “Kind of. But I have a hunch as to why this is no big deal to you.” Cara smirks and replies, “Yes, well all in due time I guess.”

I chuckle, “She’ll go along with pretty much anything.”

“Yeah,” she says, laughing. She sounds somewhat sarcastic when she says, “Could it get any weirder?”

“Actually,” Cael takes in a deep breath and looks me right in the eyes, “you are the one that’s supposed to bring about The Great Battle between the sides of dark and light because of how pure your soul is. That’s what I was trying to tell you before you left. I’m so sorry, Khiara. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, but the curse…it complicated things.”