Finding Eden (29 page)

“
Cousin, no!”
I yell before I can stop myself, my eyes shut tight against any
oncoming pain.

But there is none. I open
my eyes and see his killing blow stopped in the air above me, a
confused expression on his face.

“
What did you just
call me?”

I can't answer. A scream
rips its way through my body and out of my throat as a sword
protrudes straight through Illidan's heart and out of his chest.

I fall to my knees as he
slumps to the ground, his head making an awful cracking sound as it
hits the floor. His blood pools beneath him and I can't help but feel
relief at being alive, but sad that I wasn't able to talk to him.

Sahariel's sword falls to
the ground and he rushes to me. He begins checking the cuts on my
face and my arms and hisses at my left, and says things to me that I
cannot hear. I just see Illidan lying on the floor and feel the paper
crumpled in my fist.

I move to my hands and
knees and slowly crawl over to him. I kneel by his head and he stares
back at me.

“
This is what I
wanted to show you,” I manage to flatten the paper with only
one hand and hold it for him to see.

“
What is it?”

“
I found it in the
library after having pulled the backing off of my family’s
record book.”

“
Why are you
showing this to me?”

“
Because, look,”
I point at the page. “You’re on here. You're my cousin,
in so many words. We have more in common than you'd think. We both
have last names. Only those who have a human parent have last names.
Your mother was human, just like mine.”

“
Your father wasn't
cast out, your family wasn't forgotten or taken out of the books to
try and hurt you. Your father didn't want to think about any of it,
so he must have requested to have his name removed from the books.
When someone loses their soul mate, whether they're human or not, a
part of them dies too. That's how it is for my dad, and I'm sure
that's how it was for your dad.”

“
So, we weren't
cast out?”

“
No.”

“
There was no
reason for me to do what I did.”

“
Not really,”
I say, even though it's not a question. “But I can understand
why you did it.”

A small smile breaks
across Illidan's face and relief washes off of him.

“
I'm happy,”
he says. “That you found that page. I hope you put it back
where it belongs.”

“
I will,” I
say.

“
At least I can die
happy now.”

“
I'm sorry.”

“
You have nothing
to apologize for. It wasn't your doing. Just promise me that you will
never let this happen to anyone else.” He looks at me with
hopeful eyes.

“
I promise,”
I say.

I watch as I feel him
slip away and his eyes slowly close. I feel Sahariel walk up behind
me and put a hand on my shoulder. I feel wet tears slip down my face.

“
I promise you he
will receive a proper burial.” Sahariel says.

“
Thank you.”

“
Come on,” he
offers to help me up. “Let’s get you back to the castle
and get you taken care of.”

I set Illidan's head down
and cross his arms over his chest, wincing as my arm moves
unpleasantly. Sahariel wraps his arms around me and sweeps me off to
the castle.

We stumble through the
castle doors and a wave of servants rushes at me. A new sensation
ripples across my mind and somehow I immediately know what it means.

“
The records room,”
I manage to gasp through the shooting pains, “Someone is trying
to enter the records room.”

Sahariel waves down a
nearby guard, says something in his ear and motions for him to hurry.
Sahariel drags me through the castle, never once letting me go.
Damien, having rushed from somewhere, babbles incoherent, breathless
words at me. The pain is soothed, but my once adrenaline filled mind
is now exhausted and my eyes begin to close.

“
It's okay,”
I hear Damien sooth Sahariel. “It’s just the anesthesia.
Her arm is broken and I need to set it.”

Before everything fades
to black, my muddled mind hears Sahariel growl about my broken arm.

…

I open my eyes and squint
through the horribly bright hospital lights. I really should talk to
someone about the intensity of the lighting. I lift my arms to rub my
eyes, but my left arm won't bend. Looking down at it, I see that it's
wrapped in an off white cast. I had almost forgotten about my broken
arm. I hear the door open and I look over expecting to find Sahariel,
but Marius has come in instead.

“
Illidan's funeral
is today.” He tells me.

“
What? How long
have I been out?”

“
Only a couple of
days,” he says. “You had us all worried, you know.
Sahariel has just about gone berserk on everyone today.”

“
Am I allowed to go
to the funeral?” I ask.

“
Yes you are,”
he smiles at me. “That’s why I'm here to get you.
Sahariel is busy with Kal. Something to do with security.”

I remember something.

“
Did they find the
person who was trying to get into the records room?” I ask.

“
Ah, yes, they
did.”

“
Who was it?”

“
You know Kie?”
I shake my head no, “He was the one of the other strategists.
He was the one who always opposed the decisions you made, no matter
how sound they were.”

A bell chimes in my head
and I finally remember the man he's talking about. All crossed arms
and disgruntled face.

“
Why was he there?”

“
As it turns out,”
Marius says. “He was there to steal copies of correspondents
between our army units. He was giving them to our enemy.”

So that's how we weren't
winning. It was like playing Battleship with someone who could see
both sides of the board clearly.

“
Did he say why he
was doing it?”

“
He said he was
promised status and riches. Apparently he's gullible and believed
them. Pity he didn't know that they were most likely going to kill
him had they actually won the war. But now that he's been caught, the
war has taken a striking turn in our favor. I foresee a white flag in
the future.”

I smile at him, glad that
he is still my friend. He hands me a pile of black clothing and
leaves the room, giving me time to change. It's a little difficult
due to the cast, but I somehow manage to get myself stuffed into the
black dress.

Marius smiles at me as I
walk out of the room and offers his arm. I take it and have him lead
me to the most depressing thing I've ever been to.

...

I stand at the head of
the casket as it's slowly lowered into the ground. For the first time
since I've been here the sky has turned a murky gray and the wind is
blowing heavily, pulling my dress out in front of me.

Prayers are said for the
man who assassinated my grandfather and tried to murder me as well. A
tear slowly rolls down my cheek as I think about the type of man
Illidan Sornova could have been had his life been just a little
different. Sahariel walks up to me, puts his hand on my elbow and
leads me away as the closing prayers end.

“
I'm never going to
allow that to happen,” I say. “I promised him, and I
won't break that promise. People will never be just, forgotten, like
that. Ripped out and discarded into the back of an old book.”

Sahariel doesn't say
anything. He is quiet for a long time as we walk into the castle and
then into my room. He closes the door behind us.

“
Never again,”
he finally says. “You will never, ever do that to me again.”

“
I'm sorry.”

“
You almost got
yourself killed. Again!”

He stops pacing faces me,
“I feel like I have almost lost you too many times. That will
never happen again. I am never letting you out of my sight again. Do
you understand?”

I nod and look back at
him as his golden eyes search mine. What he's searching for, I don't
know, but the way he's looking at me so intensely is making it hard
for me to think. I finally manage to come up with a coherent question
after a moment or two.

“
You keep saying
'lose you again.' Why do you always say that?”

Then he sighs.

“
I guess I should
have told you a long time ago. I just didn't know how to approach the
subject. You know I was your mothers guard, and you know I was her
guard during the time she died.”

“
Yes.”

“
A lot of people
blame me for her death, and to be honest I would too. But what no one
knows is why I wasn't there, and if they did I believe they would
understand my selfish act. But it was selfish, so I choose not to
tell anyone.”

“
You were just
seventeen days old when your heart gave up. The doctors at the
hospital said the only reason you survived is because of how quickly
you were taken there. I left your mother and took you to the hospital
as quickly as I could. She said she would follow. I was there within
minutes and I contacted your father. Then it hit him; your mother’s
death reached him before the call did.”

“
He's a broken man,
Eden, and the moment I saw that in his eyes I vowed never to let you
get that close ever again.”

“
I will never lose
you, Eden,” he says. “I love you too much to be a broken
man.”

I stare at him, watch him
as he stands and walks from the room. Am I dreaming? I must have
fallen asleep and all of this is just a dream. It has to be, right?
I'm dumbfounded, and I stare at the door for what must have been an
hour until a yawn strikes me and I crawl in to bed, dress and all. I
don't care. I just need sleep. Everything will make sense in the
morning.

It's as awkward as
Sahariel said it would be. I look around the room and I'm curious how
many of the people here were couples before this particular event
rolled around. Wouldn't surprise me if they weren't. Sahariel had
told me this thing only rolls around every twenty-five years. Made
sense to me, but it's still awkward being in a room full of couples
making googly eyes at each other.

“
Why am I even
here?” I bemoan to myself.

All of the other single
people had left already, so why didn't I go with them? I take a deep
breath and ready myself to leave when I feel Sahariel walk in the
room behind me. His fingers brush down my bare arm in greeting.

“
Leaving so soon?”

I can hear him smiling.

“
Yeah, didn't you
know only the cool people leave the party early?”

The sentence was meant to
sound joking, but it comes out tense and awkward. I look away from
the happy couples in front of me and down at my feet. I move to walk
around Sahariel, afraid of what I may or may not see in his eyes. I
still wasn't sure if last night was a dream or not.

“
Eden.”

I stop in my tracks. My
arm has brushed up against his and I feel it when he slowly turns to
face me. His fingers brush my chin so I lift my face to look into his
eyes. No matter how many times I look into them, sometimes the way
they shimmer always seem to take my breath away.

There's so much emotion
there that I don't know what’s true and what just my wishful
thinking is. With those thoughts always comes voicelessness, but when
those fingers beneath my chin whisper up my jaw, over my ear and
trail into my hair, all that love I thought I saw all those times and
thought I felt is finally validated by that outwardly insignificant
touch.

He's looking at me with
such intensity that I can't help but be overly aware of my
surroundings; the other couples, the dim hall, everything. Then his
lips touch mine and there is nothing else. The world spins away from
me and heat rushes along my body. My fingers find their way into
Sahariel's hair and I pull myself closer to him. All too soon the
kiss ends and I can't keep the sigh from leaving my lips. He leans
his forehead against mine and runs his fingers through my hair.