Lavender (2) : Sons of the Deveaux

Chapter 8.5

ORIAN

"Or we have this one if you like it more?"

Standing in the throne room of the royal hall. A series of intricately made masks were created specifically for the pair of them. To be able to release their demonic side in order to claim their mate safely. He was supposed to be focusing, supposed to be making a choice that was a huge deal and yet there was something niggling at his conscious. The was something bothering him he couldn't quite pin down. A strange sensation wriggled in the back of his mind.

"Orian, are you paying attention?"

"What?" His father's stern tone brought his head up to meet his emerald gaze. "Sorry, yes. What?"

The King laughed, clapping him on his shoulder. "Are the nerves getting to you, son? Your head isn't here right now where it needs to be."

Orian's eyes went to his twin, finding Lennox staring intently at him. While they had never been creepily close in the sense of sharing a brain wave, he could just feel it in his bones what his brother was thinking. The same bothersome feeling was winding through him as well. Little cracks and fissures were showing through his horns, flaring with every breath he took, breathing out the flame inside him.

They could both feel it. Both sense something in the air that made them uneasy. Lennox was tapping his foot impatiently as if waiting for this to be over so he could go and investigate. They had only been separated from Lilly for all of two hours but it was enough time for something to happen. For anything to happen. Rubbing the back of his neck, Orian took a calming breath while his demon clawed against its cage.

You should go and look.

I don't need to look, it's just paranoia. It's fine. Everything's fine.

You're doing that thing again. Where you try to convince yourself and end up looking an idiot.

You're the idiot.

The malicious voice mocked the same words right back like a child squabbling with him.

"Pay attention. The pair of you need to choose a mask, something fitting. Something that won't scare the shit out of your mate either and something that is sturdy enough to withstand your own abilities. Lennox, try this one." Their father lifted a warped skull mask of a devil, small horns spiralling out here and there. The black colour was entirely innoculous as their father touched it but the moment it met Lennox's hand, the mask flared to life.

Even just in his grip, it became a living, breathing thing. A rush of yellow flames curling over the front as the sound of crackling fizzled through the space.

"Seems like a good fit already. Go on, try it properly."

While Nox flicked a look between Orian and his father, the usually talkative twin had been remarkably quiet for their entire meeting so far. Puffing out a breath, Lennox shoved a hand through his hair to pull it back from his face as he lifted the mask up, the jaw of the skull unhinging the closer it came to settling on its host.

"Sire! Sire, wait!" All three heads whipped to the side as Frtiz came rushing through the doors, accompanied by a smaller female in staff uniform. Their head helper was flushed cheeked, huffing and puffing like he had run a mile just to reach them. "Something is wrong. I was feeding the snakes and they were all sluggish, slow to respond to anything. Their water must have been tampered with because they didn't eat the mice and then Adeline came across this." Thrusting a small sheet of paper out to their father, his hand shaking.

The king's brows pinched together tightly as he stared at the markings on the page. "Where is Lillith right now?"

Orian swallowed past the lump suddenly in his throat, his lungs clenching for air. "She should be with mother. Trying on her dress." Little wisps of fog drifted from his horns and his shoulders. A slither of scales over his body coming to life in a warning.

Always listen to your gut. I told you, didn't I? Something was wrong.

"What does it say?" Lennox stepped forward, crowding in as he leaned over the side to get a good look at the paper, his face turning pale and ashen. It was a circle of ruins to create a portal. A circle to create a gateway into the Lifetree at the closest point. His twin took off running without another word, the mask thrown to the floor, forgotten. Orian was right behind him, their father barking orders at Fritz.

Crashing through the stairs and hallways, the disgusting scent of a ghoul overpowered the gentle vanilla that had always filled the halls. His legs pumped faster, the rancid stench fueling the blistering panic and fear gripped through him like icy fingers.

He couldn't stop the fog slithering out of him as Lennox slid to a halt at the end of the hallway, the heat of his body flaring so badly, Orian had to throw up a hand in front of his face as flames licked the air.

"What?! What is it, what– Mother!" Only her feet and ankles could be seen from where she was hidden by an open doorway, but there was no mistaking the golden skin scent of too-sweet blood in the air. Rushing to her, Orian nearly slipped in the blood that had pooled on the ground, shoving his arms beneath her and lifting quickly. "Mother, c'mon, you're okay, aren't you? You're okay, it's- it's okay. Dad is coming, he's right behind us." She was pale, the golden glow from her skin gone leaving her cheeks, her lips a pale pink that were trying to croak something to the pair of them. "What?"

"Took her."

"Ophelia!" The King's voice echoed through the hallway loudly as he barreled towards them, his green gaze now black as every ounce of light was stolen from the space around them the second he passed. Their father wasn't the King because he had earned through gentle hands and political correctness. He was darkness, he was the void and gods forbid their mother was hurt enough to bring that creature that lurked within him to the surface.

"Took her. They took the fairy."

"Who, my love? Who took her?"

Orian was pressing a hand to the gaping wound at her side, applying pressure as his father manoeuvred her until his mother had lain her head at his shoulder. Lennox was still, the calm before a storm, the rumble before a volcano erupted.

"Her sister. Father. Tree... Go to the tree."

"Now, little love. Before you lose too much." The King sank a hand into their mother's hair, pulling her closer to his throat as she pressed her mouth to his neck. Their father didn't even flinch when she sank white pearly fangs into his vein and pulled strongly. Instead, his black eyes were on the pair of them. "Find your mate. Find that fucking fae and bring me their wings."

Neither had to be told twice. Without another word, with a shared purpose to protect what was theirs, the twins tore off towards the portal. To the rip in time and realms where their fairy had been stolen to.