Become an Enemy to remain a Friend
Chapter 1
(placed after Queen of the Darkness)
Those couple of months after Jaenelle released her power to cleanse the Blood of Taint, were the most painful and mind-wrecking months of Daemon's life, even next to those centuries in Dorothea's Court, that blurred into one long streak of blood, pain and coldness.
The main reason for that was, of course, Jaenelle. He tried very hard to believe that everything would be all right, that she will come back healed, powerful and as beautiful as always, but then, the pain returned, it always returned, and he could not think, could not hope.
Even though Seatan, Tersa, and Surreal repeated that she will come back, he couldn't fully believe them, because they too, didn't believe their own words, not wholly. And then came that.
He knew it would happen. He played that cursed game, sheathing knives into the hearts of people he loved, knowing that they would hate him for it, knowing that there may be no forgiveness. He knew it, but it still hurt.
If Jaenelle was here, their bitterness would lessen and they would be keener to look past the game I played for my Queen, or they would still be as cold as they were, but at least she would be here to ease that guilt and the pain. He though that when boyos and the coven came to their Uncle Seatan, offering support to his father and looking at Daemon with empty eyes at the same time. But she was not there and for the first week the only thing that helped was Seatan's quiet disappointment in Jaenelle's friends and Surreal's scathing temper.
Then, week after… a week after that, Lucivar came back, Lucivar had forgiven him, and he could feel the strain on his Chalice easing the tiniest bit, enough so, that he wasn't balancing at the breaking point again.
Seeing his brother brittle like that, Lucivar made a quick decision and Marian with Daemonar came a couple of hours later, three trunks full of clothes trailing after them. They stayed at the Hall for a couple of weeks. Daemon spent this time getting to know his sister-in-law and his nephew, who he quickly became fiercely protective of. Daemonar also took a liking to his wingless uncle, which resulted in a bout of aneurism to everyone involved. Daemonar shoved his affection in a peculiar way.
When Lucivar first saw the silent treatment Daemon received from the First Circle, he threw the girls into the nearest body of water, and all of the boys received a prompt lesson in the practice circle. It didn't change anyone's attitude, though.
The only other person that treated Daemon as before, or maybe even better, was Karla. She visited the Hall only once, a short while after Lucivar had to finally get back to his eyrie. She had a quick meeting with Seatan and then accosted Daemon in his room. She said that Glacia was in terrible condition and she had to take care of it, so she had no time to hover around him. He was a bit miffed about her words, but then she added that as a person who lived so long in the type of environment her Territory became, he would know what could be done in places she could have no idea of. It was just a pretext to get him out of Hall and to Glacia, why, he had no idea.
At first he declined the silent invitation and it would probably end on this, except that two days later Chaosti and Aaron appeared at the palace at exactly the same time when Daemon was walking out of the door. The tense atmosphere between them would have surely ended in a bloody battle, if not for Surreal who appeared from around the corner, then stopped abruptly to take in what was happening. The stand-off ended when she asked in her sweetest voice if there was a fucking problem. No one dared to say that there was one and the boys continued on their way while Daemon approached her.
"There is something I need to do in Glacia," he said distractedly and looked at her with consideration. "Do you want to come?"
She scrutinized him in return. "And will there be trouble?"
"I don't think so, Surreal," he said with a small tilt to his lips
"Ok, I guess I will go with you, for a couple of days. I'll have to find some warm clothes. It's barely spring and I don't plan to go and freeze my tits off in there," with meant that she will make sure that he will not have anyone snarling at him for no reason and come back, with, or without him.
Surreal stayed in Glacia's Capital for a whole of five days, after which she bolted it out of there. She carefully observed Karla's interactions with Daemon and got to the conclusion that there was no unresolved animosity between them. Deciding so, she got tired of Glacian weather and returned to the Hall.
To tell the truth, Glacia was more wrecked than the other Territories, but it was nothing that a good queen would not be able to handle. He stayed there anyway, because Karla wanted him to, and also because he didn't want to crash with the rest of the first circle every time they visited Seatan. The additional bonus was that it was closer to Askavi, and through this, to his brother and nephew, than Hall was, and the cold never bothered him anyway.
He stayed in Glacia a couple of months, almost until Jaenelle's return. Even though Seatan resigned his position as a ruler of Dhemlan, he still stayed at the Hall to took care of things at least until Jaenelle recovered, which gave him the possibility to leave Hall for so long.
The main reason Daemon stayed in Glacia was to support Karla. The Witch's Blood took a lot out of her and it shown. She needed someone to help her without pitying her, and he needed to be needed. At Hall, there was no one who needed help, except for himself, so it was easier to stay there in the cold city. So he stayed.