Chapter Thirteen: A leap too soon
He sees me. In everything I do, in everything I work at, no matter where I am or who surrounds me, he sees me. I would fear for my life had I any life to speak of. I would fear for my family had I any family to be fearful for, yet I do not. I have Mother and I have my sister, both with lives outside of me. Brothers have long since left me, my mind cold in the absence of a mate. I am inexplicably lost and alone and so constantly surrounded by him that it would frighten me, had I any willpower left to be frightened. I write this not as a plea for help, nor for you to look upon and remember me in pity. I write this, whoever you may be, so that you might have a chance. Don't listen to him, don't try to follow him. He took my mate from me as surely as he will another. Seek help. Don't listen to the shadows.
A heavy silence, wrought enough with tension that Kayo paused, his dark blue eyes round in the sleek darkness of his bedroom, focused on the point beyond his window pane where the sun had begun to sink beneath the horizon. His hands stilled above the parchment, a fine dot of ink now marring the otherwise crisp paper.
"You can't have me, you know."
Laughter, slow and steady and too subtle for the ears of those it did not intend to reach. Laughter for him alone. Kayo cast his quill aside, timid fingers running through short, blonde hair as he placed a palm upon the unfinished note, his sigh heavy and binding the paper down with simple magic, should anyone attempt to remove it. It was his final say and so it would remain upon his writing desk, a place where he had felt most at home.
The shadows followed him in a manner that had become familiar as he moved towards the open window, curling about his thighs in a mockery of a lover's caress.
"I'll soon be rid of you."
He had moved, one swift jump to balance on the wooden frame of his bedroom window, his arms pushing outwards to fling the glass open wide. The laughter had stopped, a guttural growl now his steady companion as he stared at the gardens lush with the passing of winter and beginning to cool in the darkness. It seemed so close in this moment, as if one gentle leap would have him landing softly on the paths strewn with golden leaves and rose petals.
Don't.
"It speaks," Kayo's laugh was almost ordinary, his lips quirked in a boyish smile as he turned to face the darkness of his bedroom. It was there, beneath the evening haze, skulking in his room and in his head as it would be forever. It would never leave, he would never leave. Eyes the colour of a full moon caught his, the steady thumping of Kayo's own heart all that filled his ears.
You will not jump.
"A lifetime of freedom, a reunion with the Dragonette you ripped from my grasp," Kayo let his gaze tilt upwards, weary beyond his years, "that's what awaits me outside this window. A chance to escape, to be free from you."
And with that, Kayo let his body surrender and let go.
###
"Run! He'll catch us, run!"
Harry shrieked as he was hauled around the middle and pulled from his daydreaming to be landed in a soft fort of seat cushions, throw pillows and blankets. He had barely a moment to catch his breath before Erin's giddy scream had him noticing the red blur that was streaking towards them.
He clamped his hand over the blonde's mouth, dragging him down and covering them both with a coat pulled from some hook at some point in the evening. Crouched together, they're breathing stilled, they peered from beneath the seams to where a confused James halted his abrupt charge forward to look around for them.
Three months had passed since the infant's birth, three months filled with cold winters, a warm Christmas divided between the manor and the Weasley home and the beginning of January. The child he had held all those weeks ago was two foot in length, tall and graceful with round violet eyes a shade paler than Baro's and scarlet wings that fluttered behind him as he hovered mid air. James was beautiful, a perfect son and Harry's smile widened at the sight of him frowning suspiciously at their failed attempts to hide.
He jumped up, scattering blankets and a thrill leaving his throat that had Erin snorting in surprise and James shrieking as he dived towards the pair of them, his nose snuffling as he buried himself within the pillows. Erin grabbed the toddler, smacking his lips soundly against the Dragonette's flushed cheek and drawing squeals from his son.
"If you've quite finished."
Harry cast a smile upwards, his black hair skimming the exposed skin of one of his shoulders as he whipped around.
"Erin built a fort, Theo!"
Theo's upturned eyebrow focused on the blonde submissive, Erin's hair fluffed outwards with static as he plonked James in Harry's lap and cast a confused glance around the treasure trove of materials. "No, I didn't, I thought you built it!"
A moment's confused silence and Harry frowned at the mass of fluff that had seemingly just appeared on their sitting room floor, his eyes narrowing. A rumble vibrated through the cushions they sat on, freezing the submissives in place and seeming distinctly familiar. With a scream, Harry clutched James closer as the centre of their fort suddenly erupted outwards, burying them in soft blankets and revealing Baro's laughing form.
Erin scowled where he sat beneath James' baby blanket, slapping a hand across their Dragonette's bare chest. "See if I ever trust you again when you say you will be working for the evening, you foul creature!"
Baro chuckled at Erin's scowl, his arms wrapping swift around the slender blonde and drawing a pleased coo from where James sat in Harry's lap, a smile bringing out the one dimple in his rose red cheek. For one fantastic moment, everything was perfect. Harry all but purred as he watched the blonde be tackled to the mound of blankets, Theo's smirk filling his sight as his dominant handed him a mug of white tea in exchange for the prattling infant. A pale hand moved to card through his thick black hair, tugging it gently to where it fell by his shoulders. No previous happy memory would ever match the warmth that burst inside him in that moment.
But something was missing, was off.
A questioning thrill left him before he could begin to think on it, stilling Baro's form and drawing the Dragonette's focused violet gaze from his play. It was a rare moment indeed that Harry succumbed to his magic enough to revert to a state without language; a state he had only seen the submissive in when distressed.
"What is it, beautiful? Has Theo gone and mucked up the tea again?"
For a moment, Harry considered tat it was paranoia and paranoia alone that formed in his stomach until the fire crackling slowly across the room plumed a thick pattern of green flames and a man unknown to him stepped from the floo network. The snarl Harry aimed in his direction was silenced only by Theo's curious voice.
"Gerard?"
The man, though regal in his stance and sure in his steps, took a deliberate step away from the submissive suddenly stood before him, familiar blue eyes the only thing that prevented Harry from pulling his wand and demanding answers as to why this stranger thought he could invade their home. Those were Myvi's eyes.
"Quite," Gerard ran a stiff hand through his pale hair, his scent one sharpened by the tang of fear, "now if you wouldn't mind explaining to your newest family member exactly who I am, please? I'd rather not try and explain to my wife why I was mauled trying to see my sister."
"Sister?" Harry straightened, his hand no longer inching for the wand he kept within his pocket at all times, instead towards the hand Erin was holding out for him and allowing his body to be drawn towards the taller submissives in a gentle embrace.
"Yes, Harry. Gerard is Myvi's brother." Baro strode forward, looking for all the world as though he hadn't only moments ago been playing fort in the blankets, coats and pillows still scattered around their living room. "I am sorry, Harry, it completely slipped my mind to warn you of the Floo. Only the closest of family members are keyed into its wards and can only enter upon emergency. Is all well, Gerard?"
The blonde man gave Harry an uncertain smile, soft in a way he had seen in Kayo, though this man was taller and broader than the small Destined. In a strangely human way, this man carried himself as though he could take on the world and yet as Baro spoke, his shoulders rounded in something akin to misery.
"All is not well, Baro. I must speak with Myvi, she must come with me."
"She's not here," Theo frowned where he stood somewhere between Baro and the smaller submissives, James cradled with ease on one hip. "She's taken on the role of tutor for the younger members of the village. Once a fortnight they gather to train in combat in the Gathering hall by the village centre. I can go retrieve her if it is of the utmost importance?"
With a solemn nod, Gerard took a seat in the nearest armchair, paying no mind to the lack of cushioned seat. "Please, Theo, if you wouldn't mind. She has to come back with me right now or it may be too late."
Harry felt his heart quicken when Gerard brought those blue eyes back up to look at them all, brimming with unshed tears. "Kayo tried to take his own life. We aren't sure how long he has left."