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EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 96: Lime and lilac

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Octavia awoke the following day feeling refreshed and reinvigorated.

She sat up in the strange new bed and glanced around the room. It looked different in the daylight. The blue paint on the walls contained tiny flakes of silver, and the lanterns above her head were slightly translucent, enabling her to see through the ones that the sun was hitting. Shifting her gaze, she saw that the two shoji screens which separated the room from the engawa were open, allowing a cold draught to blow in from outside. Her skin felt hot and clammy, so the chill was a welcome companion.

Kicking back the sheets, she swivelled sideways and planted her feet on the tatami mat closest to the bed. They were still clad in the sandals she'd been wearing the day before. The soles were caked in dried mud, so she kicked them off and placed them neatly against the wall. It was funny how Sesshoumaru had made such a fuss about her potentially getting blood on his sheets, yet had neglected to remove her filthy shoes.

Her eyes widened once she remembered where she was. She stood and smoothed the wrinkled sheets with her palms, then re-fluffed the pillows before flipping them over to hide the fact that she'd drooled. She spotted a pile of fresh clothes lying folded on the edge of the colossal bed and wandered over to examine them. There was a simple white kosode, a pair of ankle-length hakama, two split-toe tabi socks, a bright purple obi, and a black hankimono decorated with golden poppies. Octavia trailed her fingers across the fabric and marvelled at how soft it felt.

She bathed and dressed in record time, then crept towards the door leading out into the corridor. Taking a deep breath, she turned the door handle and peered through the gap. The coast was clear. Seizing the opportunity, she flung the door open and made a break for it. Her heart was in her throat when she arrived on the ground floor and stopped to catch her breath.

"Would you look at what the tide dragged in?"

Octavia tilted her head towards the owner of the voice, who was standing several feet away with her arms crossed, and fought the urge to smile. "Oh, it's you. What was your name again?"

Rin's brown eyes glittered with joy, and her mouth curved into a dazzling smile. Octavia returned it. Grinning wider, Rin uncrossed her arms and sprinted forwards, prompting Octavia to do the same. Her worries dissipated like mist in the presence of sunlight as the girl fell into her arms.

"I missed you," Rin whispered. "I missed you so much."

Octavia's arms tightened around her shoulders. "I missed you, too."

She had forgotten how much comfort Rin's presence brought. She no longer cared if her magic had abandoned her. As long as Rin and the others were alive, it didn't matter that she'd lost the ability to summon flames or make things grow. She would trade it all away in a heartbeat in exchange for their safety.

"Whoa. You're glowing!"

Pulling away from the embrace, Octavia saw that Rin was right. Her skin had adopted a somewhat luminous quality, and the outlines of her veins resembled strands of gold tinsel. She traced the blinking lines with her fingers to see if they were hot to the touch, but they felt no different to the rest of her. The Radiant One hadn't abandoned her. Her powers weren't gone. They had simply needed time to recharge.

"Erem's Vessel," Rin breathed, reaching out to touch her skin.

Octavia flinched. The light went out even faster than it had appeared. "How do you know that name?"

"Tsunayoshi told me about it. He said that's why the shadows—I mean the ngea want you so badly."

"Well, he was right. But they're all gone now. I made sure of it."

Rin shook her head. "Not all of them. The ones that were in the stronghold are still alive. They sensed you coming and ran. I doubt we've seen the last of them, though."

A shudder rolled down Octavia's spine. Although unpleasant, the news wasn't all that surprising. Of course some of them had survived. They always did. The ngea were like cockroaches. Time-travelling cockroaches, sure, but cockroaches all the same. No matter what she did, they always came back.

She prised open Rin's lips with her fingers, exposing the inside of her mouth. "What happened to your teeth?"

Rin batted her hand away with a laugh. "Never mind my teeth. What happened to your eye?"

"My eye?"

Rin's brow furrowed. "Haven't you looked at yourself in the mirror recently?"

"No. Why? Is something wrong with it?"

Rin led her outside to a small pond beneath a row of peach trees. Octavia's breath hitched when she saw her reflection in the water. The dappled light revealed a pair of eyes that she'd seen thousands of times, with one major difference. Her right eye had changed from lime to lilac, whereas the other had stayed the same.

"Does it hurt?" asked Rin.

Octavia shook her head. "No. It has before, though. There were times when the pain was almost unbearable."

"Do you think it has anything to do with you being Erem's Vessel?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe? I wonder if the same thing has happened to Augustus."

"Who?"

Octavia met Rin's stare and swallowed. "Do you remember when I told you about my family? Or rather, do you remember what I didn't tell you?"

Rin nodded. "You said you couldn't remember them. And that they were probably dead."

"That's right." Octavia's hand curled around the Prophecy-Breaker. "It took me a while, but I finally found what I was looking for."

Rin listened as Octavia told her all about her time in the kasbah, including everything she'd learned during her stay there. She told her about the insidious inner workings of the Church, her family's ancestral home on the hill overlooking Athens, and how her parents had botched the ritual to strip her and Augustus of their powers. Rin's eyes widened when Octavia recounted the events leading up to the deaths of her parents, and all that had transpired afterwards.

"And that's why you can't remember any of it? Because those butterflies ate your memories?"

"Apparently."

Rin's expression turned pensive. "Why did they do it?"

"My aunt asked them to. Except she wasn't really my aunt, she was my nanny. Her name was Svetla. She was only a few years older than I am now. Augustus said she loved us very much."

"What happened to her? If she loved you, why did she leave you on your own like that?

"Maybe I just wasn't worth the effort."

Rin frowned. "That's not true, Octavia-san. She wouldn't have gone through all that trouble if she didn't care about you. What if she was worried the Church would somehow track her down and find you?"

"She could've just changed my name to something less conspicuous," Octavia mumbled. "All they had to do was look in the phone book and they would've found me straight away. As far as I'm aware, there aren't many Petridises living in the UK, and there are even fewer with the same first name as me. Plus, I wouldn't have been the butt of so many octopus-themed jokes if I'd been called Lily or Emma. At school, someone once asked me if I had a beak between my legs instead of the usual bits and bobs. A beak! Can you believe that?"

The corners of Rin's mouth inched upwards ever so slightly.

Octavia raised her eyebrows. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?"

"No," Rin lied.

Realising how ridiculous the joke sounded when it wasn't coming out of the mouth of a thirteen-year-old boy who reeked of cigarettes and energy drinks, Octavia snorted. The mirth quickly transferred to Rin, who giggled into her hands. Soon, they were both laughing so hard that their cheeks ached and their chests burned from the effort of it all. Once the final traces of laughter had left their systems, Octavia took Rin's hands in hers and squeezed them.

"Enough about me," she said. "Things can't have been easy for you, either. How are you doing?"

Rin's expression faltered. "I'm fine now that you're here."

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Her eyes shone with moisture, making Octavia's heart race. "Not really. Not like he hurt the others."

"Are you sure?"

Rin averted her eyes and blinked hard. Her fingers trembled within the cradle of Octavia's hands, whilst her breathing grew louder and less even. Octavia knew better than to badger her for an explanation. She let go of Rin's hands and gathered her into her arms. The girl shuddered against her chest, before melting into the embrace.

"It's okay," Octavia murmured against the top of her head. "I've got you. You're all right."

She wasn't, but she would be. After all, Time healed everything. Except for himself. That was the only thing the old deity couldn't fix.

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Sesshoumaru completed another circuit around the stronghold. The repairs were coming along faster than he'd anticipated, and the once grandiose walls were close to being returned to their former glory. Soon the volunteers would be moving inwards to begin work on the castle, which was in desperate need of a new roof. The gardens were still a mess, but they were hardly a priority. Not when the castle interior had become a labyrinth of dead-ends and steep drops that tumbled away into nothingness.

"What a miserable sight. I say we tear it all down and rebuild everything from scratch."

Sesshoumaru turned and locked eyes with his mother. She was standing in the shadow of the wall, smoking a kiseru pipe. He resisted the urge to grimace as the stench of smoke slithered into his nostrils. He had always hated that smell. It made him think of the empty shiro he'd been banished to every year, where he had been forced to spend one-on-one time with his mother.

"You're still here," he said.

Her eyes glinted in the shade. "How perceptive of you."

"I assumed you had returned to whichever hole you crawled out of."

"Still a rude little brat, I see. Some things never change."

"Where have you been, Mother?"

"A lady always freshens up before hosting an audience with her subjects. Especially after bloodying her fur for the first time in just under a century." She lowered the pipe from her lips and smiled. "Aren't you going to thank me for coming? That mage of yours all but begged me to. Where is she, by the way? I have unfinished business with her."

"You will keep your distance from her," he warned. "Or risk invoking my wrath."

She cackled. "You are funny, my son. So protective. And over a mortal of all things. How many of them do you own now? I can smell at least four from here."

"I do not own any of them. They are my . . . companions."

"Ah, yes. The mage said something similar. She was rather protective of you, as well. More so than I expected. Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

"If there were, you are the last person I would confide in."

Her expression turned bitter. "Is that so? Even after I came all this way for your benefit? What an ungrateful child you are—"

"Enough, Mother. This is no time for your dramatics."

"I will not stand here and be disrespected by you!"

"Neither will I."

She glared at him. "If that's how you feel, why did you send for me?"

"Because you are my mother, and despite everything, I still feel some level of affection towards you."

He heard her breath hitch. "You can't be serious—"

"I am."

She didn't reply right away. For the first time in his life, Sesshoumaru had rendered his mother speechless. His father must have been turning in his grave.

"Idiot boy," she hissed. "You can try to throw me off with honeyed words and empty promises all you want, but it won't work. Feel free to play at being the good and gracious hero, but I know you, Sesshoumaru. Better than you know yourself."

"No, you don't. You never have. And you never will."

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