Aureate Fates

10

                                 SPITE ME NOT

                             —REESE—

Ziralem buzzed with hysteria.

After the news of beasts infiltrating the Shoot and Run, families locked themselves in their houses. But most ran rampant in the streets, looking for answers. As Reese entered their tin hut in Blue Quarter, he recalled the angry and outer-worldly howls of those creatures. The way the story went, Erik Orvar killed two of the beasts. Gruesomely.

Ziralem's reputation as a fiercely guarded country was ruined as soon as those creatures found their way in. The Levantica Trees were meant to ward off the strongest of adversary's, which made the beasts' appearance a frightening thought for the people.

What next? What other creatures could find their way in?, were the questions that Reese heard throughout his walk around Blue Quarter today.

What hadn't changed, however, were the Levantica leaves. They clung to their branches, not one grazed the ground. Reese found solace in that, because the real trouble would start once the trees began to crumble.

Reese abandoned his thoughts about the outside and noticed that the hut was unnaturally quiet. In fact, not one of his twelve housemates lingered in the kitchen, or in the communal room.

He wondered if Marisol had taken Jaak to see Nyall when he heard the breaking of glass, and a juvenile cry. He followed the sounds down the lengthy hallway and into the fifth room on the left. The room that Reese shared with Jaak and Marisol.

In an instant, Reese felt as if his heart was being torn from him.

Jaak, his Jaak, was being held down by a man with a full beard. It took Reese half a second to realize that it was Helena's husband, the secret drunk.

A glass cup lay in pieces beside Jaak, and he realized with a gnawing in his stomach that Jaak must have accidentally broke it. Helena's husband, Oliver, despised clumsy children.

Reese felt like he was moving through thick liquid as he reached Oliver. A magic-filled grip on Oliver's broad neck sent him reeling back. It now smelled faintly of charred skin in the room.

The smell of his magic.

The man howled in pain, but Reese was so consumed by his rage that he could barely hear it. As Reese pinned the thrashing man to the floor by his greasy throat, he could hear the sounds of Jaak's fearful cries. It only fueled his vengeance.

Reese landed a firm blow to Oliver's mouth, then another. And another. Reese's fists were matted in blue blood, and as he peered at the limp mess Oliver became under him, he growled, "Drunk bastard. Who gave you permission to touch him?"

Oliver only coughed, and flitted his eyes to Jaak, who Reese knew was trembling in the corner. "He's breakin' glasses and makin' noises in my own home. Someone ought to discipline him."

Reese swiftly grabbed hold of Oliver's shirt and slammed his head against the creaky floor. Over, and over again. Four times.

Oliver's eyes widened with the slightest telling of fear. The blood that leaked from his ears matched the droplets dribbling down his chin.

"You breathe in his direction," Reese managed to say, barely holding onto his sanity, "consider yourself a corpse."

Oliver gravely nodded, even while he was bleeding from all sorts of places now. Reese knew it was time to heave himself off of him—any longer and he might've killed him.

And that would land him without a home.

He rose to find that Jaak had, indeed, sequestered himself in the corner of the room. Quivering with his eyes closed, tears wobbled down his cheeks. Reese scooped the small boy into his arms and brought him away from the drunk on the floor.