Chapter 28: Truths
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When the king, Valyr I, came to Myrna there was a parade in the snow and Edwin was called to the mayor’s office. Hadrian did not understand why. Surely if the king wanted to be treated, he would just go to his personal healer, lord Ruthheaven.

But Hadrian refused to let Edwin meet the king alone, and so, he had stated his arguments carefully. Hadrian had dirt on the king, and that dirt could prove useful to negate any demand the king had of Edwin.

More than that, Hadrian was a skilled fighter and the stables were not too far from the apartment, should they need to get away. All the while, Edwin had regarded him with an uncharacteristic coldness. He knew something about the meeting, Hadrian knew, but no matter how much Hadrian whined, he did not share his knowledge.

Still, he took him with him. They left the children, with Ben being responsible for his brothers. Not that they told them where they were going, oh no. Edwin had refused and had masked it all as a stroll.

“Eddy, why would the king ask you to come to him?” Asked Hadrian as they were out and in the snow. Because the king was here, the streets were cleared. The mayor was on parole and yet still kept his job. Hadrian could never cease to be amazed at Duria.

“Remember when I told you I leveled down dungeons?” Asked Edwin. His voice was low, so only Hadrian could hear. The vampire nodded.

“Well, sometimes I also take care of Liches and Wraiths. The king has also wanted to make me take care of fellow necromancers, but if they don’t steer trouble, I don’t take the jobs.” Said Edwin. He looked hesitant, as if he expected for Hadrian to judge him harshly at the knowledge.

“You are a mercenary, Eddy? But you are so…nice. You are a healer,” said Hadrian. This meant that Edwin had enemies. The families of the Liches or necromancers. The servants of the Wraiths. Anyone could take their revenge on the children. And then the prophecy…

“And there is another thing. There is a prophecy about me that paints a rather bleak picture,” said Edwin. He stopped, snowflakes gathered in his brown, gold-flecked hair. Hadrian shifted from one foot to the other.

“You know about that? I mean, it could be about someone else,” said the vampire. Now that he knew that Edwin knew, things have changed. What was he going to do if something happened to the children?

“Prophecies are stored in orbs that can be lifted only by the ones they are about and the person who made them. I lifted the prophecy of the Harbinger of the Angels. I heard it from the orb. But don’t worry. You don’t need to babysit me, Harry. I won’t destroy the world. Besides, it already came to pass,” said Edwin with a shrug.

“It did? You are a bit young to have children,” said Hadrian in disbelief.

“But I did have them, triplets,” said Edwin, and a shadow fell over his face. “Them and a lovely elven wife whom I healed. I was still in the academy. It was my first surgery. After she got better, we got to know each other and nine months later, the triplets were born.” Said Edwin.

For a second, he smiled softly at the memory of his children. At the little tuffs of brown hair and moss green eyes, an inheritance of their mother. He had loved them. Cared for them. Would have married their mother. And then, the necromancer Jorg Fredrick had happened.

He began telling Hadrian everything, as if a floodgate was open, and he needed to spill all his secrets, least he drowned. He told him of the attack on Mitestone that was written off as a moment of madness on Jorg’s side.

Edwin told him how the necromancer had searched others with his mana in the city. How he had found Helena and the children in their house by the park. How he had drained the children until they were dry husks, Helena being helpless to stop it all.

The hedge healer admitted going on a rampage, emptying the cemetery and taking control of Jorg’s walking corpses, so there was nowhere for the man to hide. And then Helena had sacrificed herself to snap him out of it after Jorg’s death, torn by a thousand corpses.

“So, you, see? I may have blood on my hands, but ending the world is not in my plans. Now, the one with the prophecy about the blackening of the sun might be the real deal,” said Edwin. It felt right to have told Hadrian all of this. Edwin felt lighter, somehow.

Suddenly, arms were wrapped around him, and he felt something wet on his neck. Edwin patted Hadrian’s back and returned the embrace.

“I was so worried,” said Hadrian as he squeezed the life out of Edwin. “That I would have to kill you to stop you, Eddy. And that would be a shame, a tragedy. You don’t deserve to die, Eddy. But you don’t deserve to be a catspaw of the king, either.”

“I am not a catspaw. He gives me a choice,” said Edwin softly. “And if I ever try to destroy the world, do be so kind as to plunge a dagger in my eyeball. I hear death is near instant that way.”

“It won’t come to that,” said Hadrian, sure of that if of nothing else. “You are Eddy and you only heal and stop the bad guys. You will be remembered as a goody-two-shoes, and the kids will grow up. Then, when you are old and gray, we will all pile around your bedside and make annoying puns at you until you breathe your last. That is a promise.”

“Well, that is a horrible way to go,” chuckled Edwin, imagining the picture in his mind. “But a better way than going out alone, I guess. Now let us go, the king awaits.”

And they continued on their way, feeling lighter for different reasons. And maybe, just maybe, content.

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