Page 29 of Einar (The Brigands of Ruk #2)
Chapter Twenty-Nine
EINAR
Rowan’s distress pulls me from a sound sleep, and I know that what I am about to walk into is going to be bad… very bad. Pulling on the sleep pants I discarded at the side of my bed last night, I hurriedly pull them on and stride into the med bay. My eyes land on the bed where I last saw her and my stomach hits my feet when I see it is empty.
“ Rowan ?”
My soft call is met with a whimper from across the room. My mate has tucked herself into the farthest corner, huddling there between a cabinet and the wall to make herself look as small as possible as she rocks back and forth. Just as I start toward her my comm goes off. Glancing down, I hesitate before answering it.
“ Yes ?”
“ Einar , there is much that Kallen says she needs to tell us, but she is insistent that we all be together when she does. You need to meet us in the dining chamber as soon as possible.”
A snarl escapes before I can stop it in response to Bikar and his irritating summons.
“ I do not have the time, or the inclination to leave med bay. My Starshine is clinging to her sanity by a thread, and I dare not leave her. You can just fill me in after Kallen tells you whatever it is that she has to say.”
Several tics go by without a response, so I glance down at my wrist comm and see that the light is off. Bikar cut the line without replying to my statement.
Good ! I do not have time for his idiocy right now.
I no sooner have that thought when my comm chimes a second time. When I ignore it and the second chime, Bikar overrides the privacy controls I implemented last night and his annoyingly perky voice floats through the air from the speakers imbedded in the ceiling, forcing me to listen to him over the Zenith’s main comm system whether I like it or not.
“ Good news, Einar . You do not have to leave the med bay at all! Everyone is going to gather there for Kallen’s big chat, and before you snarl at me, Slavic is the one who told me to tell you to ‘make room for us.’”
Before I can reply, I hear the soft click of the comm cutting off. Frustration rolls through me. Rowan barely tolerates my company. How is she going to react to a room pull of males twice her size? The answer is not well. Especially if things get loud. She will retreat even further into herself than she already has.
Deciding against pressuring her with my presence getting any closer to her, I move around the med bay organizing and putting items in their place. The hectic nature of the last several risings have taken a toll on my orderly space. I do not need Bikar or Falon touching things, so everything must be put rights.
Thankfully , my chore does not take me long. Rowan has not moved from her corner, so I jog back into my room to hit the refreshing chamber before my brothers show up. I sigh in relief as I void my screaming bladder and hit the button to flush the waste away before moving over to the basin to cleanse my teeth. I may not have the same type of hardware in my mouth that Rowan is used to, but I can at least make sure they are clean as well as making sure my breath is fresh.
Rinsing the tooth powder out of the basin, I put my oral groomer away and leave. Picking up the garments from yesterday, I grimace at the scent emanating from them before tossing them in the receptacle for dirty linens. Those definitely did not pass the smell test. Shedding my sleeping attire, I toss it in the receptacle and enter my wardrobe to pick out a fresh set of attire for the waking cycle.
Donning clean trousers and feet coverings, I rush back out into my room to put my boots on. Just as I am securing the last clasp on my second boot, a booming knock from the primary door to the med bay announces the arrival of my brothers.
Huffing in frustration, I stomp back through the room, shoot a glance over at my mate (she still has not moved from her corner), and pause before placing my hand on the lock to release it. Maybe if I refuse to let them in, they will take a fracking hint and leave me be.
“ Einar , open the frackin door.” Slavic’s loud, rough voice reaches me through the closed door and I snicker a bit when I see the lock turn red, denying his palm print access to enter the room.
“ Not right now Slavic , whatever is so important can be relayed to me at a later date.”
I know it is futile, but I had to try once more. Rowan needs the quiet.
“ Ruby wants to see her sister. You can either open the door and allow that, or I will break it down and demand it.”
Growling to myself, I release the lock and open the door a crack to peer out at Slavic . “ Rowan is not handling this well right now, and I am scared you will only set her back further.”
I am unsure what my face looks like, but the sympathetic wince Ruby gives me is telling and prompts her to help me.
“ Get out of the way, Green Giant , and let me talk to her.”
I hesitate briefly before stepping back out of the way and fully opening the door for them to enter. Ruby’s face creases in concern when her eyes land on an empty bed.
“ Ok , where is she?”
Wordlessly , I point toward the corner Rowan is hiding in. Once Ruby’s eyes land on her sister, her demeanor relaxes a little before she grabs a blanket off Rowan’s bed, talking over her shoulder as she moves toward her sister. “ Shit , she used to do this when we were kids. You two just hang out, this might take a minute.”
I wake up in a full-blown night terror induced panic attack. Robert’s found me and he’s going to get me. Launching myself out of bed in this odd-looking room, I look around frantically for a place to hide.
There !
A cabinet is pushed against the wall, and sticks out a bit, making the perfect place to hide from Robert . Running over to my new hidey-hole, I slide down the wall until my butt hits the ground. Drawing my knees up, I wrap my arms around myself as I rock back and forth, trying to calm myself down.
“ Rowan ?”
Robert’s voice calls to me from across the room, but it sounds a bit off. Whimpering , I shrink further into myself as I try to find the quiet place in my mind. I don’t want to live through what he’s about to do to me.
“ Run , run, hide away… the monster holds no sway… I’ll live another day. ”
Several times I feel a presence in the room, but it doesn’t speak. Why is he waiting? What is Robert up to now?
“ Run , run, hide away… the monster holds no sway… I’ll live another day. ”
Suddenly , there’s a comforting darkness all around me and I feel my sister’s warmth seeping into my freezing cold body.
“ Run , run, hide away… the monster holds no sway… I’ll live another day. ”
Gradually , I relax, and my breathing slows down as I realize I’ve been quietly chanting my little ditty out loud. I feel my face get hot in embarrassment and can only hope I was quiet enough that Ruby can’t figure out what I was saying over and over. It also dawns on me that I didn’t have an asthma attack on top of the panic attack. Einar really did cure me…
Time passes and eventually Ruby’s voice penetrates the fog my mind is in.
“ I know you can hear me sis, so I want you to listen. We are safe right now. Has life changed? Yeah . Am I scared? Some , just not as bad as I was when I woke up.”
My head nods in response.
“ We have to hide Ruby , he’ll find us.”
Cringing a little at the manic anguish in my voice, I wait for her to respond.
“ Sis , no one is going to find us. Robert and all his thugs are dead. Well , for that matter, everyone is dead, but we’re not going to get into that right now because none of them count at this moment. Me and you, that’s all that matters right here and now. Do you trust me?”
“ Yes , always.”
That was never in question whether or not I trust my sister.
“ Are you feeling better?”
Rubbing the supple material of my dress with reverence, I contemplate her question as I take stock of how I actually feel.
“ Oddly enough, nothing hurts.”
“ That’s because of the ‘ Not so Jolly Green Giant ’ out there. He has spent day and night hovering over you, trying his best to heal all your new and old wounds.”
“ He’s a monster and the monsters want to do bad things to us. They’re just like Robert .”
A twinge of guilt hits me after I blurt that out. Einar hasn’t acted like Robert … not so far, anyway. He’s treated me with more care in the last day or so than I’ve ever experienced at the hands of a man.
“ Stop that, no they’re not. Not everything out there wants to hurt us. Yes , I agree most things do, and I think in this world that number just multiplied, but do you know what we have now that we didn’t before?”
Shaking my head ‘no’ in response to her question, a lock of my hair falls across my face and Ruby sweeps it back in a loving fashion, soothing me with the familiarity of the motion. I hear her take a deep breath before she continues setting me straight. And that’s exactly what this is. She’s dropping the truth on me whether I like it or not.
Typical Ruby .
“ We have them. The big guy who scared you just now, he’s your safe place. When the world becomes too much, you grab on to the green giant and don’t let go. If things get too loud, he’s the quiet you seek. If you allow it, he’s the one that can make all the pain go away, physically, and mentally. Big green can and will replace all that hurt with laughter and new dreams, but you’ve got to let him in. Take my word for it, nothing’s going to get through him to hurt you and even though he’s snarly and scary at first glance, he’s a big marshmallow inside and cares more for you than any other being ever will, before or after this moment.
We’ve been given a second chance, Rowan . We had to lose everything in order to be reborn into something else. I don’t understand half of what’s happened, where we’re going, or even what’s going to occur next. We’ve got a couple of options though. One , we can sit under this blanket fort and hope that the world leaves us alone. Two , we can be brave and decide to live this new life to its fullest. Three , well there really isn’t a three that I can think of right now.”
“ I’m not you Ruby .”
My voice cracks as I say her name and I watch as her face falls a bit before she drops her last truth bomb on me.
“ No , you’re not, you’re more. You just let the world scare you for a while, but that world is gone now. So , look at it like this. All those mornings you woke up wishing your life was different, well your wish has come true. And even though he’s a bit on the rough side, you might’ve been sent your knight in shining, but a little beat-up, armor. So , what’s it gonna to be? Life or misery? You don’t have to figure it all out right this moment, but you do have to make a decision about moving forward. Sis , you already know what’s behind you, what do you have to lose? Let’s look at the stars with hope in our hearts and minds. Allow the big grouches to hover and let’s live what little life we have left to the fullest.”
Well , when she puts it like that…
Taking a deep breath, I smile over at my sister. She’s right. For years I dreamed that someone, anyone would save me from the misery of my existence. In a sense, I’ve been rescued, there were just some detours along the way. Really fucking shitty detours, but the end result is the same, nonetheless. Ruby grabs my hand, and pulls me up with her as she stands, the blanket still over us and I have to bite back a snicker at the sight we must make. She looks at me, love shining out of her eyes and asks, “ You ready?”
Nodding decisively, she lowers the blanket and the first thing my eyes land on is Einar standing a few feet away. Ruby’s grip on my hand is firm as she holds me close to her while we stand there, waiting for the guys to say or do something. Einar has a heavy scowl on his face, but his body language isn’t aggressive or threatening.
He takes a step toward me, almost hesitantly, and I grip Ruby’s hand, using it as a comforting lifeline. His eyes flick to where my hand is clasped with Ruby’s before jumping back up to my face. I’ve never seen a being this large move with such tentative care, as if he is terrified of making the smallest of mistakes lest he scare me away from him.
Einar opens his mouth to say something when the door across the room slides open and a handful of people walk in. Almost all of them are male. Shrinking away from the sudden intrusion of strangers, I press back against the wall and Ruby moves with me so that we are standing side by side. Einar turns to face everyone but positions himself in front of me, angling his body so I can see who and what is going on while leaving me a gap to escape if need be.
I watch as Kallen shoves her way through all the massive bodies so she can address everyone at once.
“ Finally , all of you in one place.”
Ruby’s gargoyle, Slavic , snarls out a question. “ Kallen what is so important that it could not wait until a later time?”
“ Oh , I do not know? … The fact that your Mam is alive, and you have a youngling sister?”