Page 19 of Monsters in the Museum (Defenders of the Light #1)
Chapter nineteen
T he group around the table had been arguing in circles for hours. Right now, Seraphina was talking again. One hand rested on the gentle swell of her pregnant belly under her green peplos as she said, “Marching out and meeting the Shadow would be playing right into its clutches. We are supposed to be promoting peace, not war!”
Xander propped his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. They had been down this road before and were getting nowhere. Half of the people around the table were arguing for marching against the Shadow, forcing it out into the open, while the other half were trying to convince them to take a more conservative approach. They had been at a stalemate for weeks, and the situation had only become more dire.
As frustrated as he was, it was nothing compared to the agitation of his wife, sitting to his right. Her fists clenched under her folded arms, and a muscle twitched in her jaw. Xander reached out and placed his hand on her arm, rubbing his thumb in small circles. The tips of his fingers just brushed the tattoo encircling her bicep, and he felt like it had been months instead of years since they had received the tattoos that marked them as official members of the Eteria.
As Xander’s fingers traced the shape of the spear that circled her arm, Aediene glanced over at him and her eyes softened as she met his. She uncrossed her arms, and her hand found his knee underneath the table to give it a squeeze.
As the woman finished her familiar speech, Aediene took the opportunity to cut in, “I know you aren’t comfortable with open war, Seraphina, but what exactly is your plan? To hide in the Sanctuary while we are slowly picked off, until there are not enough people left to fight even if we wanted to?” Aediene’s tone was reasonable, but Xander could sense the effort it took to keep her from shouting, given the death grip she had on his knee.
Aedine turned toward the head of the table, where the Commander sat, wearing her usual blindingly white peplos.
“We’ve been arguing long enough,” Aediene implored. “Let’s put this to a vote, Commander, and decide whether we are going to fight once and for all.”
The Commander steepled her fingers and rested her sharp chin on them as she considered. Her eagle-like gaze was fixed firmly on Aediene, and although it was usually enough to make people flinch, his wife didn’t even blink.
“Very well,” said the Commander brusquely. “This conversation has ceased to be productive. We will vote, starting with you, Aediene. Yea for meeting the Shadow in battle, Nay for continuing with our defensive strategy.”
“Yea,” answered Aediene. The vote moved around the table, away from Xander. His wife’s vote was followed by two “nays.” Next to vote was the soft-spoked Smith, Antony, who brought the votes to an even two for each side by voting “yea,” surprising everybody. Well, everybody except for Aediene, who offered the man a knowing nod across the table. Xander should have guessed that his wife would have calculated exactly how this vote was going to go before suggesting it. The next two votes were Seraphina and her husband, Demetrius, who both unsurprisingly voted “nay.” The Commander added her vote of “yea,” before turning to the man next to her for his vote.
Xander turned to look at his best friend, who was sitting to his left, as he made his vote. Thad fiddled with his golden armbands as he stole a quick glance over at Xander.
“Yea.”
Xander let out a huff as he tallied the votes in his head. The votes were tied with four on each side. His gut clenched, knowing that it was his turn to cast the final vote and break the tie. He had been so sure of which way he was going to vote, but as he drew in a breath to give his answer, he paused. The next word he uttered could decide the future of every member of the Eteria. He would have to live with the death and destruction that could result from his answer. He felt as if he held the threads of fate in his hands and somebody had just handed him the scissors.
In the pregnant silence, Aediene squeezed his knee, and he looked to his right to meet her eyes. Instead of finding frustration or impatience at his hesitation, he found that they were full of trust. He remembered her words from a night years ago, telling him that she would stand with him through the darkest night. Xander realized in that moment that he would have her undying support, even if he voted against her.
Using the strength he found in his wife’s gaze, Xander opened his mouth again and voted, “Yea.”
There was another long moment of silence, interrupted by a violent scraping noise. Xander broke eye contact with Aediene in time to see Seraphina push herself up from the table with murder in her eyes. She looked as if she were about to curse their ancestors, but instead, she turned away in a swirl of green and stormed off. Demetrius stood up with an apologetic glance to the table before hurrying after his wife.
The seven remaining members at the table finished the meeting quickly. The leaders of the four orders of the Eteria would need to make preparations within the groups before reconvening to organize for battle. The end of the discussion was somber, a sharp contrast to the contentious discussion of earlier.
When they left the meeting room, Aediene’s fingers laced between his, the rough callouses on the pads of her fingers familiar against the back of his hand. She gave him a gentle tug and whispered, “Come on, I have something to show you.”
He followed her in silence, unable to focus on anything other than the gravity of what had just happened. After a few minutes, he found them back in the room he and Aediene had shared since getting married. Tugging him through the door and shutting it behind her, she directed him to sit on the foot of the bed. He sank down on the soft mattress and gave her a questioning look. Her only response was to say, “Close your eyes and hold out your hands.”
He did as she asked and listened to the faint noise of the wardrobe opening and her rummaging around inside. A few moments later, the air stirred as she returned to stand in front of him, sensing the warmth of her presence even from a foot away. His hands dipped as something smooth and surprisingly heavy pressed into his palms.
Xander opened his eyes to find a sword, sheathed in a simple leather scabbard. He glanced up at Aediene to find her looking at him expectantly, not saying a word. He grasped the sword by the hilt and unsheathed it in a single swift motion, revealing two feet of glittering bronze. Xander’s eyes widened as he took in the lethal edges of the leaf-shaped blade. As he twisted and turned the weapon, letting the curved edges scatter the dim candlelight around the room, his eyes caught on an engraving on the flat of the blade. He held it up closer to his face and read the words that were written there with a smile.
Through the darkest night.
“I had Antony make it for you a few weeks ago. You gave me my spear as a wedding present. I thought it was about time that you had a sword to match your skill,” Aediene explained.
Xander had never had an issue with using the standard issue sword of the Defenders, and he had never felt uncomfortable casting wards or charging into battle with one. Still, as he gripped the hilt of this new weapon, a sense of surety settled over him that he had never experienced with any other weapon.
“Antony certainly has a gift,” he murmured, running his fingers along the words set into the blade.
“No matter what happens on the battlefield, I want you to have a reminder that I’ll be with you,” Aediene said, her eyes following the path of his fingers across the blade.
Xander turned and placed the sword on the midnight blue sheets next to him before reaching out to his wife, pulling her forward until she came to sit on his lap. He cupped her serious face in his hands and leaned forward to press his forehead to hers.
“Whatever lies ahead, loving you is what has given me the strength to face it without fear.”
Aediene brought a hand up to brush his curls away from his face, “No matter what you chose to do in that meeting, I would have followed you. I can think of nobody I would rather trust with my fate.”
Xander moved his hands from her face to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her as close to his body as he could manage, taking comfort in the fact that, for now, she was safe and whole in his arms. He tucked her head under his chin and murmured into her hair, “Then let’s hope for all of our sake’s that I prove to be worthy of that trust.”