Kalımıty

Chapter 31: Reflections

Fae leans back on the couch in Kali's room, curling her legs up to her chest as her back presses into the soft fabric of the cushion. She rubs her temples with her fingers, looking at the three confused men around her. Tate and Altear sit beside her on the couch, both of them sitting rigid as their own eyes lay on Finn; who is in a chair, folded into himself as he visualizes what they had seen earlier.

So much for him loving Kali, though it's expected for him to be scared and confused.

"What the hell is going on?" Finn's voice is shaky as he looks up between them all, his eyes red and swollen.

"Kali stopped a serial killer who was targeting elves, so that's a good starting and ending point. The problem is gone now, so we can move past that." Fae says, simply, resting her head on her hand, elbow pressed into the arm of the seat.

"She ate his heart! Are we just going to ignore that? And how did she even kill him? I mean, her hand on hand is good, but THAT?" His hands shake as he pushes out the words, eyes wide as he stares at the herbalist.

"The bigger issue here is that we have the princess of Elliel dead in the morgue below us right now. While her brother sits in chains in the dungeons. This will be an all out war, we don't have time now. We need to kill the king as soon as possible, Kali needs to kill him after the ceremony. No distractions." Altear sits forward, his arms resting on his knees as he speaks, his tone low and stern.

"She did what she needed to with the killer, now to encourage the next step," Fae sighs, Tate sitting up and turning to look at her, his white hair falling into his eyes.

"Did what she needed to? EATING HIM?" He says with a raised voice and Finn raises his arms in agreement.

"Exactly!"

"We've been over this, she's a dragon, just like me and Dakki. When our bodies are under severe distress our instincts will take over. She won't even remember what happened, she was just trying to survive. And that includes consuming something to revive her own strength."

"Is she even safe to be around if she needs to consume something to heal herself?" Tate's voice is soft as he looks at the woman.

"Of course she is! Look, we literally can't, well usually can't, kill weaker beings. Usually we have a soul punishment for it, it's not something we do. I don't know how she didn't this time..." Fae trails off, her mind reeling. When we kill weaker beings, our bodies become sick... it lasts days and it feels like your soul is burning you from the inside out. Why... Why did that not happen to her?

"Kali's not... she doesn't..." She stammers, when she's cut off by Finn as he covers his face with his hands, leaning back against his chair.

"She doesn't like to kill things... that's why she told me she didn't want to harm the bear. I was going to help her, but it got to her first."

"She's not dangerous, only young. That's the first time she even used her powers," Fae bites her lip, thinking about the purple flames she saw in the forest surrounding the area.

"How is she supposed to deal with the king, then? If she's so inexperienced?" Tate tilts his head, his eyebrows knitted.

"Seems like we just need to throw her to him and see what happens," Altear shrugs.

"Absolutely not!" Finn stands up, looking down at the captain, "not happening! We can't just give her to him with no plan!"

"I agree with Finn, that's fucked up!" Tate mimics the brunette's behavior, standing up with his arms in the air. "He's going to ruin her!"

"Well, if he does then she can do to him what she did to Leif." Altear crosses his arms as he leans back in the chair, the two other men glaring down at him.