CH186

His mind flashed to the conversation he’d seen in Thera’s memory during the trial of Anailia and he turned to his friend to see how she was reacting. Though the great light spirit wasn’t among the ones gathered at that time when they’d planned to try and give rise to a more successful spirit hybrid than Thera had been, what they were seeing couldn’t be ignored and he could see it in her eyes. Hurt and betrayal she hadn’t expected to experience so soon upon returning home.

“It’s so good to see you Thera, it’s been so long!” The spirit greeted as Thera ran out without a word, leaving everyone else stunned by the abrupt reaction.

“Um, I’m going to go check on her,” Ben awkwardly told them as he rushed after her only to be stopped in the hallway as he ran by Abrus and Pelenia.

“Before that, can you tell us what that was about?” Pelenia said as she grabbed his arm with more strength than she meant to exert. “She might need a few moments alone to pull herself together, and I’d rather understand the issue sooner than later.”

“Uh, sure. Just to be clear, the light spirit is pregnant, right?”

“Lux is with child,” Abrus confirmed. “Was that the issue? I would have thought Thera would be excited to have a cousin on the way, not to mention the fact that she wouldn’t be the only half spirit anymore. Is it a jealousy issue?”

Oh god they definitely don’t know, do they? It made sense they wouldn’t, he doubted they would have arranged such an immediately awkward meeting like that if they had, but he still needed to be sure. “Definitely not. Sorry, do you guys not know what the other spirits have been doing for the last decade?”

The question brought a surprised look to Pelenia’s face as Abrus took on one of rage.

“By the gods what have they done now?” He asked, anger painting his voice.

“Uh, well, I only know this because of the trial, but for the last decade and some the life, death, air, and fire spirits have been trying to produce a more powerful half spirit than Thera. She overheard them talking about it when she was a kid,” He went on to explain more while wanting to get out of there, partly to make sure Thera was okay, and partly because he was pretty sure Abrus was ready to do something drastic.

“I’m going to kill them,” He all but growled. “Give me a moment, I’ll confirm if Lux is involved with any of this nonsense.”

“You won’t,” Pelenia told him sternly. “I’ll talk to her; you can’t act the way I know you will with her while she’s pregnant,” Whatever guilt the spirit might have, Pelenia wouldn’t allow her husband to do anything rash with the child coming so soon, though she continued with a passing afterthought. “Of course, you’re free to kill the others he mentioned by name. Thank you for letting us know Ben, we’ll sort this out so please make sure Thera’s doing okay.”

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“On it,” he told them as he ran off, not wanting to see whatever chaos was going to unfold.

When he got to her room he gave a light knock on her door which was promptly ignored, though it didn’t stop him as he tried the handle and felt it give.

“I’m coming in,” He told her, finding her lying in her bed.

She briefly looked at him before going back to laying down. On the positive side at least it didn’t seem like she’d been crying at all, but he could tell she wasn’t feeling great.