บท 25: Chapter 25: To Make Things Right

Jude POV

How Daxius could still stand upright and not cower under the long table or sink into the floor, Jude had no idea. Maybe the man had more strength than Jude thought. He smelled guilty.

Lilia clung to her mother for support and to protect her. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Dane snarled, "This had better be good, wizard."

The other Crestas and Sinsworths howled in agreement.

Daxius held up his hands. "Ravyn, you always did things on your own exactly as you wanted."

The Crestas all howled, outraged, and Jude stammered, "I meant no disrespect–"

"Then what DID you mean, Daxius?" Ravyn's lips were white.

"Only that it was never any secret who the real power in our marriage was, and who made all the decisions," Daxius said bluntly.

The Crestas all smelled outraged and Edna Chalice looked like she might curse him.

Ravyn's eyes snapped. "And so you LEFT rather than–"

Daxius held up his hands again. "I listened to you, now listen to me. I know that my past actions don't reflect well on me, Ravyn. Even though I was not responsible for my disappearance, in some ways I was … There isn't a day that I don't think about that." He paused. "I … I can't tell you everything now about what happened to me and where I was, because there's more going on than you know. But what I can tell you is how sorry I am." He stared at Lilia with a lost look, as if he had no idea how to talk to his grown daughter. "And Lilia … it breaks my heart to hear the words you've spoken."

"And did you want me to lie?" Lilia demanded. "Pretend there hasn't been a hole in my heart all these years?"

Daxius pressed a hand to his head. "No, of course not. But I NEVER abandoned you. I never wanted to hurt you or your mother in any way. For so long, I prayed to every god in the world to set me free."

Jiro's eyes narrowed. "Set you free? Were you a prisoner?"

Daxius opened his hands. "YES! Alpha Jiro, you guessed right. I didn't run away with some woman and leave my wife and daughter. I was imprisoned. Trapped, with no hope of escape, and missing my family every day until I was set free at last."

Garnet looked doubtful. "Imprisoned where and by whom?"

"It's a long story," Daxius said evasively.

Jude's hackles rose. "We have time, and you have a VERY attentive audience."

Daxius ignored him, and instead focused on Ravyn. "When I came to Wildefell, I hoped you were both still at the shop … imagine my sorrow and confusion when I heard you joined the shifters and were living with them!"

Ravyn's former husband sounded and smelled sincere. But it could be a trick.

"I told you why," Ravyn said in a trembling voice. "I told you about the life they offered us."

Daxius stretched out his hands. "You're my wife–"

Ravyn shook her head. "No. I had the marriage dissolved six years after you left. I gave grounds of abandonment. You can check with the witch circle and Wildefell City Hall."

Graydon Chalice nodded. "It was a simple legal matter."

Jude didn't want to feel sorry for the poor devil, but Daxius clenched his fists, sobbed, and muttered something even wolf hearing couldn't catch. Then, he composed himself. "I suppose I deserved that."

Kyon folded his thick, muscular arms. "What did you expect?"

Daxius sighed. "No less, I suppose. But married or not, I want to make things right with Ravyn. And Lilia."

Dirge snarled, "How?"

Lilia held on to her mother still, to protect Ravyn. "Yes, how?"

Daxius opened his mouth. "I want to tell you–"

He twitched, jerking, and an angry expression twisted his face. Dane, Jude, Jiro, and Naomi all stepped forward, ready to pounce on him. Daxius took a deep breath.

"Tell us what?" Jude growled. "Speak!"

Daxius' eyes fixed on his piercingly. They were a startling turquoise, even more striking than Jiro's, especially in Daxius' pale face. "Who are you to Ravyn?"

Lilia spoke up quickly. "Don't try to distract us, FATHER. How are you going to make amends? What is it that you want to tell us?"

Daxius eyed Jude with suspicion. The feeling was more than mutual.

Lilia left Ravyn's side and marched up to him like the Luna of the Evenhide Pack, her chin up and her expression commanding. "FATHER. You owe us an explanation!"

Jude glanced at the other Crestas. They didn't make a move towards Daxius. Even Dane stood as still as a stone pillar. "Why aren't they pouncing?" he whispered to Ravyn.

She gave him the ghost of a smile and whispered, "They know we need to face him ourselves. Lilia especially."

Daxius trembled for the first time. "Lilia … Ravyn … could we discuss this in private?"

The wrong thing to say to a roomful of people who already wanted his head.

Dane's wolf eyes burned hot. "You're in no position to make demands."

Garnet bared her teeth. "Unless you want to discuss it in a prison cell. That's very private."

Jude smirked. Garnet could pierce people with her remarks when she wanted to.

Daxius held up his hands in surrender. "Very well. You should know first that I never meant to leave my family–that it wasn't because of some tawdry affair or wizard feud or gambling debt that I disappeared. I've spent every day of the last twenty years and more remembering your faces and trying to imagine how Lilia would look."

With a trembling hand, he reached out for Lilia. "The picture of you in my mind didn't come close to reality." He turned his gaze on Ravyn. "Or you. Though I must confess that I never imagined you'd both walk around naked every day."

Ravyn's eyebrows arched. "Nor did I."

He said dryly, "Add that to your lengthy list of what I missed all these years."

Patch snickered and got silenced by the family's withering gazes. Jude heard Tulaska muffle a chuckle with her hand. He expected the Wise Woman to come down hard on Daxius, but Tulaska was never predictable. Perhaps she thought Ravyn and Lilia were doing brilliantly on their own.

Ravyn's eyes were on Daxius. "You say you were imprisoned."

He nodded. "Ravyn … we once loved each other. I have to believe that you still recall the kind of man I was. Am." He tapped his heart. "I'm sorry that you had the broken heart syndrome. But in the depths of your heart, you remember how it was between us. Maybe without that shadow over everything."

Jude tensed, hoping Ravyn wouldn't soften. The smell she was giving off was wary.

Ravyn clasped her hands together. "Sometimes. Once in a very great while."

He winced. "I was imprisoned."

"By whom?" Ravyn demanded.

"And how did you get away?" This from Cyran, who eyed Ravyn protectively.

Daxius turned to him. "You know better than anyone that it's not that easy to escape being in bondage to someone–and you fled your pack in disgrace."

Cyran's golden eyes slitted. "Everyone in the magical world knows about my past. But unlike you, I didn't take eons to come back and take responsibility!"

Every Cresta howled agreement and every witch was ready to defend Cyran. Thessi looked unhappy. Daxius paled even further, realizing the trap he'd fallen into.

Dane growled at Daxius with contempt. "By rights, I should sentence you to be rehabilitated by Jiro. I don't think you'd last a day."

Jiro folded his arms. "He wouldn't last five minutes. I wouldn't take him on."

"I've stood and listened to the lot of you tear me to bits for half an hour," Daxius shot back. "Including my wife and daughter."

Tulaska shook her medicine rattle. "Then start telling the whole truth."

Daxius' body shook all over. "I can't."

"CAN'T?" Jude roared, defensive of Ravyn.

Daxius approached Ravyn and put his hands on her shoulders. "Please trust me."

For a moment, Ravyn looked sympathetic. "Daxius … are you in trouble?"

Of course. She was married to the man–maybe even still had feelings for him. Lilia also seemed concerned about her father.

But Daxius knew Ravyn. He might have vanished like smoke for decades, but he knew Ravyn's heart. Kind, generous, caring, compassionate. Helping people was what she lived for. That hadn't changed.

Jude's wolf growled at him to teach this con man a lesson.

He lunged at Daxius with his claws extended and his teeth sharpened. Daxius whirled, his eyes wide with shock. He raised his staff to defend himself.

"STOP!" Ravyn and Lilia stepped between them, blocking Jude's attack.

The sight of mother and daughter shielding Daxius made Jude freeze as surely as Ravyn's spell to stop the Hemmings had.

"There's been enough fighting," Lilia said in a strong voice.

Dane growled, "And you forget yourself, Alpha Jude. This is NOT Silverpaw territory. As a prisoner, Daxius Houdini is under my protection."

"OUR protection," Kyon agreed, his expression neutral.

Rebuked, Jude bowed his head, and let everything about him become human again. "I humbly apologize, Alpha Dane and Luna Lilia." He turned to Ravyn and Daxius. "And to both of you."

The Crestas all stared at him with sympathy–even Ransome and Titania, who always insisted on proper behavior. Dane's face was the tough Alpha face, but Jude understood his heart. Dane would do his duty, insist on respect, yet he had no liking for Daxius.

Daxius stared at him with resentment. "I wasn't being hostile to Ravyn. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were responding to a threat to your mate."

Silence fell in the room.

Jude forced himself to look at everyone, since all eyes were on him. Dane didn't react and neither did Lilia. Kyon put a steadying hand on Dane's shoulder. Tulaska simply nodded with that knowing expression, and so did Azandra and Roslynn. Patch and Anneliese both seemed to be having trouble breathing. Dirge looked bewildered. Thessi and her brother Narbeth shook their heads, baffled at all the fuss. Cyran and Naomi were surprised, and Jiro and Garnet just quietly took in everything. The rest of the family didn't know what to think.

Ravyn found her voice. "Daxius. If you're in trouble, we can help you. Just tell us."

Her former husband smelled determined, like fire in a blacksmith's forge. "I can't tell you. Because of my imprisonment, because of the curse on me, I can't tell you everything you want to know. You need to come with me."

Curse?

Jude glanced at Lilia, Cyran, and Garnet, whose faces darkened with dread.

Ravyn frowned, puzzled. "What is this curse? And where are we going?"

"To the Heartless Isles in the Harmonia Sea." Daxius spread his hands. "You'll understand everything when we get there. Please, trust me."