The Three Lockets [Chapter 6.2]

Author's Note: I think this is the earliest I've ever gotten a chapter done by! I don't have long to write this author's note, so I just wanted to say that this is one of my chapters so far, and that I'm very, very happy to finally be writing more about Aldonius.

Words: 1,795

Last Line(s): “Then you should get away from her as soon a possible,” he said, “because nothing good can come of being around someone like her.”

He turned and stormed off into the distance, leaving Cass and Aldonius alone in the street.

It was only when Prince Rodet had disappeared into the dark horizon that Aldonius ceased holding her in his arms. Instead, he helped her get back on her feet and rested his hands on her shoulders. He didn't say anything at first. For those first few moments, he just stood there and watched her from within the cowls of his cloak. 

She had been hoping for some sort of conversation that would explain everything, but now she was grateful for not having to speak. She felt like she was – once again – on the verge of tears. And while this time might have been the most justifiable of them all, it was also the time where she didn't want to cry the most. In the short time she had known of his existence, Cass had practically idolized him. This was their first proper conversation, and she didn't want to start it with tears.

Her lip quivered, and her vision began to grow blurry. She tried to hold them back – she really did – but she was just so terrified. She had never been in a situation where someone wanted her dead or injured; she never drew that much attention to herself. But here in Rey, her magic and her locket were all that was needed to bring on the wrath of a man who was the kingdom's prince. Even now, Aldonius was staring at the locket hanging above her chest with unreadable purple eyes. He was going to be just like the prince, wasn't he?

But he didn't lash out at her.

He pulled out a white handkerchief from the depths of his cloak and held it out to her. She graciously took it and wipe away the steady stream of tears now running down her flushed cheeks, but doing so only made more fall. Aldonius watched her cry for another minute before he hesitantly embraced her. Her eyes widened in surprised, but it only took a few moments for her to start sobbing into his cloak.

“It's alright,” he softly said. “He can't hurt you now.”

Cass didn't give a reply; she was too busy dealing with the sobs shaking her body. Any attempt to stop the flow of tears resulted in her breath becoming ragged and panicked, and the tears still continued to fall – albeit a little less than before. The erratic breathing came to a sudden stop when she felt Aldonius begin to rub his hand on her back. She should have been startled by how intimate a stranger was being to her, but the kind gesture from Aldonius made her feel safe. Her tears gradually became nonexistent, and her cheeks gradually began to return to their normal hue.
Aldonius let go of her.

Taking several steps back, he looked her over. His gaze once again returned to the locket dangling above her chest. The longer he stared at it, the harder it was to resist the urge to fiddle with it. She finally succumbed to the urge when he reached his hand out to touch the cheek that Prince Rodet's vines had cut. She instinctively jerked back from his touch – not only did it hurt her wound, but it also was a strange breach of her personal space.

“I shouldn't have startled you like that,” Aldonius suddenly said, ducking his head down in apology. His hand returned to his side. “I have healing magic. If you want, I can heal your cut.”
She raised a hand up and touched her cheek. It stung a little when she touched it, but she wanted to feel the extent of the injury. He had narrowly missed hitting her eye; it came to a stop less than an inch below it. The rest of the cut continued all the way down to the bottom of her chin.

When she realized how long the gash was, she nodded.

Aldonius reached his hand out to touch her cheek for a second time. His touch initially stung, but then she began to feel an intrusive yet familiar warmth radiating off of his fingertips. The warmth raced up and down the length of her cut. As she touched it again, she was astonished to feel the skin coming back together. The areas that had completely healed were just as warm as his fingers were. And every single moment of it felt wonderful – it was like being pulled into his comforting embrace again.

He withdrew his hand.

“Thank you,” she managed to get out.

He gave her a small smile, but refrained from a verbal reply.

It suddenly occurred to Cass that she had no idea what she wanted to say to him. She had been so intent on finding him and receiving answers that she hadn't thought of how she was going to explain why she was looking for him in the first place. She hoped he would understand, but how would she cope with him fearing or despising her if this conversation went poorly?

And why did she care so much about his opinion in particular?

“I know you're not from here,” Aldonius said. His hand returned to the recesses of his cloak. When Cass stared at him with wide eyes, he added, “You're from another world. I saw you enter the city with the mayor's daughter – only people who have never experienced this would look at Rey in the way you and your friend were.” He gestured at the area surrounding them, his face still impossible to read. It had been so easy when she had seen him before, but now she couldn't even begin to guess what he was thinking.

She hesitated, then nodded.

“Do you not have magic in your world?”

Another nod.

He thought for a moment. She saw a flash of gold as he reached underneath his shirt and absentmindedly began to fiddle with it, but he returned it to where it originally was when he remembered that she was there. “Have you ever heard of souls?”

“I have,” she quietly answered. She couldn't see where he was going with this conversation, but she would pay attention to every word of it. “They're supposed to represent who a person is, but they're mainly used in stories.”

Her gaze lingered on the scar running up the side of his face as she waited for him to continue speaking. It was much like her own, running up the middle of his cheek and stopping just short of his eye. It didn't seem like the type of cut someone would accidentally receive; it seemed like the type of cut that was given by someone else.

“Souls aren't works of fiction here,” Aldonius said. He raised a hand and rested it over his heart. “They're the source of every person's magic. I can heal because it's been written into my soul, and you can wield your darkness because it's what your soul is meant to do.”

She studied his position, then looked down at her own chest. Was he putting his hand there because it was where his soul located? She placed her own hand on her chest. She could feel the steady beat of her heart underneath it. Was her soul sitting right beside it? “Why...Why are you telling me this?” she asked, glancing back up at him. She had to stare at him for several seconds to notice, but his lips were beginning to turn up into a warm smile.

“Your soul and your magic is a part of who you are,” Aldonius explained. He lowered his hand. “This kingdom wants you to think that your magic is a terrible thing, but it's just the way you are.”

She didn't know how to respond to that. Aldonius wasn't from Rey. The longer she talked to him, the more apparent that became. His reactions to her magic and her locket were simply too different, and his accent was different than the one she had heard Lira use. Was he a traveler who just happened to frequently visit Rey, or had he moved here from somewhere else?

But then she looked down at her hand, and suddenly realized something incredibly important: the feeling she had been having ever since that morning had come from right where her heart was. If her guess on why Aldonius had been resting his hand on his chest was right, then it hadn't been her heart that the feeling had originated from – it had been her soul.

“Are souls right here?” she asked.

He looked down at her chest, then nodded. “They are.”

She took a deep breath. She couldn't keep avoiding the reason she had sought him out in the first place. She needed to speak to him about her bizarre sense of recognition, and how he gave her the strongest feeling of all. It was hard finding the right words. She didn't want to sound crazy, and she didn't want to scare him away. But the more she thought about it, the more apparent it became that she wouldn't be able to easily overcome this particular challenge. She would have to just say what was on her mind, and pick up the pieces afterwards.

“I was actually looking for you before Prince Rodet and I met,” she admitted. She wanted to drop her gaze down to the cobblestone street, but she raised her head up high and looked into his eyes. “For the past day, my soul has been giving me weird feelings. I keep feeling like I know people and places I couldn't have possibly seen before. Most of the time, it just feels like déjà vu. But when I...But when I look at you, it feels different. Stronger. And I'm not sure why, but I felt like talking to you would help me understand why.”

Aldonius didn't say anything.

Now Cass ducked her head down. She couldn't stand to look at his face while he mulled over what she had said. What if he ultimately came to the conclusion that she was crazy, and ended up leaving her before she had a chance to understand why she was so drawn to him?

She heard Aldonius take a deep breath.

“You're someone's contracted,” he said.

She raised her head up. “...Contracted?”

He took another deep breath, glanced at the street around them, and then said, “We need to talk about this somewhere else.” Cass wanted to point out that no one was present in the street, but Aldonius had already turned around and was heading in the direction he had come from. She briefly looked over her shoulder at the outline of the palace in the distance, then hurried on after him. She could retrace her steps when she needed to return.