All Chapters of Her Eyes of Emerald and Fire: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

The two men sitting in the booth with her, are fully focussed on her, and she suddenly feels very self-conscious, unsure if this is the right thing to do, but they’re here, and kind, and want to know. If she’s careful, they’d learn a little of her past, and not enough to get them in trouble in the present. She took a deep breath, and folded her hands together as she begins her sorry tale.“I was raised by my mother in a small cottage, thatched roof and everything. Roses up the walls and picket fence. We lived a little way from the coast, if the wind was in the right direction, you could smell the sea on the air. We were part of a village, but we were a little way away from the nearest neighbour. About three quarters of a mile behind our house were these old ruins, I have no idea what they were originally, but they became my playground.” Ash smiles,“Sounds idyllic.” She nods, her smile tinged with sadness,“It was, sort of, I was only really allowed out at night. My mother didn’t want

She looks at him, she’s surprised to realise she doesn’t mind his nearness to her. It’s unusual for her to want people so close to her, but she looks down again before she can continue that train of thought. She closes her eyes,“He’s dead in a huge pool of blood, right next to some teenaged black boy. We legged it, knowing the police would be there soon, and there was nothing we could do for him now. Netty is distraught at the loss and a couple of months later she jumps off a tall building, killing herself, but getting to be with Emmy again. Leaving just me and Davey.” She sighs, and coughs, taking a sip of her drink, to steady herself. She scans the room again, making sure no-one else is listening. She nods when she can’t see anyone paying her any attention besides the men with her. Kai shifts closer to her again,“Davey dies too doesn’t he.” She sighs and leans her head onto his shoulder and he moves his arm around her to hold her to him. She sighs, and closes her eyes for a moment

She shrugs a little, and smiles a sad smile up at Kai,“Simon, my fiancée. Or I suppose ex-fiancée now.” She corrects herself, “He died nearly nine years ago now. The day after he proposed.” She pulls her phone towards her again and searches through her photos. She found the one she was looking for and gives it a sad smile. “That’s us.” It’s a lovely picture of a man wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing her temple, she looks so happy. She’s also a little thinner than she is now, but otherwise she’s just as stunning.He then takes in the rest of the picture; the man has two prosthetic arms, tanned skin and crew-cut black hair. Kai looks at her with a question in mind, and she seems to know it before he can even think of how to phrase it.“His father cut off his hands when he was small. He thought they would lead him to sin. His family are in a cult of sorts, or at least they were when I last saw them. I don’t know where they are now. The last time I saw them was two day

“Shit, is she okay?” Kai blurts, Ash listens to her breathing and pulse and nods, slowly.“I think so, she’s just unconscious.” Moments later she breathes in deeply and sits upright again, smiling at the assembled group.“They want me to thank you for thanking them, and to say that they are very happy that you are happy with their work and look forward to working with you again.” She rolls her hand, “I’m paraphrasing, they used a lot more flowery language and are a lot more eloquent than me.” She looks around the table again, noticing the shocked look on Ash’s face and puts a hand on his knee. “I’m fine. It was just a quick stop in a liminal space between the worlds so that the Gods and I could talk privately.”Ash drops a hand to cover hers, and stop her from moving it for a moment. He wonders if Kai can feel the nervous energy rolling off of him, as he swallows cautiously, not wanting to break the moment. She lets her hand rest there, giving his knee a soft squeeze as she does. Then

‘Hi Ash, I’ve been awake for half an hour. I’ve been trying to get back to sleep but no joy yet. Thanks for messaging, I felt weird texting you when I knew you were trying to be asleep too.’ He smiles,‘No problem, Honey. Wanna talk about it? Or are we avoiding the problem?’ There’s a pause where those three little dots kept moving as she types,‘I can talk about it a little. I have a lot of nightmares, and tonight’s was a doozy. Woke up curled in a ball in the corner of my room.’ He frowns,“Shit, that’s not good.” He walks into the office and sits at his desk,‘Wanna have a phone call? I’m in the office at the moment but Kai’s still asleep.’ He puts the phone next to him as he opens up his laptop to start looking into the paperwork like she’d suggested. Maybe there’s something he can find in what they already have to indicate tampering. He leans the phone up so he can see the screen, and suddenly it lit up. She’s starting a video call, fuck. He runs his hands through his hair quickl