13. Chapter Thirteen Arryn
Chapter Thirteen: Arryn
I watched as Rhowyn collapsed just as Baer woke. With the last vestiges of my magic, I scanned both Rhowyn and Baer for any lingering injuries. My magic coursed through them each in turn with no interruptions before trickling back to me.
With a sigh, my body relaxed with the knowledge that they would both be fine. That was too close of a call. I leaned back on my heels, trying to figure out where we should go from here.
“Are they okay?” Lennox asked, coming to crouch next to their prone bodies. Callum hovered but remained standing, his eyes darting around as if the invisible creatures would attack at any moment.
A groan sounded out. “I feel like I just died, but yeah, I'm good.”
I pushed up to standing, needing to figure out where to go from here. The room was completely enclosed around us. The large block stones were too tall to climb over, and there was only one door in and out. We couldn't go back out with those things; all of us were completely spent. Out that single door would be certain death .
Callum moved, drawing my attention as he bent down to gather Rhowyn into his arms, cradling her limp form to his chest as Lennox reached to help Baer sit up. All of us were at a loss as to how to proceed, our eyes darting around as if the answer would be revealed if we just searched hard enough.
A ripple of magic cascaded over me just as the glamor dropped, revealing the arena full of fae. The stands were filled with all types of both High and Low Fae, each cheering or booing, fully invested in the outcome of our trials. The stands curved upward to the point that I couldn’t even make out any of the figures in the upper seats, small specks in the distance. The noise roared around us, drowning out our ability to think.
Each of us glanced around, taking in the magnitude that surrounded us. However, there was only one thing my mind could truly process. We were out of the maze. My shoulders started to slump in relief, but I quickly stood at attention, pulling my military bearing back into place. We might have survived, but we still couldn’t let down our guard. We were still on display, and how we reacted would be picked apart and dissected by the people until they decided which contestant to throw their weight behind.
I reached over and wrapped an arm under Baer’s shoulders, helping to support his weight. He was still weak from the blood loss and would need time to recover, so I’d carry him until he could walk on his own. We were in this together, for better or worse. So, if I needed to support his near limp body, I would.
A loud clap rang out around us, drawing our attention to the Queen. She glided from her glittering seat in the stands until she stood before us all. Master Jude followed behind her quietly, his head ducked and hands clasped together.
“Congratulations, Chosen and Consorts.” Her voice rang out loud and clear, amplified by magic to reach everyone watching. “You have completed the first trial, beating all the other competitors to the center.” She paused as the crowd erupted in applause and screams, enjoying the show before them. She smiled broadly at them all, basking in their adulation, before turning back to face us.
“I see that your Chosen is currently indisposed, but I wanted to announce at this time that we will be having a ball tomorrow evening to reward your accomplishments, at which time I will present your reward for having been the first to complete the trial.”
We all bowed in acknowledgement, not rising, our muscles tensed in preparation for an attack. “Thank you, Your Majesty. We would be honored to attend,” I spoke for us all.
She narrowed her eyes at me as the screams rang out again, another group arriving behind us and distracting the crowd from our group. However, the Queen’s focus only intensified as she spoke softly, her voice no longer amplified. “It seems that somehow your Chosen was able to compete without any injuries. I wonder how that could be. Surely you were wise enough to have followed my orders.” Her interrogation had begun and must be navigated carefully if we were to avoid any fallout from the choices we had made.
This time, Lennox spoke up, his mask fully back in place. “Rhowyn was able to heal herself fully after we completed the bonding ceremony.”
“Is that so?” she questioned further, her brow raised, an indication that she wasn't buying the explanation. “She must be quite powerful to have mastered the healing magic so quickly. You are truly blessed, son, to have a Chosen who is so strong.” If that wasn't an underhanded threat, I didn't know what was.
“She's a quick learner,” Lennox said, trying to ensure that the Queen didn't find Rhowyn more of a threat than she already did. He was best suited to navigating her mercurial moods, so I let him speak for us.
“Indeed.” She glanced up, her eyes scanning the crowd briefly before coming to rest back on us. “However, if I find out otherwise, I will ensure the punishment is sufficient to discourage further half-truths from my subjects.”
She couldn't do anything without proof, and at this time, she had none. Too many people watched as we spoke, putting us all further on edge while we waited for her attention to move elsewhere. “We would expect nothing less, Your Majesty.” I bowed again, fully aware of the dangerous road we were now walking.
She beamed at us, the expression not meeting her narrowed eyes as her mind tried to find out how to get the truth from us. “Perfect. Now that we have an understanding, I'll be on my way. I must congratulate the other competitors.” She ended the conversation with a clap of her hands before gliding away.
Immediately, we all relaxed, ready to return to our rooms. Baer stood next to me, my arm still holding him up, and rubbed at his chest, his brow furrowed in thought. His jovial nature was nowhere in sight. Lennox's shoulders slumped, but he didn't relax his hold on his control.
Callum stood silent and stoic with Rhowyn still draped in his arms. He shifted slightly, the only indication that he was ready to leave and be away from all these watching eyes. We had much to discuss and needed to be safe within our suite to do so.
I glanced back up at the crowd, finally noticing the translucent images that were before them. There were fifteen individual images, each one following a different Chosen. A low drone of sound was coming from the images. This must be how everyone was watching the trials.
Master Jude approached us, pride glowing from his eyes and face as he met us with a wide smile. “Congratulations!” he said as his eyes darted to the Queen's current location, where she was greeting the other group that had entered just behind us. Genevieve heaped adulation on the Queen as her Consorts stood beside her.
“I think I have stumbled across some interesting information, although I'm not quite sure what to make of it,” Jude whispered to us, drawing us closer to him. His hand patted Baer on the shoulder as if he was praising us and not divulging the secret information we had requested.
“What do you mean?” I questioned, keeping the concern from my face so as not to give away the real purpose of this conversation.
“Not here. I'll come find you all later,” he whispered, his eyes darting to all the other priests that were gathering around as more groups started to arrive, each one looking worn and disheveled. I was sure we didn’t look any better.
“We'll be in our suite letting everyone recover. We have no plans to leave until tomorrow's ball,” I told him.
“Perfect!” he exclaimed loudly. “Again, Congratulations!” He finally drifted away from us, leaving us free to escape the growing crowd and return to the safety of our rooms.
“Let's get back and get Rhowyn in bed,” I told the guys, turning my head to glance over the other competitors that surrounded us. I noted Charity, looking rumpled but whole. I knew Rhowyn would ask about her, so I was glad I could give her a good report.
Callum led the way with Rhowyn, Lennox following behind him, looking somewhat dejected. We needed a meeting after we got Rhowyn settled, to clear the air about everything that the trial had brought to us.
A debrief would help us come together and determine our next course of action and how to prevent our mistakes in the future. I pulled Baer along with me, his weight leaning on me more and more as we marched through the massive castle. Not a single one of us spoke to each other, our thoughts engulfed by the trials that we had faced in the maze. Things that would weigh on us until we could clear the air.
Once back in our suite, Callum took Rhowyn directly to her room. I led Baer to the couch and helped him sit. Lennox ran off to fetch food and drinks for us all. Still, no one spoke, we just went about our tasks as if we had worked together for years. If nothing else, the first trial had managed to bring us together in this way.
Sitting in one of the chairs, I watched the fire in the fireplace and tried to prioritize everything. After the chaos that we had clawed our way out of, I needed order. It was the only thing that had kept me going in times past, and it was what I fell back on now.
I stood, going to pour myself some whiskey. I glanced at Baer, holding out the bottle and asking, “Want one?”
He rubbed his chest, lost in thought, his head drooping and forearms resting on his knees. Not meeting my eyes, he answered, “I'm good.”
It seemed this trial had shaken us all, even our resident optimist. This was just the beginning of what we would have to face, and if we had any hope of succeeding, I needed everyone at their best. Which meant I would have to help the others sort through everything.
I sighed and took a deep drink, savoring the burn of the whiskey and letting it settle and focus me. Callum shut the door to Rhowyn's room softly and crossed the room to join me. He poured his own drink, swallowing it all quickly before pouring a second one.
He took one of the chairs and sat with his second drink in hand. “I assume you'll be wanting to debrief.” He directed his statement to me.
I nodded my head at him. “You'd be correct.”
Topping off my drink, I also took my seat to wait for Lennox to return. We'd debrief, and then we could eat before each getting much needed rest. Our magic would replenish slowly without those things, so the sooner we could accomplish them, the better. If I knew anything, it was that we always needed to be prepared. Life had a way of throwing things at you when you least expected it.
As if my thoughts had summoned him, Lennox entered the suite, empty handed. At my questioning look, he answered, “Juniper will be bringing things along shortly and will help us with Rhowyn.”
“Good.” I gestured to the couch with my free hand. “Come sit. We've much to discuss.”
Lennox took his seat next to Baer, the silence becoming malignant between us all. I sighed again, taking a drink before beginning. Sometimes, I felt too old for all of this.
“Okay. Although I'm sure we don't want to bring up what happened with the Ankou, I feel we must clear the air.” I began the discussion. That encounter had done more damage than we could have prepared for and repairing it would take time we didn't have.
“What's there to discuss?” Callum said gruffly. “We all spoke the truth. It needed to be said.”
My eyes darted to Lennox, who sat there with his head and shoulders bowed, as if weighed down by something heavy. I could only guess that it was guilt. “Maybe so, but I'm sure there's still some regret from us all about how we went about voicing our issues. I know there is on my end.” I hoped that my confession would get them all to voice theirs.
Callum drained his drink again and rose to get a refill. Not facing us, he said in a clear, low voice, “While what I said may have been the truth and what I had felt, I shouldn't have gone about it the way I did.”
Surprised that Callum would be the first to open up and admit his faults, I waited silently for the others to chime in. My eyes drifted to each of them, each of them hiding in their own ways.
“It certainly was unpleasant to watch,” Baer said, joining in finally, his hand still rubbing along his sternum. It was a reminder that he hadn't been affected by the Ankou, for which I was thankful. However, I wasn't sure why he wasn't, a question to be answered after we had addressed the rift between Callum and Lennox.
“Lennox?” I prompted him to join us after we sat in silence for several minutes. Each minute that passed pressed down on us all, making speaking up and being honest even more difficult.
“What do you want me to say? I didn't say anything I regret.” He snapped back at me like a wounded dog might.
And that was the crux of the matter. The words had destroyed him, and I needed to stabilize him before the next trial. Like a wound that was bleeding, I needed to staunch the flow before I could go about healing him. Though, with a wound like this, it wasn’t something that my magic could resolve. “No. You did not,” I agreed with him. “However, you were greatly affected by some of the things said.”
Callum sighed before taking another drink. His shoulders were slightly raised and curled in, his focus on the liquid in his glass, but every inch of him was attuned to Lennox. I glared at him, but he thankfully remained silent. For once, he was smart enough to hold his tongue to keep from making the situation worse.
“So, what if I was? It was all true. I am responsible for what happened to Callum. Nothing I can do will ever change that,” he snapped, his hands grabbing his dark hair and pulling on it.
Carefully, I continued on. He was so close to the edge, and I didn't want to lose him. One wrong word, one misstep would send him falling into an abyss that no one would be able to pull him out of. “No. We can't change the past,” I admitted, hedging on the truth and unsure of how to proceed. I racked my brain for the right words to console him, unable to find any. I was at a complete loss.
Callum stomped over with a fresh glass of whiskey and sat roughly in his seat near Lennox. Each of his muscles was corded, the veins raised by the tension running through him. He was restraining himself. Barely. “It wasn't really your fault.”
I sat there, almost holding my breath, knowing they needed to resolve this on their own, thankful that Callum was stepping up. My gaze traveled his face, studying him as I searched for the thoughts he kept locked behind an impenetrable fortress. The only way inside was if he let us in.
“I know that you were manipulated by your mother. It was all her fault. It's just been easier to blame you for everything,” Callum admitted, cradling his glass in both hands, his forearms resting on his knees, and his head bowed as if searching for the answers in his drink. His previous tension had deflated him, as if by letting out these words, he had also let go of the thing that had sustained him for so long.
“I should have known she'd get the truth from me. I should have avoided her. I should have done something. Anything. But I didn't. I sat by while she destroyed your life,” Lennox pleaded with him. His eyes watered at his admission, his guilt eating him from the inside out. He had wallowed in his remorse for so long, I feared that he wouldn’t ever let it go. It had become a part of him, and if he released it, forgave himself, then what did he have left?
“And what could you have done? I was the one who told you,” Callum snapped at Lennox, glaring at him as Lennox continued to blame himself. “She's more powerful than both of us. It's why I blamed you because if I placed the blame where it truly belonged, then I'd have to admit that I was powerless against her. That there was nothing I could do. At least I knew I could hurt you. I blamed you because you were an easy target.”
Lennox inhaled sharply, his eyes watering at Callum's admission, a tear falling down his face, nose reddening with emotion. Baer and I were silent as these two started the road to forgiveness. Forgiveness for themselves and each other. Neither of us dared to make a sound, to do anything to disrupt this process. We could do nothing except bear witness to their turmoil and misery.
“I'm sorry I blamed you for all those years,” Callum said, so softly that I almost didn't hear him. This wasn't easy for him. Letting go and moving his wrath to the real culprit. He'd coped the best way he knew how, but now it was time to grow up and accept the reality of the situation.
Lennox smiled sadly. “Thanks. I just wish I could forgive myself as easily.”
“You think that was easy?” Callum snarled at him, his temper starting to get the best of him.
“I'm sure he didn't...” I tried to intervene, to keep the conversation civil and productive, but I was interrupted.
“No. This isn't easy for any of us. I just know that our Chosen needs us. That includes being at our best, and right now, we aren't. I can see how you feel about her, Lennox. If you truly cared for her, you'd get your shit together and stop blaming yourself for something you couldn't change,” Callum chastised.
Lennox sat up, dazed at Callum's outburst, but listened to him with wide eyes. I was almost certain he’d become defensive, but he surprised me. He finally nodded, swallowing before he spoke, “You're right.”
“Damn straight I am.”
Lennox let out a long exhale, his body slowly relaxing. “I do care for her, and I won't be the reason she fails. I'll get my shit together, as you so eloquently put it,” he joked, giving Callum half a smile. His eyes still held shadows and pain, but I could also see a light in them that he hadn't had before.
“What can I say? I just have a way with words,” Callum teased, finishing off his drink. “Want one?” he asked Lennox when he stood to get another refill. It seemed Callum was intent on drowning his own demons, though I hoped we had finally put at least one of them to rest with this conversation.
“Sure,” Lennox said. “Thanks.”
Now that I was satisfied with their progress, I held out my glass. “I could use a refill myself.”
Callum refilled our glasses and handed a fresh one to Lennox, taking his seat when he was done, reclining back and settling deep within the chair, ready to face whatever we discussed next.
Baer remained withdrawn during their entire interaction, leaning back into the cushions, and now staring at a spot on the floor. Occasionally, he rubbed his sternum, but hadn’t moved beyond those small movements. I nudged him with my boot on his knee to get his attention. “Want to tell us your thoughts on why the Ankou didn't affect you?”
He shrugged half-heartedly. “Best guess? I don't have the sort of baggage you guys do. I didn't have anything I was mad about or holding back.”
“That makes sense.” I nodded, accepting the explanation while marveling at the rarity of such a young fae having his emotional baggage in check. He dealt with things as they came, speaking his mind when he needed to and not holding onto things he couldn’t change. Baer was different from anyone I'd ever met; a positive force that we were lucky to have on our side.
Which is why I needed to figure out what was going on with him now. This dejected and haunted person before us was not the Baer we had come to know and love. “Why do you keep rubbing your chest, Baer? I checked you over, and everything was good except for the blood loss.”
“I think she did something to me,” he said, dropping that information out like it was nothing. “When she healed me.”
“What do you mean?” I leaned forward, my brow furrowing with this new information. Callum and Lennox were now fully focused on this development.
“My chest feels fuller.” He rubbed his sternum again. “It's almost like I can feel her inside me, closer than the bond should have made us,” he said, concern and worry on his face as he finally met my gaze.
“What the fuck does that mean?” Callum said, obviously not happy with this revelation, his thick, red brows furrowed as he narrowed his eyes on Baer. He tilted his head as if he was searching Baer, trying to determine whether he was now a threat.
“I think she also took a piece of me,” he said softly, ignoring Callum's outburst. “I don't know how she did it, but we’re now connected.”
“What makes you think this?” I asked, needing to know more.
He shrugged again, his wide eyes meeting mine. “It feels different than my magic. Whatever she did when she healed me feels foreign. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Juniper knocked and entered the room, bringing a couple of trays of food and drinks for us. No one spoke to her as she set everything down, her eyes darting to us in concern. Her entrance had interrupted our conversation, and when she realized that, she promptly left, promising to return later to help with Rhowyn.
We all sat there in silence, three of us finishing our whiskeys in shock, letting Baer’s revelation sink in. What had she done? How exactly had she changed him? What did this mean for us moving forward ?
Finally, my thoughts stopped whirling, and I was able to think clearly. There wasn't much we could do about it right now. Not with us all burned out and exhausted. It seemed we had even exhausted our ability to carry on a conversation. All these developments were catching up to us at once.
Clearing my throat, I downed the last drops of my whiskey. “Let's eat and get some rest. Then we’ll discuss this new development when Rhowyn is awake,” I instructed them. No one argued, simply filling their plates and eating in silence before retiring to our respective rooms.