24. Chapter Twenty Four Rhowyn
Chapter Twenty Four: Rhowyn
After a long day of riding, having entered Summer Territory hours ago, Arryn finally paused his horse at the top of a hill overlooking a small village filled with fae who were going about their day. It looked like what I imagined a medieval village on Earth would look like, wooden buildings with thatched roofs, no technology in sight.
The only difference between that picture in my mind and the one before me were the beings that made their way through the village. My mouth parted slightly as I saw a rainbow of colors spread out in front of me. Beings with horns, wings, and other inhuman parts all intermingled as they moved from one location to the next.
A chuckle sounded out beside me, and I turned to see amusement on my men's faces as they watched me take in the fae village for the first time. “They look so different,” I said, dumbfounded.
I immediately wanted to slap myself in the forehead, my words sounding stupid as I uttered them aloud. Unable to say anything further, Arryn took pity on me. “Only the High Fae resemble humans. The others are also fae but with different attributes and appearances.”
He gestured to a group of small fae with sharply pointed ears, wearing grungy clothes that looked similar to burlap sacks. “Those are brownies. They work for the other fae, usually at night while others sleep. They clean houses and shops, only asking for sweets and fae wine in payment.”
He turned and pointed to what looked like a swarm of butterflies, flitting quickly from one place to the next. “Those are fairies. Nasty little buggers, so watch out for them. They'll steal whatever isn't attached to you directly; the shinier, the better.”
“Holy crap!” I whispered on an exhale, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.
“The dark-haired women wearing black dresses over there...” He pointed again. “Those are banshees. They're harbingers of death, their screams the only sign they provide.”
Baer chimed in, smiling at my awe, eager to share his world with me. “The ones with blue, pink, or colored skin, but look like us? They're elves. They used to reside in their own world, but it died thousands of years ago, forcing them to flee to our world. Their magics are compatible with ours. They tend to keep to themselves on the outskirts of the viable land, but we've been seeing more and more of them recently. The dying lands have been forcing them inward and closer to the capital.” With every word he spoke, his tone grew softer and grimmer as the implications of that information weighed on him. The bond tugged at me, and I reached out to hold his hand, trying to comfort him.
Changing the subject, I said, “This is incredible. I can see why y'all love it here so much. ”
“Avalon never ceases to amaze me,” Arryn whispered, looking out at the scene before us as if seeing it again for the first time.
“What now?” Callum said from behind us, trying to urge us into moving again.
I turned to face him on his black stallion, aggravated by him ruining the moment. I glanced to Lennox and saw the same look of curiosity on his face that I knew was on mine a few seconds ago. His eyes darted around as they took in the fae hustling back and forth from shop to shop.
Charity and her men were grouped behind us, talking quietly among themselves while I was given a crash course into the lower fae kind. A niggling thought crept into my mind, reminding me that I wasn’t really a part of this world. I might have been fae, but I knew absolutely nothing about this place, these people. I didn't belong here.
“Let's go,” Arryn said, nudging his horse forward, leading us down the hill and through the wide streets, all the way to the other side of town.
A large barn-like structure stood on one side, where Arryn dismounted in front of, calling out a greeting to someone I couldn't see. A small male being rushed out, his skin a greenish brown color. Both his eyes and nose were larger than a human or High Fae's.
The two spoke to each other for a moment, and the male, who only stood as tall as my waist, smiled at Arryn with warmth and familiarity. Arryn turned to us when they were done speaking. “Dismount and leave your horses here. Krug will feed and care for them, ensuring they are ready for when we depart in the morning.”
“Where will we be staying?” Charity asked, her timid, sweet voice ringing out clearly.
“There's an inn just across the street. I can get us all rooms for the night,” Arryn said, pointing to the building in question .
“But we can't pay. We didn't bring any currency with us,” Charity said, protesting the stay.
“Don't worry. I'll make sure that's taken care of. If you must, you can reimburse me when we are back at the castle safely,” Arryn assured them.
“We'll be paying you back,” Eoghan grumped out. “We don't want to owe anyone anything.” His arms crossed over his chest as if he expected us to argue over the issue.
“Of course,” Arryn said, clasping a hand on his arm briefly in a friendly sign of agreement and understanding.
“What about food?” I asked as my stomach growled loudly, causing everyone but Eoghan and Callum to laugh at me. “As you can see, I'm starving,” I said with a chuckle.
“I promise we will feed you soon, My Chosen,” Arryn said fondly, a gleam in his eyes indicating his words held an innuendo.
“Sounds good to me,” I said. More softly and only for his ears, I added, “Sir.” His eyes flashed with lust as they held mine for a moment. Shaking his head with a smile, he turned away from me to lead us all next door.
As we entered the inn, loud voices and music floated around the air, hinting at the warm and inviting atmosphere. “The pub is on the other side of that door.” Arryn pointed to a set of double doors to our left, the same direction the noise was coming from.
In front of us was a polished wooden counter with a single bell set atop it. Arryn picked up the bell and rang it, but it didn't make a sound. “Is it broken?” I asked him, confused as to why he didn't seem bothered.
Lennox laughed. “It's enchanted. The owner will always know when someone rings the bell, no matter how loud or busy it might get.”
“Seriously? That's so cool,” I said. I should know by now that magic was everywhere, used in the way that humans used technology. They may seem rustic and outdated, but they were far from it. I was sure humans seemed so primitive in comparison until a couple of decades ago.
A large male fae entered a door from a back room, his dark midnight hair gleaming as if it was blue in the dim lights as his dark eyes took us all in before settling on Arryn. He was stunning in his own way, though he didn’t pull on me like my consorts. I could still appreciate his beauty and the deadly dangerous air that seemed to surround him.
“What can I do for ye?” he asked us, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“They're okay, Brannoc,” Arryn told him. Brannoc eyed Arryn for a moment before breaking out into a grin, pulling Arryn into a hug and clapping him on the back.
“It's good to see ye, buddy boy. I thought you'd grown too uppity to come back to visit us lowly peons.” Brannoc's voice was melodic as he teased Arryn, as if he'd known him all his life.
“Well, not much could make me put up with your stench, but it seems I've been called by Avalonia herself to come back,” Arryn told him.
“Called? What could she want with your scrawny self?” Brannoc said, smiling broadly at Arryn.
Why Brannoc had called him scrawny, I didn't think I'd ever know, because Arryn was anything but. As my second tallest and broadest, he was stacked with solid muscle, which I had explored for myself just yesterday.
Brannoc's eyes jumped to mine when Arryn told him, “Brannoc this is My Chosen, Rhowyn Hunt.”
His eyes studied mine before jumping back to Arryn's, holding questions and confusion. Arryn nodded at him as if in answer to those unspoken questions before continuing the introductions. “These are her other Consorts, Prince Lennox, Callum Ivey, and Baer Hawthorne.” He turned to indicate Charity and her men, introducing them as well.
“And this,” he waved a hand at Brannoc, “is Brannoc, owner of the Whispering Hollow Inn and Pub.”
“Nice to meet you fine folk. I'm guessing you'll be needing rooms?”
“If you have them?” Arryn said.
“Aye. I've got a couple, and although they're not very big, they're clean and will do the job,” he said, pulling out two keys from his pocket and handing them to Arryn.
“Thanks, Brannoc. We're going to settle in, but we'll be back down for some food and drinks shortly,” Arryn told him, hugging Brannoc again.
As we turned to head down a narrow hall only wide enough for two people to walk beside each other, I turned to Arryn in question.
“In a minute, Rhowyn. Be patient,” he said, teasing me again.
Enjoying this playful side to him, I smiled at him. “Yes, Sir.”
“Can you two please stop with the sexual teasing? It's been a long day, and I can't relax when she smells like that,” Lennox complained behind us with a groan, reaching down to adjust himself.
I laughed out loud when I realized he was hard before sobering at the size of his cock in his hand, which stood out even through the fabric. I swallowed at the thought of having something that size inside of me, fucking me until I saw stars. I jerked my gaze back up to Lennox's when it clicked that I had been staring at his hard cock for too long, finding a knowing smirk on his face.
“Come on guys,” Arryn said to us, saving me from my embarrassment and keeping us moving before the others could complain about the hold up.
He stopped in front of a door, unlocking it and swinging it wide. “This room is yours, Charity, although your Consorts will have to stay with you. The food and drink are also on my tab, which you can pay back upon return to Cashel Rí.” He snuck the last part in before they could protest.
They entered the room, Charity stopping to look at Arryn and I. “Thank you for all your assistance. I'm not sure where we'd be without it. We're truly grateful, even if it doesn't always seem like it.” She cut a glare at one of her men, who had remained quiet and withdrawn the entire trip.
Smiling because I knew exactly what that was like, I said, “That's what friends do. They look out for each other.”
“Is that what we are? Friends?” she asked, her eyes lighting up hopefully.
“I'd like to think so,” I told her, giving her a quick hug before letting them settle in for the night.
Arryn continued down the hall after their door shut, leading the rest of us to our room. He took another key and unlocked a door with the number three nailed in place, pushing it inward and out of the way as he stepped inside the room. I followed him, not paying attention to who joined us.
The room was cozy, with a fireplace blazing in one corner despite the summer heat outside. There was a small table with six chairs around it and a couple of couches set at angles to face the fireplace.
My eyes finally trekked to the massive bed that took up one entire side of the room, larger than any I'd ever seen before. “It's huge!”
“That's what she said,” Baer teased, making me laugh at his human colloquialism, unexpected in this world.
“I wasn't lying when I told you it's common for many fae to have multiple partners. Many even form family units, so it pays for inns to keep beds to fit them all,” Arryn said, amused with me.
“This is all so crazy,” I exhaled out. It wasn’t just the bed but everything I had seen in the last hour that completely blew my mind. I started to plop down on the bed, but stopped, realizing I was covered in dust from riding all day. Looking around, I noted that we hadn't brought any supplies with us. No change of clothes, no toiletries, nothing except our weapons, my rope coiled at my waist.
“Brannoc will bring us some changes in clothes soon,” Arryn said confidently. How he knew this, I hadn't a clue since he hadn't negotiated any of this downstairs.
“How do you know Brannoc?” I asked, curious about this glimpse into Arryn's past. To be honest, I knew very little about any of my men, least of all Arryn and Callum, who were remaining quiet about their histories in two completely different ways. Arryn cleverly deflected by changing the subject, and Callum just glared you into not asking questions. Obviously, both had been quite successful in their techniques since I was still totally in the dark about them.
“We grew up together and have stayed in touch,” Arryn said, answering my question while remaining vague at the same time. Like a human politician, he hadn't told me anything I hadn't already figured out on my own.
Letting it slide for now, more pressing matters such as the trial niggling at me, I asked the next question that we were all waiting to know the answer to. The one that only Arryn knew the answer to. “Are you planning on telling us what we're doing here? Or are we supposed to just guess the plan?” I narrowed my eyes at him, letting him know that his smooth deflections wouldn't work here.
He sat down on one of the sofas, unconcerned about the dirt that he was transferring to the fine fabrics. “In order to find the Lady of the Lake, we need to first find the Gwyllion. They are elusive and constantly moving lower fae that are the only ones who will even have the first clue as to where we should start looking. However, to find them, I needed to speak to Brannoc.”
Facing Arryn and with my back to the door, I crossed my arms. “And what's so special about that Brannoc guy that he's the only one who knows how to find these Gwyllion?”
A voice whispered in my ear behind me, one not belonging to one of my consorts, making the hairs on my neck stand up at the very evident threat. “He didn't say I was the only one to know their location, but that I would have the answers he seeks.”
I whirled on him, not liking him at my back. Looking at him now didn't do anything to lessen my fear, so I threw on my best armor, anger. “And just why exactly do you know those things? What makes you so special?” I demanded, watching his every move closely, my instincts screaming at me that I should run from this obvious predator.
He chuckled, a maniacal light entering his eyes. “Because. I'm a Raven.”
“Fuck!” Baer exhaled loudly at Brannoc's declaration.