Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
Sebastian didn’t put up a fight when I declared that I would be riding back on Sawyer’s horse.
We stopped twice to rest for a few hours, but otherwise made the journey back without fully setting up camp. By the time we returned to Lumosia, we were all thoroughly beaten.
Jensen graciously stayed back to feed and settle the horses in their stables, while the rest of us began our walk—which felt like miles—to the palace.
Archer met us on the steps of the golden staircase, Delani rigid by his side.
“Very glad to see that you’re all still alive. How did it go?” my father asked.
Sebastian shouldered past him and through the doorway, grumbling to himself.
Archer’s brows narrowed and he angled a thumb towards the grumpy asshole as he stormed by.
“He’s overtired.” Sawyer shrugged through the blatant lie.
Kade stepped forward. “No. He’s pissed because Maeve dumped his sorry ass in front of all of us. By the sounds of their argument, though, he deserved it.”
I cringed at Kade’s choice of words.
I didn't dump Sebastian. I told him that I needed time—needed to figure out if this was something I could forgive. I still loved him with my entire being, but as I said, love wasn't always enough.
“Anyways, we discovered that Beaumont is alive and, unfortunately, in decent health. While we were there, he just so happened to make his first public appearance since Caelestis,” Kade continued, taking a seat on top of the railing. “Weird timing…I dunno.”
“He is going off the assumption that I am alive and told the entire kingdom about my markings.” I glanced down at the glittering tattoos on my arms. “I never heard anything about the markings of a god in Caelestis, but in Draemor it seemed to be common knowledge.”
“Someone must have seen me carry you out of the castle's rubble.” Archer ran a hand over his stubbled face, flustered. “And I don’t know much about the markings myself, if I’m being honest. What else did you hear?” he asked me directly.
“Beaumont told everyone that I am too powerful and am now considered a threat, though he doesn’t seem to know what exactly the markings mean, or at least he didn’t share the information with his citizens if he does.”
“He still wants to find her, but seems even more motivated now,” Sawyer added.
“He said he would capture me and contain me. Utilize my magic if they needed it, and then if he decided that I was too powerful, he would handle me. Whatever that means.” My blood warmed at the words.
Archer groaned, leaning against the railing beside Kade.
“I knew this was far from over.” His hand rustled his hair, settling over his scalp as obvious apprehension consumed him.
“We have to kill him, that much is obvious. We will meet tomorrow evening and come up with the means of doing so. For now, go get some rest.”
Delani walked with me back to my room, where she made herself comfortable on my bed while I showered and changed.
“So you really dumped him?” she pressed when I reappeared with wet hair and fresh clothes.
I sat next to her, and it was then that I noticed that Sebastian had come and gathered his things while we were giving Archer the rundown. Not that he had been sleeping here, anyways, but the empty dresser made my heart clench.
I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair. “I didn’t dump him. I told him that I needed time to figure out if I could trust him.”
“So…you dumped him.”
A groan escaped me as I threw myself back on the bed, hugging a pillow to my chest. “I guess? I don’t know. I’m not good at this guy stuff.”
“Sounds to me like you broke up with him.”
“Okay. Fine. Yeah. I guess I did.” I paused to breathe through the wave of anxiety that tried to overrule my balance from the claim. “He called me an anxious mess.”
“Uh…Hate to break it to you, Maeve, but you totally are.”
“Well he didn't have to say it like that! Although, since I’m being honest, he had every right to be angry with me, too.”
Delani’s eyebrow arched. “He found out about the hole in the wall?”
“Well, yes. But—”
A gentle knock on the door interrupted me and Pia slipped into the room. “Hey, I just saw Sawyer in the hall. He filled me in.”
Delani moved over to make room.
Pia laid down between us. “How are you doing?” she asked with an arched brow.
I groaned again, rolling my eyes in the direction of her strawberry hair. “Gods, I am so sick of people asking me that. I’m fine. I’m great. Never been better. Is that what I have to say to get you all to stop asking me that?”
Normally, Pia would have fought back, but she let me have this one. “Do you want some break up sex? I said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m sure Sawyer would be more than willing—”
I smacked her in the face with my pillow.
“I also overheard something that I found quite interesting,” she insinuated.
“And what might that be?” I replied through a strained groan.
“Something about a rather large hole, burned into the wall of the arena. Quite strange, isn’t it? I wonder what could have caused it?”
I scoffed. “Weird.”
“We were just about to discuss that, actually,” Delani said, a slight increase in the pitch of her voice.
Pia put a hand upon my shoulder. “Maeve…if you knew that you were having trouble wielding, you really should have told someone. I mean, I know this is whole new territory to you, but still.”
“I’m not having trouble wielding it. I can summon it perfectly fine.
I just can’t control it after,” I corrected.
“And besides, I had only tried that one night, right before we left. It wasn’t worth mentioning.
” I dropped my gaze to my thumbs, watching them fiddle with each other. “They all know now, anyway.”
In sync, Delani and Pia asked, “How?”
“I may have taken a tree down when I lost control of my power. And Sebastian may have found out about it. Hence why he was upset at me, hence why our argument blew up, and hence why I am now officially single. Well, all that, and I said that I wasn’t his girl.
” My eyes watered as I finally allowed the pain in that I’d been fighting off.
“It’s gonna be okay.” Pia rubbed her dainty hand from my shoulder down the entirety of my arm until it settled upon my shaking fingers.
“It just sucks because I am so unbelievably in love with him that it physically pains me to think about not being with him.” To not feel his skin against mine.
His breath on my neck. His cock inside of me.
His words on my lips as he kissed me like I was the air he needed to breathe.
“But I can’t be with someone I don’t trust,” I sniffled, wiping my eyes.
“Not to mention he was saying some pretty douchey things, but to be fair, so was I.”
Delani shot up. “You know what you need?”
“What?”
“Booze.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “And I just so happen to know where they keep it here.”
After an evening of heavy drinking, I made a few rules for myself.
Rule number one: Do not use alcohol as a coping mechanism.
Rule number two: Do not arm wrestle with King Hawthorne's head soldiers. You will not win and you will end up with a broken arm.
“Venay is our only mender talented enough to correct such a break, and she is still away touring the ruins of Caelestis. You will have to wait for her to return before we can do anything about your arm,” Archer said the following morning after he finished setting and wrapping my forearm. “Can I ask how this happened?”
“That would be my doing.” Kohen entered the dining room, hand raised in the air. He took the seat next to me and shrugged. “In my defense, I told her it was a bad idea.”
Pia had tried to heal the break last night, but for some reason had great difficulty getting the bone to set in the correct position. She then disclosed how her first attempt at mending a broken bone resulted in it having to be rebroken, so we decided not to push our luck.
Her and Delani joined us at the table, followed by Sawyer, Kade, and Jensen. Lastly, Sebastian stomped into the room, his eyes darkening at the sight of me.
“What happened?” His brows furrowed as he approached.
“Don’t worry about it.” I pointed my attention towards my father as he settled in his seat at the head of the table.
Sebastian grabbed the arms of my chair, yanking it out from under the table and angling me so that I had no choice but to look at him. “What happened?” he repeated, demanding an explanation.
With a sharp shake of my skull, I rolled my eyes towards the veil. “I broke it last night. It’s not a big deal. Venay will heal it when she gets back.”
“How did you break it?” He took the bandaged limb in his hands, the touch gentler than he usually was with my body when we—
Fuck.
“I lost an arm wrestling match to Kohen,” I interrupted my own thoughts.
“I would hardly call it a match,” Kohen snorted. “She grabbed my hand and did some sort of flip onto the floor then, snap.”
“It probably wasn’t fully healed from when you were crushed,” Sebastian practically growled, giving Kohen a deathly glare. “How bad of a break does it have to be for Pia to not be able to heal it?”
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t. Good thing I had a few drinks in me last evening, because the way my arm was bent would have made sober me pass out.
Carefully, I pulled my arm from him. “Can you stop being such an overprotective ass?”
“No. I won’t stop being an overprotective ass.” Sebastian leaned into my ear, his teeth skimming the lower lobe. “Because you are still mine. And what we have between us—it isn’t over.”
My pulse skyrocketed, and he instantly pulled away to take his seat. I hated that my body still reacted this way to him, but I had to squeeze my legs together to calm the lustful ache his words created.
“Let’s begin.” Archer cleared his throat and addressed the room. “We are all aware of what was overheard in Draemor. And I assume we are all on the same page that we need to take action sooner rather than later?”