12. Chapter Twelve Lennox
Chapter Twelve: Lennox
We were gathered in the living room again, Callum still pacing and growling, his beast shining yellow through his eyes, a clear indication he was hanging on by a thread. I watched him closely, wishing I could do something to calm him, but knowing that without Rhowyn here, there was nothing we could do. To make matters worse, he was the only one who had yet to seal the deal with her, and it was as if I could feel the remorse pouring off of him. But honestly, I didn’t blame him for taking his time. After what my mother had done to him, I was surprised he was even open to having any sort of physical relationship with our girl.
After the night he spent with me and Rhowyn, he seemed to relax, and I felt it was just a matter of time before they found their way to what he had been desperately trying to avoid. The tension between them was thick enough to drive a knife through it, and I had found myself wishing I could be a sprite on the wall to witness the fireworks they were sure to produce.
Now though, he was so close to becoming unhinged that I was starting to get worried for him. The constant threats he spewed were nothing but his way of voicing his frustration and feelings of helplessness, with no actual intent behind the venomous words. I knew we were all at our wit’s end, but Callum seemed to be dealing with it worse than all of us combined.
Thankfully, Arryn and Brannoc entered, trailed by Baer, who looked so unlike himself, completely withdrawn and shut down. If it weren’t for all of us forcing him to eat and care for himself, I was certain he would wither away. He looked like shit, a stark contrast from the bubbly personality from before.
Damn, we were a mess without her. Hopefully, Brannoc’s reason for calling us all into the living area would be to tell us that he’d found her, and we could race after her. Somehow, I doubted it. His shoulders were tense, indicating he was still just as frustrated with her as he’d been the times before. Although, now, he seemed to be more sober. Something that hadn’t happened since we’d found out she was missing. He’d done his damnedest to drown his sorrows in liquor.
Once Baer took a seat to stare into the empty fireplace, Brannoc began, “She reached out to me again.” He cleared his throat as his cheeks flamed. Apparently, there was more to that statement than he was letting on, and I perked up, curious as to what he was hiding.
Callum paused in his pacing to glare at Brannoc. “What’d she say?”
“She’s still insisting that she doesn’t want us to join her and that she’s safe, but I got the impression that she was injured somehow.” His hand ghosted his abdomen as he spoke as if remembering the sensation.
“Of course she is,” Callum snarked out, pacing again before whispering more to himself than anything else. “I knew she was nothing but trouble. Damned stubborn woman. When I find her, she’s going to think twice about leaving us again.”
My mouth twitched with a hint of a smile, somewhat amused by how much Rhowyn had gotten under his skin and left him completely riled up. Turning back to Brannoc, I asked, “That’s it?”
“She said she loved us and was trying to rejoin us as soon as possible, but she did say that this was something Avalonia wanted her to do alone. That this escapade of hers wasn’t just to keep us safe. It may have started that way, but her reason for staying away seems to have changed.”
“Yeah, well, she’s not alone, now is she?” Callum snarked, indicating that Cyerra was allowed to tag along while we had all been left behind.
Trying to look on the bright side, I said, “At least she’s not alone. Cyerra will watch her back.”
“I’d rather it be us there to watch her back,” Callum snapped at me.
I simply held up my hands, indicating I wasn’t going to fight him on this. Arryn looked at him, his mind racing as he asked, “Did you happen to sense anything that might give you an idea of where she is?” Arryn looked almost as shitty as Baer, a clear indication that he wasn’t sleeping either. With Rhowyn shutting the bond down, it felt like we were all missing a part of our souls.
Brannoc sighed, running his hands through his already messy hair. “No. I didn’t get anyth…” He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening. “Wait, I heard what sounded like a bell ringing, and then there was some chanting in the background, but I don’t have a clue what that could mean,” he rushed out.
Callum froze in his tracks. “Did it sound like a church?” His eyes held Brannoc’s, hope shining through. His intensity had me shifting forward in my seat, eager to hear the response. Callum had an idea, and everything hung on the Raven’s next words.
“Now that you mention it, yeah. Yeah, it did sound like she was in a church.” His words became surer as he thought about it.
Callum didn’t say anything, just stomped out of the room on a mission. I looked at the others, puzzled by his response. I called out after him, seriously worried he’d completely lost it this time. “Hey buddy, where you going?”
When he didn’t answer, I jumped up from my chair to follow after him. The others trailed behind me, obviously just as concerned as I was. I followed the sound of a door slamming into a wall, rushing to the library, where Callum stomped from shelf to shelf, pulling books from their resting places seemingly at random.
“Callum?” I questioned from the doorway.
He growled, ignoring me completely as he threw one book after another to the floor. His frustration peaking, he swung to where Brannoc stood in the doorway with me. “Do you have any maps of the Autumn territory?”
“Yes, why?” Brannoc responded hesitantly, just as puzzled as the rest of us as to why Callum was acting so frantic.
“Just get me a damned map!” Callum snapped.
Brannoc rushed to the opposite side of the room, digging through some wide, thin drawers. While he searched for what Callum was asking for, I slowly walked up to him, my hands held up to show that I wasn’t a threat.
He turned to me and rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to snap.” Turning back to Brannoc as he pulled a few large maps from one of the drawers, he asked, “Is that it?”
Brannoc brought them over to one of the tables in the room and laid them out. “Yeah. Well, I’ve got several of them. One of the whole territory and the others are more detailed versions of the villages and roads.”
Callum stomped over to look at the maps, grabbing a black pen from the desk and placing “x’s”. His eyes roved over every square inch of the document. Arryn walked up to stand beside him, leaning over to study what he was doing. “Care to explain what’s going on?”
Callum didn’t even bother looking up; just kept writing down marks on the paper. “So, while other territories may have tons of churches and abbeys, Autumn has very few. Our population tends to be a lot more spread out, and the need for space is important for us to be able to grow the crops needed to support Avalon. That said, there are villages that the farmers tend to flock to for their own supplies. One church is usually responsible for serving a much larger area than, say, in Spring Territory where the land and population is much more condensed.”
“Okay…” I said, not quite following where he was going with this.
He made a final mark on the map before looking up at me, his intense gaze sending a flush through my gut, and despite missing Rhowyn like hell, I couldn’t help my attraction to him in this moment. “Which means,” he paused to sweep his hand over the map, “there are very few places she could be.”
“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed, walking forward as we all crowded around the table to see the map.
“Exactly,” he said smugly. Turning to Brannoc, he asked, “You said that the time before she reached out, she was near a creek and woods?”
“Yeah, but that could be anywhere in the forest,” Brannoc said, not fully on board with this method of tracing Rhowyn’s movements.
“But,” Arryn started, catching on to what Callum was saying, his eyes scouring the map, “if she was injured like you thought, then Cyerra probably took her to a church nearby, which narrows our options even further.”
Holy Shit! I thought . Did this mean that we’d be able to leave soon to go get our girl?
“Look.” Arryn grabbed the pen from Callum and began circling three churches or abbeys. “These are the only three churches that are near enough to the wooded areas. What do you know about these villages?” he asked, directing that last question to Callum.
Callum’s brow furrowed. “This one is too close to the capital. It’s doubtful that she’d be there.” His eyes scanned the areas around the final two locations. “Honestly, she could be in either of these last two areas.”
One of them was located toward the south of the territory, while the other was to the north. “Although, if I was a betting man, I’d go with this one.” He stabbed a thick finger down onto the northern location.
“Why?” I asked him, puzzled by his certainty.
He shrugged. “It’s older, and if Avalonia wants her to learn something from this area, I’m betting that it’s to be found up north. This is An Bandia Abbey , known for its altars dedicated to worshiping Avalonia. I’ve been there once, when I was little. It was wholly dedicated to serving the people, not an ounce of grandeur or flaunting of wealth like in this church.” His finger indicated the other option.
Brannoc’s eyes widened at that statement. “I think you’re right. I vaguely remember the feeling of rough blankets and a thin mattress.”
“Why would you know what her bed feels like?” I questioned him, now certain that the reason he’d been blushing earlier and skipping over details was because he and Princess had done more than just talk .
When he didn’t answer me, just gawking at me guiltily, I laughed. “Damn, now I wish I could talk to her in my mind too.”
“So, we’re agreed?” Callum asked, redirecting us back onto the topic at hand. “We’ll leave first thing for An Bandia Abbey ?”
“Seems as good of a direction as any. Sure beats sitting around here with our thumbs up our assess and moping,” I said with a shrug, more than ready to find our girl. The others nodded in agreement, although Baer just stared off vacantly, not really reacting to what was going on.
“Good, then it’s settled. Get your things together, and we’ll leave at first light,” Arryn said, ending the discussion, dismissing us all to pack and get some rest. Tomorrow, we’d be getting our girl back.