17. Chapter Seventeen Callum
Chapter Seventeen: Callum
This woman was going to be the death of me. If it wasn’t one damn thing, it was another with her. She was constantly getting herself into trouble, into dangerous situations, and not once had she done as we asked by staying out of it. Unlike other females, she was determined to run headlong into that danger with no concern for her life. No concern for what it would do to the rest of us if she were no longer here. Of course not; she was too concerned with saving everyone else, with little regard for her own life. I raised my head to the sky and breathed deeply, tamping down my temper for what seemed like the thousandth time since she had disappeared on us, praying to Avalonia for the patience I needed to deal with such a reckless bond.
Once I was convinced that I wouldn’t completely explode, I turned my gaze back to the shield that Cyerra had come out of, following Rhowyn as she crossed through it. The magic tingled as it coursed through me, judging me as friend or foe. Thankfully, it allowed us through, and I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight that greeted me.
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it certainly hadn’t been this. Everywhere I looked, I could see my people rushing about, whole and well. Autumn Court colors were represented everywhere, a clear indication that try as Titania had, she hadn’t managed to kill everyone. Everything I had been through had been worth it. Had kept them safe.
Stuck there, unable to pull my gaze from my people, my emotions threatened to overwhelm me. For once, something other than anger was holding me in its tight grip. “What is this?” I asked Rhowyn, afraid that this was all an illusion, a trick that would fall away if I blinked.
She took my hand. “Maybe it’s best if someone else explains. I hadn’t been here long before the soldiers approached.”
I dragged my eyes from the scene, looking down into her face, so different now that her glamor had fallen, but still the same in every way that mattered. She was the same as ever, except now she was more. So much more that my heart ached.
Her now almond-shaped eyes pulled from mine, and I followed her line of sight. A sharp intake of breath had me blinking furiously because surely my eyes were playing tricks on me. The woman before me, the one who shared my eyes, our mother’s eyes, smiled softly as sadness tinged her expression. “Hi, big brother.”
“Aurelia?” I asked, still not quite believing she was, my voice barely more than a whisper as if I spoke her name too loudly, she’d disappear. A part of me was convinced that Rhowyn’s power had incinerated us all, and this was heaven. That the scene before me couldn’t possibly be real.
“It’s me,” she said, holding her hands out, waiting for me to come to her. I hesitated, not quite ready to find out that this was all a dream. If I touched her, it would all vanish because things like this didn’t happen to me.
“I thought you were dead. I thought she’d gotten to you too,” I whispered out, emotions choking me as her visage never wavered. The truth was finally starting to sink in that she just might actually be real.
She laughed. “She thought she had, but Maggie smuggled me out. She presented another child who’d been killed during the attack as me. For all intents and purposes, she did kill me. Doesn’t mean I’ve been hiding away in fear this whole time, though.” Her own green and amber eyes glinted with tears as she explained just how she’d managed to survive escaping Titania’s wrath. I had never before been so thankful for another person, but right now, I promised I would build a statue in Maggie’s honor. The devoted nurse had kept the only family I had left, alive and well.
“I can see that. What is all this?” I asked her, taking a step toward my sister. I still saw the little girl with pigtail braids, but it was now superimposed by an image of a woman grown. One who looked so much like our mother that it was painful.
She smiled then, pride beaming from her face, her calculating eyes showing the mind she’d gotten from our father. “This,” she said, indicating with her hands the Keep and the people, “...is an army. One I’ve been building over the years, quietly waiting for the right time to strike back for the crimes Titania has committed.”
I smiled then, unsurprised by her statement. It was exactly what our parents would have done. “Of course you would.”
“What did you expect? I mean, I’m the girl who snuck into all those tactical meetings while you helped hide my presence.” She laughed, a bittersweet sound falling from her lips at the fond memory for both of us. “It’s not surprising that I picked up a thing or two from you and Father.”
I pulled her into a hug then, unable to resist the temptation any longer and risking the revelation that she was simply an amalgamation of my dreams. Her arms wrapped around me tightly, proving that she was flesh and blood, as real as she could get. “It’s good to see you,” I told her, tears falling from my eyes as I squeezed her tight, all the pain and anguish of what we’d both been through escaping in this single hug.
“I miss them too, but just so you know, it’s not your fault,” she told me, squeezing me tighter to emphasize her conviction. “No one blames you.”
Stiffening as I was assaulted by the reasons why my parents were killed and so many of our people were made to suffer, I let her words wash over me, guilt eating away at me again. “It was,” I whispered, needing her to know that.
“No. It was no one’s fault but Titania’s.” When she wasn’t convinced that I believed her, she continued, “Did you order their murders? Did you sell them out for money or glory?”
“No,” I choked out. “But I might as well have.”
“How?” she demanded, pulling back and putting her hands on her hips. That Autumn temper flared to life as she lectured me. If guilt wasn’t swamping me, I might have smiled at the epitome of what our people stood for. Fire and passion, steadfast and unyielding like the earth. “As much as you might think it, you are not responsible for everything that happens. You got played. We all did. If you’re guilty, then so am I, and so are our parents.”
“But...” I started, but she held up a hand.
“No. Callum, you didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, we should be thanking you. You kept her attention off us this entire time. I can only imagine what she put you through, but you’re here now. You’ve come with the Queen to put things right. If anyone can do it, it’s you.” Her words softened by the end of her rant, finally sinking into my dense skull.
My throat tightened at her words as Rhowyn’s hand found mine again, squeezing firmly to offer me the support and comfort I needed. “She’s right, you know.”
I laughed then, choking back the emotions that threatened me. “Goddess, save me from you two. The last thing we need is two females getting us into trouble.”
They both laughed at my joke, though it was the truest thing I had ever said. My sister beckoned, “Come, I’m sure you all are tired. Let me show you to your rooms, and we can reconvene in the morning, where I’ll go over everything we’ve done to prepare.”
“I’m looking forward to hearing what your forces and supplies are,” Arryn said, stepping forward as the commander in him took over, all business now that the emotional aspect had been dealt with.
We trailed after my sister, Rhowyn still holding my hand, but as we were directed to a suite with multiple rooms, she pulled away to check on Lennox, who was being doted on by her grandfather. He’d been following behind us, supported by Brannoc as they hobbled along. Twinges of his pain spiked intermittently through the bond, strong enough for me to feel it clearly. Rhowyn gasped when she saw the burns on his arms and through his clothes, halting our progress. “Did I do this?” she asked, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes watered with guilt.
Lennox smiled, playing off her concern as if he wasn’t in intense pain. “Oh, these? These are just little love bites, Princess. Nothing for you to worry about.” He winked at her, obviously putting on a facade to prevent her from seeing how badly she’d hurt him. This was after a pre-emptive healing from Arryn, and I was thankful she hadn’t noticed what he’d looked like before.
Speaking of which, Arryn strode forward. “Nothing I can’t heal quickly,” he told Rhowyn, kissing her forehead before leaning his head against hers. “I’m glad to be back with you.”
She held his arms, her eyes closing as they connected, leaning into his offered comfort. “I’m glad y’all are here now too.”
Brannoc swooped in, stealing her from Arryn and claiming Rhowyn’s mouth, telling her without words just how much he’d missed her. Hell, perhaps he was showing and telling her, what with their mental connection.
Jude and Jonathan smiled on, while Cyerra made a gagging noise. “Get a room, you two.”
Rhowyn pulled back with a smile, smirking at the Raven who’d kept our girl safe. “Maybe we will.”
“Gross! He’s family. I do not need to hear about this,” Cyerra complained playfully, though her eyes danced with happiness to have us all back.
Rhowyn turned to find Baer standing in a corner, shut down like he’d been the entire time since he’d woken. A shell of his former self. Pale and withdrawn, his eyes darkened and sunken from lack of sleep. She looked gutted when she realized just what kind of hell Baer was going through. A sharp inhalation escaped her as she started to walk toward him, obviously distraught by what she saw there. Instead of letting her approach though, he flinched and ran away to hide in one of the rooms. “I’ll be in here.” His final words echoed between us as he slammed the door, causing Rhowyn to jump at the severity of his reaction.
She turned questioning eyes on us, asking, “Why didn’t anyone tell me? I thought he was okay? Or as okay as he could be, considering.” Her eyes swam with guilt as they all jumped to try to assuage her. Arryn walked toward her, intent on soothing her, but my anger chose that moment to rise again at the reminder that she’d chosen to leave us all behind.
“Considering what? That you left us all behind without a word. That you abandoned us to fear for your life and safety? Denying us the right to protect you as was granted by Avalonia herself?” I snapped at her. After days of being denied the opportunity to voice my anger, it threatened to consume me. In this moment, I cared little for the remorse that grew on her face and through the bond, though it was quickly shadowed by her own temper.
“Excuse me?” she snapped back, her eyes hardening as she confronted me.
I stalked toward her. “You heard me. You. Left. Us,” I said, punctuating each word as she flinched at the truth in them.
“It’s not like that,” she said, deflating quickly. She’d known what she was doing when she’d snuck out in the middle of the night, running from us.
Laughing harshly, I asked, “Oh, and what’s it like? Please tell me what was so important that you had to rush out on your own?”
“Avalonia called me. I don’t know how, but I knew that I needed to find my way here on my own,” she bit back, defending her choices. She wouldn’t apologize for what she’d done, I knew that, but it didn’t ease my anger or the terror I had suffered under not knowing where or what she was doing.
I growled, my beast rising to the surface. “Not alone.”
“What?” she asked, clearly confused.
“You didn’t leave alone. You took the Raven. You left us and took her instead,” I growled, doing my best to pull my wolf back, my canines elongating and making my last word sound awkward.
“She caught me leaving and wouldn’t leave me alone until I gave in to her demands to bring her along,” Rhowyn defended herself, trying to reason with my beast now.
“What was so important that you could take her and not us?”
She threw up her hands, her frustration with me rising. Good, because mine was as well. She turned to the others looking for help but finding none. “You all feel this way?”
“Let’s just say I don’t ever want a repeat of it. We need you as much as you need us. I don’t get why we couldn’t come along,” Lennox said from his spot on the couch where Arryn was still tending to him.
At some point, Cyerra, Jude, and Jonathan had slinked out of our suite, leaving us to hash this out by ourselves. It was a good thing because, over the last several days, I had been going over all the methods that I could use to punish our resident troublemaker. The punishment had to be done in such a way that might make her think twice about leaving us behind again.
“Great, when did this become a ‘gang up on Rhowyn’ meeting? Guess I didn’t get the memo,” she snapped, turning away from us. “It’s not like I had a choice in the matter. I had to leave.”
“And why was that?” I pressed her, stalking her down as she tried to escape our scrutiny. I wasn’t going to let her get away that easily.
“I just told you why!” she snapped.
I stalked forward, backing her up until she was against the wall with nowhere to go. Putting my hands on the wall on both sides of her head, I leaned in. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling us the full story? Hmmm?”
Running my nose along her neck, my words came out in a harsh whisper, taunting her into a straight answer. Instead, her arousal hit my nostrils as I inhaled her scent. Fuck, she smelled so good. My eyes drifted closed as I pushed my own arousal back until I could get the answers I needed.
“I am,” she said, her heart no longer in the protest as her mind switched to other things.
“No, Trouble, you aren’t,” I pushed further, leaning my body in as I dropped my face closer to hers, my words teasing her lips.
Finally, she met my eyes, the truth swimming in the depths of her gorgeous eyes, the colors the same but more. “There it is,” I said, easing up on the pressure, my tone softening but still firm.
“It’s my fault,” she admitted, shame flaming on her face as she tried to push me away.
“No,” I told her, both in denial of her claim and to let her know I wasn’t letting her run away from this. From us. We’d been dancing around this for too long now. I was the only one who had yet to take her, to join with her, and it was all I’d been able to think about when she’d been gone. How I might have let my opportunity slip through my fingers, too afraid to grab hold of the chance while I’d had it.
By some stroke of luck, I had her back here with me, and I refused to make that same mistake again. Deciding to take this further, I grabbed her narrow waist and slung her over my shoulder in one fluid movement as I stalked across the room. Kicking open one of the doors, I strode through it, slamming it shut behind me before tossing her onto the massive mattress.
“What the hell was that?” she demanded, scrambling to her knees.
“That was me getting to the bottom of this,” I told her, gesturing between us with one hand.
She huffed out an indignant laugh. “Is that so?”
I closed the distance between us quickly, pinning her back against the mattress with my arms. “Yes,” I growled out. Running my nose along her neck again, I pushed her again. “Why did you leave us?”
“This again?” she said, fighting her own arousal as her irritation at my needling peeked out in her words. Her chest heaved as she panted with anger, frustration, and desire.
“Trouble,” I growled out in warning, meeting her eyes as my beast pushed forward. My hand clenched around her wrists as I kept her in place, waiting patiently for her to give in to this.
Her own anger flashed as she wrapped her legs around my waist and twisted her body to dislodge me. She flipped me onto my back until she was straddling me. Instead of pressing her advantage, she tried to run. I followed her, rebounding from the movement quickly to catch her, slamming her back into the wall, cushioning her head and pinning her with my hips.
“Rhowyn” I whispered, my hardness pressing into her stomach as I begged her, lowering my own guard to get her to open up and tell me the truth. “I need to know the real reason you left. Please.”