32. Chapter 30 Camus

Chapter thirty-two

Chapter 30: Camus

F uck. Fuck!

"Arden!"

I storm down the dias after Arden and grab the dagger from her as she's about to stab my brother again. I grab him by the wrist right before he's able to retaliate.

"You're going to want to think twice about your next move. Arden is my mate and you will not harm her."

"I'll just go tell Grandmother that your little pet stabbed me, and then you'll have to kill her."

"If you tell Grandmother you were here, you'll be getting yourself, and Dira in trouble as well. Grandmother will find a punishment far worse than whatever it was that these girls were about to endure. She sanctioned them to be raped multiple times. Do you really want to know how much further she's willing to go?

"Let me heal you, and we'll all get out of here. No harm no foul."

I'll remove his memories if I have to, but I would rather he just accept this and move on. He stares at me, then glances at Arden who is covered in blood and practically naked, then to Dira who looks terrified.

"Fine. But keep your bitch in line, and away from me and Dira. She's a bad fucking influence."

I place my hand on his wound and administer just enough healing magic to seal up the wound. If he wants it perfect, he'll need to go see the healer. He grabs Dira by the elbow and drags her out of the smoking room leaving everyone else just awkwardly standing there. I spin to face Arden who is scowling at the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

"He's hitting her," she finally says.

"There's nothing we can do about it," I tell her.

"We could kill him. You could have let me kill him."

"And then you would be sentenced to death by my grandmother, and what would that accomplish? We're playing the long game here, Arden. We have to keep our heads."

"And what if he kills her before they're even properly mated? She doesn't have her fucking magic! She can't defend herself."

"Then he will be dealt with. Besides, I thought you couldn't stand your sister."

"She pisses me off, but I still love her. I want her mildly inconvenienced–not beaten."

"We'll figure it out. But for now, let's wipe these guys' memories and get out of here."

"No public sex tonight?" she asks, eyebrow raised.

"I think we've had enough excitement. Let's get you dressed and get you upstairs."

Making my rounds, I remove the memories of the evening from each of the guys present, and replace them with happier ones. Solina helps with two of them but even still, by the time I'm done, I'm exhausted. The entire night was a shitshow from start to finish. It was supposed to be a fun little show of power and an exciting public romp with my mate.

"You've got to stop stabbing people," I say to Arden as we head back to my quarters. "You're leaving a trail of wounded royals in your wake."

"Well, they better stop hurting me and my sister, and I will."

I push the door to my room open and light the sconces. "I have to admit that seeing you carve Haryk up was pretty hot. Would you like to plan a day to slaughter those who've wronged you, and fuck while covered in the blood of our enemies."

"Just as soon as I'm back with the others, I'll pencil it in," she says and begins drawing a bath.

The next morning when we get up, the breakfast I had requested is delivered to the room and Arden and I sit at the table next to the windows to eat it. She's picking at her plate, and not saying much.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"We've shown way too much of our hand. Your grandmother knows that you love me, and she knows that you would do anything for me. She also knows that in spite of myself, I've started to care for you. I'm just worried she's going to try to find a loophole and keep us apart.

"I mean, she didn't make a formal deal with me."

"What?" Arden asks, eyes wide.

"She didn't ask me to, and I didn't because I figured that it would let me get out of killing you if I didn't seal it. I'm guessing she thought the same thing. That even if you succeeded, she could keep you from becoming my formal mate."

"So I've been doing all of this for nothing?!" she demands.

"You've been doing this to buy time. That was the plan all along, wasn't it?"

"When were you going to tell me that it wasn't set in stone?"

"I don't understand why you're so upset, love. It would have saved me from killing you," I shake my head, giving her an incredulous look.

"But it would have kept you from taking me as a mate!"

"Which is more important? Your mate status, or your life?" I ask with a laugh. "You're being unreasonable."

"I don't think that being upset about you taking another mate is unreasonable Camus!"

"A hypothetical mate that doesn't exist and never will because I'm getting you out of here Arden !"

She growls in frustration and storms off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I aggressively tug at my hair. What the fuck just happened ? After several false starts, I walk slowly to the bathroom door and knock.

"Love?" I twist the knob, and push the door open a crack. "Can we try to have this conversation again?"

She's sitting at the edge of the tub, dangling her feet into the empty basin. She heaves a sigh, but doesn't say ‘no.'

"Can I sit with you?"

Still no answer.

I approach with caution and ease myself down beside her, careful not to make any sudden movements. Her cheeks are stained with tears, and her eyes are bloodshot. I want to pull her into me and kiss her; kiss all of her pain and sadness away. But right now she needs emotional reassurances from me, not physical.

"You're not going to be here long enough for any of this to matter. This whole training, the deal I made with my grandmother, all of it is a distraction so that we can figure out a way to get you out of here and do it safely. You are my mate. No one else. All of this has been for you. I'm leaving my home for you. And I need that to be enough proof that I love you, and I am doing what I can to put you first."

After a few minutes she says, "I really don't know what came over me. It was like there was this rage in me that wasn't mine. I'm changing, Camus. For better or for worse, I'm turning into someone I don't recognize anymore. And while a part of me hates it, the other part of me is elated that I've finally learned how to advocate to myself. I just wish I had learned how to do that before I got stolen away from Feldorn."

"Have you ever considered that it was always meant to be this way?"

She looks at me, brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe the Stars knew what they were doing? Yes, you've changed, and yes you've been through terrible things– I've put you through terrible things. But now you're a complete badass. I don't think that would have happened otherwise."

She sits in quiet contemplation as if replaying everything in her mind. Finally she says, "I think that each and every choice that has been made by me and for me in the last few months has brought me here. But I don't believe for one second that the Stars ever intended for me to go through everything that I went through. I think that selfishness on the part of others, and naivety on my part has led me to every bad thing that happened."

Then she adds with a smile, "And I've always been a little bit of a badass. I just lost a part of that while I was with Todd, and being in Sangaris reminded me of that."

An idea blooms in my mind. "We could have a big fight somewhere public. We could yell and scream at each other, and make people think you're back to hating me. It might keep Grandmother off our backs a little better."

"Can you handle me being wholly disrespectful to you in public?" She asks with a raised brow.

"As long as I get to punish you for it privately, you can say whatever you want."