42. Chapter 40 Emyth

Chapter forty-two

Chapter 40: Emyth

M y body aches, and my insides are on fire. Going after the Frenzornal was a big mistake. After waking up and finding that Arden was angry with us, I wished that it had just finished the job.

Lysander is curled up against my side. He won't leave me alone for more than a few minutes. I don't blame him. If our roles were reversed I would be the same way. It wasn't fair to him that I kept running off to kill things, but I had to do something or I would have accidentally killed one of the fae in the castle.

There's a soft knock at the door.

"Come in!" I call, not wanting to get off the bed. No one knocks on my door aside from the other keepers. Well, Livarius does now, too.

The door creaks open and Arden pokes her head inside. "Is it alright if I come in?"

"That depends. Are you alone?"

"Yeah. Camus went to find Liv," she says as she steps inside and shuts the door.

"Why?" I narrow my eyes at her. "Liv hates him."

"We all need to have a conversation. Livarius and Tavin are mad at me, so he thought it was best if we divide and conquer."

"I don't think I'm up for talking," I say, brusquely.

"We need to figure out how we're handling Cyndair. We have less than two weeks to prep for her arrival and—"

"And we'll handle it just as we always have."

"Except now, her son and granddaughter are being held in our dungeon, her most prized prisoner escaped and is now living here, and her grandson committed treason against her to save said prisoner. So we need to have a plan."

I grind my teeth together. She's right. We have to play this to the letter or else things could get out of hand.

"How many rules did Camus have to break to get you out?"

"Well, he helped me get into her quarters to drug her then he stole my blood from her stores and destroyed all the other vials that she had in there as leverage. He used a councilman's daughter as beard to cover up his intentions, then helped that councilman's daughters escape Solardin.

"Weeks ago he stopped giving me the proper dose of magic blockers that he was instructed to give me. He stole a medication from the alchemists to give me to make me stronger. Then he let me out of my cell when he wasn't supposed to, took me out into the city which was strictly forbidden, and instructed me to shift in the middle of the city so I could fly away." She says, counting in her head. "So, eight. Though I'm not sure which of those were the most egregious."

"Is that all?" I ask with a snort.

"That's all that he did. There's also the matter of me shifting in the middle of their town square, squashing a couple of people, eating a few guards, burning down the gates to the main city, and setting the guard house on fire, effectively killing anyone inside," she says, never taking a breath. "Oh. And I bit off his brother's arm."

A grimace crosses her face when she says she killed all those guards. My heart aches. Before coming to Sangaris, she never would have dreamed of killing anyone. She was sweet and untainted. Zorvan had said she'd hardened, and he wasn't wrong. But that sweet human-raised girl is still in there somewhere.

"Are you done?" I climb off the bed and approach her.

"Yeah, I mean I don't think there was anything else," she says, going through a mental checklist.

"No." I place my hand lightly around her throat and tip her chin up so she's looking me in the eyes. "I mean are you done being a brat? Are you done being mad about something that none of us had control over?"

"Em," Lysander murmurs from the bed.

Arden's eyes flash purple. Her dragon is just as testy as Zorvan's, but she doesn't have hers under control yet. She reins it in, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. When she opens them, they're back to their normal blue.

"No. I'm not done. But I'm willing to work on it while we figure out a way to stop Cyndair." Her words are firm, but I can feel her pulse fluttering under my fingers.

"Good girl," I whisper.

I push her up against the door and press my body into hers as our lips meet. She gasps softly at the impact, and I snake my tongue into her mouth as I wind her hair around my fist.

Breaking the kiss I tug on her hair so her face is tipped the whole way back and her defiant eyes are on mine.

"Don't you ever leave us again." I kiss the tip of her nose and forcibly release her hair before returning to my place on the bed. "You need to calm yourself, San."

He adjusts his pants trying to hide his erection, but I can smell the arousal. Between the two of them, the air is thick with it. But I'm too tired to even stand for long periods. There's no way I could fuck them both right now. Not the way I would want to.

"I can understand, now, why you all would get so weird around me any time I was even slightly turned on," Arden says, her cheeks turning rosy.

"I know we've got to go discuss taking down Cyndair, but come lay down with us for a minute," I say, and pat the bed next to me.

Her eyes light up with suspicion and she hesitates.

"I'm not going to try anything. I just want to lay with you both for a minute while the leech isn't around. I'm still not recovered enough to do any of the things I want to do to you."

She rolls her eyes but approaches the bed. She lays down next to me, and San climbs over us both so he can pin her between us. She puts her back against my front, and faces Lysander who tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear. I slip my hand around her waist and rest it on her stomach where she threads her fingers with mine. Lysander's hand roams across her and comes to rest on her ass.

We lay in silence for a few minutes. Occasionally Lysander's eyes leave hers and his gaze lands on me. Eventually his gaze settles on her, and stays. He drinks her in, as if memorizing her face.

"I missed you," San whispers. "Every day that you weren't here it was as if I died another death. If Cyndair tries anything, I will stop at nothing to make sure she doesn't leave this castle alive."

Arden considers him before she reaches up and gently places her hand on his cheek. He places his large hand over hers, eclipsing it. She moves forward and kisses him. Gently at first, a reminder that she's back now.

Then she deepens the kiss, branding him with her mouth. She scoots closer to him so her body is pressed against his, and I allow her to separate from me. This is their moment—their chance to reconnect, and sew up some of the holes that were torn by her absence.

When she pulls away, I move closer. She's firmly pinned between us, now. I've wanted this for so long, but I imagined that it would be with far less clothing. Lysander stares at her, contentment on his face.

Then his brow furrows. "I've never felt so helpless as I did the day you were taken."

Arden whispers, "Can we talk about this later? I've already had one very taxing conversation today, and we're about to plot out Cyndair's visit, and it's not even lunch time yet."

"Of course. We should get to the strategy room and get this over with."

"You two can go ahead. I need to collect Zorvan and Jarrah first."

"Go get them, and we'll meet you there," I say, kissing her shoulder before rolling away and getting out of bed. "I have to admit that it's weird letting you go on your own. Even since you've been back you haven't been anywhere without an escort."

"If anyone tries to fuck with me, I'll shift and eat them," she says.

"I have no doubts in your abilities to take care of yourself, but having you move about on your own does make me nervous. Cyndair seems to get her hooks into whoever she pleases."

"I heard about Walden," she says softly.

"Eliott was heartbroken," Lysander says. "But I get why Walden did it."

"Why did he do it? I got the bare minimum."

"Cyndair tricked him into getting her pregnant."

"Seems to be a lot of that going around," Arden grumbles.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snap. If Camus somehow got her pregnant...

Her eyes widen. "Nothing, just there was a lot of drama surrounding some bastard children in Solardin. That's all."

"No more secrets, Arden. We all agreed after you found out you were fae. Secrets don't do us any favors."

She approaches me and takes my hand in hers. "It was an innocuous comment. I promise I would tell you if it were relevant. I'm going to go get Jarrah and Zorvan." She kisses me softly, and steps away, holding on to my fingers as long as she can.

"I would wait a little bit before heading to the strategy room. I expect that Jarrah will want to have a conversation much like the one we just had, so it may take a little bit." When she reaches the door, she glances back at both of us, and lets out a content sigh. "I'm happy to be back. Let's figure out a way to make sure that it stays that way."

Once she's in the hall and the door is shut, Lysander turns to me. "She wasn't telling the truth."

"I know," I say, rolling my eyes. "She never would have lied to us before. I just can't tell if she's keeping a secret about herself or someone else."

"You think she's pregnant?" Lysander asks. His voice doesn't have any of the emotions that I would expect. There's vague indifference there.

"I don't know. I think she would smell different if she were. Wouldn't that just be the cherry on top. If she not only mated someone else, but also got knocked up. Zorvan would kill him."

Lysander laughs. "The old Zorvan might have, but this new castrated version would probably just smile and nod."

"What do you mean? I haven't seen him since I got wounded, but when I saw him two days ago, he was his normal self."

"Since Arden came back he's been a pushover. 'Yes Arden. Whatever you say, Arden'. He even stopped Jarrah from attacking Camus after Arden let Camus fuck her in the bathroom while we all had to listen."

My eyebrows shoot up and I snort. "Well, I guess people really can change. Even so, I think that finding out that someone else got her pregnant would make him snap back into his old self. Especially now that he knows about her dragon. She's his last chance at having an heir."

"Should we tell him our suspicions?"

"Let's save it for a night when we're bored, and they're both in the room with us. It'll be fun to watch," I say and clap him on the back and walk with him out the door.