47. Chapter 45 Tavin

Chapter forty-seven

Chapter 45: Tavin

A rden and Livarius knock on my door not long after lunch. They've got the other keepers with them, which tells me they're not here for a private conversation which irritates me.

"What's going on?"

"We've gotta head to the dungeons. We can explain there."

I nod and slip on my shoes, Pulling my door shut and locking it, I casually mention, "Seems like you two made up."

"Things are...better," Arden says and I can hear the smile in her voice.

It's going to be a while before I'm over the way she treated him. It was such a short time, but nobody—least of all Livarius—deserves that.

"Good," I say as we head for the dungeons.

Arden laces her fingers with Livarius' and they walk ahead of the rest of us. Since we're trying to protect her, none of the rest of us can show her blatant affection in public, and I can tell it's killing the others.

"What do you think is going on?" Lysander asks.

"I hope we're just saying 'fuck it' and killing Iona," Emyth says with a devious smile.

"Maybe we're dealing with Walden," Jarrah says.

"Let's not get our hopes up," I say.

We enter the dungeons. Eliott has taken over as head of the guard. He doesn't remember the real reason that Walden is locked up. We have him under the impression that it's for theft. It's going to be hard to explain why we're executing him in a few weeks.

"Which room are they in?" Arden asks Eliott.

"Number three," Eliott says, and lets us past.

"Ha! I was right," Jarrah says when he sees Walden through the tiny window in the door.

We enter and Emyth shuts the door behind us.

"Why is Airen here?" I ask.

"Because she's a genius," Arden says, taking Airen's hand in hers.

Airen goes on to explain how she's been creating an experimental drug to counteract the suppressants, and my jaw nearly hits the floor.

"This is both terrifying, and incredible," Jarrah says.

"Are we ready?" Airen asks.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Zorvan says.

"Are you ready Walden?" Arden asks.

"I am," Walden says with a nod.

"Wait. Zorvan," Arden says, letting go of Airen's hand and placing her hand on Zorvan's forearm.

"Since he's doing this for us, do you think...can we..."

"We'll talk about it later," Zorvan says in a soft voice. "I would rather not have this discussion in front of him."

Arden nods. "Thank you."

Airen approaches Walden. "Bottoms up," she says with feigned cheerfulness, and hands him a small glass with a light blue liquid in it.

He sucks in a deep breath, then tosses it back. He makes a horrible face. "It tastes like actual dirt. What the fuck is in that?"

"Dirt," Airen says, serious as can be.

"What?" Arden says with a snort.

"It's a very specific type of dirt that you have to—never mind. I'll explain it to you some other time. But there's dirt in it among other things."

"How long will it take to kick in?" Lysander asks.

"At that dose? Hopefully soon. But he's also on a very high dose of suppressants."

"You'll probably notice your hyena first," Zorvan says, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "At least I notice my dragon first when coming off the suppressants. Anything yet?"

"I don't think so. Wait..."

Walden holds up his hand in front of him, and closes his eyes. After about a minute, a tiny flame forms just above his hand.

Airen and Arden squeal in delight and embrace each other.

"You did it, you brilliant, brilliant bitch. You fucking did it!" Arden says pushing Airen back from her a little bit. "You're amazing."

Airen turns bright red. "We should monitor for side effects. It worked, and that's great. But there are some ingredients in it that could cause some problems. If you want, I can bring one of the cots down here and stay near his room. for the evening."

"I can just open the cell across from him and you can hang out in there if you want. Or we could let you both go back up to the infirmary and one of the keepers and Eliott could stay with you."

"I'm not going to do anything," Walden says. There's no bite to his voice, and no sarcasm. But there is an ounce of defeat. "I've made my bed, Prince Zorvan. I know what's coming. And trying to get out of here isn't going to make anything better for me. If I get out, Cyndair will find me, and she'll kill me for talking. She'll probably kill my son too. I mean it when I say I'm not going anywhere."

Arden moves across the room and places her hand on Walden's while taking a seat next to him. "I think that all of us would feel a little better with Airen having a little extra protection, is all."

A tear streaks down Walden's face as he looks into Arden's eyes. "I'm so sorry that I ever put you in danger, Miss Arden. You were never anything but kind to me."

"We all have things we regret. I know I do." Arden squeezes his hand.

Zorvan hasn't moved from his spot on the wall, but I swear I can hear his teeth grinding together from the other side of the room. He doesn't like anyone touching Arden, but especially not traitors.

I clear my throat. "Let's get them set up in the infirmary. I'll stay with them."

"No, I'll do it," Jarrah says. Then he shifts his eyes toward Livarius and then to Arden.

"If you're sure..."

Volunteering was my way of getting out of possible uncomfortable conversations with the two of them tonight. I suck in a deep breath and head for the door. I'm about to the end of the hallway when Liv catches up to me.

"Where are you off to in such a rush?"

"I was just going to go get changed and go train for a bit. My tiger needs to stretch his paws."

"Can Arden and I come with you?"

"And do what? Neither of you can shift," I snap.

"I don't know. I just wanted to spend time together," he says with a shrug. "The three of us."

"So everything is just perfectly fine between you two now?" I regret my tone of voice, but I can't stop. How could he just forgive her like that?

"We worked it out. She feels bad for the way she was acting, and she's been through a lot. Can we please just move on so that we can be happy? We've got a lot of shit happening, and I want us to be a united front against my grandmother.

"Plus you can't tell me that you're not dying to mate her." He smiles at me with a raised brow. "I know you didn't get a chance to even be with her before..." The smile fades and he takes a deep breath.

"It's going to be hard to talk about for a long time. But you need to stop beating yourself up. Fine. You two can come, and then afterwards, you and I are getting a bath together so we can relax."

"And Arden?"

"Can do whatever she wants. I'm not pushing anything."

"Yeah, okay."

Arden comes out of the interrogation room with Emyth and Lysander, and she's laughing at something Lysander said or did. When they reach us, Lysander takes one look at me and kisses Arden on the temple.

"We'll see you at dinner?"

"That depends on Camus. I'm feeling weird without him."

"Guess that answers that question," I mutter.

"Okay," Lysander agrees and reluctantly leaves with Emyth in tow.

"Answers what question?" Arden asks once the others are gone.

"I was going to go train, and Liv wanted you two to join me, but if you need to go see Camus..." I can't help the way my voice drips with disdain when I say his name.

"I just meant for dinner. I can hang out for now."

Rolling my eyes, I turn on my heel and walk away. "Well thank you for the scrap of your time."

She catches my arm and stops me. "Will you knock it off? He's comforting to me. I need him." She pauses and looks into my eyes. "Just like I need you.

"I'm really sorry for the way I've been acting. I've just been really overwhelmed being back, and with all the changes. It's been a lot."

I sigh and roll my eyes. "You're going to have to make it up to Liv and me the way you were treating us."

"I swear I will," she says with a mischievous grin.

"Come on. I need to shift."