Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

M erlin had seen Rosa a total of three times in what felt like days. Time was trickier than normal when riding with the Hunt. Gwyn's magic had pulled them through the Underworld, the human world, through the far reaches of the Aos Si, and back again. Gwyn was taking a very circuitous way back to the Night Courts, and though Merlin wasn't sure why, he knew Rosa had something to do with it. Gwyn hadn't let her leave his side, forgetting Merlin and Arthur completely. The bounty had been removed from his head, and after the first night, they were each given a horse and told to keep up.

"There's nothing you can do but trust Rosa to bargain on our behalf," Arthur had told him over and over.

"I do trust her. It is Gwyn with Rosa that I don't trust."

For the first time since Arthur had woken, they had been alone, and they finally began to talk, renewing their friendship all over again.

Arthur had wanted to hear everything that had happened since he slept. Like Bleddyn, he had smacked Merlin in the back of the head when he'd found out about the curse that had left Merlin crippled for centuries. Like Rosa, Arthur had been gentle and forgiving when he heard of his darkest failures.

It was at twilight on the fourth day when the Hunt dropped from the sky and rode to the great tree of the Night Courts. A group of Unseelie warriors who had been riding out halted, instantly moving into a defensive formation at the sight of the thundering, mounted warriors flying towards them. Merlin moved as close to Rosa as he could, but she had the confrontation well under control.

"General Madoc, how kind of you to ride out to escort us back to Bleddyn," Rosa said in a sugary sweet voice to cover the blade edge underneath it. Madoc looked like he was going to piss himself. He stared wide-eyed at Rosa, sitting comfortably in the saddle in front of the Lord of the Hunt. She looked a part of them, her long braid loose from the wind and entwined with greenery and feathers. She had the look of madness and violence in her eyes, and Merlin was suddenly very afraid.

"Lady Seren Du, Lord Gwyn, it would be our pleasure," Madoc rallied, bowing in his saddle.

"After you, pet," Rosa growled, her hand resting on Gaeaf Storom .

Madoc whistled a signal to his men who turned and began riding back the way they came. Rosa exchanged a few low words with Gwyn, who actually smiled under his helm.

"Fuck, fucking fuck," Merlin swore.

"What is it?" Arthur whispered tersely beside him.

"Rosa is in trouble," Merlin hissed. He shot a magical alert to Bleddyn and hoped the power of the Hunt didn't block it.

By the time they reached the entrance to the Night Courts, Bleddyn was waiting. He stood beside Eirianwen, and both looked tense and confused. Bleddyn's eyes rested on Merlin once before bowing to Gwyn.

"My Lord of the Hunt, welcome to the Night Courts," he said courteously. Gwyn dismounted his horse, signaling that Merlin and Arthur could do the same before he lifted Rosa gently down from the saddle. Bleddyn's frown disappeared as Rosa flung herself into his arms.

"I told you we'd be back," she declared.

"Who is this wild creature, and what happened to my daughter?" Bleddyn said, kissing her forehead.

"Look what Gwyn taught me," Rosa declared with childish enthusiasm. She took two bronze blades from her belt and began to flick them swiftly from one hand to the other in a deadly blur. "Did you know you can use your magic to command the fire forged in the blades?" She tossed them high, caught them, and slid them back into her belt.

"I did. Very impressive, dear heart," Bleddyn slipped a possessive arm around her shoulders before fixing cold green eyes on Gwyn. "I'm interested to hear all about the things you decided were suitable to teach my daughter."

Gwyn smirked in amusement at the challenge.

"It has been an age since I've talked war with a Seren Du, but it would seem we are to be allies once more," he said. "I will leave my Hunt to camp outside while we talk tonight. They will ensure the borders are protected so no one will be sneaking in…or out."

"Thank you, my Lord. Any additional help you are willing to give, we will be most grateful for." Bleddyn released Rosa and embraced Merlin closely, whispering low enough for only him to hear, "What the hell did you do?"

"Later. Keep smiling," Merlin replied. "Lord Gwyn, allow us to show you the same hospitality you were kind enough to show us."

The streets inside the Court were almost empty for the evening, and those that lingered vanished at the sight of the Hunt. Merlin didn't know what reputation Gwyn had amongst the Unseelie, but no one was going to dare to look at him. Once they had settled their new guest into his chambers, Bleddyn all but grabbed Merlin by the scruff of his jacket and dragged him into his rooms.

"What happened?" Bleddyn demanded. "You were meant to protect Rosa, and now Gwyn is treating her like she is his consort."

"Relax, Bleddyn. It's not what you think," Rosa said, coming in behind them with Arthur and Eirianwen.

"Give us five minutes to breathe, Father. It's been a long few days," Merlin grumbled. "I spent most of my time trying to ensure the Hunt didn't pass Arthur about like a party favor. They wanted to eat him like a little cream puff."

"To distract them he taught them how to gamble," Arthur said, taking off a fine fur cloak. "We cleaned them out until they were happy to ignore us."

"I only taught them how to play. They were the ones that decided to gamble." Merlin started to take multiple knives, arrowheads, stones, bits of old coins, and delicate feathers from about his pockets. "Besides, we had to do something because Gwyn took off with Rosa, and we weren't allowed anywhere near them."

Every head in the room swiveled to Rosa slumped on a couch by the fire. "Thanks, Merlin. For the record, I had no say on whether you came anywhere near us."

"You arrived just at the right time," Eirianwen said. "Madoc was threatening to take his men and leave because he didn't believe your mission would be successful. He looked as if he was going to vomit once he arrived back here."

"Gwyn has that effect sometimes," Rosa replied with a grin. "You can all stop freaking out now too. He was a complete gentleman. I told him what was happening with the uprising against the queen; we struck a deal, and he's going to help us out."

"I am wary of bargains with gods," Bleddyn said, taking her hand and studying the palm where a long cut was slowly healing, "especially when it's sealed in blood."

Rosa pulled her hand away. "He wants the queen's head and access back to Glastonbury and the Seelie lands. Thanks ever so much for dropping me into that particular mess, Merlin. I spent most of my time convincing him not to kill you."

"I doubt that, considering all the impressive knife tricks you now know," Merlin said.

Rosa flushed, and he knew she was leaving something out. He couldn't imagine anyone swaying Gwyn so quickly.

"We got along. I enjoyed riding with the Hunt," Rosa said. "I apologize for taking so long to get back, Bleddyn. We went through a portal in the temple, and I don't think the Hunt can move through it as easily."

"We certainly went a long way around," Arthur complained. "It was the strangest four days of my life."

"How did the attack on the queen go?" Merlin asked. He sat down in the chair, finding it almost too soft after days of living in the wilderness.

"Better than anticipated," Eirianwen said. "We kicked her nest hard, so we have sent word to any Unseelie settlements to have everyone gather here at the Night Courts. I don't want any more Unseelie dying or being sacrificed for the Autumn Queen's ego."

"Sacrificed?" Rosa asked, going pale.

"We found a girl in the temple," Bleddyn said. "I never thought she'd stoop to such a level to hurt children. I shouldn't have been surprised."

"Can we not attack her already? Seriously, I've had enough of her." Rosa got to her feet and began to pace. "Did any word come from Fintan about Bal?"

"Nothing worth worrying about. He's more interested in telling us that the Court is turning on the queen," Eirianwen said. "I've asked him about both Balthasar and Nimue, but with the queen on high alert because of the temple attack, it will be harder for him to get a message through."

Merlin bit his tongue to keep himself from opening his mouth. He glared at Bleddyn, and the worst was confirmed in his eyes. They knew what had happened with Balthasar and for some unknown reason were keeping it from Rosa.

"What else did you promise Gwyn?" Bleddyn asked Rosa.

"What do you mean? I told you what he wanted." She continued to pace, refusing to look at them.

"Rosa, you have been trying to lie to me since you learned how to speak. I know when you are hiding something. I need to know."

"It's between him and me." She folded her arms stubbornly.

"Out with it, Rhosyn," Merlin said. "Don't make me hold you down and take it out of you."

"He wanted me as a part of the bargain, but I turned him down… Well, sort of," she sat down but still refused to look at them. "If Bal is dead, I will join the Hunt. Gwyn wasn't going to agree to help us, so I made the call."

"Christ, you didn't," Arthur said.

"How could you?" Bleddyn demanded. "You have bound yourself to a god, Rosa! There is no freeing yourself from such a bargain."

"You all keep telling me Bal is alive! Are you lying?" Rosa retaliated. "If he is dead, did you really think I was just going to hang about Gwaed Lyn like some crazy Bertha mourning him? I couldn't stay there and be surrounded by him. At least with the Hunt, I would be free of it all."

"'It all' is your family, Rosa. Did you not think of what such a thing would do to us? To your mother?" Bleddyn said.

Rosa got to her feet. "Don't you dare bring my mother into this. I don't have a relationship with her because of you. I was tossed out as a child and grew up believing no one gave a shit about me, so where was your sense of family then?" She left, slamming the door so hard behind her, the wood cracked.

"It wasn't like that," Bleddyn said weakly to Eirianwen. "Could you?—"

"No, sorry. Only you can fix this one," Eirianwen rested her hand on his shoulder. "I'll make sure she hasn't gone to Gwyn."

"Thank you."

Arthur yawned loudly. "I'm for my bed. Try to keep your arguing at a respectable noise level."

Merlin kicked off his boots, dislodging two other knives. "So you and Eirianwen, eh?"

"It's none of your business," Bleddyn said.

"You don't have to say a word. She can't hide her 'faerie got laid glow.' Took you long enough, old man."

"Faerie did not get laid," Bleddyn insisted coolly. "The glow she is sporting is because she took some of my blood."

Merlin smiled at him. "It's practically the same thing, and you know it. Before you start taking pieces off me, I really had nothing to do with Gwyn taking Rosa. She met him as a child and gave him hospitality, so he was obliged to do the same. Otherwise, I'd probably be getting racked right now. Gods! They sure know how to hold a grudge."

"I'm glad you can act so pleased with yourself. All you have done is replace Rosa's neck on the chopping block."

"If Balthasar is alive, there is nothing to worry about." Merlin shrugged. "That is unless you know he is dead."

"He's not dead, but he might not be redeemable. He's the queen's creature now," Bleddyn answered, telling him about Fintan's letter and Balthasar's transformation. "We can't tell Rosa."

"For once, we are in agreement. Any shapeshifting magic of the queen's should die when she does. I don't know what his mental state will be, but he will be in a human form again. If he can think and reason, Rosa will be able to get through to him."

"I hope so. Poor Rosa. To have the attention of a god is dangerous for her. Met him as a child! The one time I send her to Glenna's, and she summons Gwyn ap Nudd." Bleddyn leaned back in his chair. "There are too many cautionary tales of Gwyn carrying off maidens for some of them not to be true."

"Rosa is hardly a delicate maiden, and as much as you aren't going to like to hear this, she did enjoy her time with the Hunt. She won't be the same person when we return to Gwaed Lyn. It was inevitable that she would turn feral. You've met her," Merlin teased, though his heart wasn't in it.

"By the next full moon, this will be over one way or another, and we will go home or be dead."

"Is that still what you want?" Merlin had to know. An affair with Eirianwen would only tie his father closer to the Aos Si.

"Yes, I don't want to be king," Bleddyn said firmly. "I'll pass the power over somehow, and I will go home. The Aos Si, for all of its magic and wonder, isn't my place anymore."

"And Eirianwen?"

"Eirianwen is her own woman and must make her own choices." Bleddyn's face softened into a shy smile. Merlin tried not to snort. His father had a crush on a girl, and it was sickening.

"I'm sure you'll make a decent argument," Merlin said. "I'm happy for you. Is there anything you are hiding about Nimue? You should tell me, good or bad. I made no deals with gods for armies."

Bleddyn's smile had vanished. "Fintan is doing what he can for her. It sounds as if she's been left in the oubliette and forgotten. The queen has had lifetimes of tormenting her. Balthasar is providing better sport for her."

"From what Rosa tells me, he has been a creature before, and his sanity was restored to him. This will be no different. She won't give up on him, no matter what form he has," Merlin assured him. "You need to go and make up with her. Don't sleep on it, Father. She needs you more than she knows."

The moment Rosa walked out of the room, she regretted the tantrum. She didn't turn back, only made laps of the palace halls, trying to cool down before she found her rooms. They were attached to Merlin's, but she needed to burn off the restlessness inside of her.

The feeling in the palace had shifted with Daesyn's men now roaming the halls and the magical pulse that she knew was Gwyn. She had spent four days in his company, lost in the mad exhilaration of the Hunt or telling him about the human world by the fireside. She couldn't forget what he was, but an easy rapport had built between them all the same.

Standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom, Rosa could see why Bleddyn had been worried. She looked a part of the Hunt, with a definite wildness that seemed to have spread darkness in her eyes. She quickly tried to untangle her hair, pulling out leaves, flowers, and feathers. She stripped off her leathers and climbed into her bath before scrubbing the dirt from her skin and the smell of the night sky from her hair.

It wasn't until Rosa was sitting in a heavy night robe and drying her hair by the fire that she felt Bleddyn enter her chamber.

"I'm sorry," he said from the other side of the room. "I didn't want to upset you, but I was never going to be pleased with such a bargain."

"I know," Rosa replied, methodically combing her hair. "You can't expect me to stay at Gwaed Lyn either. I didn't know what else to do, Bleddyn. We need the Hunt, and I couldn't let the opportunity pass by."

Bleddyn sat down in a chair opposite her. "He's a god, Rosa. He would've known you were desperate and knew exactly what to do to entrap you and get what he wanted."

"I did it because I know Bal is alive. The connection… It's faint, but it's still there." Rosa pressed her fist into her breastbone. "I can feel him. Despite how it might have looked today, I'm not Gwyn's consort. He wants me for a general."

"He might not see the difference, especially because he now has a claim to you. It is done, and only you will ever be able to find a way to break the bargain. It hurts me, but it is your decision." Bleddyn took her hand, pressing it gently in between his. "I'm sorry that you grew up thinking you were not loved. It was because I loved you that I sent you away. I've only ever wanted to protect you, Rosa."

Rosa knew it was true, but a part of her would always hurt when it came to her childhood. Memories of watching other children with their families at holiday times and wondering why she always had to stay at school would always haunt her. Her childish heart broke every time. It wasn't until she was a teenager that she finally let go of the idea of family. It wasn't something that she needed, and she learned only to rely on herself. When the invitations to come back started arriving, she was too angry to return to Gwaed Lyn. The memories that had returned to her of before they sent her away had comforted her, but they made some pain worse.

Her consolation had always been Balthasar, her special gift for putting up with all the years alone, and now he was gone too. Rosa didn't realize she was crying until Bleddyn put his arms around her. Without having to ask, he knew what she was feeling.

"The full moon is less than a week away. One week, and we will get Balthasar back. I promise you," Bleddyn swore. "You must prepare yourself, dear one. He might not be the Balthasar you know."

"No matter what the queen has done to him, he will always be my Balthasar," Rosa replied.