Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

B leddyn was being slowly torn apart inside. The life he'd built for himself in the human world was crumbling under the invisible and wilful force of the Aos Si. He was becoming Bleddyn Seren Du once more whether he liked it or not. The past he had locked away for his own sanity was all around him and walking in front of him.

Eirianwen is alive . It still seemed like an impossible miracle whenever he looked at her. He hadn't just seen her die that awful day when the queen had killed the kings; he had felt her die. The bond that they had shared through blood, love, and magic had been torn apart. Yet, here she was walking in front of him, silver braid swaying and hands resting on the knives strapped to her thighs. Impossible .

They had crossed into the Aos Si, a place of pure magic, and he'd known something had altered in her very nature. It wasn't that time had changed the mischievous, sweet girl he knew into a hardened rebel general. It was as if something had changed in the very core of her. She looked and sounded like Eirianwen. The soul that looked out of her eyes was altered.

"You shouldn't be disabling these traps on your own," he said, coming up behind her. She ignored him and knelt down to inspect a clump of autumn leaves, moving them about with the blade of her knife.

"I've been disabling traps of the queen's for centuries."

Eli crouched down beside her. "Don't be stubborn. Let me help." The blade went from the leaves to his throat.

"Let's make something very clear between us, Bleddyn Seren Du. You are not my father figure, my king, or my friend. I don't need your help for anything. Do you understand?"

"Yes. I only want to see how you did it. Will you show me how to disable them? The last one I did lacked skill, and my children felt the side effects of it breaking," Bleddyn replied, careful not to move.

"You protect them too much," Eirianwen grunted, the knife returning to its sheath.

"They are my children. Of course I protect them," he said steadily.

"They deserve to know who their father really is, not this…" she gestured at his cropped hair and glamored body, "costume you wear. They are of royal blood and have no idea what that means. This stern old man is not who you are."

"You don't know who I am anymore."

"I suppose not. I do know you won't be able to keep up the charade once your feet touch Unseelie lands," Eirianwen said, turning back to the leaves.

"One step at a time," Bleddyn sighed. He was dreading that moment, when all he had tried to be for centuries was stripped away from him until only the creature remained. Even Merlin hadn't seen him like that. Rosa would be terrified or nonchalant, as was her way. He hoped for the latter.

"The queen usually disguises her wards as something small and inconspicuous—stones, leaves, and bone. You have to move carefully to feel them out."

"I can feel her magic over this spot," Bleddyn said, stretching his hand out above the leaves.

"That is enough to tell you that it's here, not what the object is."

"A needle in a haystack."

"Sometimes. Other times, she's put too much magic on it, and it's easier to detect." Eirianwen searched the ground until she gently grasped a small quartz stone. "Here it is." Leaning close, Bleddyn watched as she unraveled the magic layering it, showing him the invisible threads of magic that clung to the trees like a web. "You see, you have to get all of the lines, or it can still be tripped." Once it was clear, Eirianwen tossed the quartz away, a simple stone once more.

"I've never considered using that kind of warding before," Bleddyn said, and they both stood.

"That is because it's inelegant, haphazard, and anyone can trip it. It's lazy." Eirianwen brushed her hands against her pants. She had taken a step backward when Bleddyn heard a crunch of breaking bone, and he pounced, pinning her against a tree as a maelstrom of dark magic lashed at this back. It was over in a moment, leaving him aching in torn pain and blood. Eirianwen was panting heavily, eyes wide with fright. The cold mask she'd been wearing momentarily was off so that he could see the woman underneath. Bleddyn touched her cheek gently.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"N-no, I didn't see it, didn't feel it," she said.

He moved back from her and checked the ground. A crushed raven's skull lay in the leaves.

"Gods, Bleddyn, your back." Eirianwen's hand turned his shoulders so she could get a better look.

"Can you heal it? I don't want it to upset Rosa," he said. The last thing he needed was her fussing over him, because she was already watching him like an overprotective hen.

"I can try." She helped him out of the tatters of his ruined coat to better look at his wounds. Eirianwen cursed foully. "It's like she took a whip to you."

"Better my back than you," Bleddyn said. He felt her hesitate, so he added gruffly, "Quickly, my lady, before the others arrive." A warm hand was placed on his bare skin, and her magic spread over him, knitting the wounds together. Her power was as different as the rest of her, deeper and darker, and he knew he had to find out what really happened the day she'd died. It was but a moment, and the hand left his skin.

"There, it is done. I would ask you not to do something so stupid again," Eirianwen said.

Bleddyn shook out his coat, the fabric good as new again as he pulled it on.

"You can ask it, but accept when I say I can't agree to it."

"Very well. Thank you for knocking me out of the way," she said, looking over his shoulder instead of his face.

"You're welcome. I'd say we are even now after you rescued Rosa from the selkie," Bleddyn replied, offering a smile.

Her eyes narrowed, and then she bowed, "Consider the debt repaid."

Bleddyn wanted to say that it was not why he had done it; he had acted without thinking, the need to protect her still there, even if nothing else was. She took his silence as agreement and turned back to the trees.

"We should keep moving in case the queen sends someone to investigate," Eirianwen said, moving away from him, her cold mask back in place.

Eirianwen kept quiet for the rest of the day, her whole body tense as she searched for any sign of the queen's men or her malicious traps. She hadn't felt the second trap, and she was going to kick her ass over it for a long time. She blamed Bleddyn for asking too many questions, his presence and the pulse of his magic was like a constant buzz that threw her off guard.

You only need to get them to the Night Court, then you can leave them be . Her obligation to bring back help would be cleared, and she could get back to what she was meant to be doing. The queen had held her captive for nearly a year, and she had spent most of it worried for her warriors and the Night Court. The few messages she'd gotten out of the dungeons, she'd never received a reply for, and she could only hope that they got out at all.

Laughter behind her broke through Eirianwen's thoughts. She glanced over her shoulder to see Merlin and Bleddyn arguing, Rosa laughing and goading them on. The burden of their heavy grief seemed to be briefly lightened, and they seemed almost happy. Eirianwen quickly turned away.

How long had it been since she had been that comfortable in anyone's company? How long since she had shared a joke with people she loved? She used to be like that with the Seren Du brothers before their world burned. The four of them had been inseparable. Now, she didn't recognize any of them, not even herself.

Bleddyn had a new family to care for, and there was no denying just how much they loved each other. It radiated between them and made her feel cold and uncomfortable. She needed to find the damn crossing and get some space between them. She could see the questions burning behind Bleddyn's eyes, knowing that something was different about her, but unable to figure out what. He wouldn't be patient forever. He would start demanding answers, and she would have to decide what she should tell him.

If I had known you lived, I never would have left the Aos Si without you . Bleddyn's words came back to curl around her mind. She had thought he'd abandoned her, just as he had abandoned the Unseelie, because he didn't want to face the queen. Now she wasn't so sure, her years of resenting him taking on a different light.

Bleddyn was back, and she couldn't find it in her to tell him the truth—that she really had died that day, filled with arrows and a lance in her side, and that she had been reborn into something else entirely.