Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

E irianwen had waited until the Seren Du family had walked through the gates to the sealed palace and then quietly slipped away with only Arthur noticing her leave. That didn't surprise her. Eirianwen didn't believe anything escaped his steady, kind gaze. She managed to move unnoticed through the crowd of curious Unseelie and found her way back to her family's house.

It had taken Eirianwen the better part of five hundred years to convince the scattered Unseelie to return to the Night Courts and to use their collective magic to restore the warding. Once they had returned, life had gotten safer, if not entirely better.

It wasn't until she had bathed and wrapped herself in one of her father's old night robes that she began to shake with hunger. She went to her supply of vials in her bedroom and hoped the enchantment on them had kept the blood fresh. She tipped three down her throat before the shaking stopped.

She had survived on the small animals that she'd hunted the past few days, and Bleddyn hadn't suspected a thing. He hadn't noticed when Zalan—perceptive, clever Zalan—had given her a jug of blood while she had stayed at Gwaed Lyn. Zalan didn't tell anyone, hadn't even questioned her about it, though she'd never been a blood drinker before her death. He'd just known what she had needed and given it to her with a simple, "Tell Bleddyn."

Eirianwen hadn't a quiet moment with him since the day with the traps, everything else happening afterward more important than the craving that now consumed her.

When Eirianwen had set out on a scouting mission six months ago, she never would have imagined that she'd be returning with the remnants of the Seren Du bloodline. She'd almost died from thirst in the damn pit of the queen's. If it hadn't been for the Seelie guard that was now her spy, she would've gone crazy with it. She needed wine. Lots of wine.

"Damn you, Bleddyn," she muttered. She uncorked a bottle and downed half of it. Seeing him across the battlefield, the look on his face, as if she was a horrific miracle. She knew the feeling. She had thought he would come back to the Aos Si, and after three millennia, she'd stopped waiting.

She had fought for her people since the queen had left her for dead, sacrificed for them, bled for them, and dragged them forwards to make them believe in the future. Bleddyn had placed his sword in the earth and had accomplished more in one night than she had been able to do in the past hundred years. Bastard .

The streets were already humming with his arrival and about what it might mean. Generals of militias that would have argued to join her would trip over themselves to swear allegiance to Bleddyn Seren Du.

She wanted to hate him. She did hate him, but seeing him restored in the forest, she couldn't have bent her knee fast enough. That damn link between the Unseelie and their king had made her drop faster than any true allegiance. It had helped him being glamoured and alien looking. As soon as that was stripped away, the powerful fae she had remembered was suddenly there. Emotion and memory had almost sent her running into his arms. Gods, it was pathetic how happy she was to see him back in his full Unseelie form.

Curled up in her own bed, Eirianwen finally went to sleep, feeling safe for the first time in months. She had only just drifted off when her layers of security wards tripped and jolted her awake.

Bleddyn Seren Du was standing on her doorstep, looking distracted and upset. Any anger she had managed to feel the hours before suddenly didn't matter.

"What's happened?" she asked. "Is it the queen?"

"It's my son. That bitch has done something to Balthasar. I can feel it." His hands clenched into fists, anger and despair radiating off him.

"What do you need from me?" Eirianwen asked. She doubted it was to give him a comforting hug.

"I wanted to ask if you could talk to Rosa. She won't let any of us near her, won't listen to reason."

"And you think I can get through to her where Merlin can't? I barely know her."

"But you are a woman, and you know the queen. I don't think Aeronwen has killed Balthasar, but… I don't know." He touched his chest. "I felt the connection to him rip away. We all did. We won't know the truth until we face Aeronwen, and I need Rosa to do that."

"I don't want to give her false hope," Eirianwen said. She held his gaze for a moment too long before sighing. "I'll try, but I don't know if I'll have better luck getting through to her than you."

Bleddyn bowed. "Thank you. I'm sorry for waking you up."

Eirianwen whispered a command, and her night robe transformed into leather pants and a loose tunic. "Lead the way, Seren Du."

They walked together in silence to the palace, and as she crossed through the black gates, Eirianwen was swamped with memories. In her youth, she had spent as much time behind the palace walls as she had in her own house.

"You've restored it," she said, tentatively brushing her fingers against the murals in the hallways. "I never thought I'd see it like this again."

"Neither did I," Bleddyn replied. "I never thought I would come back here."

"Yet, here you are. It must be hard on you," she surprised herself by saying it aloud.

Despite her feelings on the matter, Eirianwen wasn't so cold that she couldn't recognize the uneasiness and grief in him. The last time they had walked together in such a way, the floors had been covered in blood from the wounded, and their world had burned around them.

"It was a long time ago," Bleddyn answered.

Merlin was leaning against the door to Rosa's chambers and chain smoking. "Oh, sure because this is going to be a good idea. We are all going to die."

"Good morning to you too," Eirianwen said coolly.

"Eirianwen has enough magic to defend herself, and she might be able to get through to Rosa where we can't."

Merlin opened the door, and thorny vines shot out like the tentacles of an angry beast. "Go ahead, my lady. I wish you luck."

Eirianwen pulled out her knives. "You two might want to leave so you aren't in the way."

Merlin snorted, Bleddyn cutting whatever he was about to say off with a stern look.

"Rosa?" Eirianwen said and approached the door.

Vines shot out, wrapped around her tightly. She managed to give Bleddyn an annoyed look before she was pulled into the thicket, and the door slammed behind her.

"Rosa, speak to me. You don't know if the queen has hurt Balthasar. She might have found a way to—" Eirianwen grit her teeth as the thorns cut deeper into her.

The room thrummed with magic, the vines vibrating with unharnessed wild power. Oh, Bleddyn, where did you find this girl? She hadn't felt that level of power in one so young since before the Unseelie Kingdom fell.

"I know you don't really want to hurt me, Rosa. You're not like the queen. You don't like causing me pain. Bleddyn asked me to talk to you, though I don't know why. We don't know each other. Men! They are too frightened to get in here themselves."

The vines stopped tightening fractionally. Maybe Rosa could hear her after all.

"For fuck's sake, girl, let me out of here so we can talk properly. We can't fight the queen without you, so stop having a tantrum or I'll…" Eirianwen swore foully as thorns buried deeper in her skin. She could smell her own blood, and she was done pandering to this princess. Reaching for her own magic, she grabbed one of the vines tightly and whispered curses along it. It shriveled and died, the green turning brown as the magic ate away at it.

"Let me down, or I'll do it to the rest of it. I don't want to hurt you, Rosa, but I'm done playing this game," Eirianwen shouted and struggled against the roses.

"I-I don't know how to stop it," a sob said through the brambles.

"Well, this is just perfect." Eirianwen reached for another vine and fought to hold it, thorns ripping through her palms. Don't forget she's new in her magic. You can help her control it. She was so not in the mood to play mother to Bleddyn's child.

She shut her eyes and looked into the vine, searching for the magic that was Rosa's. It was hot as summer, the power she wielded through the Seelie sword, and it was also as bitter as winter. Touching Bleddyn's power, even though a secondary person was enough to send shudders through her. Gods, she'd forgotten what he felt like, that headiness that spoke to her of midnight sins and forbidden desire.

Focus before Rosa strangles you to death . Eirianwen reached for the Seelie power—it was safer—and used her own magic to override it, smothering Rosa's power as quickly as she could. Not having the training to fight back, the vines shrieked and dropped her before exploding into shadows.

Eirianwen groaned and tried to stay upright, her whole body feeling as if it had been used as a pincushion. She stumbled through the damaged chambers that looked as if a giant had rampaged through them and pushed aside broken furniture.

Moments later, she found Rosa crouched on the slate floors of her bedroom, her hands gripping the tiles with broken and bloody nails. There was vomit on the floor, and she was pale and shaking, amidst a panic attack, her eyes staring far away. Rosa's magic was reacting to her emotions, and Eirianwen had to get her to calm before her thorns took over the palace entirely.

"She killed him." Rosa's voice cracked.

"You don't know that for sure, princess. Trust me, the queen has plenty of spells that would cut a blood tie. A quick death is not her style." Eirianwen folded her arms, fighting the urge to hug the poor girl.

"The pain… I've never felt anything…" Rosa beat her fist against her chest, unable to find the words.

With a resigned sigh, Eirianwen crouched down beside her. "I know the feeling. When Bleddyn was captured, I felt it. I was shot with arrows, and I could do nothing to stop her from taking him. All I could do was die in the dirt. You are not dying, so are you just going to lie there helpless or get up and stop her? You won't know if he's dead unless we pull that Court apart to find him."

Rosa looked up at her, the grief in her eyes already edging towards madness. "And if he is dead?"

"Then you get your revenge on that bitch. Anything is better than weeping when you should be fighting. If you stay here, Aeronwen has won. We can't let her win—not after everything she has taken from us." Eirianwen held out her hand.

"I'm so angry, I feel like I can't breathe," Rosa said, taking Eirianwen's hand. "I can't contain the magic or the pain. They…react to each other."

Eirianwen fought the urge to shake her. "You don't need to contain it. You need to control it. Don't end up like me, Rosa Wylt. I should have gone after Bleddyn when he was taken. I should've found a way to gut the queen centuries ago."

"Why didn't you then? You have the biggest grudge against him, and you are the one that never tried to find him." Eirianwen recoiled as if she'd slapped her.

"By the time my wounds were healed, he had already escaped the Autumn Court. I expected him to return here to his people, and he never did. He made his choice, and it wasn't us."

"You never went to the human world to look. Bleddyn thought you were dead, so stop blaming him because you never fought to find him. You let him mourn for you." Rosa's eyes blazed with fury.

Eirianwen gripped Rosa by the front of her robe, clenched her fist so she wouldn't hit her. "Don't you think I know that? It is why I'm here to convince you not to give up because you felt the connection to Balthasar sever. Unless you are holding his lifeless body in your hands, you don't stop, you don't give up." She let Rosa go with a shove and stepped back from her, shaken that she had said so much.

Rosa looked like she was going to hit her and then, unexpectedly, she started to laugh, sad and bitter. "We are both so fucked, aren't we? I'm going to do whatever I can to see the queen dead, and no one better get in my way."

Eirianwen managed a smile. "I think, at last, we have found some common ground."

"Does this mean you are going to stop upsetting Bleddyn so much? Because I don't like seeing the men in my life pissy and hurt."

Eirianwen pulled a face. "I can't promise that. I can promise I will help him where I can."

"Good enough. Any idea how I can clean this mess up with magic?"

For the next hour, Eirianwen taught Rosa how to undo the damage her rage had created until the apartments were back to normal.

"Thank you for your help," Rosa said once they were finished.

"Thank Bleddyn. He was the one that had enough sense to come and get me."

"Perhaps he knew you would have experience with magical reactions to anger." Rosa's smile faltered. "He really isn't the asshole you think he is…at least not all the time."

"I know. It'll be easier for me when he leaves if I still hate him," Eirianwen admitted without thinking. It was true though. She rubbed absently at her side, the old scars and memories aching. No, she wouldn't allow herself to get close enough to him again.

Rosa looked like she would reply when a knock on the door interrupted them. Arthur's redhead hesitantly poked through the gap.

"Is it safe for me to see you, Rosa?" he asked. "Merlin sent me because you're less likely to hurt me apparently."

"What a chicken shit."

Arthur came in with a glass of wine and a plate of food. "I thought you might be hungry. If you are anything like Merlin, you are a starving, raging beast when you are drained of magic."

Eirianwen smiled at him and his thoughtfulness. "I will leave you to it. Try to sleep, Rosa. We have a war to win." She left her in Arthur's caring and capable hands. She was about to leave the palace when she spotted Bleddyn waiting for her.

"You don't need to look so concerned. Rosa is fine, Bleddyn. She was upset, and her power lashed out to protect her. She needs better control over her emotions and how they manipulate her magic."

Eirianwen didn't pull away when Bleddyn took her hand and kissed it. "Thank you, my lady."

"Rosa's a good woman under the attitude. I can see why you are so fond of her," Eirianwen admitted, her mouth too dry. "I hope you don't get in our way when we finally have a chance to get our revenge on Aeronwen."

"I wouldn't dream of ever getting in your way." Bleddyn's smile was sly and so painfully familiar, Eirianwen felt it pierce her. She pulled her hand quickly from his, the memory of the taste of his magic coming back to taunt her.

"You seem to have gotten wiser in your old age," she said.

"I wouldn't jump to that conclusion too quickly." Bleddyn looked at her intently, a small frown appearing between his brows. "If I were to ask you to stay in the palace for your own safety, would you consider it?"

Eirianwen snorted. "No, and you no longer have the power or heart strings to pull to convince me."

"If I didn't know better, I'd see that as a challenge to court you, Eirianwen Eira," he said with a touch of heat blooming in his eyes.

"Lucky you do know better. Good night, King Bleddyn." Eirianwen gave him an exaggerated and sweeping bow before walking out of the gates and did everything she could to ignore the sensation of his lips still on her skin.