Chapter 23

Chapter

Twenty-Three

SILAS

The flowers blooming around Callisto immediately stop as he jerks back and turns to face a man in his fifties walking toward us.

"Callisto, Callisto," he says, holding his arms wide open.

Callisto looks delighted and rushes toward him, flowers blooming after him. What the fuck? I thought the flowers were all for me!

And just as Callisto rushes in to hug the man, the guy grabs him in a headlock and yanks him in. "You little shithead. First, you don't listen when I tell you how careful I needed you to be, then you get stabbed , fall off a cliff, romance the goddamn… last man I'd expect you with, and then finally come home?"

"M-Maybe," Callisto says as the man continues to hold him in a headlock.

I have to assume this is the Markson who has been stalking us with the red bird.

He sighs, but Callisto is all smiles as I realize that I'm sulking. Even if I want to gather him in my arms and keep him away from some Langsten asshole that I don't trust, I know I can't. I have to trust Callisto even if it's going against everything I've believed for many years.

But that doesn't mean Dandelion has to. He shifts before rushing over to the two. That's when Dandelion presses a hand against this Markson's face in a weird yet wildly dominating move.

"I will remove your face if you don't remove your arm," Dandelion says, clearly not getting the memo that Markson is playing around with Callisto.

Callisto looks confused as he's taken from Markson, who is snarled at by Dandelion before the beast… man carries him off into the woods.

All three of us stare after them as Callisto flails in his arms.

"Dandelion, no! Let me down! Markson is my friend. He was just playing around. He wasn't actually going to hurt me," Callisto cries, but it falls on deaf ears.

Markson just shrugs, like seeing a giant beast turn into a brawny naked man and carrying off a begging Callisto is an everyday occurrence. "Welcome?—"

"Do not call me that name," I warn, having the feeling he's going to toss some "god of death" nonsense at me. My patience is already limited. I just don't think I could deal with that right now.

The man with gray hair and dark green eyes just smiles. He's a human, from what I can tell, but I can't quite tell what he is. He must have magic if he closed the wall, or is that just something the wall does? "Of course not. What would you like to be called?"

"Silas."

"And this is?" he asks as he looks at Madden.

"A simple man simply wondering why I don't ever have a muscular naked man to carry me around," Madden says as he longingly stares after Dandelion.

"That's Madden," I tell Markson, since Madden's focus of concern is ridiculously wrong.

"He was part of your unit?" he asks.

I don't like how much this man knows about me. And why does he know so much about me? In order to keep people from knowing who I was, I commonly kept my face covered during the war with a helmet when fighting or even a simple cloth when meeting with others.

When I don't answer, Markson smiles. "Silas, I'm really not your enemy here, but I understand that's hard to believe. I honestly don't expect you to, but I really hope to show you that what I'm saying is true. And even if I can't convince you, that's fine. I'm just really appreciative that you took such good care of Callisto… even if he's currently being whisked off by a very naked man."

I look over to where Callisto has managed to break free, but Dandelion is body blocking him from returning, so we head over to them.

"I apologize for concerning you," Markson says with a huge smile that he gives Dandelion, who doesn't seem affected at all. He actually looks put off by it, but Markson doesn't appear to mind.

Callisto is trying his hardest to get the man to understand. "Dandelion, this is Markson. He's like… uh… I guess like my guardian? I don't know. He took me in when I had nothing and has helped me get on my feet."

"I can't take so much credit. I just made sure you didn't starve to death," Markson says.

"Which is… a lot," Callisto responds, but the way he says it tells me there's a story there, and I realize that I really know so little about Callisto. I'd spent so long afraid of him finding out who I was that I'd let him get away with his little lies.

"Why don't we head in. You look a bit rough, Callisto."

Callisto frowns. "It's not my fault everyone else still looks perfect," he mutters.

This just makes Markson laugh. "I've never seen you care about what you look like."

Callisto's face turns a bit red as he quickly starts walking. "I don't. Nope. Not at all." Markson simply laughs again as he goes over to his horse, and I get on Banks as Zepher follows.

"Zepher, baby girl, can I ride on your back?" Madden asks.

Zepher just tackles him to the ground and starts chewing on his arm in response. It's a wonder that she was once trusted to ride into battle.

"Bring him along, Zepher," I say, so she grabs his arm and starts dragging him through the woods.

Madden flails, trying to break free, but she's got a damn good grip on him. "Stop! Zepher! Dammit! Why do you only ever listen to him?"

While that's happening in the background, Callisto is staring at Dandelion who has shifted back. "Uhhh… may I… kind sir… Kind man. Big man. Tall man. Mighty man. You know… ride upon your… back?"

Dandelion just looks confused since he can't actually talk like this and because it's quite clear he has no issue with Callisto riding him. But it takes me giving Callisto a nudge to get him to climb onto Dandelion.

"I greatly appreciate you allowing me upon your sacred back," Callisto rambles on. I don't think Dandelion gives a shit, but I guess the idea of riding on the back of another man is a bit… different.

"I thought your guest might need a mount, so I brought a spare," Markson says as he waves toward a horse. Madden, who has finally escaped Zepher, rushes over and whispers something to the horse who rubs affectionately against him. It appears he finally found something willing to like him.

My mind is in turmoil the entire ride into the city. A part of me feels like this is where I'm going to die… or where others will die by my hand. Knowing who I am, why the hell would they allow me in? Even if Callisto thinks they're amazing people, it doesn't mean that he's fully aware of what they'll choose to do.

I've heard so many tales about the oppression of Langsten, the treatment of their people and their soldiers. Horror stories about them were shared in the war.

But as we're let in through the gate of the capital, it seems no different from Vermillion. There's actually a bigger mix of races, from elves to fae to humans, and I'm sure there are more I'm just not seeing upon our initial entrance.

They turn to watch us as we walk in, but instead of looking at us with hatred, they wave, and some kids come running over.

"Markson, here!" a boy says as he hands some kind of satchel to him. "I made it myself."

"Thank you, my dear," Markson responds as he pats the kid on the head. "Callisto, just answer me this. How are you so drawn to trouble?"

"I've never been drawn to trouble a day in my life," Callisto protests as he eyes the satchel.

"This is mine," Markson says as Callisto deflates. "But you do look pretty sad."

"I had to eat Silas's cooking and nearly died so many times."

"Silas is wonderful at making toxic food," Madden says, which I think is the first thing he's agreed with Callisto about. And of course it's to be mean to me. "When he told me he was opening a tavern, I nearly laughed myself to death."

"You were supposed to be the chef. Did you forget? You fucking… ran off within two days!" I growl.

"I got bored!" Madden says. "You know this man can't be tamed."

Markson stops and tosses some coins into the cup of a woman playing an instrument on the street. She smiles at him as she keeps playing and I can't help but wonder if this is all a show… but Callisto doesn't seem surprised in the slightest.

I suppose I do only know how to be a critic. When we reach the castle, it's a lot more modest than the one in Vermillion. And standing right outside is a woman wearing riding apparel.

"You just love to worry everyone half to death, don't you?" she says as she scrutinizes Callisto.

He smiles as he slides off Dandelion. "I didn't mean to."

"Markson was having a fit about it," she says. "He couldn't even rest, only fiddle around in worry. Could barely sleep. Could barely eat."

Callisto seems surprised by that. "That's funny because all of the letters he sent to me were like ‘Good luck! Don't die! Ha ha!'"

She laughs and pulls Callisto in for a hug. "You look rough."

His smile turns to a playful pout. "So I've been told."

"And your wounds?"

"Pretty good. I'm all fine," he says, sounding determined. "The elixir I got was very helpful." I eye the man who gave the elixir to the beast he's riding. It surely had to be better than what I gave him from Madden since Madden wouldn't have had the same resources as royalty would have.

The woman steps back and turns to the rest of us. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I know of you, but I don't know your real name," she says as she looks at me.

"Silas," I respond, wondering who she is.

"I'm Ainsley."

I take a long moment to try to piece this together. I know the king's name is Ainsley…

"Yes, yes, I am a woman. The king of Vermillion seemed to think more people would fear me if they thought I was a man. It's easier to make a man out to be a monster than a woman."

More shocking than that is that she's standing here holding a hand out to me to greet me. She's admitted to knowing who I am… and she's going to willingly greet me?

She gives me a soft smile, probably noticing my hesitation. "I try to believe that Callisto wouldn't bring anyone who might harm me to meet me. Callisto is not the most trusting man," she says, which surprises me. He seems to trust me easily. Hell, he knows part of what I did… he knows…

I glance over at him, but he just smiles at me.

"You're putting a lot of trust in me," I say as I greet her. "Especially when I don't want to be here and don't trust any of you."

"That's okay. I'm hoping to change that mind of yours," she responds as she turns her back to me, like she's so at ease with me, it's of no concern. "Now, come on. You all look like you could use a good bath and a good meal. I've called a meeting for the morning. A few people are out until then, so please, take some time to care for yourself and rest."

She sets a hand on Callisto's shoulder before hesitating. "What do you have?"

"Uhh… an unsurmountable embarrassment over the way I treated… this man," he says as he waves toward Dandelion who is still in his bestial form.

The queen doesn't seem to understand before nudging his pocket. "No, in there."

He pulls out the coin. "Hell if I know. Some older guy gave it to me before the king tried murdering me. I don't even know how I ended up with it. I thought maybe I could pawn it off if we needed money during the trip, but we never needed to."

"Can I borrow it?" she asks.

"Have at it. Does it have magic?"

"I… don't know if I've ever felt something like this before," she says. "How interesting. Why don't you three—" Dandelion shifts into a very naked man and I have to give her credit, she doesn't even act like it's shocking to her. "Four… stay in the castle tonight?"

"Thank you," Callisto says.

She's really going to be so trusting of us that she even invites us inside to stay with her?

"And who is this?" she asks as she looks at Dandelion.

"Let's go, Papa. I'm hungry and this strange woman here said there was food," he grumbles as he picks Callisto up.

"Dandelion… stop! That's the queen! Don't call her… oh, fuck," Callisto says.

The queen just laughs. "Dandelion is your name?"

"My papa named me. You have an issue with that?" he asks, like he's just going to fucking brawl the queen over the ridiculous name he's been given.

"I didn't know he was a person and I regret my actions so very much," Callisto whispers, but the queen simply laughs as the two head for the door. Dandelion jabs a finger at a servant.

"You shall feed us."

"Is there a place I can put my mule and wyvern?" I ask.

Markson takes the reins of both of his horses. "I'll show you where to take the mule… I don't actually know much about wyverns."

"She'll be patient in a stall if you don't want her roaming around."

"I think that might be best until everyone is informed of her arrival. Follow me."

I hesitate, hating that I have to part from Callisto, but with Dandelion dragging him off, I don't actually get a say in the matter.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Madden says, even though it's clear he also just wants to eat as he rushes off. He likes Callisto so well that I could see him merrily watch someone abduct him.

With a sigh, I follow Markson out to the royal stables. They don't even have me go to the guards' stable or some other random stable. Instead, my mounts are treated to absolute royalty as Markson leads me over to two large stalls bedded down and ready to go.

"Thanks," I say, reluctant to thank him when I don't like him.

A servant has wandered off with Markson's horses, so he just leans against the stall I've led Banks into and watches me unsaddle him while Zepher wanders.

"I'm aware you don't like me, and you don't need to," he says. "Callisto is a very reserved person. He is sweet to everyone, but it takes a lot to actually get him to open up like he's done with you. You don't seem like a smooth talker, and I doubt Callisto would fall for such an act, so I have to assume you're actually not too bad of a guy."

"It's because Callisto doesn't know all that I've done."

"Are you so sure of that?" he asks.

I throw the cinch up onto the back of the saddle and hesitate. "What do you mean? Did you tell him?" I ask. I'm going to be pissed if he did.

"I don't believe I needed to," he says.

This man and his cryptic nonsense. "How would he know? I suppose he could have heard tales of me from the war, but you had to have told him the name I went by."

"You'll have to ask him. My guess is that there's another reason he's so willing to trust you."

"But if he knows who I was, wouldn't he be more against me? He was on the side of the fae."

"I don't believe Callisto was on any side but his own," he says as he watches me closely.

"He's on Langsten's side."

"Maybe… but Callisto doesn't strike me as someone who picks sides rather than people. He's with me and Ainsley because he cares about us, not the kingdom."

"Langsten slaughtered my family."

"I'm sorry to hear that… they were in the war?"

"No, they were in a farming village. Soldiers from Langsten slaughtered them to disrupt the food getting out to Vermillion soldiers."

"Ah," Markson says, which irks me even more. He doesn't even try to make it better. He's just going to shrug and go on with life when my mother and sister were slaughtered by their hands.

"You were the strategist during that time?" I ask, wanting to know why . Why that village. Of all the fucking villages, why that one?

"I was."

"And what was the excuse for killing innocents?"

He thinks about it for a bit. "When your soldiers are exhausted and beginning to lose hope, how do you make them fight?"

I pull Banks's saddle off and rest it on the hay manger. I don't feel like dealing with him and his useless questions.

Markson waves to me, like he's trying to get my attention. "Come on, now. Entertain me. You were highly revered in the war. You have a group of men who are losing all hope. How do you make them fight?"

I stare at him before sighing. "You give them something or someone to fight for."

"And were you giving up hope before they were killed?" he asks.

My eyes catch his. "I don't want to talk about this."

"Were you giving up hope?"

"I never had any fucking hope," I growl. "I was thrown into the war when I was a teenager. It was all I fucking knew, and it was never ending. It was absolute hell. Constant hell."

"Even with both sides of the Vermillion kingdom coming together, they were losing the war against Langsten around the time those farming villages were destroyed. The king knew he had one asset: the mysterious figure known as the god of death. And if the very god of death was falling… was giving up hope… what do you do to make him fight harder?"

I refuse to answer him. Instead, I pick up the saddle and saddle pad. "I'm done with your bullshit."

"Is it bullshit or are you realizing that your very own king slaughtered your family to make you fight harder? To make you hate us more. It worked wonderfully. You were uncontrollable. You fought with so much pain and anger that you tipped the war. But would you have done that if your family wasn't taken from you by the ‘monsters' you fought against? Losing a few farming villages would hurt the army, it really would, but what it would bring the Vermillion army would far outweigh it."

I don't want to hear any of this. "You want me to believe my family died because of me." My tone is sharp, but he doesn't seem offended by it.

"No one wants to be told that. I don't want to tell you that. And you don't have to believe me. But I just want you to know all sides before you step forward. It's not easy to do… but sometimes you have no option but to do it."

I stand there, not even sure what to say. I want to tell him he's wrong. I want to tell him that he's spouting lies to try to get me on his side. But I've always wondered why those villages, especially when they weren't on a main road. They weren't near the war. And they didn't produce that many resources.

"Hand me your saddle, I'll put it up over here," he says as he points.

I hand it over the top of the low stall door that allows the animals to stick their heads out. He takes it and sets it on a rack across from Banks's stall before giving me a wave.

"I'm going to head to bed. I feel like I can finally sleep peacefully knowing Callisto's home. When you're ready, head inside… and if you want to talk some more, feel free to find me." Markson gives me a nod and heads out of the stable. I step out of Banks's stall and walk over to the one Zepher goes in. She's over there harassing a barn cat by trying to get it to play with her. It has absolutely no idea what to think of her.

"Zepher, come on now," I say as I wave toward the stall. She heads inside and I lean against her. After losing my family, I also lost my best friend during that time, the man who rode her into battle. I felt like I'd lost everything… but could I really have been playing into King Samuel's plans? At that point his father, the rash and cruel king, was dead… No, the king who Markson says ordered the death of my family would have been the king I talked to, the king I exchanged pleasantries with as I walked through the ballroom filled with people I once fought against in war. People whose parents were dead because of me… people who suffered by my hand… and then later fought with me against Langsten.

Zepher leans against me as I scratch her neck.

Could Markson just be playing with my mind? Fucking with me? Trying to get me on his side?

"It's an interesting concept."

I look over as Madden comes over to the stall door and drapes over it.

"You heard."

He points at Banks. "I listened through him."

"Do you believe it?"

"I don't know," he admits. "But I'm not as surprised by the idea as I hoped I'd be."

"Me neither."

"Why don't you come in and eat before Dandelion eats it all?"

"I'm coming," I say as I give Zepher a pat. I'll let her out in the morning to find her own meal once I know it's safe to do so.

I follow Madden inside as he leads me over to the dining hall where Callisto is just staring at Dandelion in shock as the man downs a plate of food.

"This is very good! Very good," he says as he tries to feed Callisto.

"I can feed myself, thank you," Callisto protests as Dandelion mashes some bread against his mouth.

"You need to eat more! I can feel your ass bones when you ride me!" Dandelion says.

The servant nearly drops the plate she'd been delivering.

"Please… stop saying those words," Callisto whispers.

"Ass bones? The bones of your ass, I can feel them when you ride me."

"That's because he has no ass. Feeding him will solve nothing," Madden says.

"You fuck off," Dandelion growls at him.

Madden throws up his hands. "What the hell did I do?"

"Dandelion, you are still quite naked," I realize.

"I like the breeze on my bits," he says as he eats. "I've also not worn clothes in years . Looks stupid. Technically, you both rode me while I was naked."

The servant's eyes can't get any wider.

Callisto is dying inside. "Please stop saying that. People are going to get the wrong idea. I rode on your back?—"

"Yeah, you rode me. A lot of men—and some women—have ridden me, but I like when you ride me the most," Dandelion says as he nods at Callisto who is squirming a bit.

It makes me laugh and I don't know what it is about it, but it makes me feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest.