Chapter 2

Chapter

Two

GRIMM

" Y ou're certain about this?"

Agatha sighed, but Grimm could tell she was pleased he'd turned from melancholy to brooding, at least. "I will say it again. I am just as shocked as you are, but we've all grown quite fond of the man. Well, warlock, as it were."

"Gerome Von Fuchs…" Grimm regarded his wife where they stood outside the council chamber, his face scrunched like he'd smelt something foul.

" Emile von Fuchs. Gerome was the name Chresedia gave him when she took him hostage."

Grimm's lip pulled back. " Von fucking Fuchs , Agatha."

Goddess help him, she actually stomped her foot. " Yes ," she snapped.

He couldn't help the low chuckle that rumbled out of him. "I made you queen, and you just stomped your boot at me like a child."

And there went a finger pointed at his face, her other hand forming a fist on her hip. The sight sent peace skittering through him. Finally , after moons of separation and another moon of him drowning beneath grief, she was in front of him, driving him mad.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he pushed further. "And the portrait of a woman I found hidden in his desk years ago? That you also found in his desk last Autumn? How did he explain that one to you, hm?"

"Do you truly think I didn't put pressure on him? Ask all these same questions you've had?"

He simply lifted a brow in waiting.

Anger flushed up her neck, and she growled. "It's hard to completely forget the love of your life, you oaf." She shoved a finger against his stomach. "Even on the draught, he could recall that he knew the woman whose portrait was in his pocket when he was taken. He did not know it was Adrina, but he knew he loved her once. Good enough ?"

"No."

She stamped that boot again. "Would you just get your sorry arse in there and get this handled?"

Grimm ran a hand down his face. "All right, all right. Let's get the fuck on with it, then."

He let coolness consume him, all his practised years at court coming up to meet him. The last time he'd seen this man, he'd been in a wine cellar under Wendolyn's Glacé Manor after he'd hurt Agatha and Anne. This meeting would be no easy task. But he trusted his wife's judgement, and he trusted his friends .

With a yank, he opened the door to the council chamber, shaking his head inwardly at the move they'd made from his small meeting chamber to the large, ornate one of the rulers of Seagovia—now his wife and him. The heels of his boots thunked across the floor in time with Agatha's boots' clicking. He let himself marvel as he walked at the faces around their table. Dulci, Tindle, Augustus, and Anne on one side, Eleanor, Laurent, Winnie, and Sorscha on the other. And there, sitting very still next to Seleste at one end… Emile von Fuchs. It was a full house. Only Gaius and Arielle were missing, and he would have killed for both of their support in the moment.

None of them stood as he and Agatha entered. He assumed it was because his wife hated such things and had ordered them not to. In kind, Grimm addressed no one as he took the seat next to the head of the table—next to his queen's seat. Finally, he looked only at the one he'd truly come to speak to. "Anne."

"Your Highness," she said softly, bowing her head.

" Grimm ," he corrected.

"Grimm."

He slid a glance over to von Fuchs and tossed his chin in that direction, looking back at Anne with his brows knit together. "What do you see when you look at him?"

Anne stilled, eyes shining bright, her mind likely whirling. He had no desire to make her relive painful memories, but he had to know the truth of having this man around.

Finally, she answered, her tone firm and unwavering. "I see a survivor of unspeakable abuse and manipulation."

Von Fuchs looked down at his clasped hands on the table, but not before Grimm caught the bob of his throat as he swallowed .

He fought the urge to grind his molars together. Unable to force his jaw to unclench any further, he spoke through gritted teeth. "And when you look in the mirror, Anne, what do you see?"

The young woman blinked away tears. "The same thing." Her voice cracked.

Conflicting emotions swirled within him until he couldn't decipher what they were or whether they were his or Agatha's. "And do you believe this man should sit on our council?"

"Yes," Anne said without a hint of hesitation. "I do."

The muscles in Grimm's jaw feathered, and he strode toward Anne, leaning in close over the table's edge. "Are you certain ?" Words too low for anyone else to hear. A chance to reconsider. A chance to take it back.

"I am, Grimm."

Inhaling slowly, he gathered himself. "If you are ever unsure, for even a fraction of a breath, you let me know and I will gut him like a fucking fish."

Anne smiled, almost laughing through the small tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I am very certain of who that man is and that the one who hurt me is not him."

Grimm sighed heavily and stalked over to Emile, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him partially out of his seat.

"Easy, reaper," he heard Laurent caution from across the table.

But he did not loosen his grip. Fear shone in the magus' eyes, but there was also a sense of bravery and something akin to…chivalry. Grimm pushed his guessing away and growled, "If you so much as think about making a wrong move, I will not hesitate to rip your soul back out, and I will not return it this time, regardless of who is pleading on your behalf. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Grimm shoved him back down so hard the chair groaned. "Good." He reached out and smoothed the lapel of Emile's morning coat roughly. "Nice coat, by the way."

Without waiting for a response from the man, he strode to his place by Agatha's side and took a seat, looking up at her expectantly where she stood.

That's it? she snapped down the bond. I'm on my own now?

He gave her a lazy grin. I'm just a lowly prince, my queen.

Stop it.

But she couldn't hide from him at all anymore. He felt every bit of the swell of her heart at his pride in her, as well as her preparedness. Of course, she'd insisted on running everything by him prior to their meeting, but he'd done his best not to argue and only pushed her to do what she felt was best. Grimm would intervene only when it came to their own tasks, meant only for the two of them. Judging by her suspicion in their bond and on her face, she was already expecting a doozy of an explosion from him in that regard. And he would not disappoint.

Patience, little witch.

Agatha frowned at him, turning back to their gathered council. "I see no reason to prolong the inevitable. We all have separate duties now and a clan of people which we lead for all intents and purposes. It's evident that a dark day is coming in more ways than one. Chresedia, or Athania as she was originally known, wants to return to her realm, but she can only do so on the Deux Siècles Eclipse."

Dulci opened her mouth, but Agatha held up a hand. "I know you all have many questions, but we don't know all the answers yet. That is what Grimm and I plan to figure out while you all prepare for the eclipse. Sorscha, according to the astrological map in Araignée, how long do we have?"

Sister Spring stood and handed Aggie a messy bundle of notes written in small, tight handwriting, then slid a similar stack of notes across the table to Seleste. "Asa has translated the map as best he can. He doesn't know the location Chresedia will choose, but the timing appears to be the end of Summer. The Autumnal Equinox."

Agatha's Day of Birth. Grimm felt his wife's heart sink, but none of the feeling reflected on her face.

"All right. Seleste, take the notes and anything else you might need to decipher the location. We also need you to return to Coronocco and ensure Empress Amira is prepared. We will need all the aid we can muster on the eclipse."

Seleste nodded once, tucking away the notes Aggie passed her and the star map from Sorscha.

"Winnie, Laurent, and Eleanor," Agatha addressed them, "continue training the Druids, but we need you to reach all our rebellion faction leaders and ensure they know what to expect going forward. It is also going to be your job to protect the goddess quill. Winnie will take possession of it when we return to Araignée after the coronation."

The coronation. The moment his wife would finally, officially, be crowned Queen of Seagovia. An unavoidable event Agatha was dreading so deeply that Grimm's own stomach had turned sour for how foul her mood was concerning it.

Laurent cleared his throat, adjusting his massive bulk in the chair far too small for him. Grimm almost thought he'd break the damned thing. "Wouldn't Araignée be the safest place for the quill to remain? The compound has Lorelai's wards around it, and I was under the impression Chresedia didn't know its location."

Agatha nodded, acknowledging the Cirque Master's concern. "Yes, that's true, but, unfortunately, we don't know what sort of ways Chresedia has of finding Arielle." She looked at Grimm apologetically, then across the table. "Or Anne. We mustn't forget she has Anne's blood for certain, and Arielle's most likely. If the quill changes locations often, we have a better chance of keeping it safe."

Solemn nods bobbed around the table.

"Tindle, Dulci, Emile, Augustus, and Anne. It's time we prepare the people of Seagovia for what is to come. Chresedia bargained with Grimm to rule Seagovia, and we believe that is why she killed Fleurina. To open the way for Grimm to rule alongside her. We have yet to discern who her spies in the castle are, which leaves us with the only assumption that if she doesn't yet know that Grimm abdicated the throne and offered her a phoney alliance, she will soon. And Seagovia must be ready."

Tindle cursed so colourfully that Grimm tucked the crass phrases into his arsenal for future use.

"We've our assignments, then," Sorscha said. "What about you and the princeling?" She jutted out her chin with a sly, wholly inappropriate look at Grimm .

Agatha ignored her Sister's antics, but she was about to be very, very angry with him...

"Grimm and I will?—"

He stood abruptly, her words halted by the horrendous noise of his chair legs sliding against the floor. "We will be going to Achlys."

" What? " Agatha said at the same time Dulci, Tindle, and Winnie said something similar.

Sorscha let out a gleeful gasp as if she'd just heard the juiciest rumour in all of Midlerea. "You can both just pop on over there, can't you?" She looked around, bubbling with excitement. "It's your home, after all, Lord and Lady Magie de la Nuit."

Agatha looked to Grimm, incredulous, but it was Winnie who spoke next. "Does this give anyone else a migraine?" she asked rhetorically. "All the moving parts of this. Isn't it written that The Primordial is a he ? The original god before Hespa? You all make it sound like The Primordial is the Thirteen blessed by Hespa."

Winnie paused to rub at her temples, and Grimm considered doing the same. He'd been taught the same as a royal child in the Church, by the very Grand Magus sitting mute at their table.

Seleste cut in, "The Primordial being a singular he did not begin until the tightening of the Church's reins on government, and the rise of the patriarchy."

Grimm blinked at Sister Summer. "Well, aren't you full of surprises?"

A further surprise, Emile spoke up. "It was another ploy to erase the Sisters Solstice, I would presume."

He had a point there. But why ?

Seleste smiled warmly at Emile. "I'm inclined to agree. Prior to patriarchal indoctrination, the belief was that The Primordial is Hespa—Mother, Maiden, and Crone. Her essence was then parcelled out between the Thirteen gods and goddesses as She saw fit, creating the multi-faceted Primordial." She flourished a hand at Agatha and Grimm. "She gave of Herself."

Winnie still looked as if she had a lemon wedge in her mouth. "Right. Lord Night and Lady Magic are two of the Thirteen. And you have…what? Double Identities?" Laurent laughed at Winnie's exasperated comment, and she looked at him sidelong. "I can't keep up."

"Are you two people each?" Eleanor's face screwed up in thought with her interjection, looking at them down her nose. Grimm had oddly missed that insufferable sneer. "Or one god and one person…" She shrugged. "Albeit person is a liberal term for the likes of you two."

" Goddess bones ." Sorscha pushed into the conversation, leaning back in her chair to place her feet on the table, her ankles crossed. "I'd love to remember any of my past lives. I was no goddess, but surely I was something saucy and interesting."

Seleste put a hand on Sorscha's leg. "Perhaps we let Aggie continue now, Sister."

But Sorscha kept on going. No surprise there. "And weren't Talan, Hissa, Monarch, and Belfry just the names they wrote to us under? Are they two people as well, since they're your children?" She sniffed at Winne. "Damn. You're right. My head hurts."

" Enough ," Agatha snapped, irritation blooming on her cheeks in adorable red splotches. "No one is two people. We're Aggie and Grimm. That is all. We are who we are. As for our daughters… I—I don't know—" Her face fell, and Grimm jumped in.

"Our daughters were truly named Talan, Hissa, Monarch, and Belfry." He swallowed hard, refraining from mentioning that Belfry was Athania's family name. Alas, he knew Agatha could feel the pain twisted up in the name. "I assume that it was all another part of the mission to erase the Sisters Solstice from History, to claim they wrote under the names of their familiars."

Goddess, he was terrified of returning to Achlys. To return to more memories of his girls. What he had within him already was too much. Very nearly a physical pain.

Agatha gave him a cursory glance laced with concern and coloured by her own shades of fear. "Grimm is correct. We have to know more." Her voice was so soft. He pushed out love toward her, and she bolstered. "We need to better understand what's happened over the course of Chresedia's life and our own many lives. Achlys is the best place to do that, as it's in The Void."

"She was Lady War." Dulci's sudden comment sat neatly between a question and a statement, more disbelief than misunderstanding beneath it. "That is no small thing. But neither is leaving the country you lead, especially with"—she gave Grimm a sad quirk of her lips—"a queen fresh in the grave."

Grief tugged at Grimm's heart, followed swiftly by a pull to check on his father again. The man was gone to the world, driven mad by the draught and descending only further into madness since being weaned off of it. Shaking clear his worries, Grimm spoke, "I understand your concern, Dulci, but you all are more than capable of holding things down while we step away to do this. It's vital."

If Dulci's facial expression was any indication, she heard loud and clear that there was more he had not divulged, and she would soon come knocking on his door.

"Going to Achlys sounds fucking amazing to me," Sorscha drawled, picking at her nails.

Winnie smacked Sorscha's thigh. "Can you not act appropriately, at least for a council meeting?"

"I'd agree. Fucking amazing," Laurent uttered with a grin, and Winnie shot him a death glare. Clearing his throat, he straightened until his posture reminded Grimm just how much he respected the Druid leader…and his humour. "Chresedia is slick. She'll be preparing for the eclipse as well, but we cannot underestimate her."

Winnie looked from Laurent to Agatha. "True, but Dulcibella is also correct in her assessment that leaving here could pose a threat."

Agatha nodded. "Seagovia is at risk right now. Witchcraft has been reborn here, but it is still a fragile thing. Many are less than thrilled about its resurrection, and our absence could multiply that."

Grimm watched his wife's profile, feeling the cogs in her mind spinning as she sorted through decisions. He should have addressed the matter of Achlys with her privately prior to the meeting, but he'd frankly been curious to see how she would handle it being thrown at her. He would pay for that decision later by way of a fiery redhead on a tirade, but watching her lead was one of his favourite pastimes. And he was horribly anxious to see if it had always been one of them in their history together, as he had a sneaking suspicion it had been. Lacing his fingers together, he rested his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair.

Look at you, he murmured in the bond. You're a fucking goddess.

Her cheeks flushed again. Stop it. But she didn't turn to look at him, and he snorted.

Seleste gasped. "Are the two of you talking in your minds? Is that part of your bond?" She clapped her hands together, evidently having been watching them closely. No great shock there.

" Ew ," Sorscha grimaced.

"Your cunning is more remarkable than Agatha let on," Grimm said to Seleste, ignoring Sorscha.

"It makes sense, being who you both are," Seleste continued, completely ignoring Grimm . "How fascinating!"

"Can we please stay on task?" Tindle screeched, both hands splayed and tense, like he might strangle them all at any moment. "Goddess above! Yes, Seagovia is at risk right now, but obviously, the God of Night and Goddess of Magic should figure out what in Hades is going on." He rolled his eyes, ripping the glasses from his face with gusto. "This is drama at its finest, and frankly, we were all born to handle it. We can hold it down for a time, I assure you." He looked pointedly at von Fuchs. "Emile is the perfect person to be the face of Seagovia in your absence."

Grimm sat up, resting his arms on the table. "I don't think?—"

"All due respect, prince ," Tindle snapped, "but you have been gone quite a while. You made Aggie queen, and she set Emile in a place of trust for the people. In particular, the witches and warlocks living in this fine land. "

Grimm could feel his teeth beginning to grind together again.

"It began as a way to keep the public from thinking too hard about your and Fleurina's absence, but…and I hate to say this…Emile is a good man. The people are no longer on the draught, and he is a comfort to them in the seat of a leader."

Goddess help him, Agatha was nodding along.

This time, it was Anne who cut in. "They don't remember all the draught did to them," she said, "but they do remember their Grand Magus. They were made to believe he was wholly for them, and now"—she exchanged a small smile with Emile—"he truly is. And they know it."

A half-snarl, half-sigh escaped Grimm.

"They're right." At Agatha's simple words, he looked from his wife to Augustus, who nodded his agreement as well, and then to Dulci, who shrugged but gave her declaration of being in accord.

Grimm stood abruptly. "Fine. Von Fuchs, you have until nightfall to get us your detailed plan of how those of you on this council will keep Seagovia safe and at peace while we're gone." He could feel all their eyes on him, not the least of which was Seleste's. Probing. Searching. "Seleste," he bit out, not meaning to snap at her.

"Yes?"

He risked a glance at Agatha, eyes darting back to her cunning Sister Summer. "I would feel better if you were here, too."

Agatha looked at her boots, hiding a smirk, but he didn't have time to search their entanglement for why.

"Of course," Seleste answered diplomatically. "As soon as I ensure Amira is up to date with the happenings, I will return here. It would be my honour."

Everyone filed out of the room, Agatha watching Grimm closely the entire time.

"What?" he groaned when the door closed behind the others.

"Seleste's cunning got to you."

"Call me a believer," he snarked, pushing in his chair.

"And you trust my Sisters."

Grimm frowned at her. "Obviously. Court's still out on Sorscha, though." He reached out and pulled her up too fast, catching her when she fell into him. "Come on, little witch. I need you to occupy my mind while we await von Fuchs' plan, which I'll no doubt want to change."

"Ah." She kissed him hard and took his hand to lead him to the door. "Too bad you set me in charge, remember?"

"Oh, that's right." He bit his lip, oozing mockery. "And you have a coronation to prepare for, don't you?"

" Dammit ."

Grimm chuckled as she stomped out of the room.