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“Did you not hear me!?” Shadows curled between us. I cared little for the hurt that pinched at Myrinn’s face. She had kept me from him.I could have… I could…
Cold, trembling hands reached up and traced softly across the skin of my jaw. “Faenir… calm yourself down.”
Myrinn broke into a sob as she looked down at the boy beneath us. I did the same, unable to truly believe that his touch was real.
“I am okay,” Arlo forced out. I did not believe him, but those three words gathered the broken parts of my soul and did wonders to stitch them together again.
“Oh, my darling.” My head fell upon his stomach, and I allowed myself to melt into him. “I thought I had lost you.”
Bloodied hands gathered in my hair and held on tight. I feared if I looked up the entire chamber would see tears forming in my eyes. They could not see. It was a weakness that I did not desire having attached to my name.
“Arlo has lost a lot of blood,” Myrinn recounted aloud as though her thoughts had no limit. She looked up from Arlo, cheeks flushed as she cried out to the watching crowd, “Someone, call for a healer, now!”
A shadow passed across us; in my muddled thoughts I believed it was one of my own, untilitspoke. “I have had one sent for.”
I ripped my head from Arlo’s stomach and looked up to see Haldor. Sudden, devouring anger had me standing. No matter the death my touch could cause him, Haldor did not step back.
“I did not know,” Haldor said quickly, grimacing as his eyes flicked down towards Arlo for a moment. “Faenir, I promise you; this has nothing to do with me.”
I did not know what to believe. Thinking of anything but Arlo took strength, and I was void of it. In my eyes every person here was responsible. I should never have agreed to come. It was a mistake. One of my gravest.
“Look at me,” said the broken, crackling voice beneath me. Arlo tried to sit himself up. Seeing the steely resolve across his face as he grimaced in pain made my knees week. “I am fine,” he lied. “It’s just a small scratch.”
“A scratch would not cause such a spill of blood,” Myrinn replied, her voice soft as she echoed my thoughts.
I could barely stand to look at Arlo, not as my mind began pointing the blame back at myself. Seeing him in such a way felt as though glass had puncturedmychest over and over. I wished for nothing but to steal him into my arms and return to Haxton.
We would never leave again.
Unable to look at Arlo, I focused my fury upon the human girl instead. Her body was unconscious across the side of the room, the glow of life still prevalent around her.The last one who tried to harm Arlo had died before I could question him. This time would be different.
Arlo’s blood covered hand reached for Myrinn and pulled her down towards him. Jealousy flared within me, but their closeness lasted only a moment.
“He wishes for me to take him to the healer.” Myrinn was already helping Arlo from the floor. Her expression had altered, hardening into a mask to hide something beneath. It was something I was all too familiar with.Secrets.
“Absolutely not,” I growled, causing those who watched from the outskirts of the room to step back.
“Faenir, Myrinn.” Queen Claria cut through the crowd, the tear-streaked face of Frila racing behind. Gildir followed with a hand upon his sword.Little too late for weapons now.“I demand an explanation.Now.”
“Samantha.” Haldor put himself between us, his body acting as a shield, not that I required it. For the first time I felt no fear looking upon my grandmother; there was no room for such a feeling when only anger dwelled within me. “My human attacked him. I saw it—”
“You’ve ruined my day!” Frila screamed, stamping her feet like a child. “My Joining has been marked by your presence and now you caused this.”
“Swallow your tongue, girl,” Myrinn snapped, silencing Frila from making another comment that would encourage me to truly ruin her event.
Claria could not hide her half smile. “Hestill lives I see.”
“Dissatisfied?” I asked.
Haldor raised a hand to stop me from saying, or doing, anything else.
“It would seem your presence is a bad omen, cousin.” It was Gildir’s turn to add in his opinion. All the while their words did not affect me; those weapons dulled years ago.
Claria ignored my comment, instead pinning her attention to Myrinn. “Take the boy to a healer and see that he is fit and well. Haldor, gather your mate and the rest of you will meet us in the council hall. The Joining is over.”
With the aid of Gildir’s arm for support, Claria turned to face the crowd who still watched. “Thank you,” she forced a smile that did little but accentuate the deep wrinkles across her displeasing face, “for coming.”
Arlo was draped across Myrinn’s shoulder. His gaze was unfocused, pinned to something unimportant on the floor as he was lost and confused.
