Rise of the Warrior of Everfen

Chapter 68: Someone Cursed Like Me

"Wren," she pushed to her feet as he walked towards the door but he didn't acknowledge her at all. "My king!" She called but he disappeared from sight. Erinne stared after him, a mixture of emotions flitting through her mind before Cold Hammer sitting down drew her attention. He began eating again in silence.

.           .           .            .

Erinne felt uncomfortable. Not just because of the way the baby was kicking from inside the womb, but by everything here at the castle. Thunderfall, while beautiful, was not a welcoming atmosphere. Wren's state left her worried, hard glares from nobles in the hall made her irritated, and she wasn't sure she felt safe here. Especially with Khash's warnings in the back of her mind.

She still couldn't help but notice there was something off about Wren. His eyes gleamed with that greenish color when she knew they'd previously been blue. She'd seen the beast once before, though, and it had yellow eyes. She wondered if the green was due to the yellow trying to shine through. It seemed strange to focus so much on his eyes, but when she took note of other things, there was a lot that was different.

His physical appearance was far from the well-kempt man she'd once known. He'd always moved with a predator's grace, but now he walked with a raw edge, stiff and jerky, like a dire wolf backed into a corner. She didn't know how to explain these thoughts to Cold Hammer, so she kept them to herself, but his comments on Wren were already proof enough, he noticed, too.

"Are you sure he's safe up there?" Erinne questioned as they neared the bottom of a long stairwell. It was a difficult walk for her and she had one hand pressed against her belly as she took each step slow, her other hand tucked into Cold Hammer's elbow for assistance.

"He's fine."

"We don't even know the serving girl."

"He's sleeping, it's fine. All she has to do is sit there."

Erinne hesitated on a step as she got a pang in her stomach and Cold Hammer diligently paused with her, his other hand sweeping around to rest on her wrist to further assist her if needed. She waited, but she wasn't focused on the stomach pains, she was focused on the thoughts churning in her head and as the cramps passed, she looked up at her mate, "Do you think it's okay to use a serving girl?"

"What?"

"I was a slave..."

"She gets paid."

"Do you think they pay her well? Do they feed her—"

A voice reached up to them from the base of the stairs, filling the whole room. "I take good care of my subjects."

Erinne turned her eyes downward and saw Wren waiting for them. He had a cloak drawn tightly around him, a torch waiting on the nearby wall that made his eyes glitter and she had a sensation of hair raising on the back of her neck. She dismissed the feeling and said, "Do you, Wren? I don't feel well taken care of." He snorted and it was strangely human-like, the way he used to be, and it put her a little at ease and she descended the rest of the stairs. "Is my son safe with her?"

"She's too young to be completely tarnished by the hate that drives our races, but old enough to be responsible. She will do as she's instructed without issue, that's why I sent her to you." He explained with a patient tone, once more sounding more like the man she used to know than the one that had forced her to come here. He opened his arms and she spotted two mounds of cloth, one in each hand, and he held them out. "Please, take these."

"Cloaks?"

"We must walk outside."

"I'm not leaving my son—"