"Who could have done this?" Lady Anna says in dismay at the sight of the destruction.
Taren is angry. Someone is terrorizing Ariele and he can't imagine who or why. For the most part Ariele is soft spoken and prefers the background to being the center of attention. Even if she does have Commander Grey not knowing which way is up. Enlightenment.
"I don't know who specifically but it seems that others have noticed just how caught Grey is with Ariele. This has the hand of a female in it." Taren voices his thought out loud.
Anna looks at him in exasperation. "This has a hand of a very jealous lady to it, but she didn't act alone. Not with this much damage. That's what I don't get, everyone knows Grey's womanizing, but never before has another female been attacked for it. And they know that when Grey takes on a protection detail that he doesn't sleep with those he protects. Usually it keeps him as far from them as he can get especially after the protection detail is done.
"So why this and why now?" Anna muses but still moves into the room.
"And more importantly where were the guards that should have been protecting the room?" That is what has Taren pressing his lips together in anger. He knows that Jeshua had sent replacements for the two guards that had been hurt or killed that morning.
Anna ignores his question and moves over to the bed. The pillows have been shredded and feathers added to the mayhem of the scene.
"Do we just try to sweep everything together and have it taken out?" Like Grey, Taren is overwhelmed and has no idea where to start.
"And waste all those dresses Grey made her? Nonsense. From the amount of material thrown about there must be at least twenty gowns here. I've never heard of Grey making that many dresses period let alone so many for just one person. But then again a female has never saved his life before either." She bats away at a feather that keeps trying to land on her nose.
"First order of business separate the materials. Let's get these pesky feathers out of the way. They're irritating me. Once the pillows are fixed up then we can start repairing the dresses." Soon they had piles of different materials placed around the room and Anna realizes that the feathers weren't just from the pillows. She fixes the mattress and uses all the feathers. She'll just have more pillows sent to their room.
Now that the feathers were taken care of she sets about repairing the dresses. That was more difficult. Each dress was unique. Some had more than one kind of material on it and each one had it's own unique designs.
Anna used the challenge like that of a puzzle. Every time she found a matching piece she put them together. Soon the pieces of material lessened and the individual pieces grew larger. When she could she put the larger pieces together and dresses started forming up under her eyes.
By the time she and Taren were done all the dresses were repaired, but when Anna sees the sad remains of the roses left scattered about her heart ached. Roses were or rather are Grey's specialty. For there to be so many the room had to have been filled.
She spies remains of vine roses and it makes her want to cry. Grey went out of his way to do this for Ariele. He's never given anyone so many roses before. At most he's given a dozen or so when he was really smitten, but nothing like this.
"I've never seen the Commander so in love with a woman." Taren says. "First dresses and then roses in such quantities."
Anna remembering about that morning understands far more, but says nothing. But she suspects that Taren is right, Grey is in love with Ariele and her heart aches for him.
She is going to miss Ariele a great deal when she dies, but for Grey, she suspects that it will kill him. Even if he chooses to not kill Ariele. She always suspected that when Grey finally fell for a woman that he would fall hard and there would be no turning back for him. That all the womanizing he had been doing for the last few centuries had been to find a woman that could capture and keep his heart.
And now he's found her and she's dying.
"Come on Taren, let's go." Anna says not wanting to cry and she will if they stay there any longer. Grey would be angry if he knew that she pitied him. She didn't want anyone to tell him that she cried at the roses and not with the dresses.
"But aren't we going to clean up the roses?" Taren doesn't understand why they aren't doing that as well. And he is dumbfounded at Anna's response.
She sends all the flowers flying into the tub. Any that survived the brutal destruction will therefore live and the rest it won't hurt. But even the spacious tub had a hard time holding all the roses and Anna all but flees the room to keep from crying.
Taren is confused and races after her. He is even more confused when Anna sends him to tell Grey that the room is taken care of and the dresses are repaired. He suspects that something has happened and it worries him. Now is not the time for the two cousins to be fighting.
Taren knocks on Grey's door and finds himself unaccountably nervous and practically jumps when Grey answers the door and he finds himself face to face with a glowering Commander.
"What?" is all Grey says but he's angry. He doesn't like Ari being upset like she was and the destruction of her things truly upset her.
"Anna wants you to know that the dresses are fixed and the room cleaned up. She wasn't sure what to do with the roses so she put them all in the tub to save any that she could. She thought you would want to know that so you could return when you were ready." Taren doesn't know why he phrased it like he did, but some of the anger left Grey's face as he talked and for that he's thankful.
"Some perhaps even most of the flowers couldn't be salvaged, but she didn't want to just sweep them up and throw them away. I don't know flowers good enough to tell what can and can't be saved." Grey's anger melts even more and Taren is thankful that it was good news he had brought and not bad.
"Thank you, and tell my cousin thank you as well." Taren is caught off guard as Grey pulls him into the room and shuts the door.
"Did I do something wrong Grey?" Taren is nervous. No one but Grey and now Lady Ariele and Jeshua have been inside the room since Grey took it over so long ago.
"No. Has Lady Anna talked to you yet?" Grey asks but then starts pacing in the small room which has the effect of making Taren claustrophobic.
"Grey, stop please you're making me sick." Ari says after a few rounds of pacing.
"Sorry Ari. You feeling any better?" Grey goes to her and kneels at her side.
"Yes, sorry to be such a bother." Ariele says then looks over at Taren. "Hello there Taren? Or should it be Commander?"
Taren smiles at her, "Taren is fine Ma'am. Grey's the commander not me."
"Oh, he doesn't know yet. I'm sorry Grey." Ari says stricken that she's the one to say something.
"It's alright. I was just going to tell him if Anna hadn't already." Grey smiles and helps her sit up.
"Well, I guess Anna hasn't talked to you yet. I'm no longer Captain Commander, you are. What I wanted to talk to you about is Jeshua. I think he'd make a fine second in command. I talked to him earlier but told him the decision would be yours." Grey smiles at the flabbergasted look on Taren's face.
"You're leaving the Command to me?" Taren is honored but at the same time horrified. They are days away from fighting a truly nasty opponent that out numbers them significantly.
"I've already resigned. Most of the responsibilities have already been transferred over to you since I was assigned protection of Ari here. This will just make it official. I'll still be here to consult with, but all the duties and responsibilities will be yours." Grey can no longer look at Taren. He's fighting demons inside himself. He's still angry with Anna, so very angry, but at the same time he's touched that Anna went to so much effort to fix the dresses and cleanup Ari's room. He's very thankful for that and it's hard to be thankful and angry at the same time.
Remembering Ari's words he allows the thankfulness to win and the anger dies down. It's not gone but at least he no longer hates his cousin like he did that morning.
"The fate of the castle isn't in your hands Taren. Grey here will decide the fate of everyone. It's a decision that he alone can make because it could mean his death. Don't question him on this."
"No, Ari that's not fair. It's a matter of selfishness and selflessness. I just have to decide which I am." Grey says bitterly. Looked at from that perspective there is nothing else he can do, but he's still fighting demons and he doesn't see a reason to share just then.
Taren looks from one to the other and is terribly confused. The other two are lost in thought and no longer paying him any attention. He gets up and goes to the door to let himself out but stops short of opening it.
"Uh, Grey, could you let me out please?" Taren asks a bit nervously. Grey sets his own locks on the door and some have been known to kill the unwary person foolish enough to try to open his door. Servants are known to walk on the other side of the corridor just to avoid accidentally touching his door.
Before Grey can do anything Ari asks, "Why do you mask your true appearance Taren?" Her words cause Taren to spin around and face her.
He slumps his shoulders in defeat. There was no blustering his way out of this one, not with his reaction there wasn't. "How did you know? I've been wearing this face for so long that I've forgotten what I truly look like."
"You look like Grey. Now why do you disguise yourself?" Ari isn't going to let him off the hook and now Grey is looking at him and the look is starting to get hostile.
Taren starts talking. The last thing he wants is Grey getting hostile in that small room.
"My mother was a servant here in the castle, that you already know." Grey nods impatiently. Ari didn't but she wasn't about to interrupt now.
"My father was a noble and took a fancy to my mother. Nobody pays much attention to the servants and so their affair was able to be kept secret. The hardest part was keeping the secret from the other servants.
"When she became pregnant with me, she was scared and nervous. The nobleman had already lost interest in her when she realized that she was going to have me. She didn't have the opportunity to tell him.
"Unless a noble talks to the servant, servants aren't allowed to approach a noble unless sent from another noble. Once he was no longer interested in her the noble wouldn't seek her out. It was like she was invisible to him once more.
"My mother didn't want trouble from the nobleman. So when I was born she disguised me when she realized just how much I look like my father. The noble never claimed me and for her to claim him as the father could have her punished. She never told anyone who my father was.
"She only told me when she was close to death. I promised her that I would keep up the disguise so that no one would know even though the noble was no longer alive. I didn't want any trouble from his family. Especially since the noble's son had become my friend."
Taren removes the disguise and his true form appears. Grey looks at him in shock. It was like looking in a mirror. "My father?"
Taren looks down and nods. He's afraid of Grey's reaction and so prepares himself, but still finds himself unprepared for what Grey does. Grey gives him a bear hug. "Damn you Taren why didn't you tell me?"
Taren feels the tears run down his cheeks but doesn't care. "I didn't want to shame you or worse yet you reject me. You've been my mentor and protector since I joined the guards. You saved me from the fate many other young men went through. How could I just tell you that you're my brother?"
Grey understands. Chances are that he wouldn't have believed him had he said anything. If it weren't for Ari's ability to see true he's not sure that he would believe him now either. But Ari said that they looked alike before so he can't doubt that it's true.
Besides his father was a womanizer worse then he himself is. He's just surprised that his father left a bastard. "I believe you Taren, it's just that father was careful to leave no children in his wake. At least that's what he said. And he told me to make sure that I did the same. As far as I know I haven't."
"As far as I know I'm his only by blow. Perhaps if he had stayed with my mother he would have made it so I didn't happen either but..." Taren shrugs.
Ariele smiles at the two siblings. At least something good came of her being here. She hates to interrupt but she wants to return to her room. "Ah, Grey, sorry to interrupt, but don't you think you should let your brother out now? He has other duties than to babysit me. And Taren you better put your disguise back on or people won't know who you are."
"Oh, right Ariele. Thank you." Taren puts his disguise on so quick that Grey just blinks.
"Maybe you could alter it a little each day so that people can get used to the resemblance slowly?" Ari suggests. She doesn't like lies and hiding behind masks is just another disguise, although she sees the necessity of this one. She still disapproves of Anna not riding herself of her mask.
Taren smiles at her and allows his hair to darken to Grey's sun bleached tones. Nothing drastic but closer to the truth.
Grey rumples Taren's hair as Taren smiles at him in childish delight. Then he unlocks the door and lets Taren out before resetting the locks. He knows that Ari has some questions and dreads them.
"Okay, out with it." Grey says wearily leaning against the door. The magic won't hurt him.
"What did he mean by protector?" Ari asks. Were there bullies in the military? Doesn't sound so far fetched to her. So she is rather surprised when Grey doesn't simply answer but instead goes up to her and whispers in her ear. What he tells her makes her gag.
"That's common practice?" Ari is dismayed. She hadn't realized that such things were okay.
Grey nods, "Those that have mentors are either the luckiest bastards alive or the unluckiest. Once someone has chosen someone to mentor the others will leave him strictly alone. But mentoring doesn't always mean protecting. I chose Taren because he would've been eaten alive had I not. The first time I called him to my office he was terrified. He's been loyal to me since."
"And you Grey? Were you mentored?" Ari asks.
"Yes, my father mentored me which meant strictly hands off. I could easily hold my own against other members of the guard so I didn't have to deal with the bullying that is so prevalent in the military. No matter how hard I tried though I couldn't stop the other practice." Grey is sad, for he knows many very angry men that had a great deal of promise but are so full of anger and hatred that they never reached their full potential.
That's when it hits him. That's what Ari was warning him about. The thought of becoming like one of those men sickens him.
"Grey are you all right?" Ari asks in concern at his sudden pallor.
"I'm fine Ari. I just need to sit down for a minute." He was going to sit at the table but Ari guides him to the bed. Grey flops down rather than sit and Ari sits next him far more gracefully.
"How do I forgive her Ari?" Grey asks truly wanting to know. He doesn't want the hatred in him anymore.
Ari had been waiting for the time when he truly wants to know and gives him the only answer she can. "I don't know." For she doesn't know how to forgive those that did the same thing to her.
"In my case the hatred is given to two people, my father and the queen. I'm not sure which I hold more anger towards. My father for betraying me like he did or the queen for ordering it to happen in the first place. But anger is pointless when the recipients of the anger are dead. I think I'm hurt now more than angry, at least at my father. I'm still working on my feelings about that bitch. As you can tell, I have a long way to go.
"But as for you, I think remembering the good about Anna will help. You love her. The main part of your anger is the betrayal you felt, maybe even still feel. Perhaps if you look at it from her point of view, she truly was just trying to help you and had no idea about the other." Ari shrugs helplessly and looks down.
"I don't have any answers to give you, I wish I did. I wish I knew how to erase the memory like you offered to me. But I don't." Ari lets the tears out for the pain she knows he's feeling.
"I do know that talking has helped me. It helped me clarify just who I was angriest at, myself. If I could have been faster or smarter, or looked more Aelven then maybe it wouldn't have all happened. But, none of that would have changed anything. The queen wanted sport so she made me the sport. How many times can the impure bastard take being raped? That's all it was, a game to her. I heard the queen kept a running tally of how many times outside the apartment I was raped. But she didn't dare keep recording devices in the apartment, my father would have exploded. So whatever her tally is, it's off by a lot."
Grey pulls her against his side and the two let healing tears fall together for some time. After a while Ariele pulls back, "I'm getting hungry. Could we get some food do you think?"
Grey fills a basin with water and offers it first to Ari. She washes her face in the soothing cool water before moving out of the way for Grey. Grey purifies and cools the water even further before using it.
"I told you before that using water that cold isn't healthy." Ari says as she starts seeing her breath in the air.
"I'm not bathing in it, but there will be far more questions if I show up with red eyes. Those I'm protecting quite often have red eyes so it doesn't matter if you have them." Grey says not meaning to be hurtful.
"Mean to all the females you guard are you?" Ari says more archly than she meant to.
"The females come on to me like fire on alcohol, Ari. My rule has always been hands off those I protect. They know this. It's why I'm hired by those that hire me. The females on the other hand take it as a personal challenge to get me into their bed. You are the only one successful in that particular design. Thank you for not pushing me or saying anything about it." Grey stops laving his face in the icy water when he can no longer feel his cheeks.
"I didn't tell Anna about anything like that. I promised you Grey that I wouldn't. I'm sorry that I told her about the rape though. That wasn't my secret to give." Ari knows how embarrassing it is for people to know that kind of secret.
Grey throws the towel on the table and returns to the bed. Picking up Ari's hand he holds it gently, "She needed to know why I have such feelings for her. If you hadn't told her things would have just gotten worse. We've had fights before and the guards are well versed on not entering if they hear fighting between us. Although that fight will make the book on fighting. If you hadn't stopped it, it's very likely I would have killed her."
"I'm not proud of that, but I am thankful to you once more for stopping me from doing that. I don't think even my anger could wash away the pain and guilt from that act." Grey says kissing her fingers.