"You want him to kill me," Serena breathed out, horror making her limbs go numb, and the magic around her dissipate like a puddle on a scorching hot day.
Iliss held up a finger, eyebrows set high in amused arches. "Correction: he is going to kill you. It's all just a matter of when."
"He would never," she whispered, but she knew she was wrong as soon as the words left her mouth. The plan came to Serena in a rush; in her time being under Lady Iliss' control, she had gotten a pretty good grip on how the woman's mind worked, and she now saw exactly how she expected the next few days - or maybe just day, singular - to play out.
Before Serena left the forest tonight, Cade and Iliss would force her to drink the potion, like always. She would feel the blood magic burning through her veins, and her sense would leave her, her own thoughts being distorted in some places and completely replaced in others. Her will would flee, and Iliss' would dominate; whatever the lady willed would be done - until the curse wore off, that was, and they had to administer it to Serena again.
Unfortunately, that would not happen for many hours. Serena would be sent to Tarin, and she would convince him to pledge his everlasting service and love to her through a blood oath. He would not suspect anything; as much as she adored him, as cautious and wise as she knew that he was, she knew that she could get him to fall for the ploy. The thought made her sick, but it was true.
And then, once he was magically compelled to do whatever Serena wished him to do, she would bring him to the forest. Iliss had already told Serena that she would no longer be useful, which only meant that she would use the princess' new link with Tarin to her own advantage. Through Serena, she could command Tarin to engage in a similar blood oath with herself. Serena would not be able to resist ordering it of Tarin, and Tarin would not be able to resist the order at all. Once that was done, he would be nothing but Iliss' puppet.
Iliss was smiling; it was obvious that she could read what was occurring in Serena's mind just by watching the transformation of her face. "A blood oath is permanent and binding," she stated. "What we've been giving you only lasts a limited time, as you well know. But if someone willingly avows themselves to you through an offering of blood, there is no turning back. Since you have refused to do so with me, we have had to revert to a weaker, yet still effective, means."
Serena's mind worked fast. She had to think of a way out of this. "You haven't been able to order me into a blood oath while I'm under your stupid curse," she argued, grasping at straws. "Tarin is just as unlikely to--"
"Nobody can compel somebody else into a blood oath through magic, dear," Iliss cut in. "Which is why it is so crucial that we have you, his little lovebug, to simply woo him into one. And once he's under your spell, he will not be able to deny you anything. He will be plenty willing to follow your command to pledge himself to me."
Serena clenched her hands into fists. "I won't," she pledged. She did not know if it was a promise she could keep, but she knew that she had never wanted something so much. She could not hurt Tarin. She could not be the cause of more destruction. She could not bring about the end of her kingdom, maybe her race. She could not kill any more innocent people. She could not be this person anymore.
"The only way you can stop it is if you die before it comes to fruition," Iliss commented, and something about the remark humored her. "And while you have given that a valiant effort nearly every night, I think we all know that it's no use.
"However, I solemnly swear that I will give you a proper assassination once I have won over your dear knight. I've heard he has become very skilled in swift executions; unfortunately, I will make sure yours is long and terrible due to the troubles you have caused us. The years of pain I will allow Tarin to feel afterwards will just be a bonus."
Serena heard the creaking of a branch above her then, like a heavy weight had been applied to it. She tried to resist the urge to glance upwards, not wanting to draw Iliss' - or Cade's - attention to the sound. Neither of them seemed to notice, but she narrowed her eyes in thought. They were inside an enchantment that Iliss and Cade had become adept at creating together. While within its boundaries, no one dwelling in the forest outside of it would be able to either see nor hear their meeting. Conversely, they should not be able to hear outside sounds, either.
Which meant that whatever had moved that branch must have found its way inside of the protective enchantment.
It was just a feeling, but if it happened to be accurate, Serena could not let the opportunity go to waste. She - inconspicuously, she hoped - sent a tendril of her magic into the air, trying to sense what kind of creature she was dealing with. In the past week, her magical skills had increased tenfold as Iliss had trained her; the lady needed her to be capable enough to fool the castle guards and other Fae of Azure that she came into contact with, and so had no choice but to teach Serena some tricks of the trade. The princess had snatched any morsel of knowledge she could, hoping in some repressed corner of her heart that she would be able to use her newfound power to find a way out of Iliss' grasp.
"He told me once that you were obsessed with him," Serena said, trying to think of anything that might distract Iliss from noticing what she was doing. "This rejection must be really hard on you."
Iliss snickered, though her eyes narrowed into angrier slits than before. "I wouldn't feel too special, little princess. I'm not the one who will die by his hand."
Serena was about to make a snarky retort, something along the lines of we'll see, when her magic finally made contact with the magic of the Fae squatting up in the nearby tree. She yelped out loud, so surprised that the magic snapped back to her like a rubber band - though not before she had felt an invisible caress brush against her cheek.
She swallowed her cry and let loose a soft breath.
Tarin.
She struggled to regain her composure, but it was so hard when she knew that he was so close, that he was listening. But why was he not intervening? Did he think he was outmatched by Iliss and Cade? Did he know something that she did not?
She cast the thoughts from her mind. He was here, and he was hearing everything. That would be enough for now.
"And what if he finds out about all of this?" Serena asked, trying not to make it sound too deliberately loud. "What if he learns that the blood magic wears off every night, or figures out that you two are involved in all the Infernal events that have been happening?"
Iliss snorted. "He thinks I'm dead, little princess. We made sure of that. Besides, you don't know nearly everything; just what information we have deigned to give you."
Serena steeled herself, her mind going a million miles per second. She had to think hard about what she knew - what the most significant pieces of information Tarin could use were. It was just so difficult, with the hodgepodge her mind had become over the span of the past week.
"Well, I know some things," she countered, feeling her eyes light up as she remembered facts she knew to be true, not just some imagining caused by Iliss' tampering of her thoughts. "I know that your army base is under the water of that pond Tarin found, where you captured me and first forced me to drink the blood potion." She took a small step away from Iliss, though the latter had not moved; she seemed as though she was willing to humor Serena. She was so sure that her plan was foolproof...
"And I know that Pevana is on your side," she added, feeling sick at the thought. The queen of the Eternal Ones, the ruler of Perpetuum, the ally of the Realm of the Fae based on the new treaty, and the woman contracted as Serena's future mother-in-law... a traitor. A fraud. An Infernal.
She had first discovered Pevana's true leanings on that day, the day that everything changed. She had been perched in the tree, watching Tarin fight, and she had just wanted to help him. She aimed the bow he had given her and released an arrow, hoping to injure the Infernal who was attacking Tarin. She had felt a sharp pain in her shoulder when she struck Tarin instead, though she was not sure if it was real or imagined. She did not have time to fret as much as she would have, however, as that was when something powerful snatched her out of the tree. She did not feel any hands on her; just an overwhelming force of magic that she did not know how to begin to fight against. Before she knew it, she was submerged in water, and she could do nothing but hold her breath for dear life as she was pulled deeper. Whatever had her in its clutches was moving her so quickly that she had no hope of returning to the surface. She thought she would die right then.
Instead, she was suddenly pulled free of the water's embrace and thrown against solid ground. Groaning, she had rolled over and seen water above her, acting as some sort of ceiling for the cave-like room she had fallen into. She wondered if she had hit her head, or if she was actually seeing this inverted setting correctly. She remembered wondering how it would even be possible.
She was never given enough time to think. Infernals had grabbed her then, and though she had tried to put up a shield, she could not find the energy to focus on keeping it stable. Besides, she still felt another's magic in the air - probably the same person's who had dragged her down into this underground lair - and suspected that she would not be able to overpower it.
She was forcibly guided through damp stone hallways, her arms stiffly held behind her back the whole time. She had certainly tried to kick her captors with all her strength, and she never stopped attempting spells that might give her a chance at fleeing, but it seemed the more she attempted to use her magic, the weaker it got each time. Eventually she stopped trying, and it was not long afterwards that she was thrown into a large room. This one had not had a water ceiling; it was just a dark cavern, and there was just one person sitting in the one chair which occupied the room. Serena had recognized her.
Iliss.
She had not said much to Serena. Not yet. It was quite obvious even from this first meeting that the princess was not what she was ultimately interested in. She did enough, however, for Serena to realize that she was not only not a hostage of the Infernals, but one of the very leaders of their forces. For example, she had been fiddling around with something when Serena entered the room; it took a while before the princess realized it was her childhood circlet. How Iliss had it in her possession, Serena was not sure: the only thing that was obvious was that Iliss was involved in something dark, just as Eris had been. Perhaps they had even been accomplices at one point. Having just recently rejoined this magical world, Serena found it difficult to wrap her mind around such a deception, and she could not make sense of why it would have been necessary. She had not yet known what it was that Iliss wanted.
Upon being pinned to a tabletop and forced to swallow the lady's blood, Serena could infer that it was something very, very bad. She had found that she feared more for the people she cared about and ruled over than herself in that moment. She had not realized the way in which the tables would turn; the way in which Iliss would use her in order to hurt those very people.
She was made compliant through the mixture - it was infused with dark magic, as was explained to Serena the following night, when she awoke from the curse for the first time. Once Iliss was positive the potion had been successful, she created a Portal. Some deep part of Serena had wondered where it would land; surely some of the Fae, especially ones like the Wolves, would be trained enough to sense a Portal opening in their vicinity.
She was pushed through it on her own, and was immediately provided with the answer. Pevana was alone in the almost absurdly-large chambers she and her family had been given by Triana, and she was clearly awaiting Serena's arrival. The Portal closed behind the princess swiftly, and Pevana systematically picked up the few items that had fallen from her dresser as the power force had shaken the room. Serena could not remember much from their visit. Whenever under the curse, it was not just as if her mind could not think for itself - it was as if it did not exist at all. She said what she was told to say, did what she was told to do, and called up the memories in her own brain only when necessary to achieve the ends she had been ordered to achieve. She was a different person entirely, not even allowed to view her own actions from afar until the enchantment wore off, and everything she had done that day barraged her memory like the persistent claws of demons.
"So you do," Iliss murmured, though she did not seem bothered by the thought. In fact, she was smirking. "And what exactly are you planning to do with this information?"
Serena swallowed. She forced her expression to morph into one of frustrated defeat. She had to make Iliss think she was just rambling, searching for any means of avoiding what they wanted her to do. She could not let them know that Tarin was here. She had already hurt - killed - so many people. She could not hurt Tarin. Not Tarin.
"That's what I thought," Iliss responded, taking a few steps to close the distance between Serena and herself. Serena tried to hide the relief she felt in her eyes, which was not so hard to do while fear was taking over. As much as she despised being scared of these people, she could not deny that she was. There was so much at stake, and they held her own mind and body in the palm of their hands.
"We have more planned than you know, and more than you could ever hope to repress. But don't worry too much, Serena. You will be dead long before experiencing all the bounties of our victory."
Iliss smiled then and bent her fingers in Cade's direction. The lordling approached Serena with ropes in his hand, and despite her fear, she knew she had to try to get away. It was a blessing that she had been able to make Tarin more aware of the situation - and surely a miracle that he had found this clearing in the first place - but she did not want to put everything on his shoulders. She had to try to prevent any of it from happening if she had the chance.
So she closed her eyes for a brief moment and woke her magic from its slumber once more. Though she had little training in directing it, she had a feeling she was more naturally powerful than Cade had any right to be. Therefore, she shifted into a crouch in order to brace herself for whatever magic might answer her call, and let it loose.
She had been expecting Cade to be knocked off his feet, her only thought having been to get him away from her, but had not expected him to be thrown so far through the trees that Serena could not even hear his landing. The magic had simply roared past her ears, doing nothing to her but blowing her hair past her face as it went to unleash its fury on Cade.
It took her a few moments to realize that she had felt Tarin's magic join with hers, had felt its presence move past her as surely as if Tarin had moved up to stand beside her. She was grateful to him for risking his hiding spot in order to help her, of course, but any escape she made at the expense of Tarin's safety would make it entirely worthless. The Realm needed him as surely as she did, but she knew that even if she could speak to him right now, he would not heed her pleas to stay uninvolved.
Iliss' eyes were wide, but her surprise did not last very long. She pushed up her sleeves and glared at Serena as magic began to coalesce around her hands, as black as the night sky above them.
"Cade is weak, you royal brat," she remarked, one corner of her mouth pulling up into a smirk. "But I come from an ancient bloodline. Did Tarin never tell you?"
Damn her, Serena thought. Damn her to all the hells. Iliss had infiltrated Serena's own mind, had perhaps even seen all her childhood memories through her circlet before it was destroyed. She knew that Serena had an inherent curiosity she could not fight. Though she had magic at her back, and though she knew Iliss was trying to distract her from using it, she still could not resist the bait.
"Tell me what?" she demanded. She clenched her hands into fists, hardly feeling her nails digging into her palms as she did so - she supposed she had gained a higher tolerance for pain over the past few days. Cade had surely enjoyed tormenting her for her insurrection when she had attempted to drain the cursed blood from her body, after numbing her senses with the fairy juice. That had gone too far, of course, and everyone thought she had tried to kill herself, but--
"Why, that we're siblings, of course," Iliss answered, so calmly that Serena almost did not understand her words. "Agros was my father as surely as he was yours, dear. I can't believe Tarin kept that from you."
Serena dug her nails in deeper, not even stopping when she felt small trickles of blood make their way down between the crevices of her curled fingers. Don't listen to her, she urged herself, but it was too late. The few memories she had regarding Iliss were coming back to her, and Serena felt her hold on her magic weakening as her feeling of nausea increased.
"That's why he lets you call him by his name," she muttered, mostly to herself. It was the first place her mind went to: the apparition of Iliss that had appeared with a completely fake message for Tarin. It had bewildered Serena, the way the lady so casually called Tarin by his first name, the way he had so easily answered to it. Naturally, she had thought the worst, but a few days later, Tarin cast away her suspicions by telling her that while Iliss was indeed interested in him, it was not a mutual feeling. Apparently, however, there was more to Iliss' story than Tarin had felt the need to tell her...
Iliss grinned. She knew who Serena was referring to. "Part of the reason, yes. I'm a princess too, Serena, even if that old hag would never give me the rights of one. She could deny me a crown, but she could do nothing about the blood that runs through my veins."
"No..." Serena murmured, "He wouldn't lie to me."
To that, Iliss just snorted. Some part of Serena's mind wondered why the lady had not attacked her yet, but the thought was quickly cast off. "He lies to you all the time," she stated, and Serena's stomach lurched. "What do you think happened to that friend you brought into the Realm with you, huh? I'll bet you forgot all about her. And Tarin let you."
Lyla. The thought arrived at the same time as Serena's gasp. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, she asked permission to go back to the human world ages ago. And she was granted it. Guess who by?"
Serena narrowed her eyes. She did not want to fall into Iliss' trap. She knew the lady was just trying to turn her against Tarin, was just trying to sidetrack her from trying to get away. She was just so good at it...
"But why would he have wanted to keep that from me?" Serena wondered out loud.
Iliss' silver hair glinted as brightly as her eyes in the moonlight. "Probably because your friend demanded that you go along with her. Evidently, Tarin could not leave that decision up to you. He practically forced that poor girl through a Portal at that point. I heard there was a scuffle involved with some Eternal boy in her defense. Who knows what even happened to him? We all know that Tarin Wulf has no qualms about murdering innocent people. As long as it's for your good, right, Princess?"
Serena closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "This doesn't all sound like it's coming from someone who's had a crush on Tarin for years," she remarked, hoping to steer the conversation back to a topic she could control.
To her surprise, this comment just made Iliss' grin grow wider. "Oh, Serena... Tarin and I have a very special bond. If I didn't want to tell him about it first, I would relish in seeing your reaction to the news. I suppose you can always hope I decide to inform you before I decide to kill you, but I make no promises."
Serena opened her mouth to respond, but Iliss simply said, "That's enough talking," and the magic around her hands exploded outwards. Serena saw the smoke flying towards her, and she instinctively covered her eyes and shouted, having lost her grip on the magic that had waited too long for her direction. If Tarin was still above her, he did not send his magic down now; perhaps he had only thought it worth the risk when it could have passed off as her own powers.
Then Serena was surrounded by the black smoke, blinded by it all, and thus was not at all surprised that an even greater darkness soon welcomed her.
______________________
What you see will shock you, little warrior, and will cause you great emotion; however, you must stay hidden, and most importantly of all, you must not intervene nor let anybody know that you have discovered the truth.
Tarin had to repeat Muiress' words over and over to prevent himself from dropping into the clearing like an avenging angel and killing the two traitors in the most agonizing ways they deserved. He did not think Muiress warned him against doing so because she doubted his capabilities, and that was the thought that kept him high in the tree. There was more to this than just Iliss and Cade, and Muiress seemed to believe that their deaths would simply set more into motion. He would not take the ancient queen's words lightly; the princess' life was not a toy to him.
His anger seemed to have spent itself by that point. He felt his eyes well over as Cade snuck up behind Serena and knocked her out with a branch, felt the tears run down his cheeks as the lordling straddled his princess' waist and forced her mouth open just to pour a red concoction into it. The first tear struck the bark of the branch below him when Serena's eyes opened, and she jerked her head to the side only to begin screaming as if somebody was torturing her with a hundred knives. Her back arched off the ground, even with Cade's weight atop her, and her heels kicked and dug at the grass desperately. Iliss stepped forward, her hands hovering above Serena's outstretched arms. Tarin did not know if she was stifling the princess' magic or if she was keeping her pinned in place; perhaps it was both, as the princess stopped moving and seemed not to even try to use her magic against them. Maybe the potion was beginning to make her forget that she could.
The screams did not die. Even when Cade stuck the bottle back into the princess' mouth, she was still making sounds of intense suffering around it. When the bottle was empty, Cade placed either end against his palms and crushed it into powdered sand; the stuff twinkled as it alighted gently on the grass at his feet, barely noticeable and certainly not notable.
Serena shrieked for a bit longer after that, her body contorting in all directions now that Cade had gotten off of her. Tarin was reminded of the clear agony she had gone through while Holly was treating her arm wounds, and suddenly, another piece of the puzzle fell into place. One of these traitors had snuck the potion into her then. Serena had tried to get it out of her system, but they had acted quickly to get it back in. He wondered who had stolen into Holly's chambers to do it. Maybe Pevana? She was always in the castle and was not denied access to much. It would never be hard for anyone to come up with a reason to visit the curative wing. She would just have had to sneak into Holly's room and mix Iliss' potion in with one of the many Holly had used to treat Serena's injuries. It would have been easy. Easy, because Tarin had been fooled.
It's not my blood, Tarin. It's not my blood!
I'm sorry, Princess, he thought to himself, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as her screams finally died off. I'm so sorry for not knowing, for not understanding. I'm so sorry for letting this happen to you.
"Serena."
Tarin opened his eyes and glanced back down at his princess. She was on her knees again now, her head bowed to Iliss.
"Yes, your Highness?" she asked aloud, her voice back to the subservient, monotone Serena that only represented the temporary loss of his heart.
"It is late," Iliss replied, turning her back on Serena. She was clearly positive that the princess would put up no further fight. The fact that this had been going on for nearly a week now made Tarin feel utterly worthless.
"It is time for you to return to the castle. Go to Tarin's chambers. Convince him to take the oath, by whatever means necessary. Failure is not an option this time, little princess. If you fail to bind him to you, we will simply have you end him just as you did your mother. There is no more time for games. Do you understand?"
As Tarin watched, he noticed his princess' hesitation, almost as though there was an internal part of her that wished to fight such an order. However, if such a battle existed, the darkness inside of her won out.
Serena nodded. "I understand, your Highness."
"Good. Now get out of my sight. You are not my only meeting of the night," Iliss stated. And just like that, she left the clearing, though Cade remained. Tarin wished he could take off after her; he would have, normally - it was clearly of the utmost importance to figure out who else she was working with. However, Serena was about to head to his own room, and if he was not there when they fully expected him to be, it might raise suspicions. Besides, Muiress had told him what to do.
"Let's go, Serena," Cade said, his voice as smarmy and layered with poor intentions as always. "You wouldn't want to miss your last date with your lover."
Serena did not comment. She merely got to her feet and began walking, as smoothly as ever. No wonder Tarin had not suspected such a lie; the only thing that seemed off about her was her voice, and he had just assumed that she was withdrawn for all the reasons Holly had given him. Cade and Iliss had been playing a game indeed, and they had played it well. It made Tarin fear what was really next to come in their plans, if the time for games was over.
Once Cade left the radius of their spell, it died off. Tarin waited for his princess and her bodyguard to get a good distance away before taking a long route around them in order to avoid crossing their paths, or even their scents. He moved as quick as a deer, knowing he had to beat them back and yet still wishing he was the one by his princess' side. He did not even know what Cade was saying to her. Judging by his earlier insinuations, probably nothing very charming.
Tarin did not know how Serena normally entered the city again each night. Perhaps she just took her chances going through the gate, though that seemed unlikely to him, as the guards stationed there reported anything suspicious to their commanders, who reported back to Tarin. Surely the princess walking into the city from who-knows-where in the wee hours of morning each day would raise some kind of suspicion.
Curious, Tarin entered the city himself, smiling softly at the guard who ushered him inside and then paled in response to seeing who it was that he was gesturing to. Then Tarin moved out of the direct path he figured the princess would take if she indeed came in through the eastern gate, cloaking himself with magic to blend in with the shadows of the house beside him. He waited, and soon enough, he watched.
It was Cade that he noticed. The lordling was smirking like he had just won some sort of contest, his arm wrapped around a petite figure whose black cloak obscured all her features. She kept her head down, avoiding eye contact as Cade spoke to the nearest guard, but Tarin sensed her. His princess.
"I'm telling you, you've got to visit this place," Cade was saying. "I've gone almost every night since I found it. You get some good action for your money there."
The guard laughed and gestured towards the princess. "Yeah, you said that last night, my Lord. But how am I supposed to believe you when I'm never allowed to see her face?"
Tarin stiffened, but was forced to keep listening as Cade laughed in response. "Complete anonymity, guaranteed. Part of what makes it so fun, my good sir," he stated, then reached into a pocket and flipped a silver coin at the guard, who caught it with an expression of shock.
"There," Cade said, his eyes flashing with mirth. "Your first girl's on me. Now let me enjoy mine."
Tarin's anger came back to him like a storm, and upon seeing Cade slap his princess' rear as they began moving, he saw nothing but red. He dug his nails into the house wall beside him until he held a handful of wood chips in his hand, trying to pull himself together enough to continue his trip to the castle, preferably without killing Cade on the way.
By the time his vision returned to him, Cade and Serena were gone from his sight. This prompted Tarin to moving even faster than before, darting through the streets of Azure like he was being chased. He needed to get to his room before Serena did, and more than that, he needed to prepare for her arrival. Now that he knew what was going on, it was going to be hard to act normally with her. However, Muiress told him to pretend he knew nothing, and so he would. The queen had not been wrong about anything yet, so Tarin knew that his best chance of returning his princess to normal rested in following Muiress' instructions completely.
He assumed that Cade would not risk his disgusting roleplay with the castle guards themselves, and so he and the princess would most likely duck under the gate just as Serena had on her way out. Therefore, Tarin went through the main entrances, hoping that he would not cross paths with them. Of nearly anyone in the city, he probably raised the least amount of suspicion when out at any hour of night. Everyone knew he was often out on missions whenever he was not at his princess' side, and they had learned not to question his doings too much.
Tarin flew up to his room, and as usual, all the maids and guards he passed on the way reflexively moved to the side, as if the aura of his power was enough to shift them out of his path. He ignored their murmured greetings as he pushed open his bedroom door and shut it behind him just as quickly. He had not realized how hard he was breathing until then.
He leaned his back against the door and closed his eyes, focusing on creating a steady in-and-out pattern of breaths. He wondered what his princess was doing right now. Was she going to come straight to him? No, probably not... she would need to take off her cloak and dirtied clothes. She was covered in mud and blood, as well... no, if they still wanted to fool him, they would need to make it look as though she had just rolled out of bed. He did not know what she was planning on saying to him, what 'means' she would take to convince him to pledge his blood to her. What scared him was that he knew, even after everything he had just seen, that once his princess was with him once again and acting for all the world as if there was nobody she cared for more, he would be susceptible to her. He took in another deep breath.
Then he cast his doubts aside and stepped towards his mirror. His eyes were haunted, a grey that spoke of internal ghosts and a sadness that began deep in his soul and permeated the surface. He pulled his water bucket over and splashed water over his face, then passed his wet fingers through his hair. He had not noticed the dark circles under his eyes until now, but then again, he never cared much about his own reflection. He knew that most women found him attractive; it was obvious each time he was near one. There was a time when he would have welcomed their affections, sure, and possibly even when he would have taken advantage of his charm. He had matured since then. Now he knew his duties, and he saw a bigger picture. He knew what was important. He knew what he had to do.
And suddenly, he realized it had to be now.
Tarin ran back out of his room, nearly sending a passing maid into a wall as she frantically skittered out of his way. A few dishes fell from the tray she was carrying, and though he did not turn around, he sent back a tendril of magic to catch and replace them for the woman before they shattered. He heard her breath of relief as he leapt down the stairwell, not even bothering to use the individual steps in his haste. He was only guessing that Serena would clean herself off before coming to him; it was possible, he supposed, that she could come up with some excuse for looking as she currently did. He hoped the former would ring true, as a bath would take at least a few minutes: a few minutes that he desperately needed without the princess. He knew he could always come up with his own excuse for not being in his room, but he was not sure how well he could lie after all he had discovered tonight. He did not want to provide any cause for suspicion. Muiress had made it clear that his princess needed him. That his race needed him. He would not let them down.
He knew that Vice and Vex slept in the barracks. They could surely afford a house in the inner city if they wished, but Tarin suspected their lives revolved around their role as Wolves, and thus that they wanted to remain as close to the castle as possible. Tarin certainly called to them often enough for that to seem reasonable. Ambrose used to have to come from the house in the city he lived in with his father - not a long commute for a Fae, but not as convenient as the army barracks that sat behind the castle's back courtyard. Birches had his own house, too, which he shared with his family whom Tarin had only met once. Dallin, as far as Tarin knew, split his sleeping time between the barracks and Birches' house, depending on the night. He so often guarded inside the castle at night that having his own home would seem incredibly pointless, especially considering he did not have any family that he had ever thought worth mentioning. It had been quite clear for a while that Birches was a father figure to the youngest Wolf.
Tarin burst through the nearest door to the barracks and headed to the back right corner of the first floor. He knew which beds the twins had claimed, and also knew that there were empty ones surrounding them. The rest of the warriors were intimidated by them - intimidated by what they did not understand. There were even those who just envied the twins' high status, he was sure, as well as those of the rest of the Wolves'. Therefore, most people kept their distance from them, scared to draw out their anger or say something that could come off as an insult. Tarin had felt bad, in the past, by pulling his Wolves into that kind of limelight. He knew that by choosing them, he was setting them apart from the rest of their fellow warriors to a degree. He knew how it felt to be an outsider; ever since leaving Serenity Point, he had been unlike anybody else. He never fit in. By now, he had grown accustomed to it, and over the decades, turned it into a reputation of fear and fame. Nevertheless, sometimes he wished he had not had to foist the same process off on others he cared about.
Tarin stopped in front of the twins' bunk beds, watching them in silence for just a moment. Their hair was down, which he rarely saw: their bangs ruffled across their foreheads, their long locks thrown over a pillow, tossed over the mattress to hang down from above. He studied them, testing himself to see if he could recognize which was which twin without feeling it out with his magic. He normally based it off of their eyes and their smiles, neither of which was present in their sleep. He realized then that it would be pointless to try to figure it out this way for long; there was so little difference between them that he needed their personalities and expressions to wake from their slumber in order to figure it out.
"Vice," he whispered, his voice a sharp staccato. "Vex."
They woke instantly, and it was almost eerie, the way in which their eyes opened at the same time in the near-dark. The twin in the bottom bunk rolled even as the one in the top bunk dropped, and in no more than a second, Tarin was facing two alert master sorceresses.
"Sir," they both greeted, their palms opening at their sides to allow for their swords to zoom into them as if of the weapons' own accord. Tarin was amazed at the synchronicity of the two as their magic worked to pull both their heads of hair into ponytails; it was truly as if they were each reflections of the other, and it all happened as if neither twin realized it. There must be some subconscious mental connection between them that allowed for such similarities, such as the one Tarin had with Serena that their magic provided them with. He had assumed such a theory was true for a long time, though neither Vice nor Vex had ever been able to give him a solid answer regarding it - or perhaps they just did not want to.
"I need all the Wolves to meet me in the dungeon immediately," he stated. "One of you get Birches, the other can get Da--"
"I'm here, Sir."
Tarin blinked and turned towards the voice. Dallin was indeed standing at the end of the bed just across from the twins', his knives already in place. Well, Tarin supposed, at least there is one Fae who isn't too scared to sleep near the twins. At least they all have each other.
The thought pleased him just as suddenly as it dispirited him.
"Good," he said, refusing to get shaken up. "Then you get Birches and bring him to the cells. Now. Vice and Vex, come with me."
Nobody asked questions. Dallin darted away before Tarin had even finished speaking, and the latter led the twins out right behind him. If the twins wondered why he had given them such an early morning wake-up call, they did not ask. They simply remained at his heels as he swept through the courtyard and into the castle. The night guards bowed their heads to him in respect as he moved past them, and he only so much as stumbled when he saw one guard sleeping at his post. Tarin scowled and cast a spell at a decorative suit of armor from ages ago as he passed by; the metal seemed to come to life then and marched towards the sleeper. Tarin had it angle its sword at the warrior, but by then, he and the twins had reached the end of the hallway, and he had to move on. He figured that would provide a good surprise for the guard when he woke up, and if it did not teach him a lesson, Tarin would come back to provide a better one later.
They twisted and turned through the rest of the halls that stood between them and their destination, passing nobody but guards on their way, for which Tarin was thankful. If a guest of the castle was wandering about, it could raise more questions or waste more time than he wanted. Though he knew many of these guards liked to spread rumors about what they had seen at their posts, especially when they were looped, he was not too worried about them. They had his wrath to fear. Those who were high enough in status to be guests of the castle, such as the Eternal royal family, or Fae nobles... well, they had a certain power themselves, and Tarin would be lying if he said he did not sometimes fear what their influence could do.
Memories threatened to plague him as he threw himself down the staircase and into the depths of the dungeon. When Serena had come down here without him all those years ago only to run back to him in tears from what she had seen and heard. When he had tortured Zeskel for what he had done to his princess, making him wish he was dead before actually having him boiled alive in the public square. The many times he and Triana both had interrogated Eris, trying to get more answers while still afraid that hurting the Eternal woman would result in Serena herself being harmed in the human world. When Serena had insisted on killing Eris herself, and Tarin had been forced to stand aside as his princess strode into a cell with the woman who had nearly taken her from him forever.
He stopped in front of Ambrose's cell, and the twins froze behind him in kind.
He sucked in a deep breath, and he saw Ambrose squirm, his bloodshot eyes open.
Then Tarin unlocked the door.