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-&-

Chapter 35

       He held the ruby out to me, it's dark, deep red glinting in the dim light as I glanced up at it. He raised one dark, perfect, eyebrow. "Would you like it back?" I paused, and watched the stone a moment before nodding. It was warm as I wrapped my fingers around the hard planes of its surface.

       "How are you feeling?" Eirik asked softly after I pulled the cord back over my head and tucked the stone beneath my nightgown. Its warmth seeped slowly along my skin, but it did not pulse like usual.

       "Better. I'm sorry for acting so crazy yesterday." I mumbled as an embarrassed flush rose to my cheeks. He gave me a soft smile as his fingers dropped back to my hair.

       "Don't be, you couldn't help it."

       I still frowned, even as those blues eyes gazed warmly down at me, and his strong fingers stroked my hair. "Did you find him?" I asked instead of lingering on my mental breakdown from the day before. The headache had slowly disappeared over night, but that didn't stop the odd shaking my whole body had undertaken.

       Eirik's small smile pulled into a frown as his fingers left my hair to stroke gently along my cheek. "No, but we picked up on his trail. It shouldn't be long now."

       Despite the reassurance in his tone, and the confidence shining in his eyes, unease still settled heavily in my stomach. Liberius was somewhere roaming free on the Mountain, and no doubt looking for some way to harness Adranus's power. If he could even find him.

       "When do you go out again?" I asked quietly as his fingers dropped to my jaw. His small smile turned into a concerned frown as he laid heavily beside me, his blue eyes soft.

       "After you are better."

       I let out a small sigh and tried not to shake my head as his hand left my jaw to readjust the blankets at my waist. I loved all the attention he was giving me, I truly, truly, was, but he was worse than a mother hen. Not that I had much experience with those.

       "I promise I'm not sick. It was just a ridiculous headache."

       "One I could feel. The bond only allows strong emotions and strenuous pain to pass from one mate to another. That was no ordinary headache, Emrie."

       My lips tugged down in a small pout, one I tried to hide as his eyes practically stared holes into the side of my head. "Do not be mad at Terif." I mumbled instead of lingering on my little episode. The less he knew how much of a head case I was, the better. "This wasn't his fault."

       After North had laid me down securely in the bed the night before, he had ranted and raved about Terif's 'carelessness'. As if my psychotic breakdown had been his fault. My head had still been in too much pain for me to say otherwise at the time. I watched those full, soft, lips of his pull into a frown, and his eyes darkened a shade.

       "He knows better than to act in such a way around you."

       I let out a long sigh before reaching up to run my hand through my hair that was resting against the pillow. "I asked him a stupid question that was none of my business, and he reacted as he should have."

       "That is no excuse for his lack of control."

       "He got mad, North. That does not mean he lost control. He didn't do anything to me."

       "He scared you."

       True, but he didn't do anything violent or aggressive besides digging holes into the stone sill of the window. "But he didn't hurt me. Whatever happened with my stone had." I mumbled, and reached absentmindedly for the ruby hidden beneath my clothes.

       Hearing Adranus's voice inside my head, as if he were there talking directly to me, was nerve wracking. It had felt as if he were there, inside my head, sifting through my thoughts and feelings. My mind was not made to be shared by two people, and my head wanted to explode because of it.

       Eirik didn't speak for a moment, and I could practically feel the tension strumming through him. Then he finally let out a long, drawn out sigh, and ran a heavy hand through his dark hair. "Alright, I will allow this indiscretion to pass."

       I didn't bother to argue with him about the 'indiscretion' part, it wasn't worth it. As long as he wasn't going to be upset at the General for something he did not do, then I would drop the matter.

       "Have you made a decision about Mae yet?"

       I hadn't seen much of her since we arrived back from the cave, but I knew she was doing alright. One of the Generals always kept an eye on her, even rotated shifts to do so.

       I liked to pretend that it was to keep her safe, but I knew it was only because North did not trust her. We exchanged a few messages through the servants, and she seemed content enough, even mentioned how large and elegant her rooms were.

       "She may stay as long as she does not present further problems."

       "Hm... Thank you." I murmured softly, my eyelids drooping as I turned on my side. It was still early, the sun had just barely started to rise, and I had been awake nearly all-night nursing that ridiculous headache.

       Eirik's dark chuckle filled the room, and wrapped around me like a warm, soft blanket. "Go back to sleep, dear one. I will see you for final meal." His voice was a soft whisper in my ear, and even though it brought butterflies to my stomach, I wanted to frown.

       "You are leaving?" I asked around a quiet yawn, my eyes drooping closed as the stone warmed against my chest.

       "Yes. If you believe you are well enough, I must go back down the Mountain. The sooner we find Liberius, the sooner we can be rid of him."

       I curled my fingers in the top of the thick blankets and pulled them to my chin to hide my pout. I didn't want him to leave so soon, even if I was close to falling asleep. I enjoyed his company too much, his presence. I never wanted him to leave.

       He laughed softly again before leaning over and pressing those soft lips to my forehead. My cheeks heated at the action.

       "I will be back before long, my Emrie. You just sleep away all your little worries."

       I wanted to scoff and roll my eyes as he started climbing out of the large four poster bed. When he had to decipher all the mayhem rummaging inside his head, then he could talk about 'little worries'.

-&-

       I decided to go for a walk the next time I woke. The sun was high in the sky, and Eirik had been gone for hours. My dreams had been silent for once, with no dark haired, red-eyed gods chuckling in amusement every ten seconds.

       It was nice waking up without my heart tearing in a thousand different ways.

       Like always, there were few servants traveling the many halls and passageways of the ginormous castle, an even fewer Generals. I ate lunch with Finn and Eildor, had a very brief conversation with Aleos, then set out to tour the halls I had traveled so many times before. But there was always something new to find.

       Maybe I could go visit Mae for a while. Aleos mentioned that Terif and Delos had gone with North to search the Mountain, which left Aeyron on Underling-watch-duty. I smiled and hopped down the grand staircase eagerly.

       I missed the large General and his amusing antics. Spending my day with he and Mae seemed like a good idea-

       "My lady."

       My head whipped around at the sound of his voice, at the voice I had prayed to never hear again. My heart hammered in my chest as the pair of yellow eyes gleamed over at me.

       It was obvious he had been scrounging in the woods for weeks. His hair was disheveled, his skin an ugly yellow that nearly matched that of his wide, slightly crazed, eyes.

       His long, dramatic dress robes were torn and ribbed in long jagged gashes, and even singed in some places. His skin had even thinned and sunken into his bones, as if he hadn't eaten as long as he'd been missing.

       If I wasn't so terrified of him, and of the look in his pale, yellow eyes, I would have felt sorry for him. He was supposed to be gone- missing down the Mountain somewhere. Eirik had been so sure he wasn't in the Kingdom anymore. And yet, here he was, smiling creepily up at me from the bottom of the staircase.

       "What are you doing here?" I tried to keep my voice even as he took a step up the stairs, one I matched with a step of my own.

       I didn't like that eager, insane look in his eyes, or the way his fingers tapped incessantly against the marble railing of the staircase. Despite his misshapen appearance, his face was alight in excitement, his eyes blazing a bright, manic yellow.

       "The time has come, dear Emerense. It is time you helped me find Adranus."

       I was shaking my head before he even finished speaking, my stomach twisting painfully as he took another step towards me.

       "No. I told you once before, I will not help you and your delusions."

       Before it was simply because I did not believe I could be some fallen star a god was desperately searching for. Now- now it was because this man was one hundred percent insane. And I knew Adranus existed, knew his power was real.

       "Actually, you will."

       I shrieked when he suddenly flashed to my side, his decrepit manner not slowing down his quick, snake-like movements one bit. That excitement in his gaze caused those yellow eyes to shine like the orange and yellow flames of the torches hanging high above us.

       I tried to jump away from him, my hand raising to smack the man silly if he drew any closer, but his own flew through the air and gripped tightly onto my arm before I could. I gasped at the bruising grip, his teeth gleaming down at me wickedly, and curled my other hand into a fist. For looking so feeble and weak, he sure was strong.

       "What are you doing?! Let go me right now! Aleos!" I shouted up the empty staircase. I hadn't seen the General in an hour, but he had to be wandering the castle somewhere. Someone should have heard my shriek.

       "Now, now, my lady. Keep quiet please. There are important matters we must attend to." His voice was sickly sweet in my ear, and his fingers curled as sharp as talons into my arm as he started dragging me down the stairs.

       My breathing quickened into panicked gasps, and my heart felt as if it would beat its way out of my chest. I could feel my cheeks growing hot in anger, and fear, but no matter how hard I tried to tug my arm out of the vile creature's grasp, or hit him viciously in his own, his hold did not budge. Even when I smacked him hard across the face, he hadn't seemed phased at all.

       "I'm not going anywhere with you! Let me go! North!" I screamed again, even though I knew he wasn't anywhere near. He wouldn't be back till the final meal, and the sun had just barely started to fall. But it didn't help when Liberius let out a chuckle with that sickly sweet, way too excited, voice of his.

       "The King and those other dogs are currently detained. I made sure of it. They won't bother us one bit."

       The panic shooting through me only grew at his words, and at the way a wicked smile pulled on his lips. What scared me the most though, was the stone resting casually against my chest. It was as cold as death, and held no pulsations simpering through it.

       That definitely wasn't good.

       "He will realize what you are doing!" I argued over my panted breathing as he continued to drag me down the large staircase, not a single other soul in sight. "And he will kill you before you get the chance-"

       "I highly doubt that. He's taking a rather long journey down the Mountain as we speak. We have plenty of time."

       My breath caught in my throat, which didn't help the panic sitting in my lungs. That trail he had found the day before, the one he was so certain would lead to the traitor's capture- "It was fake..."

       "Yes, yes all very fake." He nodded his head enthusiastically as we hit the main floor, then started dragging me down the hall. I thrashed and hit desperately at his thin figure, but that grip did not budge. "I believe we should be where we need to be before he realizes it. Despite those little magic tricks of his."

       "Where are you taking me?" I demanded between my struggles as he pulled me down the side hall, those fingers of his curling impossibly tight into my arm. "Just a little way down the Mountain." He announced cheerfully as he pulled me to a stop beside a serving door and pushed it open.

       "I already have everything set up, you will see. Oh, it's going to be amazing. Adranus will tremble at our feet."

       "No, no he won't!" I snapped as he yanked me through the small door and pushed me towards the tiny, old, and wooden staircase hidden behind it. "Adranus is too smart for you." I twisted around to sneer at him, my back towards the dark decent of the stairs.

       His teeth looked sharper in the darkness of the small room, and much more deadly. "Down the stairs, my lady." Was all he said before that grip forced me around again and pushed me towards the steps. I started down them grudgingly, that angry panic swelling in my chest.

       "Where is everyone?" I grumbled to myself as he followed closely behind me, his grip impossibly tight.

       "Off to a more interesting area of the castle. Magic can do wonderful things, you will soon see that too."

       He sent everyone away, even Aleos. Good Heavens, I needed North now more than ever.

       The small serving stairwell was dark, the only light coming from the one torch in the small room above us, and the one in an even smaller entryway below.

       "Walk faster. We don't have all day." He snapped into my ear, that sickly sweet excitement in his voice easing a notch the closer we got to the bottom of the stairs.

       He pushed the arm he was gripping forward, causing me to stumble down a step or two. I groaned as my body crashed into the stone wall, my head knocking a little against it. "Ouch..." I muttered and reached up with my free hand to press against the small knot forming on the side of my head.

       He didn't lean up on pushing me down the stairs.

       There was no room at the bottom of the steps, only a small entryway and door that matched the one a floor above us. There was a small, empty window in its top, sunlight shining through. Liberius didn't give me a chance to catch my breath before he pushed the door open and shoved me through.

       I had to blink as sunlight filled my vision, despite its dimming glow as it dropped behind the Mountain. This was not good. I stood blinking down the steep slope of the Mountain, Liberius's grip still tight as death as he fumbled behind us with the door knob, that disgusting voice of his mumbling incoherent words beneath his breath.

       I reached up with my free hand and pressed it against the stone hidden against my chest, the cold ruby that no longer seemed to thrive with life. It made my want to cry. Whenever it heated, North always seemed to be near. I wasn't sure if it was because he was my mate, or because of the part of his soul that was Adie's, but it comforted me nonetheless.

       The ruby was cold, and as silent as the gray clouds accumulating above us.

       My heart stuttered in my chest, and the panic sitting in my lungs grew as the monster tugged me away from the door, that malicious smile back on his raw, pale, lips.

       "Let us go conjure a god."

-&-

Let the games begin.