Alexander

As I suspected, having the celebrated tome of Fae lore laying before us does absolutely nothing to take the edge out of our tense shoulders, though it does give us something to pour ourselves into. I sent Lance away the moment that he handed the book to me, but he was tired enough to be grateful for the dismissal and argued none.

Since neither Illius nor I have the intention of getting any rest tonight, we sit side by side in front of the fireplace, using the light that it offers to read each and every page that we can before sunlight bleeds the room, finally signaling Bellamy's requested appearance. I do hope that his consideration of an early day is the same as mine and that he is not a late riser. I should learn everything that I need to before his feet hit the floor of his bedchamber.

A servant woman knocks softly on the door and brings the tea that I requested. She does not bat an eye at seeing my Captain and I sitting on the floor before a book that is large enough to knock a man unconscious with a weak swing, as many of my personal servants are accustomed to being called in the dead of the night, only to come to witness me doing many strange things. This servant seems relieved to see that tonight's activity is a quiet and clean one, however she says nothing as she keeps her head low and pours the tea before excusing herself.

I do not so much as glance up from the book's dusty pages, but Illius remains vigilant, even considering the distracting circumstance, and watches the servant from the moment she arrives to the second that the door closes behind her. He then shifts his weight to take one of the teacups from the tray that she has left behind and sat close enough for us to reach on the stone ledge of the fireplace. He takes a whiff of the steaming beverage before taking a sip of it. He waits a moment for any potential poison to take effect before nodding in approval and pressing the handle of the dainty cup into my patiently waiting fingers.

I breathe the steam that rolls from the contents of it in deeply, allowing it to sooth the dry itch that the wood smoke has left in my throat. I feel Illius' piercing gaze on me for a moment before he leans back in to see what I am reading.

"Aes Sídhe are nobles," I relay the new information to him, raising my eyes for long enough for a glance before going back to the words before me. "It seems that there are two different Courts of Aes Sídhe; the Night and the Day. I suppose it will describe the difference between the two somewhere. It would be nice to discern which one you are a member of."

Illius lowers his eyes to one of his hands and inspects either side of it as if it holds the answers. His expression is pained as he seems to think about something unpleasant, and he clenches his fingers until his knuckles turn as white as his hair.

I nudge him with a foot to get his attention, careful to avoid spilling my refreshment. "It is not as though it matters. You are still who you are, Illius, regardless of what this book says."

He offers a tired smile and nods. I am not certain if he really believes my words, though they do seem to ease whatever trouble he has on his mind. He reaches for his own cup of tea before looking back to the book, reading it over my shoulder. "Does it say anything about the qualities a, what is it... Aes Sídhe may have?"

I give him a withering look, but hold my current place with a finger and flip through the pages ahead, seeking out the information that he asks for. It only takes a moment for me to find it, and I begin to read it aloud. "'Aes Sídhe are approximately the same height as humans and have rounded ears. Pointed tips on the ears imply impure blood,'" I pause to look at Illius' ears, realizing that I have not really noticed anything off about them before.

Illius tucks his hair out of the way to offer an unobstructed view of his ear and tests the tip of it with his fingers. They meet smooth, rounded skin.

"Perhaps you come from a Royal family," I suggest, which earns me a displeased look from my companion. I shrug before continuing with the text. "'They have a delicate appearance with otherworldly beauty, making them striking specimens. They are typically seen with pale skin but may have hair and eye colors in any hue.'"

I pause again to discretely soak up Illius' appearance from the corner of my eye. Even though his eyes are lined by exhaustion, the passage certainly is correct about his features so far. Most of the reason why my Captain gains so much attention is that of his stunning face, more beautiful than any woman in the kingdom. It confuses many people, myself included, but has earned him many fans.

I clear my throat and continue. "'Like all Fae, Aes Sídhe will be burned by iron upon contact.' This whole time, I believed that you had an allergy to it," I confess, finding my ignorance a bit humorous. "'As any true Fae, Aes Sídhe are immortal. Unless slain, they cannot die of natural causes.'"

Illius seems to have stopped breathing as the last words leave my lips, stunned and unbelieving. "Immortal?" He echoes, staring down at his teacup, searching for the truth in the hot amber liquid.

I swallow hard, allowing the news to settle inside of my own brain. Illius is an immortal? That means that even when I age, he will not. That even when I die... He will not. I rest a hand between the pages of the tome, watching Illius as if I am really only just seeing him for the first time. Will he be alright if something happens to me? Our whole lives, all we have ever known is each other. Death suddenly feels very real, as if it is one of the shadows in the room behind me. It is not for myself that I worry, however.

The shade of Illius' skin matches his hair, seeming to realize the same thing that I have. His taut expression is the answer to my question, and he slowly raises his eyes to look at me. He swallows dryly, not fond of the revelation.

"Would you like me to stop?" I ask in lieu of my real inquiry, making to slide my hand from the pages that it marks and close it.

Illius worries his thumb over the lip of his delicate cup and shakes his head. "There is no sense in hiding from the truth, now is there? Even though we may not like the reality, it will still be true whether we accept it or not. It is better to know everything, no matter how unpleasant. I will not be a coward."

Immensely pleased with his response, I smile at him and push the book back open. I would have discontinued my verbal reading, though I had no intention of setting the book aside completely; If this documentation holds the information that describes who Illius truly is, there is no way that I would be able to simply ignore it. It is true that none of it will change my view of him as my brother, though these are important things about his physical being that at least one of us should be aware of. If, for example, Illius is ever arrested for whatever reason, I need to be certain that he will not be restrained with iron shackles or held behind iron bars. I am satisfied with his willingness to accept the necessity, even though it must be painful to hear.

I reach to touch his shoulder, expression my pride in him before continuing with the text. "It says that you should be able to use Glamour," I puzzle, glancing down at Sage.

The corners of Illius' mouth turn downward as he follows my eyes to the black beast on my lap. "Glamour, as in, Magic?"

"Assumtionally, unless you know of another sort," I affirm. "Perhaps we should attempt to locate the User who used Glamour on Sage. They may be able to teach you how to use it." 

Illius makes a face, uncertain. "Must I? Am I not able enough without it?" 

My expression softens and I offer a small smile at his child-like response. "Of course you are, Illius. You know that is not what I imply. I know that you oppose this abrupt change, though it is better to be educated, is it not? Do you not wish to discover all of your potentials? I will never force you to do something that you do not wish to do." 

Illius presses his lips together for a moment in thought before responding, seeming to weigh his options. "It would make me even more capable, I suppose. If I can become even more proficient at protecting you, I will comply."

I pat his shoulder to show my gratification. "You have become very sensible." 

"I have always been sensible," Illius claims, though he shows a playful smile, albeit a small one. The appearance of it flees my muscles of tension I was unaware of, making acknowledge that this situation does have an effect on me, as well. I feel exhaustion creeping into the freed space, tugging heavily at my eyelids.

Illius seems to notice this subtle change and releases a sigh, setting his teacup down. He places a hand on my head to mess my curls, pulling me closer to him. "It will be dawn soon enough. Perhaps we should try to rest for the remainder of the night. This will still be here when we wake," He gestures to the book in my hands as if it were a snake. 

I stare at the text in front of me until the lines blur together before reluctantly agreeing. Though I doubt that Illius will sleep, I cannot ignore the fact that my body needs the rest. Between the stress of this news and the breathing attacks from earlier in the day make my weariness transparent. 

When I open my eyes again, the first thing that I note is the faint blue light of the early morning creeping into the room. It is still dark enough that I have to squint as I search for the noise that woke me, only to realize that it was no sound at all. I relax back into the pillows behind me as I recall the dream that startled me from my sleep, grasping fervently at the memory before it fades completely into oblivion. 

Just like the one before, it had to do with Illius, though not the way that I know him. The dream was placed in the memory of the piebald mare from the stable, except that the beast that attacked her was not a beast at all, but a demonized version of Illius. I wipe a bead of sweat from my brow despite the cool temperature of the room and swallow thickly. It was nothing more than a fever dream, I tell myself. It was only a nightmare. 

I take a deep breath before sitting up, searching for my Captain in the darkened room. When I had fallen asleep, he was in the chair beside me that is now deserted. I push the blankets aside and lean over, touching the seat of the chair with my hand. It is cold, so it has been abandoned for an hour or more. I take a pair of thick socks from the small bedside table and slip them onto my cold feet before stepping out onto the stone of the floor. The fact that the fire has been allowed to die down so low implies that it has been even longer than the temperature of the chair can tell since he left. 

I heave a troubled sigh as I rebuild the fire. Once it is big enough to offer a bit of light, I search the room for the tome. As I anticipated, I find it laying on the mantle, right where I left it several hours ago. I call for warm water to be drawn for a quick bath before I go off searching for Illius. Since I heard nothing about Bellamy's intent to meet me here, I dress in clean clothes and begin the hunt for my Captain, refusing to entertain the memory of last nights dream. 

I am unsurprised to find Felix guarding the door when I exit my Chambers. "When did he call on you?" I prompt immediately in lieu of a greeting.

Felix, who had been standing half-asleep, startles at my sudden appearance. He clears his throat and answers as soon as my question is processed in his sleepy mind. "My Lord, forgive me. Captain Illius called me several hours ago. He did not offer his business to me." He adds, able to tell what my next inquiry will be.

I press my lips together and nod, motioning for him to follow me as I begin down the corridor. There is only a handful of places that Illius will be, so I decide to check the most likely location first. Surely enough, the sound of someone in the Training room confirms my hypothesis. What does surprise me, however, is that there are two people sparring instead of just one. 

Felix makes a sound that expresses his amazement when he steps into the doorway behind me but offers no comment.

Illius stands opposite Bellamy, who is sweating and out of breath but managing to hold his own. My Captain notices me immediately and relaxes his stance, signaling to Bellamy that he has every intention of pausing their practice. Bellamy makes a cross expression but follows suit, looking over to see what has caused the sudden reaction from Illius.

"Here you are," I raise my voice to be heard across the room, though the volume is not necessary as Illius is already making his way over to me. "You had me worried." 

Illius winces at my confession and reaches as if to touch me, but decides against it as Bellamy joins him in front of me. Instead, he bows and says, "I apologize, Sandy. I could not sleep." 

I wave a hand in dismissal of his explanation. "Fine. I knew where you would be," My eyes flicker to Bellamy, who is working on catching his breath from the rigorous sparring. Judging from his disheveled appearance, I would imagine that the two have been at it for quite some time. "How did this happen? I was under the impression that you did not fancy each other." 

Bellamy and Illius exchange disgusted looks, but my Captain is the first to speak. "We do not. I wanted to speak with him, that is all." 

I arch an eyebrow, waiting for an elaborating comment. It looks as though Bellamy challenged Illius to a duel in exchange for the responses to his questions, and if his current state can speak for him, it would say that he has given up many an answer already. "Did you find the answers that you needed?"

Illius keeps his gaze level with mine. "Partially. How are you feeling? You look much better." 

"Certainly," I say shortly, cutting my eyes to Bellamy and offering a tight smile. "Why don't you take a break and get yourself cleaned up? I would appreciate a conversation with you, I am sure you can deduce what about."

Bellamy wipes sweat from his eyes with his sleeve, looking as though he would like to argue simply for the sake of it. Eventually, he nods in compliance and hands Illius his wooden sword. "Fine. I will meet you at the entrance; I would very much like for the two of you to accompany me throughout the city this morning."  His simper is infuriating, but I bite back a comment on it. 

The moment that Bellamy shoulders past me and leaves the room, my smile drops and I fix Illius with my stare. "What did you learn?" 

Illius swallows, pushing a strand of loose hair from his face. He has pulled the long locks away from his face with a leather strap, but aside from his sloppy tail, he seems as pristine as ever, without so much as a single bead of sweat upon his forehead. I wonder to myself how I never considered Illius' background before, when I have, in fact, never seen him in disarray in my life. Come to think of it, I am certain that I have never seen so much as a scrape blemishing his skin, though it had never occurred to me before. I ponder what color his blood is if he were to bleed.  Would it be the same liquid silver as his eyes?

"I discovered some troubling news," He admits, having trouble with holding my gaze. "There is something that I have not told you about- Please, do not be angry with me." 

"Illius," I demand, voice like sword steel. "Look at me." 

He raises his eyes back to mine, expression pensive. "Do you remember that dream that you talk about yesterday?"

I frown, reminded of the similar one that I had just this morning. "Yes."

Illius thumbs at the hilt of one of the training swords, gaze wavering from mine. Whatever it is he is keeping from me, it is seriously trying his nerves. "It may be your intuition, rather than an active imagination."

-

Author's Note

I apologize for the sloppy content, I was behind with this chapter but still wanted to post the weekly update for you all. With that being said, I will point out that I have not reviewed this chapter at all before updating it because it was rushed, so I do apologize for any mistakes that may have escaped my attention. Please feel welcome to correct anything that you might find out of place and I will be sure to review it. 

I hope everyone is doing well! Also, Happy Valentine's day tomorrow! Is anyone doing anything special for themselves or a loved one? My baby has her fourth birthday tomorrow, and though she is a German Shepherd and not a human baby, she is still just like my child and I am very blessed to have her! I am baking her strawberry muffins to celebrate, as strawberries are her favorite. Anywho, I hope everyone has a good day tomorrow, even if you're spending it by yourself or working. Loving yourself is even more important than romance! 

Xoxo,

-A.