Coillen stands, startling Rowan for a moment. But he strides into the water and turns so he can knell in the riverbed before her. A pulse of magic bursts out from him and Rowan can feel its purpose. To hide them from outside eyes. He stretches his hands out towards her, cupping her cheeks. She can feel the slight trembling of his hands, and it only causes more tears to slide down her cheeks. He's hurting. Coillen tries to hide it, but he's in pain inside. He wipes away one of Rowan's tears with his thumb and murmurs to her.

"Rae, you are stronger than you know. You are strong enough to do this."

Rowan shakes her head. "But I'm not." She hiccups out a sob. "I'm not strong. I feel like I'm crumbling further every day."

Coillen sighs. "You aren't crumbling, you're shifting, changing. You are being tempered in the fire, Rae."

"How do you know?"

He gives her a small smile. "How many months have you been fighting the Seelie Lord?"

"I wouldn't call it fighting."

Coillen gives her a piercing look. "Answer the question, Rae."

"Fine. Four months now . . . I think?"

"And how quickly did you have to adjust?"

Rowan sighs, her brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "I had almost no time at all. What is this about?"

Coillen just flashes her a secretive smile. "You haven't broken in all this time, Rae. If you were going to, you would have done so already."

"But how can you be sure I won't break?"

"I can feel it, Rae. Besides, think about the prophecy." Rowan's frown deepens. "It said you were going to succeed, yes?"

"I suppose."

"That's all the proof you need. Rae, the prophecies tell you that you will succeed, so how can you doubt yourself?"

She smiles weakly "How are you so good at this?"

"It isn't just humans who have these problems." He shrugs. "And before I became king I had friends who would talk to me about these things."

Rowan frowns. "They don't anymore?"

Coillen shakes his head. "Not so much. My friends feel that my responsibilities now are large enough that they shouldn't burden me further, and I suppose they also feel intimidated now. We've drifted."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We knew what was coming, we saw the signs that my father was fading. Although, I wish he would have hung on for a century more."

"Why?"

He looks past Rowan at the trees for a moment. When he looks back at her, his eyes are full of sadness. "Because then I could have stayed with you and your mother. Now," Coillen stands. "I believe you should go back home and reassure your mother, she's likely a bit worried about what you might be doing out here in your nightclothes."

Rowan flushes and looks down at the waterlogged cloth. Her mind had been so full of terror and she had been so desperate to escape that she hadn't realized what she was doing. The cotton might be ruined now. Rowan sighs and gets to her feet, using one of her runestones to pull the water out.

It streams off of her in a long chain, gathering together in a ball. Once every last drop is gone from the material, she lets the ball fall back into the river. A few droplets splash back towards her, but she dodges them immediately. Coillen nods in approval from in front of her, a grin on his face.

"Very clever." His gaze flickers upwards for a moment, and when he looks back at Rowan, regret lines his face. "Our time is up. My court has noticed my absence."

"They can't handle a single second without you, can they?"

Coillen laughs. "I suppose they've grown dependent, but the courts have always been this way. Very intent on knowing the location and goals of their rulers."

"But you'll be alright?"

He nods. "I have eighteen years of practice dodging the court as King, a century dodging them as their prince. Now go talk to your mother, Rae."

He stalks past Rowan into the trees. Rowan twists to watch him go, but between one step and the next, he all but fades from view, only the gleaming of his antlers remaining in sight. A step further, and he truly disappears. Rowan glances at the river, watching it pick up in speed due to the rising sun like it had done so long ago, soon after she first met Andrian.

It feels like longer than four months, a lifetime even. But if Coillen is right, today will be the last day she has to fear what the Seelie Lord has done. That has to be a good thing. She has to believe him and let the day do what it will. With a sigh, Rowan turns away from the river and begins to walk home.
———————————————————————————————————————-
I give y'all full permission to go silver-tongue and pull Coillen out for a moment to hug him.

What do you think of this? What do you think of the new pieces of Coillen's story? How will Arwen react when Rowan gets back? What's going to happen next? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~ Goddess of Fate, signing out