Post 12

Eithna checked his pulse again, only the steady beating of his heart reassuring her that Arius lived on. It had been close to a candlemark now, with no change from Arius. His eyes stayed open, staring blankly up at the ceiling. He was motionless and his skin had lost its flush, and indeed all color. Only the throbbing blue tattoos continued to match his pulse. Rayna and Jared stood nearby ready to help if they could only figure out how. They had already tried to wake him unsuccessfully several times now. At this point, Eithna felt all they could do was wait.

Finally he shuddered and breath surged into long-empty lungs and they all three jumped. He coughed, throat dry, and Rayna hurried to the pitcher to pour him a cup of water, only to stare in dismay at the empty place that it belonged since Jared had thrown it in Arius’ face earlier. She hesitated, then mumbled something about fetching water from the kitchens, and ducked from the room. Eithna reached out shakily to help him to sit up, until he waved her away.

“What happened?” His voice was scratchy. There was awareness in his gray eye this time when he looked at her.

“You- you had another- another attack, I guess. I don’t know what else to call it. It was as if you were sleeping and dreaming again, but your eyes were open.”

“I was dreaming…” He reached up a trembling hand to rub the back of his neck. He couldn’t remember what it was, but it was important. Flashes of gray… dark cloaks… He squeezed his eyes shut, and then they popped open. “My patch!”

Eithna winced. “I’m sorry, we had to remove it.” She scrambled beside the bed, looking for it. She found it and tried to slip it onto his head, but he waved her away with feeble hands and slid it into place himself. His hair was still damp, but it was the look in his good eye that caught at her. “Are you all right now, Arius?”

He nodded slowly, avoiding her green eyes. “I think so. I can’t remember-.” He shuddered and took another deep breath. “It was important, I know it was.” His gaze turned inward. “I can’t seem to remember… something…” It was just within his grasp, but he couldn’t quite grab it. Strange symbols seemed etched into the backs of his eyelids, swirls and a crescent moon… He shuddered again. “I don’t know.”

With a deep breath, Eithna reached out to trace a gentle fingertip across his tattoos. The blue lights had disappeared from his skin, but the inked marks seemed to shimmer beneath the skin. He jumped at her touch, and then his eye widened as he took in his changed tattoos. He pushed himself to a sitting position, twisting to look at his shoulders and back. “What happened?”

Eithna explain in detail, with Jared interjecting here and there. By the time she was done with the story, Rayna had returned, eyes wide, holding a steaming mug. She swallowed hard and approached his bed cautiously. “I brought hot water, for one the brews Ari told me you had made for him.”

Eithna nodded firmly. “That’s an excellent idea. It’s getting late, sleep is what’s best.”

Arius shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t want to sleep. I really don’t. But I’d like the water, all the same.” Crowds kneeling to him…

Rayna handed him the mug, placing her hands alongside his as he took it from her. He gave her a questioning look, but she just shrugged a little and gave him a tremulous smile. She stepped back and let him drink. Piles of ashes… He shuddered and tried to shake off the strange feelings crawling across his skin.

Eithna and Jared both started to talk at the same time, and they stuttered to a stop together. Jared motioned for Eithna to speak first, but she just shook her head and so he spoke instead. “Arius, is this the first time this has happened while you were awake?”

He started to say that it was, but then hesitated. “Actually, no. It’s happened twice before while I was wide awake. The first was-.” He swallowed hard and met Eithna’s curious green eyes. “The first was while I was boar hunting. I was terrified, facing a boar alone. The feelings started to happen, and it tore my attention from the boar. He gored me while I was distracted. I didn’t even realize I was injured until I came to.”

Eithna gasped, her eyes going to the faint scar across his ribs where she had pressed the hot knife blade so long ago. Arius nodded and continued. “The second time happened when you came to visit Kayli when she was pregnant, and I was riding. I remember I was upset, angry that you were there.” He was distracted both times, more than he had ever been in his life. Was there a connection there?

Rayna inhaled sharply then echoed his thoughts. “You were distracted both times, then.”

He winced, but nodded. Surely there had to be a connection. To the best of his knowledge, the dreams typically waited for him to sleep.

“And otherwise this has only happened while you were sleeping?”

He nodded again, a thoughtful look coming into his eye. “You’re right. And tonight, I was so frustrated-.” He bit it off, glancing at Eithna, who blushed in shameful embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Eithna, but you were certainly pushing in where it was not necessary for you to go.”

Eithna nodded. “I’m sorry, Arius. I’m really sorry. I didn’t have any right, and I owe all three of you an apology. I guess that even though I thought I had moved on from you completely, at least a small part of me hadn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I was infatuated with you, clearly. But I really do love Jared, he’s a wonderful man and more than I deserve.” Jared reached out to grasp her hand supportively, a message of forgiveness clear in his eyes.

Rayna stood and began to pace. “What do the tattoos mean, Arius?”

“What do they mean?” She’d caught him unawares with her sudden shift in topics. He glanced down his chest at the marks and shrugged. “I don’t know, actually. I designed them. I think I used to dream about them. I think,” he frowned, “I used to dream about them.” He looked up to meet Jared’s gaze squarely. “I used to dream about them. I remember that clearly now. I can’t remember the context, but I know that much at least.”

Jared nodded. “Can you remember anything else? You spoke, the first time you woke.”

Arius’ brow furrowed as he thought hard. He didn’t remember waking before. He remembered the dream within the dream- had he been awake? “I spoke? What did I say?”

Jared hesitated. “You said that someone told you to be ready.”

Eithna chopped her free hand through the air. “No, he said ‘become ready.’ You said someone told you to become ready.”

“Become…” He frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense. Did I say anything else?” Time seemed to jump ahead and he suddenly saw himself standing between two towering columns…

Eithna shook her head. “You were almost delirious. Then you collapsed and it started again. You weren’t even breathing Arius!”

He shuddered and his face cleared. “All right. Obviously this isn’t going to answer itself. I’ll have to-.” He paused, eye clouding a little. “I’ll have to seek the answers.” Then he shook his head again and his jaw firmed. “Never mind. We have invitations to go over, right?”

Rayna stopped her incessant pacing, turning to face him squarely. “Invitations? They aren’t important, Ari.”

He scooted to the edge of the bed, swinging his legs off and forcing them to hold him upright as he stood. He walked slowly to the cupboard where his clothing was kept, and pulled a soft white linen shirt out. He shrugged into it, checking to be sure his tattoos weren’t showing through the thin fabric, and then he tied the neck closed and faced the three of them. “What’s important right now is finishing what I have to do to save Ragged Valley. That’s what is important. My whole life has been dedicated to saving these people, and I mean to…” He faded off again, gaze turned inward. “I mean to save my people.” Then he met each of their hesitant stares determinedly. “I mean to go on as we’ve planned, and do what I need to do.”

“We’ll leave you be, then.” Jared tugged Eithna in the direction of the door. She made him pause in the doorway so she could turn an imploring gaze toward Rayna.

“Lady Fairhaven, Rayna, please, take care of him. I know he’s not mine, I do. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about him, and it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about what happens to him.”

Arius opened his mouth to speak, and Rayna gave him a firm look that shut him up. She turned to face Eithna squarely. “I care about him as well, Eithna. I promise to be careful with him, and I promise to do what I can to take care of him.”

Arius grumbled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck irritably. “I can damn well take care of myself.” Why were women so interfering? He was a grown man, after all.

Rayna cast him a fond look. “I’m sure you can, my dear.”

Eithna’s smile was full of relief and she mouthed a “thank you” to Rayna as Jared pulled her from the room, probably hoping he didn’t see it. But he did.

Arius looked at Rayna sheepishly. “I’m sorry, again. I can’t say it enough times. It might be best if you don’t share my suite after all.”

She raised her fine blond brows and her brown eyes sparkled, a hidden message in their depths. “Is that what you really want?”

“What I want?” He looked startled. “Of course not; but this isn’t about what I want, it’s about what’s best for you.” Didn’t she see that? What if he hurt her?

“Let me decide what is best for me, Ari.” She glided across the room and slipped her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek against his chest. “Mmm… Your tattoos are warm. Not unbearable, but certainly warm.” She snuggled into the soft linen of his shirt as he wrapped his arms around her. “I think what’s best is being with you right now.” She glanced up at his worried face with a sly grin. “Besides, you still have so much to learn.”

He had the good grace to blush before he leaned down to kiss her. “The invitations can wait until the morning.”

Arius felt rested and refreshed the next morning as he dressed and settled at the table in his sitting room to break his fast with hot biscuits and thick gravy. Rayna had gone to arrange for her belongings to be delivered to his suite, and would be rejoining him shortly. He flipped idly through the tidy stack of parchments they had abandoned last night, thankful for his ability to read the hand printed invitations to various events. There were at least two score, from neighbors near and far alike. He wasn’t sure how so many had reached them so quickly, but all were addressed to either him specifically or to both he and ‘Lady Fairhaven.’ Clearly they had been designated as a couple, and satisfaction swept over him at reading their names beside each other. It was probably childish, like a young miss writing her crush’s name over and over again, but it pleased him nonetheless. He was just getting ready to set aside the documents when one name seemed to jump from the invitations. He growled and snatched the parchment up, glaring at it as if it were a snake coiled to bite him.

He only dimly heard the door open behind him as he read over the neat handwriting. Rayna plucked it from his hand and dropped it to the table, settling herself in his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. She pouted prettily at him. “Whose invitation has made you so upset?”

He wiped the scowl from his face and nuzzled her neck gently, hiding his fury. “No one’s.” He could not tell her why the invitation from Lord Beys had upset him so much. He nipped her soft skin lightly, and she yelped and then giggled, pushing his head away from her cleavage.

“None of that, now; we still have plenty of work to do.” She settled into the chair across from him and reached for one of his biscuits, nibbling on it while she sorted the invitations into piles on the table. He admired her pretty blue dress, especially the low-cut front, where he’d buried his face the night before. “Here we are. We can fit several teas into one afternoon, although we will have to skip lunch after sipping all sorts of the poorly brewed stuff. Some of these things are simply too far away to bother, although we could make an overnight trip of a few of them, the ones that aren’t too far away; although I simply don’t see the point in traveling for days simply to attend a ball. It’s rather ridiculous, actually, unless we were already traveling. Hmm…” She picked up one pile, shuffling through the invitations until she had one in particular. “This is interesting, actually.”

“What is?” He was poking through another pile, looking for the parchment she’d taken from his hand. He was making a supreme effort to seem casual while he tried to tamp down the anger roaring through his blood.

“This is.” She hummed softly, tapping her lips with one fingertip. “He rarely holds any events, at least not in the last six summers or so. I wonder what brought this on.”

He leaned over to see what was in her hand, and froze at the familiar handwriting. She glanced up at him, and was startled at the intensity in his gaze. She carefully set the document down, and folded her hands neatly across the top of it. “All right, spill it.”

Arius met her gaze squarely. “Spill what?”

“What is it about this particular invitation that has you so annoyed?”

He swallowed hard, considered outright lying to her for the first time, and then dropped his gaze, unable to hide the dark glint in his eye. “It’s from Lord Beys. He’s not a very nice man.”

“You could say that, yes. Actually, I think you could say he’s quite the demon in flesh, but what does that have to do with you?”

He looked up again, but wouldn’t meet her gaze, certain if he did she would see his desire for murder. “I believe that a few of our residents in Ragged Valley have escaped from him over the years.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t blame them in the least. He’s despicable, but he’s also very powerful. My first instinct was to refuse this invitation, even though he is one of Lord Wensellas’ closer neighbors. Do you think we should attend?”

Arius wanted to say ‘yes,’ just for the chance to get close to the man. Maybe close enough to slit his throat. He growled a little at the thought. Then he shook himself and faced her squarely yet again. “No, I think it best if we don’t. It’s best if we don’t...” He ground his teeth, seemed to realize what he was doing, and then visibly relaxed. “It’s best I not be in the same room with him, especially not on his own turf.”

“Well, he rarely entertains, which is why I was surprised to see an invitation from him. Hopefully that means we won’t cross paths, but I have to warn you now, if this means he is socializing, then I cannot make you any guarantees that we will never encounter him.”

He thought about that, and then nodded carefully. Maybe they would meet on a darkened pathway. It would be simple to hide a dagger in his coat, even if Rayna wouldn’t allow him to carry his sword. “I think I can control myself if we do cross paths.”

She smiled brightly. “Of course you can.” She set the invitation into its own pile so she could send a note to decline, and then picked up another pile. “Do you have any preferences on what type of events you’d like to attend?”

He shrugged, trying to set the thought of Lord Beys aside as easily as she had the parchment. Slowly, gradually, the anger trickled away and he was able to cram it back into the shadowy recesses of his mind. “They will all be miserable, I think, when I’d rather be here snuggled up with you.”

Rayna laughed prettily, inciting a grin from him. “You are just so adorable. Locking ourselves up in our suite all day and night won’t accomplish what you came here for. Although it would be pleasant, wouldn’t it?”

She had said ‘our suite’ and he loved the sound of it from her lips. His grin turned wolfish, and she laughed again. “Oh, Ari. All right, I’ll choose the events. You simply have to attend, and endure them.”

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