Without even asking her, Tertius could see he wasn't going to make any progress at all attempting to convince Trinity to get to sleep, or even rest her eyes for a few moments. He could see the stubborn set of her mouth, and the deliberate burn of rebellion in her sapphire eyes, and heaved a deep sigh of resignation as he conceded defeat.
"Will you at least take a bath while we wait?" he asked her quietly, frowning at her, his silver eyes worried as they roamed over her face.
She hesitated, and he saw the tiniest window of opportunity and murmured,
"It would be good to at least unwind a little, and then you can go sit with Catherine, alright?"
Unwind, she thought, fighting the urge to grimace. If he really thought a hot bath would help her unwind after all this, she might have to teach him otherwise. No amount of hot water, no matter how comfortable it was, was going to make her relax in the slightest tonight. Still, it wouldn't hurt anything to clean herself up, since she felt disgusting from the sweat of walking around all day, and her sore feet ached and could probably stand a little soaking.
"Alright," she murmured, sighing softly and pushing a hand through her hair, leaving her ivory bangs to fall untamed into her face. "And then I sit with Cat, and no one argues with me about it. I mean it."
"I'll spread the word," he said with a wan smile, and she couldn't help but give one back, though it stretched her face to the point she thought it might shatter like porcelain.
"Especially to Glitch," she told him as he slipped away from her, rising to his feet, "Because I know he'll hassle me otherwise."
"Not when you're liable to tear my head off, I won't," said a wary voice from the corner, and she glanced around to see the aforementioned knight reclining against the wall, ankles and arms crossed. His violet eyes were narrowed at her, as if challenging her to come near him, but she could see a faint glimmer of sympathy as he took in her tear stained cheeks and puffy red eyes. "I might be a tad slow on the uptake, but I am not outright stupid. Just because the shark happens to have been well fed beforehand doesn't mean I'm going to stick my hand in the tank because it's 'safe'. I rather like having all my appendages adhered to my body in the appropriate manner, thanks."
Trinity found herself grinning weakly at him, and he offered a small smile in return, though it didn't quite reach his dark eyes.
"Just remember that if you decide you want to nag me about it," she warned him, and he gave a mocking salute.
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," he said, smirking, and she rolled her eyes at the ceiling.
"Bath?" Tertius prompted her when she didn't stand up from the couch.
"I'm going," she sighed, pushing herself up from the couch, giving him a rather stern look, "Don't you start nagging. I'm just as likely to bite you as I am him if you push the wrong buttons."
"See, but he's smarter than me," Glitch told her with a rather impish grin. "He knows just what buttons to push. I light them all up and hope nothing spontaneously combusts right in my face."
"And does that usually work?" she asked tiredly, taking Tertius's hand as the Iron knight led her gently over to the bathroom door.
"No, not really," Glitch admitted with a little shrug and a snort. "But that's because I leave the button pushing to Tertius, so I completely cancel out all possibility of things blowing up in my face. I should also mention I like having my nose and my eyebrows where they're supposed to be."
"I can't wait until you get married or something, Glitch," Trinity sighed in half-hearted amusement, still not quite herself as she paused outside the bathroom, looking back at him, "And then you're going to be all on your own and Tertius won't be able to help you."
"He has fixed that problem as well, as a matter of fact," Tertius explained before Glitch could answer, "He intends to live an eternal bachelor and save himself the trouble."
"You mean he's going to play chicken," she corrected Tertius with a little smirk thrown in Glitch's direction, "And not take the risk."
"There's not always something to be gained from risk taking," Glitch informed her with a little sniff, turning his nose up, "Haven't you heard of venturing on the side of caution? It works just as well if not better."
"But what's life without a little risk every now and again?" Trinity asked, winking at the knight, who snorted.
"A hell of a lot safer, from what I understand," he told her dryly. "Now, go take your shower, before Tertius has a nervous breakdown. Look at the poor bastard! He's dancing on the spot with worry"
Trinity glanced over at Tertius, just for her own merits, and smirked to find he was standing perfectly still beside her, not quite tense but not altogether relaxed either, and most certainly not dancing on the spot. At least not physically. His silver eyes spoke volumes as far as his concern went, and she could see it in the lines showing on his forehead, and couldn't stop herself from gently reaching up with a finger to try and smooth those lines away.
"You'll get wrinkles that way," she told him quietly, "Immortal or not, you can still get wrinkles, and I don't think they'd suit you all that well, do you?"
"I do not think they would, no," he murmured, giving the smallest of smiles as he gently circled her wrist with his fingers, drawing her hand away from his forehead, "So perhaps you could go take that bath I was suggesting and at least try to unwind."
"What is so important about me taking a bath?" she had to ask, a little amused and slightly annoyed with his persistence, "You treat it like it is some magical cure for my worry."
"Queen Meghan often takes baths when she is concerned or upset," he explained in his low voice, brushing his soft lips over her knuckles so she felt butterflies soaring in her gut. "I thought that perhaps it is a way that you humans try to heal your mind."
"You take baths, don't you?" she asked him, a little bewildered and unsteady as he turned her hand over to brush a kiss over the inside of her wrist.
"I do," he agreed, blinking silver eyes at her.
"And why do you take them?" she asked.
"To get clean, I would hope," he said, the faintest smirk toying with the edges of his mouth as he pressed a kiss to the center of her palm.
"But do they ever calm you down when you're worried or upset?" she ventured, trying to keep her head from spinning like a top as every caress of his lips sent little darts of fire shooting off in her bloodstream.
"I am never worried," he replied succinctly, "Or, at least I have never been before now."
"What changed?" she asked, tilting her head slightly at him, a frown on her face.
"I didn't have anyone to worry about when I am not with them," he said softly, and her heart gave a rather loud thud as his molten silver eyes locked on hers, "Or even when I am with them, but you seem to have triggered a new sense in me, so perhaps I will have to experiment with that soon. I would rather like not to have to worry so often, but I would sooner worry knowing it meant I was thinking of you than not."
That had to be the most seductive pick-up line she had ever heard…Damn him for that, how did he do that?! Wasn't she trying to be upset and worried and all the rest of it? She was supposed to be thinking about Cat and how she needed to be there for Cat, but all of a sudden she was having some trouble thinking about anything but how Tertius's eyes seemed to be causing a volcanic effect somewhere in her chest, sending her heart pounding and lava trickling through her veins so she felt all of a sudden very hot, all over.
"I need to take a bath," she mumbled then, feeling her cheeks burn red as she slipped her hand out of his, feeling her skin tingle from where his lips had touched.
"That would be a good idea," he agreed, stepping back and gesturing towards the door as she turned swiftly away from him.
She glanced back at him once as she pushed through the bathroom door, and, finding his burning silver eyes boring into her she cleared her throat, stepped through the door, and pushed it firmly shut behind her, leaning back against it with one hand over her heart and the other over her face as she slumped to the floor, breathing hard through her nose.
"How the hell," she muttered to herself, feeling her face burning beneath her fingertips, "Does he fucking do that?!"
She really wished she knew, because she would do it right back to him if she could. It wasn't fair that he was the one who could get her all hot and bothered, though she would never admit it in those words, even under threat of death, and she couldn't even begin to get him to feel even a little flustered. Or, at least that's what she thought…
On the other side of the door, gazing thoughtfully ahead of him, Tertius didn't quite notice he was being scrutinized until he finally turned away from the bathroom with a sigh to find Glitch giving him a rather deliberate smirk from the wall.
Tertius's eyebrows shot up as he met his comrade's amused violet gaze, but Glitch merely smirked even more broadly than before, shook his head once and looked in a different direction, feigning interest in a small carving on the wall next to him.
"What, Glitch?" Tertius inquired, walking slowly over to drop into one of the stools at the round dining table situated in the miniscule kitchen area.
"I didn't say anything," Glitch said, and Tertius had to resist the urge to glare as he realized his friend was pulling the ignorance card.
"No, but you were most certainly thinking something, and I for one would love to hear what it was," Tertius informed him curtly, narrowing silver eyes at his companion, who snickered in spite of himself. "Out with it, Glitch, what is so funny at a time like this?"
"You seduced her into taking a bath," Glitch told him, clearly amused at the thought, shaking his head as he chortled.
"I did no such thing," said Tertius coldly, glaring.
"You did so, even if you don't realize it," Glitch argued, still grinning, "You might not have been trying to seduce her into the bathroom, but that's sure as hell how it worked. She could barely keep her feet. You can't tell me you couldn't see the steam coming off her face when you gave her those pretty little bedroom eyes of yours."
He batted his lashes for dramatic emphasis, laughing when Tertius gave him a disgusted look.
"You have no shame," Tertius informed him, still grimacing as he turned away from his partner.
"Neither do you, apparently, but I don't get on your case about it," Glitch told him, chuckling under his breath.
"That is different, you have no shame regarding other people," Tertius told him, sighing.
"And you have no shame seducing Trinity, who, shockingly, is another person," Glitch said with a gasp of feigned shock, to which Tertius merely glared at him. "Alright, Tertius, lighten up, man, you know I'm just playing with you."
Tertius did know, of course, but at the moment he was still a little wound up to really be thinking about it. There was just so much on his mind now that hadn't been there before, and he hadn't really considered until that exact moment just how truthfully he had told Trinity that he had never had anything to worry about before now. Where before he had only considered the problems ahead of him as an obstacle that required him to overcome it, he now saw the problems before him like a hideous beast that could render him into strips if he miss stepped. He had real concerns to think of, like Catherine's collapse, and Trinity's fear. Things he had never contemplated that would ever concern him before. But they did now…and if it were not for the fact that he was so intent on trying to figure out how to fix these problems, he would probably detest the fact he had anything to worry about.
For the longest time, he had been a knight, doing his duties as ordered without any type of hindrance to keep him from accomplishing his tasks. He had never stopped to think over the different things that could go wrong, only assessing them as they came and adjusting to meet whatever new need happened along. But things were different now. Now he had someone else involved, someone he worried for… If Trinity hadn't been involved in this from the beginning, he would probably be the same person he had always been, but that wasn't who he was anymore. He might still be a knight, but he was no longer detached from his surroundings, a silent observer. He was now a participant in the plays going on around him, and he felt he finally understood what Trinity had been telling him before about she couldn't just stand by and watch things like this happen, even if she had no other alternative.
Already, he was frustrated with his inability to fix the problems at hand. He felt useless, helpless even, and that kind of powerlessness left him burning with resentment. He was not used to being thwarted, and even when he was it was for a very good reason. This time was not the same. He was being kept at bay, and for a totally unacceptable reason. He did not like hearing there was nothing to be done, though before now he might have accepted that statement as it was and gone on with his life, but here, now, seeing Trinity struggling in the midst of her pain and fear for Catherine, he felt it was a blasphemy of some kind to idly step back and agree with the philosophy that there was nothing they could do, even if he himself had to be the one to say it. It really felt like a betrayal, and he detested it. Even if he could not do anything for Catherine, he felt he should at least be able to do something for Trinity, but he couldn't. He could only sit, and watch. Of course, he had always sat and watched, and it had never pestered him, but now it made him itch to get up and do something. Anything at all… Why the hell could he not do something to help Trinity?
"You have your think face on," murmured Glitch quietly to his left, stirring him from his reverie. "I can see the wheels turning, Tertius, and they're jammed. If you keep working yourself like that, you'll only overheat."
"I can't just sit here like this," sighed Tertius, lifting a hand to cover his tired eyes, taking momentary relief in the pitch blackness as he jammed the heel of his hands into his eyes, watching white stars wink and dance across his vision.
"I know what you mean, but there's nothing we can do for now," Glitch murmured, and Tertius felt a stab of annoyance to hear those words.
"I am also growing very tired of having to hear those words," he murmured to Glitch, who frowned at his comrade as Tertius finally dropped his hands from his eyes, "Even when I say them, they make me sick. How long will I have to keep telling Trinity that? That there is nothing we can do?"
"Not forever," Glitch reassured him, "But it is the only answer we can give for now. Until we find Wrath, that is all we can say, because that is all we can do."
Tertius didn't reply, feeling too annoyed to think he would manage anything really wise or helpful, and simply settled for brooding in silence until a quiet movement in the doorway of Catherine's room had him lifting his head to see Puck appearing in the room, Nikki cradled in his arms. The girl had her eyes closed, and she looked to be asleep, but Puck was speaking softly to her under his breath, and she answered back, though as quietly as they were speaking Tertius couldn't quite make out just what the two were talking about, and a moment later he lost sight of them as Puck carried Nikki away into another of the adjoined bedrooms, knocking the door shut behind him with a bare foot. He found himself frowning after them, feeling a small tug in his heart that he didn't quite understand. Perhaps it was envy, he thought dully, sighing and lowering his silver eyes to the table in front of him, not really seeing it. For as long as he'd known the little troupe, it had been easy to see from the start that Puck and Nikki had something together, even before they themselves really knew it. Puck was there for Nikki when she needed him, and he made her laugh and smile.
Tertius supposed he was envious that he couldn't do that for Trinity, despite how easy it should have been. Puck could easily do something so simple for Nikki, even in a time like this when nothing else could be done he was there for her, and she let him be there. Trinity let Tertius be there, but in his way he felt it wasn't quite the same. He wanted to do more for her than what he was, and he didn't seem to be doing it at all. He was just…there…and she almost seemed to be as alone as if he weren't. Sure, he suspected there was more comfort with him there than if he weren't, but looking at Trinity, seeing the strong, independent woman she was, even when she was on the verge like this, made him feel as though he wasn't quite the supportive beam she needed. She could easily handle herself, even at the times when he felt like he should tell her otherwise, but she was strong. The daughter of a powerful and very revered general, and even if she didn't think she lived up to her father's legacy, Tertius could plainly see that she outstripped her father in ways no other fey could ever have hoped to. So where did that leave him, really?
Did a woman as powerful and willful as that really have room for someone like him? Before, he'd thought he was strong, powerful, dependable, even, but now he kind of felt belittled. He knew it wasn't through anyone's fault or insecurities but his own that he felt that way, because Trinity would never purposely do something like that to anyone. He wasn't going to be presumptuous enough to say "especially him" though his mind almost automatically did it for him, but he managed to stop himself just short of he thought, shaking it off. He knew Trinity cared for him, but they hadn't known each other very long yet, and seen each other even less. This was actually the first time since the venture to find Catherine—when they had first met—that he'd been able to physically see her outside of the boundaries of Arcadia. He didn't quite count Elysium as seeing her because then they'd been under the eyes of Oberon and the rest of the Summer Court, and he hadn't been able to be as close to her as he'd wished. But here was different. They could be close here, outside of the watchful, hounding eyes of the courts, but it almost felt as though, in a way, the closeness had put them farther apart, at least in respects of their capabilities.
He knew his strengths, his abilities…what he could and couldn't do… He didn't know Trinity… He thought he might have gotten a glimpse of the power in her when they'd met before, but he knew he was wrong now. She was strong, stronger than he'd thought, and it left him a little bereft. She was her father's daughter, after all, he thought wearily. And her mother's daughter. He hadn't ever met either of her parents, but he'd heard enough about her father to fill several books, and he felt that anything she hadn't gained from one parent had to have been borrowed from the other, and from the looks of it her mother was one very independent and willful woman, and had passed it on to her daughter. It was really rather intimidating.
Sure, he would be willing to bet that Trinity didn't feel at all as powerful or strong as he was imagining her now, but he could see differently. A lesser woman in her situation would have despaired at this point, and though Trinity had given in to a moment of grief and rage, that didn't make her ready to give up. She would never give up, no matter what, and that was where her power came from. Her will to keep going, in spite of everything, even in her darkest moments, like before, shone through, and it was sure to be an intimidating trait to anyone she came into contact with.
It sure as hell intimidated him…that much was certain at this point. He smiled slightly to himself, still with his head bowed slightly, his black bangs falling into his eyes as he looked unseeingly at the table in front of him. Yes, she intimidated him…he would be foolish not to be even a little intimidated by her. Anyone would be foolish not to be. And yet, he could think of one person in the world right now who was not in the least bit afraid or even respectfully aware of Trinity as a powerful force, and that would be the very man that was so threatening to her, and her friends. Rowan… The Prince didn't know the kind of power Trinity could wield, not just in the glamour sense, but in the sense of her willpower and her emotions. She could be as lethal as Titania or Mab if she wanted to be, and with Rowan now her sworn enemy, it wouldn't be long before the Prince went head-to-head with her, not just to combat her abilities, but because she was the daughter of the very man he had slaughtered.
The Prince held it as a great accomplishment to his name, but everyone else—including the Prince's own mother—knew it was no great victory. It had been an ambush in the midst of a chaotic war, and Rowan had not gone in alone, knowing he would fail. He had taken twenty of his best Thornguards with him, and cornered the wounded General. No one knew the specifics of the General's death other than Rowan and his Thornguards, all but two of whom had perished in the final battle with the Great General, and none of them had ever disclosed the information, at least not outside of Tir Na Nog. Rowan may boast that he defeated Astrid, but he had never said just precisely how he had done it, which, to Tertius, said it had been underhanded, and no one would tolerate it if they ever found out how he had managed to kill the General outside of overwhelming him with numbers.
But even without that knowledge, Rowan had given Trinity more than enough incentive to wish his death, and made her furious enough that—if she were given the chance—she would end his life. She might not be able to do it on her own, at least not now, as she was, but Tertius suspected if she was put in the same room with Rowan, and Catherine was placed between them, and someone made to remind Trinity about how Rowan had killed her father in cold blood, that she would not hesitate to take up arms against the bastard Prince.
And if Rowan was not wise enough to acknowledge that potential danger to himself now, Tertius was quite sure it would become the Prince's undoing in the long run. He had made himself many enemies by messing with one girl, and if he couldn't grasp that, or at least understand that in doing so he was ensuring himself an early end, then there was the huge likelihood he would be blindsided when Fate finally decided it was time for him to reap all that he had sowed.
The closing of a door stirred him again, and he lifted hazy silver eyes, looking around, thinking for a moment that Trinity had emerged from the bathroom, but it was only Puck, appearing from the bedroom where he had settled Trinity. The Summer fey was now leaning back against the door, pushing a hand wearily through his auburn hair, his tired emerald eyes fixed on the floor under his feet, as though he didn't quite understand why it was there. Tertius watched him for a moment, wondering if Nikki was already asleep, and then Puck looked up and met his curious gaze, and gave a wan smile.
"Yo," he greeted the Iron Knight, waving a hand lamely as he pushed off the door and trudging over to drop into a seat across the table.
"Is Nicolette asleep?" Tertius asked, and Puck nodded his head, sighing.
"Took me a while to convince her to, 'cause she wanted to stay with Cat, same as Trinity, but Demon managed to help me get her to go to bed. She won't be happy with either of us later, I figure once she's had time to rest and get her temper and strength back up, but for now it's best for her," the fey murmured, his expression a mixture of sorrow and exhaustion as he looked across the table at Tertius, who was gazing into his lap. "How 'bout you? Trinity sleeping?"
"No," sighed Tertius, shaking his head in weary defeat. "She wouldn't listen to me at all on the matter. She is bathing right now, but she will sit with Catherine as soon as she comes out."
"I doubt that," said Puck with a secretive little grin that didn't touch his eyes.
"What do you mean?" Tertius asked, now bemused as he lifted his gaze to scrutinize the fey's knowing smirk.
"Demon locked the door when we left," the fiery headed fey explained, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to the now closed bedroom door behind which Catherine and Demon still were. "Said it was best for Trinity and Nikki if they didn't sit there all night fretting about the issue and that he'd unlock it when Cat woke up, otherwise they'll just pester the hell out of him and only wear themselves out and then when Cat wakes up we'll have to wait for the pair of them to get back into shape before we can go anywhere and he's not about to let this mission get compromised no matter how pissed off the two of them are going to be with him later. I just hope Tri knows enough not to go hammering on the bedroom door when she comes out."
"I would not bet on that," Glitch said lightly from his corner. "I don't really like the odds of her not going AWOL on the cat for pulling a stunt like that, and even if by a miracle she doesn't break the door down she's sure to give him a proper neutering once all's said and done."
"Lovely mental image there," said Puck with a grimace at the idea of Demon getting his little man parts—well, he just wouldn't think about that. "Though, all things considered now, since he's a full grown human man and all that, wouldn't it be considered a vasectomy?"
"Either way, it'll suck to be him," Glitch said with a lame shrug, and Puck and Tertius nodded their total agreement of the statement. "Though I'm confused about why he's staying in there with Catherine when he could just as easily lock the door and evaporate in and out of the room at will. Or is he playing permanent watchdog for the night?"
"I think the last thing you said," said Puck with a mighty yawn, stretching his long arms over his head and arching his back, causing several resounding pops as his spine snapped back into its proper positioning. "And I also think he feels super guilty over this, if you want my honest opinion."
"Your honest opinion isn't always your knowledgeable one," Glitch told him, smirking when Puck gave him a dirty look.
"Fine, then," said Puck with a rather petulant look on his face, "If you want my knowledgeable opinion, and my honest one, is that our little Furball back there got a slap in the face today with what happened back there. He saw Cat in pain this morning, sure, but this was way worse than that, because she's actually blacked out because of however bad her pain was. He knew she was hurt before, but I don't think he got the full view of how hurt she was until now. And now he's having to face that he wasn't there for her, even though I don't think anyone holds him responsible for last night save a couple people—one of those people being himself—the other remaining unnamed, and that this is the consequence of that. And the even worse part is knowing he can't do anything for her except hurry up and get her to Wrath, who may or may not have an answer for all of this shit, assuming we can even find the bastard in the first place."
So, Tertius hadn't been the only thinking those thoughts. At least he was glad to know that Puck was on the same page as him for once.
"I just hope Wrath does have an answer," Glitch muttered, his violet eyes narrowed at the floor. "Because if he doesn't, I get the feeling no amount of promising and vowing is going to keep Nik and Trinity from tearing Rowan limb from limb."
"For once, we agree," said Puck with a harsh laugh, not at all like his usual merriment, and he and Glitch exchanged a similarly dangerous look, and Puck gave one of his more predatory smiles, as though he could already imagine seeing Rowan writhing in pain. "To be honest, I might just join in that little mosh pit. It's not like Rowan doesn't owe me a few good punches to his pretty face."
"Get in line," Glitch said with a dark smirk. "You can cut in front of me, but you're behind Tri and Nik, though I think if anyone gets to take the bastard down, it deserves to be Catherine."
"Much as I love Cat," said a tired voice, sounding darkly amused, "She wouldn't lay a hand on Rowan even after all the shit he's pulled. She's too tender hearted, and I mean it in the best way."
Trinity moved into their line of sight, her damp ivory hair now dark gold beneath the towel she had wrapped it up in, though some tendrils still hung loose, dangling in her face as she stepped up beside Tertius, now dressed in a pair of loose black sweatpants and a dark red t-shirt. Tertius had to wonder briefly to himself just how a woman could dress so vulnerably and still look ready to take down an army stupid enough to get in her way, but somehow Trinity managed it, even with her sopping wet and a distinct tiredness about her. Maybe it was the way she put her hands on her hips and stood with such authority, gazing around her in an almost challenging manner. He wondered if she was even aware of it, or if it just came naturally. He decided he'd have to pay more attention from now on.
"How was your bath?" he asked her lightly as she took the seat immediately to his right, catching the faint scent of lavender that seemed to be coming off of her hair.
"It was nice," she said off handedly, casting him a secretly amused look. "I'm clean, though I'm still tense as a wire. Any other bright relaxation ideas?"
"Aromatherapy?" suggested Glitch with a smirk.
"Ha ha, you're funny," Trinity told him, rolling her blue eyes. "Try again."
"You could always go for that Reiki thing I keep hearing about," Puck told her, reclining in his seat, knocking it back on two legs. "All that spiritual cleansing and stuff sounds pretty good for someone as wound up as you've got to be right now, Tri."
Glitch found himself resisting the temptation to go over and deliberately knock the remaining legs out from under the fey just for craps and giggles, though he kept a thoughtful eye on the tipped back faery.
"Right now, I don't think anything could help me relax," Trinity admitted with a tired sigh, dropping her chin onto her hand as she propped her elbow on the table, frowning down at the polished wood surface.
"Oh ho, then you do not know me," said Puck then, rising to his feet with a grin on his face, striding around the table to stand behind her, dropping his hands to her shoulders before anyone could understand what was happening. "Now, just relax, think happy thoughts. Like…Rowan dead…Rowan dismembered…Rowan bleeding and crying like a bitch…"
In spite of herself, Trinity smiled, but turned and slapped Puck's hands away so he stepped back with a rather startled look.
"I'll think happy thoughts," she told him, "But you're not massaging my shoulders."
"¿Por qué no?" he demanded, looking affronted.
"Because that's just all kinds of awkward having my best friend's guy putting his hands on me," she told him with a little smirk.
"You and your insinuative little imagination," Puck chastised her, brandishing a finger at her so she cocked an ivory eyebrow at him.
"I'm just saying it like it is, sir," she told him, shrugging a slender shoulder. "And could you stop pointing at me like that, you look like my grade school teacher when she got mad at me."
"A teacher? Get mad at you?" asked Glitch as Puck took his seat again. "Wow, and I thought you were some kind of saint. What'd you do to make an elementary school teacher mad? Bring a lamb to school or something?"
"You are sooo funny," she said sarcastically, and he smirked. "No, I actually finger painted, just not on paper."
"Ah, that explains it," said Puck, nodding wisely. "I never did understand why they restricted kids to paper, though. Let imagination prosper I say! Even if it means ruining the good walls and carpet!"
Trinity gave a little snort of amusement, and rolled her blue eyes at the ceiling.
"You're an idjit," she told Puck, who flashed her his trademark grin.
"Glad you noticed," he said with a wink. "Oh, and before it slips my ickle brain, you won't be getting back in Cat's room tonight unless she wakes up."
"I heard," she said, and her tone dropped several degrees so that all three men around her found themselves shivering despite the warmth of the cabin. "Demon better have a damn good reason for that when he comes out later."
"Demon isn't coming out later," Puck advised her, "He's staying there all night, so he said. If he has to relieve himself in the middle of the night, I'm not sure what he'll do, since he can't quite fit into the litter box like he used to. Maybe he'll squat."
"You are appalling and disgusting," Trinity said, making a disgusted face so Puck laughed. "That's not funny, Puck, that's just…ew…just ew!"
"You understand why Demon is doing it, though," Tertius murmured, and Trinity turned to him, "Why he won't let you, or Nicolette, back in the room."
"Yeah," she murmured, lowering her sapphire eyes to the table, the smallest flicker of sorrow passing through the cerulean depths, "I get it, but it doesn't mean I like it."
"Eh, well, Demon isn't about liking things," Puck sighed, stretching, once more knocking his chair back on two legs and tempting fate as Glitch barely managed to quash the urge to leap up and knock the chair from beneath him.
"Unless it's Cat," said Trinity with a pointed look at the fey. "You notice he's more than a little taken with her, right?"
"He's her guardian," said Puck dismissively, waving an airy hand, but Trinity wasn't convinced.
"Guardians don't snuggle up in bed with their wards on a daily basis," she told him curtly, "Not to mention how often he hangs around her, or how pissed off he gets when someone gets close to her when they shouldn't. Not that Nikki and I don't do that, too, but he's a little different about it."
"Now that you mention it," said Puck, a thoughtful look coming onto his face as he gazed at the wooded ceiling over his head, "I kind of get where you're coming from on that, not to mention he could be jealous about that whole thing with Sage…"
"What thing with Sage?" Trinity demanded at once, her blue eyes widening.
Puck turned to stare at her, equally shocked. "He didn't tell you yet?"
"Tell me what yet?" Trinity's expression darkened visibly, and Puck had to restrain the urge to cringe away from her suddenly menacing aura.
"He said he was going to tell you," he said lamely, glancing over at the door behind which Demon was sure to be, though he didn't know how much of this conversation the Cait Sith was hearing. "He has this loco idea that Cat might be in love with Sage and that's why she's been so weird when he's around, among other things. From the way he put it, he thinks she might have confessed her love for him or some mess like that when she was with Sage that one night before she came back to Spindle's a while back. I, of course, and very honestly, am not sure if I believe it, and have told Nikki and Demon the same thing I'm about to tell you. If Cat hasn't said it for herself, I don't think we need to be jumping to conclusions about it. I just brought it up because of the fact that if Demon has a little crush on Cat, he might just be making assumptions out of jealousy."
He put his hands up as he finished, as though wiping them clean of the whole affair, and finished, "That's all I'm saying."
"Well, you've said an awful lot, all things considered," observed Glitch while Trinity merely sat there, her mouth hung open in shock. "And where the hell is he getting that she's in love with him from? The hell kind of sense does that make?"
"He had some points he made, I don't remember all of them," said Puck with a shrug, rolling his green eyes at the ceiling. "Just the one where he was talking about she was with him for a night and could have confessed her love and he turned her away and now she's all distraught about it is the one I remember. He'd explain it better, so please don't go getting your panties in a twist about this yet, Tri, because I can see the look in your eyes and it tells me you're about to be hella angry with someone."
And it was true. Trinity had that dangerous gleam in her eyes, the one that said hell was about to be raised and paid if she didn't get answers, and she turned that steely look right onto Catherine's bedroom door. Puck uttered a little prayer as she rose to her feet, pushing her chair forcefully back from the table, and striding clear across the room in a matter of seconds to stand in front of the door. Glitch almost expected her to hammer a fist on it, just for emphasis, but received a mild surprise when she took a deep breath, apparently bottling up her present anger, and gently rapped the door with her knuckles.
"What?" Demon's tired voice called from the other side, not quite as firm as it usually was so much as subdued.
"Open the door, Demon," Trinity said.
There was a pause.
"You need to rest, Trinity, being in here will not help—" Demon began, but Trinity cut him off.
"Just when were you going to tell me about Sage and Cat?" she snapped through the door, and there was instant silence on Demon's end.
No doubt the Cait Sith had been shocked into silence by her words, and it took a few long moments—nearly a minute—before he appeared suddenly in the main room, just behind Trinity, his face drawn and weary as she wheeled around to face him.
"Is now really a good time?" he asked her softly, his yellow-green eyes narrowing.
"Better than later," she said, her tone clipped, her blue eyes flashing fire at him. "You should have told me before."
"There was no good time to do it before," he told her. "Otherwise I would have. I assume Goodfellow has already given you the quick and dirty version of what I have told him and Nicolette."
"More like first line in a book," she told him stiffly, "So I'd kind of appreciate it if you could skip the bull and just tell me what you think is going on."
"Didn't I say we shouldn't jump to conclusions?" asked Puck wearily. "We don't even have Cat's input on this, and she doesn't even know he's got this thing circulating around the group. If you're mad at him now, Tri, imagine how she's going to feel if she gets wind of this."
That gave Trinity enough reason to pause, and Demon as well, and they both turned as one to look at Puck, who was rocking back in his chair, feet balanced on the table, arms dangling to the floor on either side of him. He had his eyes on the ceiling, but it was clear he was much more attentive to the four people now staring at him as he continued to balance his chair precariously on its two legs.
"I'm just saying," he said, putting his hands up as he made eye contact briefly with Trinity and Demon, "Demon, I know you've got a lot of observation going on around Cat, and maybe something's going on with her and Sage, and I know you said she kind of admitted it herself, but you could at least do her the courtesy of telling her—whenever she wakes up—whether or not what you're saying is true. Because if you get everyone thinking like this, and she comes out and says something entirely different on the issue, then it's going to make Tri and Nik look bad and feel bad if they ended up believing you, even for a little bit, especially if Cat finds out. I almost feel like doing this says you don't trust her to just come out about it on her own sometime. I know she's taking a while getting there, but I thought the whole thing with the three of you, Tri, was that you trust each other, even if you don't like what one or two of you are doing at the time."
Now Trinity felt guilty, realizing there was more truth to his words than she had originally given them credit for, and she suddenly couldn't look at anyone, so she fixated on her toes instead. She knew she should trust Cat, and she did, but she was also frustrated as hell that Catherine hadn't been telling her anything—and still wasn't as far as her changed behavior and emotions were concerned. And if Demon had even the slightest idea as to what might be going on with Cat, she wanted to listen, even if it ended up being a load of crap. Because then at least she might have something to go on. But she knew that wasn't fair to Cat at all. Even if Demon hadn't come up with the idea meaning to hurt Cat, that's what it would do if she found out they'd been talking about something like this behind her back. Like Puck said, at the very least, they should tell her what they were thinking. After all, hadn't she been the one to kind of admit that her unusual moods and everything else were partially Sage's fault? She remembered that much at least. Because Demon had asked once if it had anything to do with Sage, regardless of what it was, and Cat had said yes.
They hadn't questioned her about what Sage exactly was responsible for, they just knew he was, in some way, related to the issues going on with Cat, and they had been okay with just hearing that. But now Trinity wanted to know more…but did Demon really know more, or was he just making guesses like she and Nikki had been for the past couple of weeks?
"I don't even know," she murmured, feeling her throat close a little as guilt and uncertainty gnawed at her, "I just…I want to know what's going on with her…I can't help if I don't know!"
"I'm not saying anything that I know," Demon told her softly, "Other than what I have seen and what I think it could mean. It is not a solid truth, but it is not entirely a lie, only my suspicions. It is as Goodfellow says, I do not have anything more than what I think to support what I say, and, really, I should have seen before now that this was unfair to Catherine…but the damage is done."
Yeah, it was, she thought bitterly. Now she was torn between hearing him out and risking the chance of becoming totally biased to Catherine's current state or not hearing him out and being even more frustrated than before because she would know that he had ideas that could possibly be reality. So what the hell did she do about it?
"Just," she began, then paused, unsure, and took a deep breath before forcing herself to continue, "Just tell me the basis of all this…What are the main reasons you think she could be in love with Sage? Puck already told me you think so because of the way she's been acting around him, but what the hell does that even mean? I've seen her around him, and the only thing I saw was her crying, but that doesn't tell me a whole lot other than she didn't want to be there."
"When I explained it to Goodfellow and Nicolette, I mentioned that Catherine is always more withdrawn around Prince Sage, and they pointed out to me that she is always withdrawn, but the point I was attempting to make is that around new people, or even those she is uncertain of, she is shy, but not withdrawn. Around Sage, she pulls in on herself, like she is trying to defend herself from something, like her emotions. When he came to apologize to her in place of Rowan last night, I could see that she did the same thing, shutting herself off. You cannot tell me you didn't entirely miss it, either. Having been her friend for so long, you might not have realized it was a particular person causing it, but you saw her reaction; at least subconsciously noticed it," Demon murmured quietly, his yellow-green eye scrutinizing Trinity's face as she gazed down at the floor beneath her feet.
She was trying to recall that moment back to her, when she and Nikki had finally gotten to see Catherine after the main part of Elysium, when everyone had been in the room. She remembered when she'd first seen Cat, Cat had burst into tears at seeing them, and they'd hugged and had their little reunion. And then…then what had happened? She closed her eyes, trying to remember. It shouldn't have been this hard just a night after the fact, but so much had gone on that it had been hard to keep up even then.
They'd had a little talk, just stupid jokes about how they'd avoided killing Rowan despite all he'd done, and then Trinity had gotten mad again because she wanted to be sure Rowan would pay for his crimes. And Sage had spoken up, and…she tried hard to remember how Catherine had reacted, because Trinity hadn't been looking at her friend when Sage had been speaking but now that she thought back on it, she remembered feeling Catherine tense in her arms, though she hadn't really thought on it until now. Catherine hadn't even really spoken to Sage, though the Prince had been speaking directly to her the entire time, she had even gone so far as to say "Thank you" to him, though Trinity knew that was just her habit. But Catherine had slowly gotten better about not thanking anyone outside of their little circle of friends, not since they'd come to Faery… But she had thanked Sage… And there had been something else, not so much about Catherine, but in the Prince's eyes as he'd looked at Catherine. A kind of flicker that hadn't really bothered Trinity until now, and she recalled then that as the Prince had fixed his green eyes on Catherine, the girl had shivered just the slightest bit in Trinity's and Nikki's arms.
"That," Trinity murmured shakily, opening her eyes, feeling her heart beginning to pick up speed, "Doesn't necessarily mean anything…"
She didn't even sound convincing to herself, but no one else in the room called her out on it, and Demon merely continued in a low murmur,
"The other instances I thought of that seemed especially symbolic to me of what could possibly be the cause for Catherine's pain and everything else before last night happened much earlier in our arrival to Arcadia. You found out last night that she was taking nightshade to enable her to sleep, but before a certain period of time, almost exactly a month ago today, she had not needed it."
"And what period of time did she start needing it after?" Trinity asked in a slightly tremulous voice.
"The day after we left Tir Na Nog the second time," Demon murmured, and Trinity felt her heart plummet, "After Prince Sage had assisted us in hiding from his mother and Rowan before, when they were still hunting for us. It was immediately following that that she needed the nightshade, though for a full week she didn't take it at first. It was only when she ventured off on her own and ran into Prince Sage, who took her back to his Lodge and gave her the nightshade, that she finally accepted that she needed it again. Though I didn't know until after we left Spindle's that even after taking the full dose before we left that she still required it. And when we arrived in Arcadia, she continued to need it, and I supplied it."
"Tell her about the dreams," Puck murmured from his seat, gazing solemnly at the ceiling.
Demon glanced over at the fey, their eyes locking momentarily as Puck chanced a look back at the Cait Sith, and after a small sigh he nodded as he looked back at Trinity.
"Nightshade is meant to render the taker to be totally asleep, without dreams or other disturbances to keep their minds and bodies from receiving the fullest recovery," he explained quietly, "No matter how large or small a dose, whoever has taken it should not be able to have dreams while they are under its full influence. Stirrings upon awakening are normal, but Catherine took nightshade night after night and continued to have dreams, most of them nightmares, even before the nightshade had worn off. Her worst nightmare woke her entirely from the induced sleep, and she refused to go back to sleep afterwards that night. Not only that, but I had heard her say the Prince's name in her sleep. Aside from that and the other things I have just mentioned to you, the last point I can think to make on my thoughts is that—while you and Nicolette made sure to ask whether or not she had been assaulted or raped by Pringe Sage, and her answer was no—she did not ever say he did not touch her at all. She has been in the Nevernever long enough to learn how to evade the truth without lying, and you two never thought to ask her whether any contact was voluntarily initiated between them. While I can assure you that they never went to bed together, that possibility is still there."
Trinity felt sick all of a sudden, and had to quickly seat herself in one of the arm chairs before her head's spinning made her knees give out. Dropping her head into her hands, she closed her eyes and tried hard not to panic, or to let Demon's words overwhelm her. She should have gone without listening to him, she thought dismally, because now there was no way she could be unbiased about Catherine's dilemma. Everything he said made sense to her, and she hated that. She'd rather he'd made stupid, unreasonable points she could combat with her own knowledge of Catherine, but she had nothing. She couldn't even accuse him of lying about some of his other evidence that she didn't personally know about, because he couldn't lie to her at all. Everything he'd experienced was real, and everything he thought was substantiated by at least one solid fact of his, and she loathed it. She might not loathe him for it, but she despised the logic he was using. Because it made sense, and she didn't want it to.
Wasn't it bad enough that Rowan had wounded Catherine the way he had? Now she had to worry that perhaps his bastard of a brother had done something similar to her, just through her emotions instead of her physical being? How much more would the Winter royalty take away from her friend? How much more pain would it cause her before they were satisfied? Mab had imprisoned Catherine, Rowan had tortured her, and now it sounded like for all the world like Sage had broken her heart…
"Do you," she began weakly, but stopped to swallow the sudden lump in her throat before she could continue to ask Demon, "Do you think…hypothetically let's say she is in love with him, does he know about it?"
"I think it would be safe to say yes," Demon murmured, "Which is why he wouldn't let her go at Elysium last night, as Nicolette made to tell me."
"Could he love her back?" she asked, her head coming up at once, all of a sudden eager, but Demon's empty expression froze her heart.
"No, I do not think so," he murmured softly, his yellow-green eyes dark and unfathomable, "Prince Sage does not care for the emotions of others, particularly women. He has been surrounded by females for centuries as they fawned over him. I think his only motivation would be to understand why she loves him. He is an intellectual, he lives to find answers and understand things around him, and as Nicolette and Goodfellow were asking me this morning about how she could possibly be in love with him after such brief encounters, the answer to why he would want to understand Catherine's love is that it baffles him even more so than it does us, assuming, of course, that she does in fact feel that way for him."
"But we don't know if she does," Puck pointed out very quietly from the table, and Trinity looked over to see the fiery headed fey giving Demon a rather stern look, "Sure, it's possible, but I'm not about to jump the gun on this one. We haven't asked Cat, and she isn't ready to talk to us yet, so I'm not pushing. It might not be my place to say it, but if we were really her friends, I feel we'd be doing her a better service than this, sneaking around her back and spreading rumors. I'm not saying you don't have good points, cat, but this is still just a load of bull to me right now. Until I hear it from Cat, I'm not buying it."
Demon did not respond to him, but he did not particularly need to. He already knew full and well where Puck stood on this issue, and he was not about to try and change his mind. Truthfully, he wished he could have taken the faery's side from the beginning and known to keep his mouth shut, and not to jump to conclusions as he had, but, as he had said before. The damage was done…
"But what if she is?" Trinity whispered, staring at Puck. "Puck, what if he's screwed her over just as badly as his brother has, just with her emotions instead of her body? What then?"
Puck frowned, feeling both sorrowful and a little frustrated. He could already tell that Trinity was being pulled in by Demon's words as much as Nikki had been at first, and that made it harder. He was really starting to wish he could take back everything the Cait Sith had told both her and Nikki earlier. If only he knew Demon was on the same exact mind path as he was, then they might have gotten along on something for once.
"Tri," he said gently, giving the girl a sympathetic look, "I wish I could tell you "what then", but right now I'm thinking of "what now". And now we don't even know if she does love him. I'm sorry…"
And he was. He wished he had a better answer than that, because he knew she'd want a better answer that what he had to give, but that was really what he had. For once, he was lost for words. That would have to go down in the books somewhere. The day in history that Robin Goodfellow, the one and only Robin Goodfellow, had been stumped. If it weren't for such a sorry reason, he might have felt the need to toast the occasion. But now was hardly the time for celebration and merriment.
"I just," Trinity murmured, lifting a hand to her head, attempting to run her fingers through her hair in agitation, but being stopped by the towel she still had wrapped around it. Pulling the sodden cloth from her hair, letting the still damp tresses fall in disarray around her face, she buried a hand in the ivory mass, pushing furiously through the slicked strands. "I just don't want to have to hear that another one of that family has screwed her over…! First Mab, then Rowan, and now if I hear Sage did something I just don't know what I'll do…!"
She'd probably go off on a crusade, she thought bitterly, charging off into Tir Na Nog and go raiding the entire palace with her father's army behind her. She knew it was stupid to even think she'd get away with that, but if she ever heard that the entire Royal family of the Unseelie Court had been the cause for her friend's anguish and sorrow, she would have their heads for it, one way or another. Even if it meant she could only tear them apart in the times they were face-to-face, and all she had were her words, she'd do it. Promise or no promise, and no matter what Catherine did or didn't feel for Sage, Trinity would make Mab and her sons wish they'd never even considered touching Catherine.
"It pisses me off," she hissed, now jamming the heels of her hands against her closed eyes, feeling the dull pain it brought, witnessing the explosion of white spots behind her eyelids, "It just really, really pisses me off… She should not have to go through this shit! Especially because of them!"
She was losing it again, she could feel it. Hysteria and rage were becoming living things, mingling into one chaotic emotion she couldn't even begin to think of a name for, and in spite of the whiteness appearing in the midst of the black behind her eyes, for a moment all she saw was red. Passionate, hateful, loathsome red, and it made her stomach roil as she imagined it was Rowan's blood, watching him suffer the same pain he'd forced Catherine to endure. Mab's blood, as she sat locked in a miniscule cell, enduring the humiliation and fear she'd stirred in Catherine's heart as she had sat in the confines of Tir Na Nog's dungeons. Sage's blood…bleeding right from his heart, just like he could have made Catherine's heart bleed… Trinity forced herself to stop there, before she could lose herself entirely and get ahead of her own thoughts. She still didn't know for certain if Catherine really loved Sage, or if Sage had even done anything to break her heart in such a way, but if he had, Trinity would make his ice cold heart weep blood for his sins.
A warm arm circling her shoulders made her start, and she lifted her head, meeting Tertius's silver eyes as he drew her under his shoulder, against his chest. There was a sad frown on his face, and pain in his eyes as he gazed at her, and she felt her heart give a painful throb to see him looking like that. He shouldn't have to look like she felt, wasn't it bad enough even one of them felt his kind of fury and pain?
"I'm sorry," she mumbled pathetically, and felt her eyes burn with unshed tears.
For a moment he blurred in her vision as the salty droplets welled up like high tide, pricking at the corners of her eyes until they finally leaked over. The warmth of his fingertips on her face, brushing them away, was the only thing that kept her grounded then, because in the next second she'd given herself over to silent tears, burying her face in his chest as he gently looped his arms around her, cradling her close to him so she could hear his steady heartbeat under her ear, feel it beneath her cheek.
"It will be alright," he murmured softly in her ear, his breath warm on her neck.
She nodded mutely, not knowing what else to do or say, and simply let herself cry, and he let her, even when the tears soaked through his shirt and damped his chest, he just sat there, cradling her, and let her cry. Puck and Glitch scooted out of the room to give them some privacy. Demon had already been gone before she had looked up, evaporating back into the room he now shared with Catherine.
Now left alone with her knight, Trinity let herself fall deeper and deeper, feeling the tears soaking her face, and the crushing feeling in her chest that felt like it was her heart, suffocating, until she couldn't fall anymore. Eventually, without even realizing it, she had cried herself out, and fallen asleep in Tertius's arms he continued to hold her, running his fingers gently through her still-damp ivory hair, his face eerily closed off as he gazed down at her sleeping figure, noting the tear stains on her cheeks, and the slight puffiness around her eyes. Every so often, she would take a shaky breath and exhale again, causing her entire body to tremble, and he would tighten his arms around her, pulling her further against the warmth of his chest. He lowered his dark head to hers, brushing his lips over her temple, murmuring softly in a language she wouldn't have understood if she were awake. Eventually, after she was deeply asleep, he gathered her into his arms, and carried her slowly to one of the remaining bedrooms, which was dark and small, like the others, with flickering candles on the walls, casting a soft glow around the room.
Gently, Tertius lowered Trinity to the bed, careful not to jostle her, lest he wake her up, and she didn't stir as she was placed on the soft mattress, and he drew the covers up over her. She didn't even twitch when he brushed another kiss over her damp cheek, and brushed her wet, silky hair from her face. He gazed down at her, feeling that increasingly familiar tug in his heart as he took the fringe of her ivory lashes, now encrusted with tears, like diamonds, and the redness of her cheeks and eyes. Reaching down, he brushed the pad of his thumb tenderly over her eyes, clearing them of the residue tears, using his sleeve to tend to the ones on her cheeks before straightening back up. She gave another shaky breath, but didn't stir, and with a small smile that did nothing to ease the clenching in his chest, he turned to go, resigning himself to the couch for the night. But just as he reached the door again, something tugged lightly on the back of his cloak, like he had caught it on something, and, turning back to inspect what had happened, it was to find Trinity looking up at him through groggy blue eyes. She had one hand slung over the edge of the bed, fisted in the hem of his cape, keeping him there.
"You're supposed to be asleep," he murmured quietly, stepping back and kneeling down by the edge of the bed, his silver eyes glowing in the light thrown from the candles.
"Stay," she mumbled, "And I'll sleep…"
He felt himself smile, feeling a little flicker of amusement as he gently lifted his hand to twine his fingers with hers as she released his cloak to seize his hand instead.
"You promise me you will sleep?" he asked her, leaning forward to press a kiss to her knuckles as she blinked sleepily back at him, her blue eyes hazy.
"Yes, I promise," she said, and he had to smile even more at how pleadingly she said it, almost like a child being bribed with a sweet of some kind.
"Alright," he murmured, rising slowly to his feet, momentarily slipping his hand from hers.
She gave a little whimper as she lost her grip on his hand, and he gave her a small smile as he drew his cloak from his shoulders.
"I am still here, Trinity," he reassured her, seating himself on the very edge of the bed, letting her take hold of his hand again while he used the other to unlace his boots and kick them off, "I am staying."
She mumbled incoherently under her breath, scooting over as he slipped into bed beside her, his eyes warm as he gazed down at her as she snuggled up against him, her head against his chest, still clutching his hand in both of hers. She gave a small sigh of contentment as he draped his free arm around her, and rested his head against hers, the pitch black of his hair a shocking contrast to the ivory of hers.
"Now, go to sleep," he murmured softly, nuzzling the top of her head, not minding the dampness under his chin. "You promised you would…"
"Mm," she mumbled, already halfway asleep as she listened to the steady beating of his heart, feeling comforted by it.
Tertius smiled in the dimness of the room, his silver eyes turning to molten mercury as he watched her doze off in his arms again, and after what felt like a long while of merely lying there, watching her drift in total slumber, for once protected from the fear and the pain and the worry and uncertainty, he, too, drifted away into the welcoming darkness. But even there, she waited for him, but she was not crying or raging now. As he greeted her in his dreams, she turned and beamed at him, a smile that lit up her sapphire eyes with such joy it made his heart ache with happiness, and in his dream, and even in his sleep, a smile of equal contentment appeared on his face as he drew her into his arms and bent his head to kiss her, for the moment happy to forget everything else…