A/N: Sorry it's taken me awhile to update this story. I've been terribly busy in addition to having writer's block. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter and I've included several quotes and lines from both the book and the movie in this chapter. See if you can catch them. Please review! I live for reviews, especially on this story. This story is more personal to me for some reason & reviews of it send my heart soaring. Enjoy! - IrethAnwarunya
Chapter 11: The "Truth"
Following an extremely awkward breakfast the next morning, the sleep deprived Ariana employed the court musicians to entertain the magician and the ladies while she requested a private audience with her fiancé.
"What's wrong Lir?" she asked as soon as Lir had closed the heavy mahogany door of the royal apartments.
"What do you mean dearest?" he replied, a confused and bewildered look on his face.
"You've been acting so strangely ever since your friends arrived here yesterday morning. What's causing you to behave in such a way?"
"It's only the excitement of Erastide and the wedding. That's all my darling," he said, his eyes never betraying him. However, Ariana knew better. Her womanly intuition caused her to pursue the matter more fully.
"Then why does the Lady Amalthea cause you so much stress? Ever since you recognized her on the road, you've barely been civil with her. It's obvious that you have some sort of history with her. I want to know what happened."
Lir looked into Ariana's green eyes and saw it was futile to try and redirect the conversation. With a sigh, he took her hand and they sat together on the overstuffed divan.
"Eight years ago, Schmendrick and Molly appeared on the doorstep of the old castle, begging for jobs as a cook and the court magician. Schmendrick introduced the Lady Amalthea as his niece,"
"Lady Amalthea is the magician's niece?" Ariana interjected incredulously.
Lir shook his head. He tried to think of an acceptable story to tell Ariana, knowing she would not believe the fantastic but true story about the unicorn and the Red Bull. Suddenly, the lies began to drip from his tongue like honey.
"No. She's not his niece. It was all a disguise, a ruse. Amalthea was in danger and Schmendrick and Molly were keeping her safe from the evil pursuing her," Lir was amazed at what a cool liar his was.
"How long did your father offer her protection?" Ariana questioned.
"Father wasn't really protecting her. In fact, at the end, he became a threat to her safety. But, the time she was here was like a dream. I don't remember how long she stayed. Many times, it seemed as though she had always been here, but when she left it seemed she had only just arrived."
Lir saw the flicker of pain in Ariana's jade eyes and asked, "Do you want me to continue?"
Even though she didn't really want him to, Ariana nodded in the affirmative. "Did you love her?" she bravely inquired.
Lir stopped for a moment. This was an impossible question to answer. He felt damned no matter what he replied. Were he to answer 'yes', then he knew he would crush Ariana. However, if he said 'no', he was certain that Ariana would know he was lying. After a moment, he gave his reply.
"Before I met Amalthea, I was dead inside. Because of her, I became a hero many times over. I slayed dragons, trolls, black knights, and solved fatal riddles to win her love. During another dangerous encounter I nearly died and Amalthea brought me back to life," Lir said, artfully not mentioning the Bull or giving the true account.
"Was this during the earthquake?" Ariana interrupted momentarily.
"Earthquake?"
"Yes, the one that destroyed the castle,"
"Oh right. Yes. It was during the earthquake that I nearly died," Lir had forgotten reason everyone believed caused the destruction of Haggard's castle.
"Anyway," he continued, "I told Schmendrick 'She has twice raised me from death and what will I be without her but dead for a third time?' After Amalthea left, I was constantly wishing that I could see her once more, to tell her all my heart. But my darling, I stopped wishing the moment I met you. With your gentle laughter and your kind eyes, you saved me death," Lir felt relieved as he saw the golden sparkle return to her emerald orbs.
"I realized that I hadn't really known what it meant to be a true hero. Because, you see my love, the true secret of being a hero is knowing the order of things. The wicked cannot be found out and foiled before they can be wicked. Quests may not simply be abandoned, prophecies may not be left to rot. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story. I am not a hero because I have done things out of order. I have not achieved my happy ending and I will not have it until you are my wife. My happy ending will arrive on Erastide which is but a few days away."
With joyous tears in her eyes, Ariana threw her arms around Lir's neck and bestowed kisses on his lips. He had told her exactly what she needed to hear. She had merely needed an affirmation of his love for her. She had wanted to hear he still loved her even though his former love was back in his life.
Lir held Ariana tightly in his arms, comforting her. However, his thoughts raced as he feared damnation for his lies. The lies he had so eloquently lain before Ariana and the lies he kept repeating to his heart.
"Amalthea is nothing to you" was whispered over and over, echoing in the vaults of his soul, reverberating through the emptiness, the nothing. He pulled Ariana even closer to his body, attempting to make her a shield against the glaring light of truth threatening to banish the shadows of his blessed denial.