Chapter Fifteen: In Which Thalia and Bran Work Things Out Again
Celie didn't really expect them to be back so soon. No one really did. They gathered in the courtyard again, watching as the horses galloped in, Bran leading the way. The griffins; Arrow, Geoffrey, and Malik were already landing in front of them, making Bran's horse rear a little bit. He slipped off of it though, signaling for a white covered object to be taking into the Castle. The guards unraveling it did so, and Celie had a sickening feeling to what it was under there.
"Bran," their mother started, after a surprisingly lack of kisses and embraces, "What is that?"
Bran turned to look at them, and Celie could see how exhausted her brother looked. And how dirty. "That would be the assassin."
Queen Celina made a little noise in her throat and Lilah looked down. Celie just stared at her brother with a bit of respect rather than disgust. She didn't know why, but she did. She was proud of Bran for finding him so quickly.
Bran quickly explained what happened, leaving them both relieved and confused. Though Celie refused to hug her brother as Lilah and her parents did, she did beam at him. She was just rather sensitive to smells, and Bran certainly hadn't bathed. Bran rolled his eyes, but gave her a tired smile.
The body was kept in the dungeons, though far enough away from Casper that Bran and Thalia could safely work with it. Celie was glad she was not the Royal Wizard, she had no desire to work with dead bodies. That thought made her stomach turn. Bran would certainly have his work cut out for him.
...
Thalia hesitated before she knocked. He probably needed more time, but time was not something that they had. She had most of the test results to go over with him, not to mention the research she had done on Jedgia. She still felt rather stupid about that.
She stepped in when she heard his call to enter. She was surprised at what she saw. His hair was damp and he was dressed more simply than she'd ever seen him. The usual wizard robes were gone; just a light tunic with a cloth belt tied below the waist over some casual trousers. She could smell the cleanliness from him from the doorway to his chambers.
Butterflies formed in her stomach. She tried to ignore the impulsive kiss she'd given him and put away the reaction he had given her. She didn't know what to think, but it was still something that needed to be put aside. She handed him the stacks of notes she held, and Bran took them, his eyes greedily reading what she had written.
He set them down. "So we know where he came from."
Thalia nodded. "I can't believe I was so stupid before! I didn't even realize it until Jhanlia was named."
Bran rubbed a hand over his face, starting to pace. "What do you know of your neighboring country? Are they powerful magic users?"
Thalia shrugged. "They've always been a rather secretive people. They've had strict immigration laws and they don't really allow visitors at all. They've been known to send spies throughout Khalan and their other neighboring countries, but there isn't really much else known about them."
Bran finally sat, his long legs stretched out from the edge of his bed. He sighed. "I should've put a spell on the assassin's cell. I just didn't think it would be necessary. He should've been questioned further, but then Arkwright and Casper showed up, and there was even a month in between," he ranted.
"In your defense, your father put Sergeant Avery in charge of him when I showed up," Thalia said. "So you were reassigned."
"This is all just so insane," he muttered. "I guess that's what comes with living in a magic Castle, but still. We have two insanely powerful wizards in our dungeons, and an assassin tried to kill both our king and his heir and left a weird note."
Thalia didn't really know what to say. She could feel his dark eyes on her, but she refused to look back. She was still a bit embarrassed about what had happened four days ago.
"So complicated," he whispered, sounding uncharacteristically confident. "Just like you."
Thalia met his eyes finally, and she couldn't ignore the tension in a certain way. It was strong. His lips were parted, and she could see how dilated his eyes were.
She had never leapt at anyone so fast, never been so needy for a kiss. But as his lips glided against hers in a way that she would never have imagined from him, she realized she would be needy for more than kissing.
...
Rolf chewed his lip, trying not to fall asleep. He had stayed up way too late last night with Kalys, and now he was paying the price. Lord Matthews was giving the report from one of the villages and such and Rolf was starting to nod. A sharp kick from his Father and Lord Sefton in turn did the trick, but it did come with a bruise or two.
Lord Feen was glaring at him, and he smiled graciously back, though he could feel his father's sharp eyes upon him. He would probably get a lecture after this. He began to tap his fingers under the table quietly, in an attempt to keep moving.
"Prince Rolf," Lord Feen's voice was icy. "How would you suggest improving the economy of Fyrish?"
Rolf cleared his throat, scanning his brain for what seemed to be the problem. The harvest, as it was simply a farming village, and he remembered his father mentioning the soil had been tainted with poison this year.
"Perhaps moving the plants, or hiring wizards to see if they can reverse the poison," Rolf said, though it was rather a lame answer. The question had been to see if he was paying attention. He'd served the purpose.
There was a sharp knock at the door. King Glower sighed. He needed a break, and wanted one, Rolf knew that look.
"Enter," he commanded loudly before turning to the councilors. "We will resolve this in a later meeting."
Rolf was surprised to see Celie march in, her curls in a poof around her head. A sheepish looking Pogue was following her, a bit embarrassed it seemed. The knight bowed, though Celie marched right up to her father.
"The ambassador has been disposed of," she stated proudly. "The Castle landed him in the him in the courtyard by way of the chamber pot."
"How embarrassing," said King Glower, and he was smirking. "So the Castle is still up to its old tricks."
Celie grinned proudly at their father and then at Rolf. "I just thought you'd want to know," she said airily, and Rolf knew what that meant.
"I'll get you your money by dinner," he told her gruffly, annoyed that he lost his bet.
She smiled again, and King Glower kissed her head. "Thank you, Celia-Delia. Where is he now?"
"He grumpily muttered something about Grath, and stalked out of the Castle grounds. Or at least that's what Pogue said," she answered, turning to look at the sheepish knight.
Pogue put a hand to the back of his neck when the king looked at him. "Yes, Your Majesty, he muttered something about finding Grath and he left. Micah said he watched him leave the village too."
"Interesting," King Glower responded. "Well, I'll send warnings to Lord Duncan in Sleyne City to watch out for him. In fact, I'll do that now. You are all dismissed."
Rolf followed his sister and Pogue out of the throne room, honestly ready to take a short nap. He didn't really have anything else to do, it had been the last of the council meetings. The hallway was mostly clear, Rolf completely zoned out as he made the routine walk to his bedchambers.
"Good heavens, Rolf, are you deaf?" Celie was looking up at him a concerned look on her face.
"What?" He asked, blinking.
"I asked you three times if Dagger is with Kalys," she said, touching his forehead in a Lilah-like gesture.
Rolf brushed it off. "I think so. At least, he was as of this morning. Sorry, Cel, I barely slept last night."
"You look it," Pogue commented.
"Why?" asked Celie at the same time.
"Oh you know, stayed up far too late and then having haunting nightmares about dying in gruesome ways," Rolf told them casually, putting his hand on the latch of his door.
He could see words forming on Pogue's lips before he pushed open the door to his bedroom. He really did not want to talk about it, he wanted sleep. He was surprised to see Dagger greeting him, and Kalys's form on the bed. He cooed at the griffin, sliding his hands down the feathery neck. Kalys was smiling in her sleep, her curls sticking to her face. Rolf climbed into bed with her, pulling the comforter around both of them. She sleepily opened her eyes at him, hugging him closer.
He pressed his cheek to her hair, his eyes already drooping at her warmth. His hand brushed her against the slight swell of her stomach and she sighed. Her head nestled against his chest, they basked in the sleep that had been lacking the night before.
...
(PG-13 Warning)
Bran shoved away the guilt that came afterwards. He swallowed hard, watching Thalia leave the room from his bed. His lips were still swollen from all of the kissing, and his body was just beginning to cool down. He closed his eyes, savoring the memories that had been just minutes ago. The morals he had been taught on this subject kept coming back to him, but he fought to throw them away.
He let out a breath, moving to get dressed and get back to work. He forced himself to put his mind on his work, refusing to let himself process what had happened. He moved the stack of notes sitting on a chair to his workshop, locking the door to his bedchambers behind him. His hand wavered over the annoying, beeping device on the work table, It had been a failed tracking device, and it had yet to be put to rest.
A long list of emotions was running through his head, from regret to pure confidence. He didn't realize the emotional baggage that came with sexual intercourse; especially for him. He had never been a very emotional person, he resembled his mother in that way. He was a thinker, not a feeler. But now, now, the emotions were heavy. He had always forced himself to push those down, to move on, never analyze. But perhaps it would be logical to analyze what had just happened.
His hand wavered over the hidden drawer in his desk. His long fingers pressed up, pulling the board and revealing the leather-bound journal. He hadn't reflected since his first year of college, mostly for the lack of time. It had been a habit that had contained his temper, and he was starting to see the benefits since he had stopped. Bran picked up the quill, dipping it into the ink. He chewed his lip, the tip hovering over the yellowed, empty pages.
And so he wrote, he wrote about the guilt and regret, about the joys and the excitement. He had yet to decide how he felt on the matter, a mix of butterflies and heartache. He realized there had been a part of him that matured in a sense and in a way the entire kingdom wouldn't approve of. Then an agonizing feeling hit him as he rehearsed the physical actions of what had been done that night. Something that made his mind send alarms off. He'd been stupider than Rolf. And the consequences could very well be higher.
...
Celie was surprised at how happy she was that Pogue was back. She hadn't really realized how helpful he was, especially now since the queen was taking half of Kalys's time for queenly duties. In the four days the knight had been gone, Celie missed him. Not only as a trainer, but as a friend. She would not be telling Rolf that. To be fair, her brother had stopped teasing her all the time, something she sort of appreciated. She didn't necessarily mind it when it wasn't in front of anybody.
But now Pogue was here, snapping at griffins with Celie, listening to Kalys (in the mornings) on which commands meant what according to natural instinct and how their posture should be. And it was nice. Dagger had to be corrected the most on posture, and he was stubborn and heavy, so Celie decided that Pogue could work with him. She was very proud of Rufus, who had the best posture out of all of them. He wasn't very good at obeying, but that would come with time. Besides, he obeyed Celie often enough. After Kalys left, Dagger clacking along beside her, they would sit and groom the griffins.
"When's Ethan coming back?" Celie asked, remembering that he had been gone a few weeks. "Remember when Bran was so intent on finding him?"
Pogue frowned. "He should be back anyday now, honestly. He said he'd probably be gone for three weeks, but you're right. To be honest, I sort of forget about him."
Celie felt a little sheepish. "To be honest, I remembered because Pearl was gone, not because I missed him. We missed him sorely if he was gone, but now Kalys is here and she knows a lot more about griffins than even him."
"That's true, Kalys has been nothing but helpful when it comes to the griffins. Is Bran still suspicious of Ethan?" Pogue asked, giving Arrow's feathers one last stroke.
Celie made a face. "I would ask him, but he has been in a rather peculiar mood as of the recent. Ever since yesterday afternoon he's seemed both happy and nervous and especially jumpy around Thalia. I tried to ask him something just this morning but he seemed totally out of it."
Pogue grinned. "Something probably happened between him and Thalia. I mean, no offense, but it's not every day a pretty girl pays attention to Bran."
Celie laughed. "He's never really had a girl pay attention to him. At least that's what Lilah told me."
"One time he gave flowers to a girl at the village when he was around thirteen and she stomped on them," Pogue told her, the smile still upon his face.
Celie giggled, trying to imagine her older brother doing that. "Oh, that's so sad," she mustered, though the thought of it was still a little funny.
"The worst part was he was pining after her for at least three years. Poor little Bran. Ah well, at least he didn't try to romance my sister like you're other brother," Pogue told her, rolling her eyes.
"What?" Celie asked.
"Rolf was always attempting to flirt with Jane Marie. It was an ongoing joke; however, Jane Marie had many a boy wooing her and Rolf never stuck out I guess, despite him being the crown prince," Pogue winced. "It was some poor attempts too."
"I remember a few times," Celie responded. "But not too many that stick out."
"You're very oblivious then," Pogue said. "Please tell me you noticed the flirting on the Ship. If you didn't, I'm a bit worried for your health."
Celie rolled her eyes. "Of course I noticed the flirting on the Ship. And I always knew when Lilah was flirting, whether it was you or Lulath, but I never really did Rolf. It's just that he made fun of Lilah so much that I didn't expect that from him. Besides, we both know he was probably never as bad as you."
Pogue winked. "True, I do hold the village flirt title strong."
"You've flirted with every single girl you've met," Celie said, though it wasn't entirely true.
Pogue held up his hands defensively. "To be fair, I've never flirted with Thalia."
Celie had to give him that one. "But you tried to flirt with Kalys on the Ship. Don't deny it, both Lilah and I watched it."
Pogue blushed, looking down. "Then she gave me the weirdest look. She really did only have eyes for Rolf. I wonder why."
Celie smacked his arm, laughing. "Rolf's not ugly. Besides, he's funnier than you."
"So not true. I possess the humor of a jester, fair princess." Pogue kissed her hand, making Celie blush a little.
"See, Cecelia! He is back to his old habits!" Rolf said.
Both Celie and Pogue jumped making Rolf snicker. Kalys was behind him and she was smirking too.
"I thought you were with the queen," Pogue commented, ignoring Rolf.
"She didn't need me for as long," Kalys said stiffly.
"They got into a fight," Rolf said in a stage whisper, then flushed and muttered something when Kalys whacked him.
"It was more of a tiff, and it really didn't matter anyway." Kalys was still glaring at Rolf who had a red tinge to his cheeks.
"What was it about?" Celie asked, she was nosy and Kalys usually told her things. Both Rolf and Pogue both shot her a look. She brushed it off.
"On getting a nanny," Kalys told her bluntly. "I'm not hiring a nursemaid."
"We still have to discuss it," Rolf said.
"We're not having a nursemaid," Kalys snapped. "Discussion ended."
Celie felt embarrassed when Kalys turned on her heel, her cheeks red and stalked out of the room. Pogue looked down and Celie looked at Pogue. She scuffed her slipper against the floor. Rolf shoved his hands in his pockets.
"It hasn't been a good day for Kalys, Mother, or Lilah," he said. Then he turned towards the door, snapping for Dagger.
VERY crappy chapter. But this whole thing with Bran and Thalia is part of the plot. Sorry for you action lovers. Haha. Until next time,
-geeky34