Chapter 112

Her head was killing her. The pain only seemed to increase and refused to leave. If she were only able to have some peace and quiet, no lights, no noises, not anything, maybe she would start to feeling better, but noooo. . .

The Invisibles worried her and worried her. . .they wouldn't let her sit down, lay down, or stop. They only kept tugging her around and around the room, refusing to let her even pause, and Avalina was on the verge of tears again. She was exhausted, couldn't they see that? Why wouldn't they let her rest?

She didn't have the strength to fight them, and they refused to listen to her begging them to stop.

Round and round. . .it wasn't helping her dizziness any. . .

A log in the fireplace cracked loudly, throwing up a flurry of sparks, and Avalina cried out in pain, a hand over her eyes as the noise and the light shook her nervous system to its core.

She heard the door open, and this did not help her head, and she whimpered again as a fresh stab of pain made itself known.

The chill filled the room and made her hair stand up as the Horned King entered. Although she could hardly see, she sensed his aura twist through the air, and even the fire seemed to cower from it.

"Why aren't you resting?" He growled deeply, and Avalina trembled at his displeasure. He was very, very angry, and she shrank timidly from him, wishing she could see something other than a mass of blurs and colors that didn't mix.

"I tried," she whispered, but she heard the soft breezes interrupt her and speak to him, before he growled again.

She sensed him approach, but she could not help starting when he took her arm and began to lead her out of the room.

"Come."

Having no choice, Avalina obeyed, trying to ignore the spike of pain in her head when he spoke. She doubted she would argue with him anyway, the mood he was in. . .

In the halls it was even colder, but there was no light of any type, which helped her headache some. The noise was practically nonexistent as well, to her relief.

All but leaning on the Horned King, she allowed him to guide her slowly down the hall. He took his time and did not jar her, but she was so tired. . .

Her head spun as an even larger dizzy spell hit her, and she reeled into him, the impact sending arcs of pain through her skull and earning a soft cry from her.

The lich did not respond, only slid an arm around her shoulders to hold her up against him, no doubt for balance, and they continued walking.

At the end of the hall the Horned King turned her around and they started back up the other way, in the same slow, patient pace.

Avalina could sense his anger and did not dare to try and ask him what he was doing.

This went on for what felt like hours. Back and forth, back and forth. . .it was better than going round and round, but Avalina's nerves were stretched to breaking point at feeling the Horned King's intense anger, especially at this range.

After an unimaginable amount of time, she was dimly aware of entering her room again and falling into bed, her head throbbing.

Despite her pain, however, she was asleep instantly.

The Horned King's anger had grown worse over the night, and after pacing in his chambers for hours he had taken to roaming the halls, figuring that if he were to chance upon the Creeper he could use a little stress relief.

Passing Avalina's room, he had heard her soft cry of pain, and he turned back.

'That child should have been in bed hours ago, particularly in her condition.'

The sight of Avalina leaning against the wall in her longsleeved nightgown, nearly crying in pain, had not helped his fury.

'She brought it on herself, why is she crying? And why isn't she *resting?* I ordered her to.'

The Invisibles had explained that her concussion had been worse than expected, and they could not let her fall sleep for another three or four hours, at the very least.

The Horned King had glanced at the clock on the wall. Over the months, he had finally become accustomed to those odd little time-tellers that the Invisibles had put up all over the castle, as the sunlight around his lands could not be depended on to be accurate.

It was three o'clock in the morning.

She sensed his anger and was as frightened as she had been on the way back to the castle, and he had forced himself not to start yelling at her right then.

He wanted her fully awake and aware of what was going on when he did, and doing it now would be an unnecessary waste of his time.

The Invisibles had walked her in her room, no doubt afraid of what he might do, were he to catch her out roaming the halls, (Particularly with the mood he was in) but he could sense that, while it kept her barely awake, did nothing to ease her symptoms in the slightest.

He almost told them to take her out in the hall, but they weren't doing a very good job of keeping her aware of things. If she was with him, her fear of his anger would surely keep her conscious.

So, gritting his fangs, he led her out and they started walking the hall outside her room. Up and down as the minutes crawled by.

The lich was in no hurry. Keeping the girl moving and making sure she did not fall took his mind off other. . .infuriating things. As he had anticipated, her fear of him kept her awake, but he was careful not to jar her. The sooner she recovered, the sooner they could talk. . .

It was nearly dawn when the Invisibles signaled for him to stop, assuring him the danger was now past.

Avalina had fallen asleep the instant the Invisibles had helped her into bed, completely worn out.

The Horned King had watched with narrowed eyes as they draped the covers over her, his anger at the girl still quite potent, before he left, making sure the Invisibles knew he was to be informed of any changes.

Days passed. Avalina improved steadily, (thanks to the Invisibles' care) and by the fourth she was able to get up and move around again, albeit carefully, although she still sported colorful bruises on her face from the incident.

Her first thought was to go love on Mitternacht, but she wanted to visit the Horned King first and see how he fared.

He hadn't visited her once while the Invisibles had kept her bedfast, either, and she tried not to be too surprised at this. But she missed him when he never showed, and she was disappointed and even a little hurt when he did not come. She tried not to think too much about why he hadn't visited her.

However, his harsh words from last night. . .or, whenever it had been that she had spoken to him last. . .were still clear in her mind.

She stiffened at the memory, remembering the reason for his particularly bad temper. He had almost killed Taran.

'But he didn't,' she thought to herself in relief.

'He didn't.'

A piece of parchment floated out of midair to dangle in front of her.

Hat-Rack is in the library.

Avalina laughed upon reading it.

"Well, you took that "Write something else," to a whole new level, didn't you?"

The letters on the parchment ran together and formed another sentence.

Don't tell him you know about it. It'll make him pricklier.

Chuckling, she fastened her cloak around her shoulders and left the room, noticing it was a good deal cooler than she remembered.

Pushing open the library door, she smiled upon seeing him.

"Hello," she said softly.

The lich turned from the bookshelf, setting eyes on her, and Avalina's steps faltered at the look on his face.

The chill in the room seemed to increase as he spoke.

"Is there something you desire?"

Avalina stiffened at his cold tone. Something was off.

"I. . .I just wanted to see you before I went to the stable, that's all. And. . .to thank you for helping me that night," she stumbled out.

"And for. . .for sparing Taran."

She drew in a sharper breath than usual at the sound of the Horned King's growl.

"He is important to you?"

"Well. . .y-yes," she managed, feeling suddenly tense.

"I. . .I guess. Why do you ask?"

For some reason she regretted asking that.

"Now that you have recovered enough to move about again, there is something you need to remember," he rumbled out, ignoring her question as he eyed her.

Avalina suddenly felt cold, watching as he slowly neared her.

"You are never to interfere with my personal matters again," he told her, his eyes tiny pinpricks of red.

"If you trouble me like that again you will regret it. What happens between the Pig-Keeper and I is none of your business. Do you understand?"

Avalina shrank from him, her fear pooling in her stomach.

"But. . .you would have killed him!"

"That is none of your business."

Avalina trembled.

"Revenge won't help anything!"

"Do not speak of things you know nothing about," he growled.

"What's done is done!" Avalina cried, "Killing him won't accomplish anything."

"It is none of your concern."

"Yes it is, he's my friend!"

The Horned King stiffened, not saying anything for a long moment.

"Your. . .friend?"

"Well. . .yes!" Avalina answered.

"You. . .you *know* him?" The lich snarled in shock and fury, and Avalina shook at it.

"Y-yes."

His eyes glimmered, threatening to go completely red.

"How long?"

"I don't know!" Avalina shivered, "I can't remember."

The lich looked at her like he couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"And you never told me?"

"You never asked," Avalina nearly whispered, watching him.

His next question drove a stake through her chest.

"Do you know the place of his residence?"

Avalina froze.

". . .I. . ."

"Answer me."

"Yes sir," she nearly wept, shaking in fear.

"Show me."

His voice was as soft as death.

"I can't," she whispered.

"You *will,*" he hissed as he drew nearer.

"Please, no," Avalina sobbed, her back hitting the library wall, "I can't tell you."

"Give me one reason why," he snarled, drawing closer.

"He's my friend," she choked out, tears running down her face, "And f-friends don't bet-tray each other."

"If that *boy* is your. . ."

The lich could not bring himself to speak it. Only a few days ago he had thought it was one of the most pleasant sounds he had ever heard, but now. . .

Then. . .what am I to you?" He demanded softly.

"You're my friend too," Avalina answered, confused at where he was heading, "I've told you that already."

To her horror she thought she saw the glimmer of distrust in his eyes.

"I don't want you to make a mistake and do something you can't reverse!" She cried.

"My mistake was sparing him."

"You did the right thing!"

"You seem to forget," he ground out, coming to within arm's length of her, "The Horned King does not do, 'the right thing.' I am not like your peasant acquaintances with moral compasses and your knights with a sense of honor. I possess nothing to appeal to."

"Yes you do!" Avalina cried, "Don't say that!"

"It is the truth and you know it."

"No, it's not! I don't believe that, and somewhere inside you I know you don't completely believe it either!"

"What would you know of what goes on inside my head?" He snarled at her, his eyes burning like flames.

"N-nothing!" Avalina whimpered, "But I know something's been happening in here."

She moved to place her hand on his chest but he backed up before she could touch him.

"You're wrong," he snarled in her face.

"I'm *right!*" Avalina insisted. Although her voice was hardly audible, there was a spark in her eye that he had seen before, when she was excited, only a little smaller and a little harder this time.

"Do not contradict me," he hissed, his eyes narrowed to red slits, getting a savage satisfaction at seeing her cower away from him as he towered over her.

"You also seem to forget, you are my *prisoner,* and I can kill your family anytime I li-"

Avalina screamed a heartbroken cry and lashed out.

The slap came as completely unexpected. The lich hadn't even seen it coming.

He placed a hand on the side of his face where she had struck him and stared at her in total shock. It hadn't hurt, but the mere fact that she had done so was inconceivable.

Avalina gasped in horror, tears streaming down her face, not able to believe what she had just done. She hadn't meant to, it had just. . .happened.

His already fraying temper snapped like a twig then, and he yanked her to him hard, his eyes a bloodier red than Avalina had ever seen them.

She screamed in terrified horror and threw up her free arm to protect her face as he raised his arm to strike, turning as far away from him as she could in a feeble attempt to defend herself.

Grabbing the back of her neck (and a handful of hair in the process) he twisted her around to face him, his grip swiftly cutting off her oxygen.

Avalina choked as he did so, covering her face with her arms so she wouldn't have to see it coming.

For what seemed like an eternity she hung there, her eyes squeezed shut behind her hands, shuddering so badly in terror the lich's arm shook with it.

'Any second now,' she screamed inside her head, 'Any second. . .'

The image of the Horned King snapping the red wolf's neck came to mind, and she shuddered twice as hard at the memory.

'He's going to kill me!'

The Horned King shoved her violently away from him, throwing her forcefully to the floor and earning a scream of fright and pain from the girl.

Shivering uncontrollably, Avalina lay there for a moment, frozen, until the lich snarled out two words.

"Get out."

The venomous hatred in his voice matched the hellish fire in his eyes, and the only other time Avalina could remember feeling this terrified of him was when she had first been trapped here.

Sobbing, she got shakily to her feet and stumbled out of the library, feeling like her heart was being ripped in half as tears coursed down her face like a river.

The castle swept by her in a blur as she fled through it and the Invisibles opened the massive entrance door for her.

Stumbling blindly out, the icy wind ripped her breath from her in an instant as her foot slipped on the steps leading into the courtyard, throwing her to the hard ground.

Shakily, she got to her feet, only to feel herself peppered with many cold bits of moisture.

Looking up and around her, she froze in shock, taking it all in.

The courtyard was a great deal paler than she remembered. The perpetual clouds above the castle were still reddish-black, but a grey film overlaid the entire sky as far as the eye could see, and flurries of white howled in on the wind to whip past her, slapping against her face and eyes.

The minutest of snow covered the courtyard, and Avalina's hair whipped behind her head as the wind snatched at her riding cloak, like it was trying to rip it from her.

Winter was here.

Well, things went from bad to worse, didn't they? I think me and both my editors were on the edge of tears upon finishing this chapter XD I would greatly appreciate it if someone would review! :)