Chapter 3

Katherine pressed her fist to her lips to keep from giggling out of nervousness. He was back, talking and all, and right in front of her. She bowed her head, fist over her heart.

"My lord."

Her heart was pounding in her ears. She would rather have found a wolf in her stables than that, anything rather than Him. The foulest tempered creature in Spring, the most dangerous one.

"There's no need for that." His voice was tired and a bit raspy.

"Tamlin, this is my mother, Katherine Elliot." Allie introduced them, and Katherine found herself amused that even in such a circumstance her little princess of a daughter remembered the correct order of introductions. It was absurd, and she bit her lip to keep the nervous giggle away.

Extending her arm to him felt like putting her hand into a lion´s cage, but her just gripped her forearm lightly, his hands absurdly cold even through the wool of the dress.

"It's an honour."

"The honour is mine."

That was absurd. Kiril would have died for that chance, if he wasn't already dead. She had to go to his tomb and tell him she had touched the High Lord, she bet he would turn on his grave out of envy.

"Mum, Tamlin is staying with us, as my guest."

Katherine swallowed, finding her throat odd. He was closer to Allie than she was, there was no way she could pull her child and make a run for the bell before he could catch them, and she would rather anything than try his temper.

"We should go to the house, you're half frozen already, m'lord."

Taking a better look now, Lord Tamlin truly looked half dead. He was pale as a candle, the sharp lines of his face standing out from lack of meat, and the long blond hair that Kiril had fanned himself over was dull and looking more like straw than gold, reaching past his waist now.

"Just call me Tamlin. I don't want to impose."

That was right, he had no family name. Something about the whole of Spring being his family, she had learned about it on History class a lifetime ago, why was she remembering that now?

"Nonsense." She waved her hand "Allie, brush Rain for me, will you? I'll show L- Tamlin to the guest room."

Katherine kept her hands clasped together, like she had seen Clara do a thousand times, to keep them from shaking, and consoled herself on the fact that she couldn't look like her mother if she tried to.

"Thank you for your hospitality." The High Lord´s steps didn't make a sound on the floorboards, and she had been about to glance behind to make sure he was still following her.

"The room is simple, but I hope it's to your liking."

Their guest room was spacious, but simply furnished, as everything else in the house. Still, the feather bed was the best they could afford, even if it was nothing to what he must be used to.

"The room is good. You don't have to cater to me, Mrs. Elliot, please, just treat me like you would any other faerie."

Any other faerie wasn't the most dangerous and temperamental creature in their court, but she didn't dare contradicting him. She would play the part, if it would keep her and her child safe.

"Of course. Please, call me Katherine. I trust you've already dined?" She had to stop herself from adding "M'lord" to the end of the sentence.

"Allie was kind to get me some dinner, yes."

She nodded. He had called Allie by her nickname, something only her closest did.

"If you need anything, I'll be in the last room, at the end of the corridor. Good Night… Tamlin."

"Good night." He nodded as she left him to look for Allie. She hadn't rang the bell, even tough Katherine had given her the chance to by driving him away. Perhaps she was worried that he might hurt her if she did?

But she couldn't keep from her mind that Allie had pleaded with her not to harm him. It was flattering, really, but even though the High Lord looked half dead, Katherine in her best shape wouldn't be able to chip his fingernails.

Allie turned to look at her when she walked back in the stables.

"Allie, where do I begin?"

"Mum, I..." Allie gestured with her hands to show she was at a loss of words.

"You didn't ring the bell."

"Of course not!" Allie looked appalled that she would even think of it "Have you seen him?"

"Has he done something to you? Or threatened you or anything?"

"He is not like that, mum!" Says every girl when their mother warns them about a troublesome male.

"Of all the males you could choose, you had to become his lover?" Katherine started untangling Rain´s mane.

"What? Mum, no!" Allie looked at her disgusted "Is that what you think of me?"

"Allie, what normally drives someone to hide someone else in the stable loft of all places?"

Allie swallowed her protests of virtue.

"He is my friend, mum."

Allie was an adult, but in some things she still had the heart of a child.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Allie looked down, stopping her long strokes on Rain´s coat.

"I didn't know that you wouldn't… You know."

"You really thought I could do him any harm?" Katherine frowned.

"I know your temper, mum." Allie mumbled "I thought you may hand him over to The Alliance and they could hurt him." Her eyes filled with tears.

Of course Katherine would hand him over to The Alliance, if she hadn't promised Allie she wouldn't do him any harm. As if The Alliance could contain him. It would be more likely that he would decimate the city guard in under ten minutes, and the Council in five. Half dead as he looked, Lord Tamlin could finish The Alliance in a day´s work, if he wanted to. That´s how unbalanced the scale was.

"Aren't you lovers? I wouldn't be mad at you-"

"Mum, no!" Allie turned to her, exasperated "He is my dear friend, nothing more. I'm not a slut."

Katherine kept her face neutral. Of course, Allie didn't know what her life had been like before she was married. Slut would be one of the kindest things Clara would have called her, if she ever found out.

"How long has he been here?"

"He has been in the stables ever since we came home." Allie turned back to brushing Rain "He was in the house before."

"Tell me all of it." Katherine started braiding the mare´s mane, to keep it from getting tangled again.

"We met in spring. I found him as the beast, eating a hare he'd just killed, so I offered him some food. He was back a few days later, and some days after that. Always the beast. You had said that there was nothing left of him, and so I unlocked the stables so that he would have a place to stay if he wanted to, and he stayed." Allie smiled at her memories, even tough Katherine was about to cry of fright "And one day when I came back he was himself again, so I unlocked the house for him, and he stayed there until we got back."

The idea of him roaming her house gave Katherine a dread that not even the darkest ghost stories of her childhood had. He had been there, lived there, and she hadn't been any the wiser. Of course, Allie would have known to make it so.

"That's why you're so thin." Katherine found herself mumbling. Allie must have taken some of her own portions to feed him, so Katherine wouldn't notice the pantry growing empty quicker than it should.

"I was getting fat anyway." Allie chuckled.

What kind of person would do that? Allow a child to go hungry to feed him? But he was the High Lord, he was used to having people stretching themselves thin to cater to him. He might not even have noticed.

Allie would make sure of that too, she would tell him some lie about thinness running in the family and he hadn't known her long enough to disprove it.

"How long did you think you could keep this going on?"

"I had hoped it wouldn't have to be long. I hoped I could get you to understand." Of course, Allie had been grooming her with all that talk about forgiveness "He needs help, mum, and I don't think I can do it alone. You've seen him."

"He just needs to get some meat in him." Katherine dismissed "And he can command the hospitality of any house in this Court."

"He doesn't want to command anything from anyone." Allie frowned at her as if she were dumb "Tamlin just wants to be left alone. But I'm afraid for him, he barely even eats anything, keeps saying he's not hungry but you've seen him. It's a good day when I can get him to finish up his plate."

That was too much for Katherine, and she tossed her head back in a nervous laughter.

"Mum, I'm serious! How can you be laughing?"

"Allie, this is not a sick stray you found at your doorstep, this is the High Lord of Spring. He´s beaten even his fiancée, he's dangerous!"

"And you've beaten your own mother!" Allie threw it back at her face, with the quickness of her father.

"I had reason for it!"

"You always said yourself, there's no reason for violence."

Damn Kiril for making her so sharp.

"I'm a farmer, how dangerous can I be? He's the High Lord! He could make the two of us into jam in a heartbeat, it wouldn't take him a night to vanish the whole Alliance if he set his mind to it."

"That's no fault of his that he's powerful. He's our guest, the sacred laws bind even him."

Katherine scoffed.

"Do you think he cares?"

"I vouch for him."

Katherine felt the urge to hit her head against the mare´s shoulder.

"You can't vouch for him-"

"This is my house!" Allie´s outburst echoed from the walls "As much as it is yours, and he is my guest! And I vouch for him!"

That was her. That was all her blood.

Realizing she had lost her temper made Allie blush, and she turned her back exasperated as Katherine placated the mare.

"I'm sorry mum, but don't you trust my judgement? Have I not been always a female of sense?"

"Darling, I trust your judgement, but can we trust him?"

"I vouch for him." Allie repeated, as if that settled the matter.

There was nothing Katherine could do. Without the Mayor´s brooch, she couldn't summon The Council, and even if she rang the bell now, Lord Tamlin could still kill the both of them and be gone before the Lewis could be back. Or he could wait for them and kill them and the Wyatts too, Jules and sweet Marguerite, and the children... She would have to play his game, and bide her time until she could think a way out of it.

The mother was absolutely terrified of him, even though she tried to pretend otherwise. Could he really blame her? No, he couldn't.

Not so long ago she would have looked at him in awe, like they all did back then, when he was their High Lord, their protector. Now he was the monster they needed to be protected from. That's what was left of their love and loyalty, one moment of weakness, one wrong step, and they could never find it in themselves to trust him again.

High Lord of Butthurt. He could hear Lucien´s voice in his mind as clearly as if he was standing right next to him.

Except for the kid, Allie. The only one who had been willing to be kind to him, to look past the High Lord he had been and see the faerie that he was.

There was a light knock on his door.

"I just wanted to make sure you are well." Allie walked in with a cup of tea and a plate of cookies, intent on her goal of trying to stuff him up with food.

She was barely an adult, and already she behaved like an old matronly auntie.

"I'm fine." He tried to smile at her.

"That did go better than I had expected." Allie chirped, pushing the plate in his hands "Eat some, they're fresh, Elize Lewis just baked them today."

Tamlin picked a cookie to humour her.

"She sent you a gift then?"

Allie scoffed, picking one for herself and pulling the chair of the desk.

"You'll see, once she gets to know you." She turned the chair around and sat down, crossing her arms over the back.

"I don't want to know Elize Lewis."

Allie rolled her eyes, chuckling.

"A jester." She tossed the whole cookie into her mouth "The bitch does make some good cookies." She conceded "But I was talking about mum. Give her some time, she only knows what The Alliance says."

His smile died down, the cookie tasting like paper in his mouth.

"They're not lying, you know."

"But they're not telling all the truth, are they?" Allie retorted, with her quick wit. Lucien would have loved her.

"Not everything can be defended, kid."

"I'm not defending your actions, I'm defending you as a faerie." Allie frowned "You're better than the worse shit you've done. And why are you still calling me kid? You know my name now." She chuckled.

"Mind your mouth, Allie, if you start swearing your mother will blame it on me."

She laughed and tossed another cookie in her mouth, eating gleefully.

"But really, I don't want your mother to be uncomfortable in her own house, perhaps it would be better if-"

"You can't go now!" Allie pleaded and he felt awful for having wiped the smile from her face "Tamlin, you're my one true friend now, I need you here."

Tamlin nodded. He would go nowhere if Allie said she needed him, even when all he could do was to listen.

"You haven't told her?"

"No, and I can't now, it's too much." She picked another cookie from the plate "Why aren't you eating? Are the cookies not good?"

Allie reminded him of his old governess.

"I'm just not hungry."

She scowled.

"At least drink some of your tea then."

The tea was nothing fancy, but it tasted good, and he tried another bite on the cookie. It wasn't that bad, really, and it seemed to please Allie.

"I'm glad that you're here with us." Allie smiled candidly "You'll see, once she gets to know you it's going to be so much nicer."

It was quite the opposite, in his experience, but he wouldn't contradict her.

Lord Tamlin didn't murder them that night, and when Katherine walked into the kitchen, drawn and pale from lack of sleep, she wondered if it had all been a strange dream. Allie had already kindled the stove and was buttering a slice of bread, the smell of fresh tea was inviting, and Katherine poured herself a mug, yawning a greeting.

"Good morning. Here's the milk."

The High Lord stood in the doorway, kicking the mud off of his boots, the small pail hanging from his hand. As Allie rushed to take it from him, Katherine greeted him and took the buttered bread to the stove to toast.

"Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, thank you very much."

She poured him a mug, trying to act as if that was an ordinary situation.

"Have you done this before? Farm-work, I mean?"

"No, I can't say I have." Lord Tamlin proceeded to wash his hands. That kitchen seemed too small with him in it "That is, before this winter. It was Allie who taught me."

Allie bit into her toast, looking cautiously at her mother.

"So all this time it was you doing the milking?"

"I like to make myself useful." Lord Tamlin shrugged.

What would one say if this was just an ordinary situation?

"Well don't go pawning all of your work off on Tamlin."

Allie chuckled at that, and the High Lord seemed to relax a little. Allie was right, even though he looked half-starved he barely ate anything.

"Is there anything else you would like, Tamlin? Porridge, maybe?"

He looked almost surprised that she had talked to him, and she wondered if his court had that "servants don't talk unless talked to" nonsense she had heard about some great houses. Well, he better get used to it, he was in her house now, and he had insisted in no special treatment.

"No, I'm… fine."

"No guest of mine goes hungry. What do you want to eat?"

He seemed at a loss for a moment, even shooting a pleading glance at Allie, but no help came. Katherine could bet no one had ever been direct with him his whole life, spoiled little lordling that he was, and his reaction amused her.

"I'm good, really. The bread is good. Thank you mist- Katherine." He picked another toast from the plate.

Katherine took the teacup to her lips to hide her smile at managing to bully the tempestuous High Lord into eating. He was nothing but a fussy toddler, and that she could deal with.

Provided that he didn't lose his temper.

The thought of it wiped the smile from her mouth. They were all but prisoners in that house with him. Allie seemed to trust him, but Katherine couldn't put aside the list of everything he had done. She had to walk the thin line between making him believe that he was just like any other guest, and minding his temper, and she didn't have the slightest idea of what might set it off.

And all the while she still had to find a way to feed one more mouth. She should at least be glad that he didn't eat much.

Grandpa Titian would have been disappointed in her for thinking like that. Whatever the circumstances, she could see that he wasn't well, and her grandpa would never turn away another faerie in need of help, no matter who.

Even him?

She could almost hear her grandpa´s voice.

"Even him, Katarina."

She would manage so that they could all have plenty to eat, there was still some cushion from her time as Lady Mayor, and that bracelet that she had never really liked all that much, and he wouldn't be staying long, surely?

"Do you need help with anything?" The High Lord offered when she got up from the table.

"Thank you, but there's not really much to do."

"It would be nice to have some more wood for the hearth." Allie suggested.

So that too was him, of course. He had been all but haunting her house all along. Katherine felt a shiver down her spine.

"No problem." He seemed contented with that.

He wanted the illusion of making himself useful, then. Katherine thought of small tasks she could ask him to perform, if he offered help again. Feeding the beasts or the chicken, getting firewood, what else?

He was chopping wood when she came out of the greenhouse. Shambled as he looked, his strikes cut through the wood like it was butter. In his best shape she assumed he could just split the logs with his bare hands. How did the Mother allow some to be born so powerful while others were so powerless? And why wouldn't he just tie his hair? It must be awfully inconvenient. But he was a lordling, not a farmer, and he wasn't used to working. She wondered how long it would take him to come up with that idea.

He could see where Allie had gotten her love for stuffing folks up with food, but that was the extent of the similarities between mother and daughter. At first Tamlin had wondered if Allie had been born to Katherine or if she had adopted and raised her, there didn't seem to be one drop of shared blood between the two females, while Allie was fair and dainty, Katherine had the buxomness and golden looks of Helion´s folk.

But, looking better at the two of them, they were both impressively tall for females, and had the same big doe eyes, even though Allie´s were hazel, against her mother´s amber gaze, but that was all the similarity he could find. Allie was sweet and easy to laughter, while Katherine had an air about her that would have dissuaded anyone from trying her patience, and seemed to always be smirking at some private joke.

She seemed less afraid now than she had been the day before. Perhaps in time she would learn not to fear him. He made an effort to move gently and not startle her, and kept his voice low, and, as an unintended result, he could see the smile in the corner of Allie´s lips. The kid was having a grand time at his show of harmlessness.

"What should we do when the neighbours come by?" Katherine took a spoonful of the soup to her mouth.

He hadn't given that much thought. Of course, the neighbours came by every now and then, he had heard Allie leading their horses to the stables and snips of chatter and laughter. It had made him feel oddly empty.

"I'll be somewhere else."

Katherine nodded. Tamlin had never had a way with words, and the less he spoke the better, but he was aware that most folks found that intimidating. It was still better than the absurdities he said before he could think better.

"Do you want some more bread with this soup?" Allie offered.

"No need, thank you."

"Are you sure?" Katherine insisted.

Tamlin nodded. The two of them would stop at nothing, it seemed, to make him fat as Blackstar the cow.

"In case you change your mind." Allie pushed the plate towards him.

Tamlin ate another spoonful of soup and picked a slice of bread from the plate in order not to give offence. The food was simple, but tasty, like usual in the country. He had eaten in a thousand farmhouses in his days in the war band, when he wasn't but the third son no one cared for, and it was always noisy and incredibly fun, he would stuff his face in cottage pie or roast pig and then pick up his fiddle and play with them, there was always an accordion or a guitar to accompany.

But that was before.

"Tamlin, tell us about that time you lost your horse in the woods." Allie asked with a smile. She always loved the stories of Lucien.

"It was Lucien´s fault." He started, and the memory brought a smile to his face "Lucien Vanserra." He clarified, immediately feeling stupid. Surely, Katherine knew Lucien Vanserra was his best friend, everyone knew that "We were travelling along the Wall, mapping the cracks and, sending the Children of the Blessed back before anyone else could find them." He took another spoonful of the thick soup "And that afternoon, when we stopped, I went to make some cover and get some food, and Lucien was left responsible for securing the horses and making the fire, obviously. I'll leave you to guess which of these tasks he forgot."

An amused expression crossed Katherine´s face.

"What were you hunting again?" Allie had finished eating, and was leaning forward, forearms on the edge of the table, to hear.

"A boar." He recalled, between spoonfuls of chicken soup "A vile old thing, at that. So I came to the camping site with the boar and there were about half a dozen wood nymphs around the fire, and Lucien was all smiles and wit, and the horses were nowhere to be seen."

Allie laughed at that, and even Katherine gave a chuckle.

"It was the wood nymphs who managed to find the horses and return them, in the end, which was rather nice of them, but they didn't think much of Lucien after that, unfortunately." He used the slice of bread to wipe his bowl.

Allie shook her head.

"I love this story."

Tamlin handed his empty bowl to Katherine, who had gotten up to take the plates to the sink, for the house to wash.

He had encountered those same wood nymphs recently, but they had kept their distance, wary of him. They lived in harmony with all creatures of the woods, but apparently he didn't count, and he had thought it better to leave than keep disturbing them with his presence.

High Lord of Butthurt.

At least it had brought him to Allie.