Chapter 8

The next morning I awoke to the sound of sizzling meat. Seth was sat before the fire proudly roasting a pair of rabbits over a spit and Edward was nowhere to be seen so I rose and slowly walked over to sit next to Seth. He beamed at me. "Caught them myself this morning. Seemed I learnt something before the hunting trip became a disaster."

I smiled and nudged his side gently in encouragement. None of us had eaten the night before. We had all been too concerned with tending to the king and then it was too dark to consider hunting or foraging for food.

"It will be another few minutes." I rose to see the king as breakfast finished being prepared. He was still pale but there was some colour in his cheeks and his lips were pink at least. I wanted to remove the leaves to see how the wound fared but I dared not without Edward.

"Emrys is looking for more plants and some leeches. He thinks letting some blood from the wound will help hasten the king's recovery." Seth seemed to answer my internal musings. Sitting down beside the king my mind drifted to the night before last and Edward's forced confession.

A cambion was, as legend had it, a child of an incubus and a human woman. An incubus, through his incredible beauty, lured and had sex with women. Repeated encounters with an incubus could lead to a woman's ill health or death. I was not sure of the effects of letting a cambion lie with you, but I pledged to not let myself get near that situation.

Cambions were devilishly cunning and angelically beautiful, something they gained from their demonic father. Cambion's also had the ability to get even the most strong-hearted to do their bidding. I bit my lip as I pondered the times I had been with Edward and felt of the attraction that came over me. The inability I had to pull away… was that his thrall? Or was that my susceptibility to his good looks? All I knew was that he was a potentially dangerous weapon, even if most of the legends paint him as a creature of good deeds.

When Edward returned I was still lost with my thoughts of incubi and cambions. I had become more wary of him now than I ever had been. I watched him from where I sat, observing the beauty of his skin, his strong, angelic appearance and the bronze hair that gleamed in the dappled light of the sunlit forest. I wondered what it would be like to touch - like gold thread, silken, or thick and lustrous? I blinked, suddenly lost in sensational ideas that did not gel nicely with my previous pledge to remain unaffected.

Swiftly I turned from him to King Emmett wetting a cloth that Edward had laid out the night before. Immersing it in the cleaned paste bowl, I wrung the cloth before gently placing it across the king's brow. His eyes twitched at the contact and I smiled calling Edward over to show him.

Leaving Seth tending to the preparation of the rabbits, he joined me lightly touching the king's eyelids and seemed satisfied when King Emmett tried to flinch away. Removing the leaves, the satisfied look left Edward's face.

"It is still toxic. We will need to let some blood in order to stop the poison spreading." Taking his bag, he removed a jar of two dozen leeches. I shuddered having seen my fair share of blood letting in the past. It seemed to work well but it was unpleasant to witness. Slowly he placed each of the leeches about the wound. They lay like over fed worms before rising like a snake and seeming to sniff out the best site to bite before each one latched onto the skin surrounding the king's wound.

Over time the small little brown worm-like creatures grew to the size of bloated slugs before slipping off the king's chest leaving bleeding marks in their wake.

"How much would they have taken?"

Edward picked each leech up replacing them in the jar where now they barely fitted. "About a jug full. Enough to have removed the remaining poison. We are lucky it was slow acting. Whoever shot him did not aim to kill or they were inexperienced. I take it more as a warning." He looked back through the trees.

"Do you think they are still here?"

Edward frowned, "If they were, we would have been ambushed by now. We could not move the king in his state and they would have known that, or he and Seth would have been dead before we got to them."

Seth came over with strips of prepared meat still hot from the spit. Gratefully we all ate in silence, but I was aware that Edward's attention was not on the food he was eating. His green eyes danced around the forest, now brilliant green in the aftermath of the night's storm and the morning sun. Steam rose from the drying forest floor creating a blanket over the ground.

"What happened yesterday Seth?" Edward asked at last and I was mildly surprised he had not asked prior to this moment. Yet in the rush to save King Emmett's life such details, though important, were not pivotal.

My cousin took a deep breath, seeming to gather courage to relay the tale of yesterdays misadventures.

"I got shot?" A croaky voice sounded between us and I rose startled.

"Sire!" Seth and I gasped in unison as I dropped to my knees beside the king, my hand finding his.

"Hey Bells. You know I tell you to call me by my name." I smiled, placing my hand across his brow. It was warm for the first time since the ordeal began. The king batted my hand away unable to deal with being coddled, even as a child. "We used to play together as kids, you are more like a sister to me anyway."

Seeming to realize where he was, he glanced about then back to me. "What are you doing out here anyway? It's not a safe place for a lady to be." He cast accusing looks to Seth and then Edward who merely muttered in agreement.

I looked between my cousin and Edward, waiting for one of them to defend my being present. When no one answered I merely threw my hands up. "Fine! I shall just go back to the castle where I will be safe then. It's where you have wanted me to be all along anyway." I turned to grab my things, but having entered the forest with nothing but a horse, there was nothing to gather. I faltered before storming over and starting to scramble down the embankment in search of one of the horses we left on the path below.

I could hear someone behind me, but did not turn back to look. I heard them getting closer and it only made me hasten my descent. Skidding the last way down the slope, I fell backwards, landing on my bottom, my dress snagging on a root. I pulled, rending the material but in my rush I did not care. The horses were nowhere to be seen so I began walking swiftly along the path the way we had come the night before.

My skin tingled along my spine and I knew without looking behind me that it was Edward in pursuit. My thoughts and my fears began to play through my mind again and I walked faster. I ignored his calls and kept going. For the second time he appeared in front of me to block my path and I tried to work out whether he had actually appeared from thin air or whether he just moved so fast I could not see him.

I went to push around him but he grabbed my shoulders. "Will you stop walking away?"

"Will you stop pursuing me?" I spat back, all too affected by his proximity again and unnerved by the tingles that spread pleasantly from where he held me.

"Never."

I faltered, yet again taken aback by his vehement declaration and more than a little disconcerted. His hands held me fast and I wondered when my hands had risen to grasp his wrists in an attempt to push him away.

"Look, you cannot go back alone, you will be attacked or get lost. We don't know if the enemy is still in the forest." He continued when I failed to speak.

"I - " I began but was stopped by the sound of the castle's horn. Edward released me stepping to the side as we both looked down the path behind him. Around the bend appeared Sir Cheney with twenty or more riders behind him and a carriage. They had come in search of us. The clatter of the procession ceased as they drew level with us and Cheney dismounted his horse.

"Emrys, I am glad to find you well. Did you find the king?"

"Yes, he is up the embankment. It will take a number of us to get him down. He has been shot with a poisoned arrow. The poison has now nearly left his body but we need to get him back swiftly so Carlisle can tend to him."

Cheney nodded and summoned his men to join him. "Your horses returned in the early hours, we were not sure what had happened to you both. Queen Rosalie and Lady Esme are not fairing well and Lady Alice seems to console herself with tending to Sir Jasper. The whole kingdom will be pleased to see the king's safe return."

Inwardly I smiled knowing that despite the dire situation with her brother, Alice would be seizing the moment in caring for her knight.

Edward turned back to me as the Sir Cheney and his men began to climb the slope up to King Emmett. "Wait in the carriage until we return with the king." He paused. "Do not attempt to return alone." He appealed, pre-empting any idea that may enter my head in order to prove a woman's equality with men. With that, he turned and joined the party ascending the bank.

It was some time until they returned, carefully carrying the king down and into the carriage I vacated. With not enough space for the king and myself in the carriage I was given a horse, upon which I was commanded to sit aside and was subsequently lead. It took all I had to bite my tongue and not demand I be allowed to control the horse myself. Yet it would be deemed improper and I would do well to remember my place as a servant.

The procession made its way back to the castle in a rumble of voices, hooves and rolling wheels. I was silent for the most part, glad to be returning but furious at my treatment. Along the journey Edward drew level with me, riding in silence for some time before murmuring in amusement.

"I have never known you so subservient."

I clenched my jaw, refusing to look at him and the beautiful, infuriating smile that curled his lips. "You fight me at every turn and yet so compliantly follow the suggestions of a man servant."

I concentrated on my cousin where he sat at the front of the ride next to Sir Cheney, his delight once again at being included into the business of the army clearly visible. "Your arrogance astounds me." I snarled, narrowing my eyes at him briefly and looking away before I could be affected. It was becoming inexplicably harder each time I looked at him to remain impassive to his handsomeness.

After a few hours of travel, we were crossing the drawbridge of the castle, its stone walls a welcoming sight. Within the courtyard, stable boys and servants rushed out to take horses away and tend to their superiors. The servant leading me, whose name I had discovered to be Eric, had courteously offered to help me dismount when Edward appeared swiftly dismissing him.

"Here." Edward offered me his hand and unwilling to cause a scene I took it as his other arm wrapped about my waist and he lowered me slowly from the horse with exaggerated grace.

With my feet on the ground, his arm still about my waist and the contours of his body against mine, I fought the desire that swelled within my stomach. "Pig." I exclaimed in a harsh whisper and was rewarded by the rumble of his laugh against my back. "Only you would make a mockery of my desire to be independent."

His arm reflexively grew tighter as he lowered his lips level with my ear. "What makes you think I am mocking you?"

The low rumble of his voice, his body and his scent caused warmth to pool in the pit of my belly. My eyes closed to gain some semblance of control, "I am betrothed. I won't fall victim to your wiles." I whispered to defend myself from the emotions he was stirring within me.

He withdrew from me in silence, our exchange so fleeting it was unlikely that anyone saw us amidst the sea of horses, knights and servants. When I turned, he had gone and relieving myself of the horse, I rushed to my chamber to clean myself of the dirt that clung to my body.