Edited on July 26, 2014. I'm currently working through this story and making slight adjustments to the story in order to fix certain inaccuracies that started popping up later in the story.

I own nothing of the Black Jewels Trilogy or any following novels. All rights go to Anne Bishop. Thanks for reading!

BJT:ANW

Chapter 4

Lucien paced furiously across the hall, back and forth and back and forth, in front of Arina's door. He wasn't the most patient of people at the best of times, and right now his temper, along with his nerves, was at a breaking point.

After finding an unconscious and very near to dead Arina in the stable, he had picked her up and raced her into the Keep, searching frantically for Jaenelle, Karla, and Gabrielle. After that, they had taken Arina and locked themselves in Arina's room. No one had entered or left for almost seven hours now, and Lucien was right on the verge of breaking down the door to find out what was happening, even knowing what the three Queens would do to him if he tried it.

"Lucien." Daemon's deep voice flowed over him, and he slowly turned to stare at his father. Daemon Sadi was leaning against the wall, just watching him. Daemon sighed and pushed himself of the wall, moving over to Lucien's side. "Son. Look, nothing you do is going to help, and you are making everyone nervous." Daemon tapped Lucien's Black Jewel, which he had unconsciously called in. "Come, we are going to get something to eat while we wait."

Reluctantly, Lucien let his father steer him away from the door, looking over his shoulder at the door that remained stubbornly shut.

They both knew that Lucien was likely more powerful than his father, if only just a hair. Just like Daemon Sadi, the first mirror, was stronger than his father, so too was Lucien SaDiablo stronger than his father. Lucien could have tried to stay if he wanted to be stupid, but he understood that his staying right outside the door might be a hindrance rather than a help. And even if he hadn't understood that, the devastation unleashed by two Blacks clashing would destroy a large part of the Keep and absolutely kill Arina. (And even if he was, technically, stronger in terms of raw power, he had none of the experience or skill to back it up.) So he let his father pull him over to the dining room—the one place in the Keep, other than the library, where everyone from the coven and first circle along with their children tended to gather. Everyone looked over when they entered. "Well, it's about time!" Rose exclaimed. She leaned forward and handed him a coffee before throwing her arm around him. "How are you?" she asked sympathetically. He gave her this look. She shrugged at him. "Relax. She sounded like she was in very bad shape. Of course it is going to take time. That doesn't mean anything bad."

"I just want to know why she was in bad shape." He said evenly.

"Well, that wasn't what I was going for," she muttered. She leaned against him, tucking her legs against herself, smiling slightly in contentment. Lucien smiled slightly. It had always amazed him, the relationship that he had with his sister. He was too much like his father—he was not very comfortable with women, other than his family and close friends, despite being a Warlord Prince. Still, he was completely comfortable with his sister. It probably had something to do with the fact the she simply ignored it when he started to get irritated, and eventually, he just got used to it. By now, he barely even noticed her when she did things like this. Also, the fact that she was his sister, and shared his blood probably helped. And the others, daughters of Jaenelle's First Circle, he was comfortable with them. It was other women, the ones that he didn't know that bothered him. The way that they looked at him, like he was a mere possession for them to take and use…it was even worse than the looks they gave his father, because Daemon was married and settled. He was...available.

Despite his anxiety about Arina, being with everyone was starting to relax him. Leaning against the back of the chair, Lucien listened to the quiet stories circulating in the large room, the quiet reunions, and the louder games of the teens. This was his home, his family. Everyone in this room had been a part of his life for longer than he could remember; they all cared, and they all did their best to help him. It would have felt strange if they hadn't been here for this.

Still, they were all alert, waiting and listening to the movements and spells taking place upstairs, where Jaenelle, Karla and Gabrielle were working on Arina. Lucien twitched. Rose pressed against him slightly in warning. Now was not the time. Lucien settled.

It was nearly an entire hour later when Gabrielle and Jaenelle came into the dining room. Everyone looked at them, and silence came very quickly. Lucien started to get to his feet, but stopped when Jaenelle held up her hand.

"Lucien, sit. Relax. She is fine."

"What happened?" He demanded, his voice hostile. Everyone flinched. It looked like Jaenelle was losing her hold on her son, now that he had his mate.

"She is seriously malnourished—it looks like she hasn't eaten in days, almost a week. There is also a serious case of exhaustion, from powering the Web, and Lorn says that he taught her everything that she needed to know in one sitting, even if was repressed for us to wake up, so there is that. In addition, there is the shock that the situation brought on her. It was difficult in the beginning, because she was resisting, but she's fine now. She'll sleep for as long as she needs, and Mrs. Beale is making her all the food that she needs. Every time that she wakes up, there will be food for her. Everything is fine, dear. She just needs time to heal. Please, relax."

Lucien nodded tightly, unhappy. He understood that she needed time. But it wasn't going to be easy for him.

BJT:ANW

"It's been a week!" Lucien snarled.

Lucivar, reading the signs of rising tempers, had taken Daemonar, Yaslana and Lucien to Ebon Rih, and then set them loose on each other to work the tension out. It was a little nerve racking to realize that all three of them were so upset about Arina. They had only really interacted with her all of one time, after all. The other boys were restless as well, but not as bad about it. They belonged to her, of that there was no doubt. It was certainly an interesting development, if not a particularly wanted one at the moment.

Still, they were right. Jaenelle had told him that she was completely healed—all she needed now was to come out of her room. She was eating properly, and sleeping on what appeared to be her normal patterns, though she wasn't sleeping a lot. But she just wasn't coming out of her room. She had suggested that he take the boyos out of the area and tell then what was going to happen. She offered Daemon to help him, but Lucivar declined. He could handle it, he insisted. Now, he wasn't so sure.

"I'm going to start training her." He announced abruptly. The three boys went still at the words.

"Training her, as in hauling her forcibly out of bed and down to the training fields?" Lucien asked warily, stopping what he was doing. The other two boys stopped as well and turned to stare at Lucivar.

He scowled at them dangerously, and they automatically started moving again. "Yes. She needs to get in shape, and she needs to come out of her room. This is the ideal solution. Two birds, one stone, as they say."

Lucien frowned. But then….he was right. She needed some kind of sharp push to get her reacting and living, so he would go along with it. Even if he didn't like it.

"Fine," he grunted.

Lucivar relaxed slightly. If Lucien was fine with it, then the others would accept it. Somehow, he didn't think that any of them were happy with it, but then, they didn't have to be. Abruptly, he grinned. Tomorrow was going to be interesting, if nothing else.

BJT:ANW

Arina stared at her ceiling as early morning light filtered in through her window. This place is so strange, she thought. I don't understand anything here.

For a moment, she remembered what had happened when she had woken up after collapsing in the stables.

Flashback

"Ohh…" Arina groaned slightly, shifting in place. She tried to open her eyes, and after a moment, she found her eyelids in order to open them. She dragged them up just as a slight pressure settled on her bed. Arina turned her head.

"Kiss kiss," the white blonde woman said lightly. Arina blinked at her.

"Um…who are you?" she groaned.

"Karla. How are you feeling?"

"Like I was run over by a giant truck," Arina muttered darkly. "What happened?"

Karla gave her a curious look. "Well, you will be sore for a while," she told Arina. "And as to what happened, your body couldn't handle what had happened. Too much, too fast. And on top of that, Jewels are very draining. If you don't give your body fuel, your Jewels will start to consume your body. So you shut down. Simply collapsed. You were in such bad shape, without any food…it was a difficult healing. You've been asleep for two days."

"I couldn't eat anything," Arina murmured softly. "Every time I tried, my system wouldn't take it, and I would puke. It was bad, but there was nothing I could do."

Karla stared at her. "Anyway, the Warlord Prince dog—"

"Janos?"

"Yes, him. He managed to catch you before you hurt yourself, and then went to find Lucien, and he got us—Jaenelle, Gabrielle and me, that is. We managed to stabilize you in time, but it was close."

"Alright. I get that. I do. I just have one question."

"Yes?"

"Why does everyone keep talking about Lucien to me? Is there a reason that I should care about him?"

Karla looked horrified. "Oh, mother night," she groaned. "Well… you'll see…in time…"

End flashback

She smiled faintly, and slowly sat up, pushing the memory aside as she glanced around again. Her room was now really her room, and the decorations that she had added made it seem like somewhere she could actually call home. Her first real home. It was perfect. She got out of bed slowly, and started moving. Janos looked up from her bed as she walked over to the bathroom, and then he whuffed and put his head back down. He had slipped into her room one night when she was asleep, and had stayed with her ever since. Of course, she hadn't really tried to kick him out.

She had just finished getting dressed in one of her tight black suits, when a huge guy with wings burst into the room. She whirled to face him, but he had already tossed her over his shoulder and was hauling her out the door before she could get adjusted. Janos jumped off the bed and tore after them, snarling fiercely.

The man swore, and then picked up speed, till he was running down the hall, Janos at his heels. Arina considered kneeing him in the balls, but then he hit stairs and launched himself into the air, and she decided that distracting him like that would be a very, very bad idea. On the other hand, he looked like he had a definite destination that was coming up very quickly. In which case, kneeing him in the balls would be alright—with her, at least.

BJT:ANW

On the practice field…

Lucien stopped mid-stroke at the sound of furious barking. He, along with everyone else on the training field, turned to face the Keep. Lucivar was flying towards them, carrying Arina over his shoulder. The kindred dog that followed Arina everywhere was tearing along the ground behind them, barking his head off. Lucivar landed neatly on the ground in the middle of the field, his knees bent slightly. There was a momentary pause, and then Lucivar tipped forward, howling. Arina leapt clear, rolling to her feet with a snarl.

"You—" she started, furious, but Lucivar cut her off, lunging for her with a deep growl. She yelped and twisted out of the way of his stick/blade thing, then dodged again. "What is your problem?" She demanded, backing up quickly. "Other than that," she amended. "And I was completely justified! You burst into my room and kidnapped me! You deserved it!" Her voice ended in a definite snarl.

*Did she…?* Daemonar asked him, slightly awed.

Lucien remembered her position when Lucivar had dropped her, and was fairly sure that his jaw dropped. *She did.*

*Mother night.*

Arina hissed, then swung around to face Yaslana, who was standing closest to her. "Give me that!" she grabbed his practice stick, and dodged another strike form Lucivar, before making a beeline for open ground. What and with his wings Lucivar got there first, having slightly recovered.

"Alright, witchling," he snarled. "Defend yourself."

"That's what you want? You could have just asked!" she growled, glaring at Lucivar even as she fell into what was clearly a defensive ready position, though it was one Lucien had never seen before. Lucivar gave her a thoughtful look. Then he glanced over at Jaenelle, who was watching, along with the rest of the Coven. "Call time," he told them.

Jaenelle smiled.

This fight was different from any that Lucien had seen before. His uncle wasn't holding back, but Arina simply kept slipping away from him. Her style of fighting was so strange, nothing that Lucivar did would land on her. Every time he got close, she would—somehow—slip out of trouble. It looked like it was taking a toll on her, though. She looked exhausted, and was having to concentrate fiercely. Daemonar, standing right next to him, was watching with narrowed eyes.

Arina avoided direct contact as much as she could. She didn't have the strength to compete with him physically, and she knew it, but her small lithe body meant that she was much better at moving, and so that's what she did. She just didn't stop moving, and kept turning around, forcing Lucivar to turn with her. Because of that, it took Lucivar nearly the entire ten minutes to beat her. He finally managed to get several direct strikes in. Arina held up under the first four, but when the fifth hit her, she gasped, and dropped her stick from clearly numbed fingers.

"Ouch…" she mumbled, sinking down to the ground before she fell over, shaking her hands out weakly.

Lucivar stretched, looking slightly happier than before.

"Feeling better?" she asked darkly, picking up the stick again and wincing to herself.

"Yes, actually," Lucivar said calmly, while she snarled under her breath.

"What was that for!" she cried, though quietly, glaring at Lucivar balefully. "I was fine, what possessed you to do that!"

"You were fine."

"As well as could be expected," she snapped.

"What do you mean?" Daemonar asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"I don't know who any of you are, I am in a strange world that I came to via a Web of all things, and…and…and who knows what else! You think that I'm ok? No, I am not okay!"

Everyone flinched, but Lucien narrowed his eyes a little bit a moment later. It wasn't like she wasn't better off here. He just had to get her to realize it.

"I just… Oh, I don't know! But whatever it is, you aren't helping!" She flared angrily, getting to her feet, slightly shakily. Lucien and Daemonar both stepped forward to help her, but stopped at the expression on her face and the grim tightening hold on the practice stick. Wisely, they both stepped back.

"Defend yourself," she muttered as she hobbled towards the Hall. "Humph. Crazy, stupid, dumbassed…" her voice trailed off as she wobbled off.

Everyone looked at Janos, who was still sitting on the field as he got up. *She different now. Calm. Happy. Still hurt, but better. Time all needs.* the dog told them before bounding after her, leaving them staring after the kindred dog with a sigh.

"Time. Great, just what I need," Lucien muttered. "More waiting."

BJT:ANW

Arina reached her room, slipped inside, and slammed the door as hard as she could. For a moment, she glared at the door, before forcefully reminding herself that the door wasn't causing her problems. She quickly turned around and swept her gaze over her room. The bed was no longer a large four-poster of a ridiculous height. Instead, it was sitting almost on the ground, it was so low, but it was just as large. There were no posts, but there was a sort of shimmering gauze net hanging over it, inspired by the nets used in rainforests to keep out the bugs. On the walls were tapestries of landscapes and animals; she kept a few of the rugs and most of the other furniture around the room. Her stuff was now scattered all over the room, clothes on the bed, in the wardrobe, and on the many armchairs; books stacked haphazardly all over the room; CD's and the radio by her bed; and everything else was lying around all over the room. It was chaos—and she loved it. So different from the almost military emptiness of her former room.

A twinge of guilt struck her as she looked around. Was it really such a bad thing that she had been brought here? She no longer had to deal with her drugged out sister, or her absent parents, or any of that. Here, she had been given so much, and it really seemed like they didn't want anything from her in return, except maybe…her. Just her.

Arina had taken about two steps towards the bed when there was a whine at her door. *Arina?* Janos called. Arina turned back to the door and opened it for Janos, closing it again once he was in the room. The young Queen sighed, then went to her bed and flopped backwards onto it. She groaned at the ceiling.

*Hurt?* Janos asked in concern.

"No, just…confused."

*But why?* Janos demanded. He just couldn't understand why she would groan if she wasn't hurt. Arina just shook her head and sighed.

"Never mind, Janos. It doesn't really matter." She was silent for a long moment. "Part of me really likes this place, but the other part is still saying that I can't trust anyone here, only myself. I don't know what to do!"

BJT: ANW

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