Aeron Returns (Guardians of The Realm Book 2)

by Amanda Fleet

  Again, he hesitated. “Very little, Lady Aeron.”

  I swallowed. “One final thing, Aned, can the Scouts read the writing that’s used Outside?”

  “Of course, Lady Aeron.”

  I asked for pen and paper and wrote out: the quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog. Underneath I wrote: sing a song of sixpence, a pocketful of rye. I handed the paper to Aned and asked him to read it out.

  Aned stared at the paper then looked up at me, panic in his eyes. I swallowed. Was my question about to get Aned hanged?

  Faran sat forwards in his seat, his attention flicking between me, his father and Aned.

  “Aned,” prompted Lord Eredan.

  Aned’s hands shook. “Um, I’m not familiar with this particular script.”

  A tense silence settled on the room. Faran looked at me, his posture alert.

  “How many portals are there?” I asked Lord Eredan.

  “Three. Traitor’s Gate, The Hidden Gate, and The Side Gate. Why?”

  “Where do they go, Outside? All to the same area?”

  He nodded cautiously. “Traitor’s Gate and The Hidden Gate come out on opposite sides of the same hill. The Side Gate leads to an area about half a day’s walk from where The Hidden Gate emerges. Why?”

  I bit my lips together, still anxious that my words would get Aned into trouble. “I wondered where Aned’s Scouts had been. This is the way all of that area of Outside would write.”

  Lord Balwen rose. “How do we know that this isn’t a trick? Lady Aeron could be using a script not used Outside at all.”

  I ground my teeth. “Perhaps someone could fetch the bag that I arrived with? It’s in Faran’s rooms.”

  A messenger boy was sent off, returning a few moments later, brandishing it. I rummaged in it to find the only printed thing I had with me – the order of service from Finn’s funeral. Stifling a sob as I saw the picture of Finn, I handed the pamphlet to Aned. He flipped through it, shaking his head and I took it back.

  “What is that?” demanded Lord Balwen. He pinched his lips, deepening the lines around his mouth.

  “The order of service from a funeral,” I said, my voice catching. “I also have some receipts in my purse, but they won’t have much writing on them. The newspapers and the information on the internet would be written in this script.”

  Aned reeled as if I’d just hit him with an axe.

  Lord Eredan stood. “Thank you, Aned. If we need further information, we’ll recall you.”

  Once he’d gone, I turned to the Council. “If Aegyir moves away from the portal after he reforms, you won’t know. If the Scouts are doing little more than listening to people, they may not know if there’s an increase in the death rate. People Outside don’t talk about things like that in the street very much. If the Scouts can’t read the script used Outside and aren’t accessing newspapers or television or the internet, they’ll know nothing. You’re blind.”

  I scanned the rows of Guardians. Some seemed worried, some angry, some defiant. Some like they wanted to kill me, but that didn’t feel new. I tucked the order of service back in my bag, waiting to see if I was still needed.

  “Thank you, Lady Aeron. You have given us much to consider. Perhaps Faran can escort you back to your rooms. Council will reconvene when he returns.”

  Faran stood. “Lord Father, Lady Aeron is the most senior member of the house of Wymond. She should be on the Council. She also knows more about what might be happening Outside than everybody on the Council combined.”

  Lord Eredan whipped around to face him. “Oh, I am quite sure that your traitorous slut of a wife knows plenty about Outside and plenty about Aegyir’s plans, but I will not have her on this Council. She’s the most senior member of her house because she committed treason, leading to the slaughter of her entire family. That does not warrant a place here. You will not raise this again.”

  Faran’s eyes burned, but he said nothing.

  “Take her back to your rooms.”

  Faran came to stand beside me. I opened my mouth to speak, but he shushed me abruptly, his eyes watchful as the rest of the Council filed out.

  As soon as we were alone, I spoke. “I have never seen the Scouts Outside, so they’re not listening to people. The Realm is flying blind. You have no idea where Aegyir is, what he’s doing… nothing.”

  “Shh. I know. But Father will not hear that from you. Come. Lilja said that she would meet with you. We will talk about this later.”

  9

  Lilja was already waiting outside Faran’s rooms when Faran and I arrived. She beamed at me, her rose-pink cheeks dimpling. Like the night before, she wore a pale pink jacket over dark trousers, but today, her shoulder-length hair was pinned up. A few wavy tendrils escaped, softening the look. My heart lifted to see her again.

  Before Faran left to return to the Council meeting, he drew me to one side. “I will argue for you to help, but you saw my father’s reaction. Patience.”

  He bowed to Lilja and left. I invited her in. As soon as the door closed, she hugged me hard. I flicked my head towards the sofa and we sat. I nibbled my lower lip, full of questions. She smiled, inviting me to talk.

  “Lilja, I have so much I need to ask you. I am so lost here. Will you tell me what I need to know?”

  “Of course!”

  She sat back, and I fidgeted. “Outside, custom would be to offer you a drink – a hot drink usually, and maybe a cake or some biscuits. I have no idea what I can offer you here. Water? There’s nothing resembling tea or coffee as far as I can tell and certainly no way of heating water in here. What’s the custom?”

  “Just cups of water.”

  “Okay.”

  I fetched two pottery beakers of water and set them on the low table. Lilja took one and sipped, eyeing me carefully. “How did last night go with Faran?”

  “Oh. I slept on the floor out here, while he got cold in there.”

  She scrunched the side of her mouth up. “Give it time.”

  “I don’t want to.” I ran my finger around the top of my beaker. “I don’t love him. I don’t want to be his wife. I want to go home.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. “This is your home.”

  No, it wasn’t. The tiny, freezing cottage with Finn was.

  “Faran wants to make it work,” Lilja said, breaking my thoughts.

  I looked up. “How do you know?”

  She laughed. “I’m a Seer. And I’ve known both of you for years. Deep down, he still loves you.”

  I turned away. “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s the sticking point.”

  She reached over and squeezed my hand. “I know.”

  I thought back to what Mya had said. “Lilja, the Senior Technician said something strange yesterday. She said it was a shame about me and Orian. What did she mean?”

  Her cheeks dimpled. “You were almost married to Orian. He’s the elder brother. It would have been a good match, politically. Lord Eredan asked your father, permission was given. The day before it would have been arranged, you and Faran returned from a training mission and said you wanted to marry. You told your father that you were in love with Faran. He thought the match equally powerful and gave his blessing. Orian wasn’t best pleased with the switch.”

  I chewed this over. “Faran told me that we’d been together for several years before we married. Orian must have known that. My father must have known that.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t matter here. And Orian wanted you.”

  Something stirred in my brain. “Because I didn’t want him?”

  “Ah, you remember? Oh, he pursued you hotly, but you had eyes for Faran and no one else!”

  I thought back to the way Orian had flirted with me the day before. “Does he still have feelings for me?”

  “Orian? Perhaps. But if he tries anything with you again, Faran will break every bone in his body.” She smiled, one brow arched.

  “Again? What happened?” I sat forward, intrigued.

&
nbsp; “He kissed you. In the Courtyard. The day after you’d announced you and Faran would be pledged but before the ceremony had taken place. Deliberately. To humiliate Faran and try to force your father to agree to you marrying Orian. Orian said he’d been in love with you since he first saw you, too. He was Elected Successor at the time. A good match.”

  “Well, his trick obviously didn’t work.”

  Lilja chuckled. “After he kissed you, you hit him. And then Faran hit him more.”

  I touched my face, remembering the punch he’d given me. “Does Faran settle all his arguments with his fists?”

  “He’s a Guardian. Your temper is as fiery as his!”

  Maybe she was right. If I’d been Faran’s size I’d have happily killed Stephen when he attacked me.

  We lapsed into silence for a few minutes.

  “What do you see?” I asked, eventually. “With Aegyir? With The Realm?”

  Her eyes held caution. “I’m a very junior Seer.”

  “Doesn’t stop you being a good one. What do you see?”

  “I see Aegyir in The Realm again.” Her face clouded. “I see dead Guardians. Here. And Outside.”

  I gulped. “Do you see me Outside again?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Aegyir killed?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if what I see will happen or if it’s only one of the possibilities. I’m very junior.”

  Was history going to repeat itself? Would Aegyir attack The Realm, slaughter the Guardians and I’d be banished again? Or was I Outside helping to defeat Aegyir?

  “I don’t know how Lord Eredan thinks we’re going to defeat Aegyir. The Scouts are bringing back completely useless information. Aned hasn’t the first clue what’s happening Outside.”

  Lilja fidgeted with her cup of water, biting her lip. Was she too junior to hear that? Were the things discussed by the Council not for wider dissemination?

  Before I could change the topic, the door opened and Faran arrived. He smiled at Lilja and she bowed her head. When he looked at me, his smile faded.

  “Forgive me Lilja, but Aeron and I have orders to train. Hopefully, you’ll manage to meet again soon.”

  Lilja scrambled up, hugged me hard and left. As soon as the door closed, I turned to Faran. “How did the rest of the Council meeting go?”

  Faran scowled. “As you might predict. Father doesn’t want Guardians to leave if they’ll be in danger and their quest futile because they’re ignorant, but he wouldn’t countenance you leaving either. He’s convinced that you only want to go so you can betray The Realm again and lead any Guardians who go with you into a trap. Aned’s been told to fetch anything that resembles a newspaper and bring it back. There should be some for you to look at before lunch, though if Aegyir hasn’t reformed yet, there won’t be any news. But despite Father’s very strong feelings, the Council has suggested that we prepare for a group to go Outside in a few days, depending on what’s in the newspapers. In the meantime, there are increased guards on each entry and all Guardians are ordered to focus on their training in readiness.”

  “And does the Council want me to go Outside too?”

  “Well, they recognise that it’d be helpful to have someone who’s used to Outside in the group, but not if you’re a liability.”

  “Liability?”

  He faced me square on. “You can’t fight and you’re a convicted traitor. No one thought it sensible for you to go.”

  “No one?” I straightened, standing tall. I was a good eight inches shorter than him, so the effect was somewhat lost.

  He bit his lips together and raised his brows.

  “Okay, so not even you thought I should go.” I looked up at the clock above the door, but still couldn’t fathom it out. “What time is it? How long is it Outside since I dispersed Aegyir?”

  He checked the time. “Sixty, maybe sixty-five days.”

  Two of the six to eight months it would take for Aegyir to reform. Even if a group of Guardians went out right now, there’d be nothing to find. My heart rate settled a little.

  “Has Aned already gone? I could have told him how to find the papers and which would be the best to bring.”

  “He’ll have sent the Scouts by now. But if they bring things that aren’t useful, you can tell him when you see him. He can send his Scouts out again to bring better things back.” His gaze settled on me, still unsmiling. “We need to go and train. I share my father’s reluctance to send you Outside, because you wouldn’t last a minute with Aegyir.”

  “That the only reason?”

  “No. I don’t trust you, either.”

  ***

  In the training rooms, we practised a number of manoeuvres and I was just about managing to hold my own, though with little finesse. As I shoulder-barged Faran at the end of a long fight, my head suddenly filled with an image of me stripping him. I juddered to a halt, trying unsuccessfully to blink away the pictures. Faran boxed my ear, not so hard that my head was ringing, but hard enough. “Focus!”

  I stepped back. “Sorry.”

  Was that a memory? Or a memory of a dream? Except I was pretty sure I’d never had any erotic dreams about him.

  I didn’t have time to think any more about it because Faran boxed my ear a second time. “Focus! What’s distracted you?”

  I wasn’t about to tell him. “Sorry. I thought I remembered something.”

  “Anything useful? Like how to fight?”

  “No. Sorry.”

  I’d remembered what his skin tasted like after a training session. That he liked his neck being kissed just above the collarbone. That he was ticklish.

  That we’d had some amazing sex.

  I took two steps away from him, turning my back. I did not want to remember things like that. It felt as if I’d cheated on Finn. I closed my eyes, but that only made things worse, so I stared at the cupboards, trying to make my brain think of rolling around in bed with Finn, not Faran.

  “Did you want to take a break?” Faran said behind me.

  “Yeah. When are you guys going to discover coffee?” I muttered, unfastening my head-guard.

  He frowned. “What’s that?”

  “A drink. An essential drink.”

  “Essential? Will you die without it?”

  I wasn’t sure how much he was joking. “No. It’ll just feel like that.”

  We sat on the floor and Faran tipped his head to the side, peering at me.

  “What did you remember?” he asked.

  I studied the toes of my boots. “Nothing helpful for this lesson.”

  Nothing helpful at all.

  I looked back up. From the smirk Faran gave me, I must have been blushing.

  “Anything helpful to our relationship?” He poked his tongue into his cheek.

  “We don’t have a relationship.”

  His brows shot up. “We’re married.”

  I rubbed my lips. “On paper.”

  I lay back and rested my arms across my face. I didn’t want any of these memories of him. But the more I tried to chase the images of Faran away, the more came flooding back. If even half of it was true, things had been fantastic with him.

  Until, of course, I committed treason.

  Faran kicked my foot, and I lifted my arms up enough to see him.

  “May I ask something?” he said.

  “Sure. I don’t promise to answer, but you can ask.”

  He smiled briefly, before looking serious. “Did you ever lie with Aegyir?”

  Whatever question I’d been expecting, it wasn’t that, and it took me a moment to realise what he’d asked. “What? No! Well, I don’t remember, but I can’t believe I would have. Why?”

  He didn’t answer immediately. “You fight better than I expected. But I don’t think you’d be a match for Aegyir at full strength. And if you promised yourself to Aegyir, but didn’t fulfil that promise, he’ll want to…” He tailed away. “I think we need to work on how you would escape being violated.”


  I sat up, blood thundering in my head. He was right though. I scraped my hair back and put my head-guard on.

  We faced one another in the middle of the room. Faran held both of my hands, drawing me closer. “Aeron, trust me. I will never hurt you. I will never force you. I promise you. But I will need to act as if I would, to train you.”

  “I know. Finn and I used to do self-defence classes together.”

  He raised his brows, his posture perking up, though the gritted teeth at my mentioning Finn made me wonder how morbid his curiosity was.

  I pulled my hands free and straightened. “I don’t want to talk about that. Let’s get on with the training.”

  “Let me fetch a table.”

  He returned a few moments later with a solid-looking table which he put against the wall. “Ready?”

  I wasn’t, but I nodded.

  As we fought, I realised that Faran had been relatively easy on me up until now. I was glad of the padded vest and head-guard as several of his punches landed. Before long he’d spun me until I face-planted on the table, him behind me, holding me down one-handed. He reached around me and tucked his thumb into the waist of my trousers, next to my navel. He stepped in, his hips against my backside.

  “Get free… One… two… three…”

  I wriggled and tried to stamp on his instep, jab him with my elbows, headbutt him. Anything that might allow me to get free but his height and weight defeated me. At one hundred, he moved his thumb out of my waistband and kicked my legs apart. He pinned down both of my arms, leaning his body against me, his crotch tight against me, still counting. Tears threatened, and I squirmed and thrashed, desperately trying to get free.

  “Three hundred. And enough. You would have been violated by now.”

  He stepped back, releasing me. I took a moment, hauling in deep shuddering breaths before turning to face him. I hated feeling so powerless.