Queen of Hearts (The Risen King) (5 page)

Aiofe nodded. “Yeah, him. He was...” Tears started flowing down her cheeks again as the image of Arthur entangled with the blond woman raced into his mind. “There was another woman.”

The gentle branches overhead stroked the girl's red hair and the old tree cooed softly. “There, there, my dear. I am sure it is not as bad as it seems. Who was this other woman?”

Aiofe shook her head as she sniffled. “I don't know. I've never seen her before. But they were, they were kissing.” The admission hurt her throat and she broke into a fresh stream of tears.

“Oh my, that does sound serious. Why don't you stay right here, safe and sound, and we'll find out what's going on for you, all right?”

Aiofe nodded and scooted around toward the large trunk. She nestled against the bark and let the tears flow.

*~*~*~*

“
Aiofe!“ Arthur called once more as he pulled himself free of Guinevere, but the red tresses had disappeared beyond the sea of faeries in front of him. He stared after her for several seconds before turning on Guinevere. “Why are you here?” he spat as he glared at her.

She cowered under his gaze and her bottom lip quivered. “I... I...” Her blue eyes grew wide and glassy with tears as she glanced from Arthur to the faeries surrounding them. She sank back to the ground and tried to make herself as small as possible. “I don't know,” she whispered as she began to shake.

Lancelot knelt down beside her and wrapped his arm around her. “Don't be so cruel, Arthur. We don't know what the girl has been through. Look at the state of her. It clearly has not been pleasant.” He helped her to her feet and kept his arm around her waist as Arthur shot him a glare.

Zela stepped up beside the king and stopped whatever retort he was going to make to his friend. She stood between him and the dark haired man and glared at the blond woman. “Who is this?”

No one spoke for several moments. Guinevere huddled next to Lancelot, her arms wrapped tightly around him, her face buried in his chest. Arthur stood behind Zela, his own chest heaving with angry breaths. He kept glancing furtively over the heads of the faeries, hoping to catch a glimpse of Aiofe somewhere in the crowd.

“
Well?” Zela put her hands on her hips and turned to Arthur. “Explain yourself. Now.”

The king gathered his composure and straightened his shoulders. “Zela, princess of the South, I would like you to meet Guinevere, Queen of Camelot.”

Zela's angry visage faded into one of confusion and concern. “Guinevere? As in, your wife? The woman who betrayed you?” She turned to Lancelot and pointed a sharply pointed finger at the knight. “With him?”

Lancelot's jaw worked like a fish out of water, but he disentangled himself from Guinevere and stepped away from her a pace. He raised his head and met Zela's glare, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Yes, this is her.”

As Zela's glare turned from Lancelot to Guinevere, the battered woman cowered appropriately in front of the Southern general. She fell onto her knees before Zela and clasped her hands in front of her. “Help me,” she cried as tears flowed freely down her face. “Please. I don't know where I am and I am so scared.” She gripped Zela's pant leg and stared up at her with her big blue eyes.

With a disgusted snarl on her face, Zela pulled away from Guinevere, but she turned to one of the more solid servants. “Take her into the servants' quarters. See that she is cleaned up and fed.” She pointed to the man in charge of security inside the castle. “See to it that there is a guard of at least two on her at all times. She is not to roam freely until I otherwise give word.”

Guinevere pulled herself to her feet and brushed tears from her face. She was taller than Zela by more than an inch when they stood face to face. The former queen smiled sweetly. “Is that really necessary? I--“

Zela held up a hand. She may have been shorter than the other woman, but her will was much stronger. “Silence. Take her.”

The faery servant gripped Guinevere gently under the arm and steered her out of the circle. “Arthur!“ Guinevere called, looking at him with pleading eyes.

“You'll be fine,” he said, keeping his voice even and unaffected.

Guinevere turned her pleas to Lancelot. “Lance, darling.”

The dark-haired knight bit his lip and looked to his king. “Arthur...”

Arthur hard stare settled on the knight's and Lancelot pressed his lips together. He avoided Guinevere's pleading eyes and lowered his own to the ground, acquiescing before his friend. As the woman's cries had faded into the castle, Zela turned to the crowd. “Disperse,” she commanded. “You have better things to do than pry into the affairs of humans. The other generals will be here soon. I will not have this place unprepared.”

She clapped her hands twice and the faeries scurried off, leaving behind the knights, Rogan, and the two old faery hunters. She sighed and shook her head at Arthur and Lancelot. “Really, boys? Are we going to do this again?”

The men didn't answer.

“You,” she said, pointing to Lancelot. “You are going to take your knights and go join the guard. You are going to keep yourselves busy and stay away from the castle until I call for you, understood?”

Lancelot glanced to Arthur, who nodded but refused to meet his eyes directly. The dark- haired knight turned from the group and led the others away as Zela faced Arthur. “And you, dear king,” she said with a bite to her tone. “You have someone to apologize to. Go find her and don't you dare come back here until you've made your peace.”

“But what about the meeting? They'll be here soon.”

“
And when they arrive, we will be here to greet them.” She indicated herself and the Callaghans. “We will be just fine getting started without you. Go.”

Arthur nodded and plodded off in the direction he saw Aiofe run. As much as he wanted to find her and apologize and make things right between them, he also dreaded having to explain who Guinevere was and why he happened to be kissing her right as Aiofe walked up. Deep inside, a niggling feeling was also pulling at his heart. It was a feeling he had banished long ago, a feeling he did not want to feel again.

“Excuse me,” he asked a faery who was carrying a water bucket near the stables. “Did you see a red-haired woman come this way?”

The faery pointed toward the village. Arthur inclined his head. “Thank you.”

He continued walking and tried to ignore the thoughts that were scrambling around in his mind. Guinevere was back. His queen was back, the woman who had betrayed him and nearly ruined everything he had known had returned. He had finally patched his friendship with Lancelot, he had finally started trusting his heart to another, and now she was here, ready to ruin it all. He clenched his teeth and asked another faery if they had seen Aiofe.

Half a dozen faeries later, he found himself standing on the edge of a small forest. The trees spooked him. They seemed to lean in and examine him. They seemed to judge him. He pushed the ridiculous thought aside and walked down the path between them. There was only one way through. The trees were so crowded and overgrown, or so it seemed, that he was steered toward the middle of them without much choice in the matter. When he reached a little clearing, he found Aiofe huddled against the trunk of a larger, much older tree than the rest. The tree was bent over, though there was no wind, and the branches were swaying back and forth over her head. Arthur bit his lip and walked forward.

“Aiofe?”

The young woman's only response was to turn herself further away and put her back to him.

“Aiofe, please.”

She sniffed and buried her head deeper in her arms. The tree bent over further and brushed her hair with its branches. “Talk to him, dear,” it said.

Arthur jumped when a gap formed in the tree's trunk and it spoke. But then he looked around and noticed that all the trees were similar in one way, they all had eyes, and they were all staring at him. He walked cautiously forward, out of the mess of trees around him. He sat on the ground next to Aiofe.

“
I'm sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean for it to happen.”

“
Who was she?” Aiofe's voice was muffled by her arms and she refused to look up.

Arthur cleared his throat. “Guinevere.”

Red hair floated around Aiofe's head as she jerked it towards him. “What?” She stared at him with suspicion and disbelief.

“
It's true,” he said. “I don't know why she's here, but it's her.”

“
Your
wife
is here? And you were
kissing
her?” Aiofe shot to her feet. “Wow, I just... I don't even know what to think. This is so beyond ridiculous.” Arthur stood up and tried to take her in his arms, but she refused to let him. “Don't touch me,” she said. “Please, just don't touch me.”

“
Aiofe, please. I don't even know what's going on myself. It's all just so sudden.”

“
I can't do this.”

Aiofe turned to walk away from Arthur, but a branch blocked her way. She spun in another direction and met another branch. “Give him a chance, dear,” the tree cooed. “You do not know what evil may have caused this. Give him a chance to find out, for both of your sakes.”

Aiofe glared up at the tree before turning her glare on Arthur. “Fine. Let's go find out what your loving wife is up to this time.” She stomped out of the woods, with Arthur right behind her.

*~*~*

SIX

*~*~*

As they walked along through the woods, the trees parted before them, leaving them just enough room to pass side by side. Aiofe kept a step in front of Arthur and jerked her hand away when he tried to twine his fingers in hers. She shot him a glare and picked up the pace. The crowd of faeries had fully dispersed when they reached the castle and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Zela was standing on the steps, waiting for them. She gave Aiofe a this-is-crap look, but spoke to Arthur instead. “The others are arriving. We need to head into the council room.”

Arthur nodded once and walked past her into the castle. He gave Aiofe a brief glance before disappearing inside. As Aiofe approached Zela, the faery held out her hand and gently gripped her niece's upper arm. “Are you going to be okay?” Her face was a mask of concern and her eyes squinted at the young woman with pity.

Aiofe raised her chin and looked sideways at Zela. “I'm fine. I've been through worse than this.”

Zela looked like she wanted to say something more, but she pressed her lips together and nodded before ushering Aiofe inside. Aiofe stopped just inside the door and let her eyes adjust from the brightness of outside to the murky gloom of the hallway. Faeries and knights were milling around the door to the council room on the right, but she walked around them and found a seat on the stairs, far from the crowd.

“Quite the development, wouldn't you say?”

Aiofe jerked her eyes away from the spot she was staring at on the floor to glare at the newcomer. When she took in the copper hair that was a few shades darker than hers and the round face, the wrinkles around her eyes softened and her shoulders relaxed a bit. Eden gave her a small smile and sat down beside her. Aiofe had never met the faery before, but she had heard about her and recognized her immediately.

“I'm Eden,” the woman said as she settled onto the step below Aiofe. She leaned against the wall and propped her head up against the stone.

Aiofe took the hand she held out briefly. “Your mother is Oonagh, right?”

Eden paused for a moment, watching as Arthur greeted Deklen and Drakka. “Yes,” she said. “She is.” She pointed to a coppery-haired man leaning against the wall near the others. “That's my younger brother, Etain.”

Part of Aiofe wished Eden would just go away, but she said, “Is it just the two of you?”

The faery nodded. “For now. We are both engaged, set to be married two days apart in a ridiculously large celebration. It should have happened already, but with the uncertainty of this war, it had to be postponed.”

“
Oh. So you don't have any kids or anything yet then?”

Eden lapsed into silence for a minute as she continued to watch the knights at the door. “No, no kids yet.”

Her voice was soft and Aiofe detected something that seemed almost like sadness or regret. She didn't have time to question it, though. Etain pushed himself away from the wall and waved a hand at Eden. The Eastern general stood up with a grace Aiofe could only envy and held her hand out to Aiofe. “Shall we?”

Aiofe grabbed Eden's hand and let herself be pulled to her feet. Eden stopped at the door to talk to her brother and Aiofe entered the room alone. Most of the knights were either seated or chatting with the generals. Zela was standing near her mother's chair, giggling as she whispered quietly with Percival. The knight's ears were bright red, but the grin on his face told Aiofe that whatever Zela was saying was hitting its mark perfectly. Several extra chairs had been brought in and Zela beckoned her over to a spare one next to her.

Percival bowed his head to Aiofe. “M'lady,” he said. He turned to Zela and inclined his head again. “Your highness.” He tossed the faery a quick wink before returning to his own seat at the Round Table.