Page 8 of Their Queen

“Look. I get that you’re upset, but…” He tried to reason with me again, but I cut him off, not wanting to hear his platitudes.

“Upset? Upset!? This goes beyond that, Arryn! I’m broken. Useless and…” I choked up, hearing the words out loud. As if saying them, releasing them into the universe, made them more real. The words managed to break me further, and I fought to hold back the tears.

Lennox rushed in, and I tried to turn away so he couldn’t see just how destroyed I was, but he didn’t even acknowledge me. “She reached out again.” His words were just as rushed and breathless.

Arryn stood suddenly, my plight forgotten for the moment. Unable to resist, I turned to them, confused as to what they were talking about. “When?” Arryn demanded.

“She’s talking to him now,” Lennox explained.

Arryn stormed from the room, anger vibrating down his form. Lennox just looked sad and scared. “What’s going on?” I asked him, pushing down my own pain. Clearly, I had missed something else while I was out.

“Rhowyn left us,” Lennox said, his head dropping to his chest in shame.

I sat up straighter, biting back the groan of pain, my whole body aching as if it, too, missed the hand I’d never have again. “What!?”

“She left while we were all sleeping earlier today. She took Cyerra with her, but she won’t tell us where she is, and she’s cut us off from the bonds,” Lennox explained.

Unable to sit here any longer, I forced my feet to the floor, swaying with the effort. Lennox rushed over to steady me, an arm going around my waist to keep me from collapsing back onto the mattress. “Maybe you should lie back down?”

“No. I need to know what’s going on.” I glared at him, hating the pity I saw there, daring him to push me on this. I knew he’d never seen this side of me, but he could clearly see that I wasn’t playing around. He helped me to my feet, wrapping an arm around my chest and slinging my good arm over his shoulders. He led me slowly down the hall, my movements shaky and unsteady. The further we went, the more I had to lean on him. If he hadn’t been here to help me, I wouldn’t have made it on my own. Just another thing that made me useless.

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as we entered the living area and found Brannoc sitting with his eyes closed, an angry look on his face. Arryn hovered over him with a hopeful look. Jude and Jonathan wore their fear and worry on their faces as they waited for Brannoc to speak to them. And Callum looked pissed as he paced back and forth, his muscles tense as he glared a hole into Brannoc.

Brannoc’s eyes snapped open, his frustration morphing into fear. “She’s in trouble.”

“How do you know?” Arryn demanded. His calm façade was slowly slipping as he floundered for answers to our problems. I was just another burden for him to worry about when he really needed to be focused on Rhowyn and getting her back.

“As she was telling me that she loved me, loved all of us, her connection cut off,” Brannoc explained. He closed his eyes as if trying to regain access to their connection.

“She could have just cut the connection too soon. Right?” Lennox asked hopefully as he lowered me into one of the chairs. I did groan this time, more with relief than out of pain.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” Arryn scolded me, his focus only partially on me and my issues when it should be wholly on getting Rhowyn back.

“Bite me,” I told him, refusing to be moved on this.

Sighing, he turned to Brannoc, who explained, “Her words cut off first before she closed the connection. Before she did, I felt a spike of fear.”

“Shit!” Callum swore, stomping back and forth. “That stupid, idiotic woman. Always getting herself into trouble.”

“Did you get a sense of where she was?” Arryn asked Brannoc, ignoring Callum’s tirade. I couldn’t blame him; I felt the same way right now.

“I did, but it wasn’t much. She’s somewhere in Autumn territory,” he explained. Callum stopped and stiffened.

“Where?” he asked, his back turned to the group.

“I couldn’t tell. The connection cut before I could get more,” he answered, dropping his head into his hands and pulling his hair in frustration.

“Why?” I asked the group after no one spoke for a moment. They turned to look at me but didn’t answer. “Why would she leave?” I asked them more forcefully, a sinking feeling in my gut.

Arryn’s gaze softened before he answered me, “She left to protect us. After you got hurt, she felt guilty, and apparently, she doesn’t want to risk us again,” he told me honestly.

I just nodded, wanting to crumble on the spot. Instead, I forced out my next words. “She left because of me. It’s my fault.”

Chapter Eight: Rhowyn

The leader closed in on me, and I let him, not daring to move. He stopped just outside of arm’s length, squatting down until our eyes were even. “What do you want?” I asked him, eyes narrowing.

He laughed, his rank breath wafting across my face and causing me to grimace at the smell. “Isn’t that obvious?” He waited for me to respond, but when I said nothing, he continued, “I’ve come to capture a traitor. I’m sure the Queen would reward us handsomely for turning you over, isn’t that right, boys?”

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