Page 35 of Swords and Curses

"You think if she does, Nimue will help defend this place or just roll over on her back and let the queen walk over her?"

"Time will tell. In the meantime, we'll make something that locks her to the grounds and ensures the queen can't borrow her mind. I already believe some spell is working on her."

"I can't believe how calm you are about this!" Eldon exclaimed.

"Don't think for a moment that I wouldn't love to tear her head from her shoulders. Ido, Merlin, but much in her story rings true."

"Much, not all."

Eli shrugged. "She's Seelie and Ryn's daughter. Even the truth comes out crooked from their mouths half the time. Her mind is fractured somehow, and I don't know how to heal it so she can speak and act truly. How are you feeling?"

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Eldon muttered, banging the spoon on the bench.

"I'm serious. Love is a strange and peculiar thing. It can make us feel and do terrible and wonderful things. She was your first love…"

"I know,athair. A part of me wants to rejoice in all these new revelations, but I don't trust it. I don't trusther. If she'd been honest to begin with, so much would've been different. Her betrayals shaped me, and yet I wouldn't change what came after."

"There's that also. Perhaps this will give us the closure we both need." Eli turned a sheet of gold over in his hands. "The Autumn Queen wanted you all along… I should've seen that. If she had got you that day…"

"But she didn't," Eldon said, hating the look of fear in his father's eye.

"When she sent Nimue here a few days ago, she wouldn't have known that you'd returned. The swords won't be her only priority when she comes."

"Ifshe comes. We are still assuming. She'd have to be desperate to leave the Aos Si at all."

"She will come. If I close my eyes, I can feel the magic flowing to the Unseelie. She won't let that continue for long."

"Have you thought about going home? They will need a ruler now they are no longer under the thumb of the Seelie."

"I haven't been in the Aos Si for thousands of years," Eli sighed. "New leaders will have risen in my absence."

"There is a difference between a ruler and a king of the Seren Du bloodline," Eldon pointed out. "Kings are not just made."

"What lies from the Kingmaker himself!" Eli laughed.

"Arthur wasborna king. I didn't make him."

"No, you just held his hand and pointed him in the right direction." Eli twisted the gold as shadows poured from his hands. "You are of the Seren Du bloodline. If you are so worried about the Unseelie, you could always go and rule."

"Ha! Me? A king? I'm not that stupid. Besides, there is a Wylt here that needs my guidance."

"Don't use Rosa as an excuse. You can no better guide her than you could a herd of feral cats," Eli said with a grin. "I don't know who is teaching who some days."

"I saw the way Nimue looked at her," Eldon commented. "She knows about Ryn. I hope she's not thinking vicious thoughts about our Rhosyn."

"If she is stupid enough to try, it won't be over Ryn, but you, dear boy. It's obvious the affection you have for her."

"It's obvious the affection weallhave for her," Eldon said pointedly. "To begin with, I thought you liked her because she looks like Deryn, but the more I know of her, the less I see of Deryn, and the more I come to realize it's just Rosa herself."

"She is a uniquely singular character," Eli said and held out the golden bracelet he'd forged. "This will stop Nimue from getting into any mischief."

Eldon took it in his hands, feeling out the magic. "What do we have here? Something to stop her from using her magic against our bloodline and…a containment ward to keep her from wandering off the grounds?"

"Very good. If Nimue decides to stir trouble, she won't get far without her magic, and you don't need to worry about Rosa. She can handle herself." Eli wiped his hands on a towel. "But Merlin? If shedoestry to hurt this family again, please don't get in the way of me killing her."

"If she tries to hurt this family, I will kill her myself."

Standing outsideof Nimue's door hours later, Eldon didn't feel quite so confident.

---