Page 88 of Swords and Curses

"She will heal."

"That's not what I meant." He folded his arms, hugging himself. "I tried,athair. You know I can't die. I knew the queen couldn't do anything to me. Now she has Nimue." His powerful magician son looked like a lost boy again, and Eli pulled him into an embrace.

"It will be all right, Merlin. Once Rosa is healed enough, we'll find a way into the Aos Si to get them back," Eli promised. "I failed Rosa last time. I won't do it again."

"I hope so because we'll go with or without your blessing," Merlin replied, letting him go and stepping back from him.

"I know you will, but I need to return to the Aos Si." Eli swallowed the lump in his throat. "She'seatingmy people, Merlin. I can't be king in that land again, but I can make sure they escape her filthy claws."

"You need to kill her. Stop all this diplomacy and do the job. Only you can." Merlin headed back down the hallway. "Go and see that woman, Father. Don't waste time being afraid of her."

"You don't know her," Eli muttered.

Despite his exhaustion, Eli washed and dressed carefully before drinking two straight whiskeys and going to find his ex-fiancé.

He ignored the curious stares of the Gwaed Gam as he stood for a full ten minutes looking at her door. He had just built up enough courage to knock when it opened.

Eirianwen was wrapped tightly in a black dressing gown and looking every bit as angry as she had at the lake. Remembering his manners, he bowed low to her.

"My lady, I wished to see if you had everything you required," he said smoothly.

"I'm still waiting for an explanation," she replied, her brows drawn close together.

"May I come in? I believe some things are better not said in a hallway."

Her grey eyes narrowed, and she finally stood aside and let him enter. The fireplace was burning hot, and every light was on.

She's spent too much time in the darkness. Eli pushed the thought from his mind.

"How are you alive?" he asked, wanting to touch her to see if she was real. "I saw you die. You were pierced by arrows and…"

"And you left me in the dirt." Her voice was cold.

"I was captured! I could not even bury my father." Eli took a breath to try and steady himself. He hadn't felt this emotionally undone in centuries. "How did you come to be a prisoner?"

"I heard her men were capturing our people, so a group of the rebels and I led an attack on the raiding parties." Eirianwen's lips pursed. "We were outnumbered. The queen was leading the hunt, and she saw me. After three thousand years dodging her and her spies, she finally saw I wasn't as dead as she had desired."

"If I had known, I never would have left the Aos Si without you."

"You only left the Unseelie to be ruled and tormented by her."

"I am not the king! I fled the Aos Si to protect my brothers. After you had died, they were my only priority."

"You still could've stayed, and the Unseelie would've protected you…"

"I didn't want to stay in a world that reminded me of you!" Eli shouted and a vase exploded beside him. "I'd lost everything. I wanted to start anew, and now this world is mine to protect from the likes of Aeronwen."

"So, you abandon your people and your world and simply make another one. The queen told me of the human wife you took. She must've been something special."

Eli sighed through his nose. "She was. Much has happened to us that we have cause to regret, but I can't keep arguing about the past. The queen took my son and a woman I see as my daughter-in-law. I've been wounded enough for one day. Stay here as long as you wish. You are safe under my roof."

"Thank you, Seren Du," her voice had lost all of its sting, reminding him of gentler times.

He opened the bedroom door. "For what it is worth, it does me good to see you again."

It had beenthree days since Balthasar was taken, and Rosa barely had the will to get out of her bed. Thanks to Eli and her Unseelie blood, her wounds were healed over, but her muscles still ached as they mended. Eli had reassured her they were planning Balthasar's rescue, and she should focus on healing.

Planning. All the Seren Du brothers seemed to do was plan things. She had accused Eli of as much only hours beforehand.

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