Page 51 of Kings and Monsters

Merlin kicked off his boots, dislodging two other knives. "So you and Eirianwen, eh?"

"It's none of your business," Bleddyn said.

"You don't have to say a word. She can't hide her 'faerie got laid glow.' Took you long enough, old man."

"Faerie did not get laid," Bleddyn insisted coolly. "The glow she is sporting is because she took some of my blood."

Merlin smiled at him. "It's practically the same thing, and you know it. Before you start taking pieces off me, I really had nothing to do with Gwyn taking Rosa. She met him as a child and gave him hospitality, so he was obliged to do the same. Otherwise, I'd probably be getting racked right now. Gods! They sure know how to hold a grudge."

"I'm glad you can act so pleased with yourself. All you have done is replace Rosa's neck on the chopping block."

"If Balthasar is alive, there is nothing to worry about." Merlin shrugged. "That is unless you know he is dead."

"He's not dead, but he might not be redeemable. He's the queen's creature now," Bleddyn answered, telling him about Fintan's letter and Balthasar's transformation. "We can't tell Rosa."

"For once, we are in agreement. Any shapeshifting magic of the queen's should die when she does. I don't know what his mental state will be, but he will be in a human form again. If he can think and reason, Rosa will be able to get through to him."

"I hope so. Poor Rosa. To have the attention of a god is dangerous for her. Met him as a child! The one time I send her to Glenna's, and she summons Gwyn ap Nudd." Bleddyn leaned back in his chair. "There are too many cautionary tales of Gwyn carrying off maidens for some of them not to be true."

"Rosa is hardly a delicate maiden, and as much as you aren't going to like to hear this, she did enjoy her time with the Hunt. She won't be the same person when we return to Gwaed Lyn. It was inevitable that she would turn feral. You've met her," Merlin teased, though his heart wasn't in it.

"By the next full moon, this will be over one way or another, and we will go home or be dead."

"Is that still what you want?" Merlin had to know. An affair with Eirianwen would only tie his father closer to the Aos Si.

"Yes, I don't want to be king," Bleddyn said firmly. "I'll pass the power over somehow, and I will go home. The Aos Si, for all of its magic and wonder, isn't my place anymore."

"And Eirianwen?"

"Eirianwen is her own woman and must make her own choices." Bleddyn's face softened into a shy smile. Merlin tried not to snort. His father had a crush on a girl, and it was sickening.

"I'm sure you'll make a decent argument," Merlin said. "I'm happy for you. Is there anything you are hiding about Nimue? You should tell me, good or bad. I made no deals with gods for armies."

Bleddyn's smile had vanished. "Fintan is doing what he can for her. It sounds as if she's been left in the oublietteand forgotten. The queen has had lifetimes of tormenting her. Balthasar is providing better sport for her."

"From what Rosa tells me, he has been a creature before, and his sanity was restored to him. This will be no different. She won't give up on him, no matter what form he has," Merlin assured him. "You need to go and make up with her. Don't sleep on it, Father. She needs you more than she knows."

The moment Rosawalked out of the room, she regretted the tantrum. She didn't turn back, only made laps of the palace halls, trying to cool down before she found her rooms. They were attached to Merlin's, but she needed to burn off the restlessness inside of her.

The feeling in the palace had shifted with Daesyn's men now roaming the halls and the magical pulse that she knew was Gwyn. She had spent four days in his company, lost in the mad exhilaration of the Hunt or telling him about the human world by the fireside. She couldn't forget what he was, but an easy rapport had built between them all the same.

Standing in front of the mirror in her bathroom, Rosa could see why Bleddyn had been worried. She looked a part of the Hunt, with a definite wildness that seemed to have spread darkness in her eyes. She quickly tried to untangle her hair, pulling out leaves, flowers, and feathers. She stripped off her leathers and climbed into her bath before scrubbing the dirt from her skin and the smell of the night sky from her hair.

It wasn't until Rosa was sitting in a heavy night robe and drying her hair by the fire that she felt Bleddyn enter her chamber.

"I'm sorry," he said from the other side of the room. "I didn't want to upset you, but I was never going to be pleased with such a bargain."

"I know," Rosa replied, methodically combing her hair. "You can't expect me to stay at Gwaed Lyn either. I didn't know what else to do, Bleddyn. We need the Hunt, and I couldn't let the opportunity pass by."

Bleddyn sat down in a chair opposite her. "He's a god, Rosa. He would've known you were desperate and knew exactly what to do to entrap you and get what he wanted."

"I did it because I know Bal is alive. The connection… It's faint, but it's still there." Rosa pressed her fist into her breastbone. "I can feel him. Despite how it might have looked today, I'm not Gwyn's consort. He wants me for a general."

"He might not see the difference, especially because he now has a claim to you. It is done, and only you will ever be able to find a way to break the bargain. It hurts me, but it is your decision." Bleddyn took her hand, pressing it gently in between his. "I'm sorry that you grew up thinking you were not loved. It was because I loved you that I sent you away. I've only ever wanted to protect you, Rosa."

Rosa knew it was true, but a part of her would always hurt when it came to her childhood. Memories of watching other children with their families at holiday times and wondering why she always had to stay at school would always haunt her. Her childish heart broke every time. It wasn't until she was a teenager that she finally let go of the idea of family. It wasn't something that she needed, and she learned only to rely on herself. When the invitations to come back started arriving, she was too angry to return to Gwaed Lyn. The memories that had returned to her of before they sent her away had comforted her, but they made some pain worse.

Her consolation had always been Balthasar, her special gift for putting up with all the years alone, and now he was gone too. Rosa didn't realize she was crying until Bleddyn put his arms around her. Without having to ask, he knew what she was feeling.

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