Somber

Chapter 54: Friends.

Dedicated to @Ashleigh_22 :)

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Chapter 54: Friends.

Skye's POV

I struggled against the knots that bound Frederick's hands together. Next thing I know, Harry is beside me, cutting the rope with a pocket knife and helping Frederick down from his place hanging from the tree branch. By the time he was standing up, he looked worse for the wear. The ice fire had done its work, plus all the cuts that had been inflicted by the Fey's dagger, bled incessantly. It didn't look like they would stop any time soon.

"Don't were-creatures heal fast?" I asked, with growing concern.

I saw the ghost of a smile haunt Frederick's lips. "You remembered".

I rolled my eyes at him and he sobered up, his expression revealing the pain he was actually in. "Yeah... but the fire... it messed with my body. I don't know what the real damage is," he said.

"You guys need to get out of here. Winter Garden isn't safe for us anymore," Harry said.

I glanced at him and his face looked grim.

"What about you?" I asked.

Harry looked back at where Lycan Zayn was fighting against the group of fey. "I can't leave without him," he said. I opened up my mouth to say something but Harry stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "You can't stay. When the Queen finds out about this, hell will break loose and if something were to happen to you, Zayn would never forgive me. You and Frederick need to get out of here. Okay?"

I said nothing. I knew he had a point, but it didn't feel right to leave without him and Zayn. Harry must have noticed my hesitation because he added the next part.

"We'll be alright. You got lucky. He could have ripped off your arm along with the fey's when he swooped in, I guess there was enough sense in him left to not hurt you. But that's gone, look at him, the beast is in total control now. Zayn can't control it and someone needs to get him back home," he paused here as if a thought came to him. "Remember earlier how you said you owed Frederick?"

I felt Frederick's eyes watching me as I nodded at Harry, I didn't look at him as I did so.

"Well, I owe Zayn. I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for him. He's saved me more times then he will ever know. I need to repay him. Just this once, I want to be the one doing the saving".

I sighed, knowing this was an argument that I would surely lose.

"Be careful," I said, clutching his hand with mine.

He smiled, pressed his lips to my forehead and backed away. "You too". Then he was ushering me away. I wove an arm around Frederick's waist and he put his arm around my shoulder to support himself.

"Don't do anything stupid," were the fire warden's words to Harry. Another smile adorned the cambion's lips as we started our trail into the enchanted winter forest, leaving him to deal with all the chaos. Guilt possessed my mind the whole time.

It took us more than half an hour to reach the entrance to Winter Garden. The journey was done in silence for the most part, except for Frederick's grunting and labored breathing. Traveling in his condition turned out to be harder than either of us anticipated. But we eventually made it. A tree identical to the one back in Willow grove, stood in front of us. Frederick tried to steer us in its direction, but I stopped him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. He looked even paler than before. He could pass out at any moment. I wanted to get back as much as he did, but I knew, as I looked around, that the chances of talking to him alone after this would be unlikely. So the conversation had to happen now. I turned to him, though slowly because he was still holding on to me to keep himself up.

"You need to tell me the truth," I said.

His forehead wrinkles with the familiar lines of a frown. "The truth about what?" he asks, clearly confused.

I don't let this give me pause, I come right out and say it. "My parents. Were they killed by your people? Was your father involved? Were you involved?" The last question and the mere thought of it made me sick to my stomach. After everything we've been through, this kind of betrayal from Frederick would be too much to handle.

Frederick was looking at me, his eyes glancing over my expression and stopping as they connected with my own. "I don't know," he finally says. "I can't tell you if they did or not. I've always kept myself far away from the politics of my people. Not that it matters... In a few weeks I'm supposed to start the crowning ceremony. I will be replacing my dad as the leader". I was surprised to hear that last bit of information, because I didn't know he was about to become the Fire Warden leader, but I put it aside for the time being

"So you had nothing to do with it?" I asked in confirmation. I could hear my own heart beating rapidly in my chest. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust him and that he was telling the truth.

"No," he said more firmly. His eyes never left mine. The blue in them was dark to go with the night. The color only added to the somber expression he was wearing.

I paused for a moment, "You swear?"

Frederick doesn't look away, "Skye, I swear. I've never lied to you".

Something in me lightens at those words. He was right, as far as I knew, he had never lied to me. On the contrary, he has been more honest to me than anyone else I had met.

"Because we're friends, right? "

Frederick's lips twitch and he breaks into his signature half smile. The look in his eyes is filled with amusement. "Yeah, we're friends".

I narrow my eyes at him. "Why do you say it like that?"

"Like what?" he says with a laugh.

I hit him in the arm softly. He winces but still continues to chuckle.

"You know, like you're hiding something," I accuse.

Even with the pain, he is still smiling as he moves us closer to the tree that serves as a portal to the human world.

"I'm not the one hiding something," he says with a wink.

Before I can ask him what he means, he pulls us into the opening and Winter Garden flashes away into a bright light.

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A/N: Got 4 hours of sleep yesterday. Worked an 8 hour shift, and that's what I'll be working every day this week. 8 hours. It is 2:30am and I am dead tired, so this is all for now. Thank you for reading.

Stay awesome my lovely earth family

Liz.x