The Cursekeeper

Strength

This chapter is rated M for traumatic content.

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Arthur followed the group, watching Lilly closely as she gave Sir Jack, O'Callaghan and Lugh coordinates to each destination and the meeting point after their missions were complete. O'Callaghan was quite ecstatic about using a Pip-Boy to help out with her tasks.

The queen had assigned some of her children to go with them in disguises while Rose was updating them on what to expect and providing them with provisions. Allan was busy inspecting Clay and Umber's ship and seeing if anything in there could be of use. Babd was tending to Crimson's whip scars, although they were pretty much permanent.

It made Arthur think...especially about some of the visions he had before even coming into Lilly's mind.

"Alright, Dad," Rose said as she handed Sir Jack a satchel full of supplies. "Just watch out fer India. Her and Strawberry are a force tah be reckoned with, especially when they're together."

Arthur gazed out at the royal brood, wondering how it had all come to this. He had been told, but...he was very much interested in hearing Lilly's side of the story. He no longer doubted she did what she had to do in order to survive, but who had she become since then?

As if Lilly could feel his gaze, she glanced at him, her chin held high. Her gaze was cold, as if pushing against his need to argue with her at all on the subject. He knew Lilly was thinking about the same thing just from her look.

Arthur could still feel her inside somewhere, the woman she had been. But he needed to be sure. The earl walked towards Lillian slowly, his hand grasping his gun belt lazily as he approached. She didn't waver in her gaze, nor flinch in her posture. She simply observed him coldly.

"Your Majesty," he said calmly. "We should talk."

Lilly's eyes darted up and down as if sizing him up before giving him a curt nod and motioning him to follow her inside the observatory. He followed, occasionally glancing at her backside.

He really missed her ass.

"Would you care for some more food?" Lilly asked politely, her voice still hoarse and raspy as she made her way to the kitchen.

"No thank you, I'm stuffed," Arthur replied as he pat his belly. "But I think we need to-"

"I feel sorry for you."

Arthur paused, looking at Lilly suspiciously. "What?"

Lilly leaned against the counter, her head lowered as if in shame. "You came in here...hoping to rescue Rose, O'Callaghan and I. And now you've found that you are...not only extremely late, which is not your fault, of course, but also you have to rescue others...but I feel sorry for you, because you came in without truly knowing what to expect. You certainly didn't expect...t-this..."

A small whimper escaped the queen and any residual anger Arthur may have felt at that point immediately dissolved. As the woman shook, her head still bowed, Arthur took a cautious step forward.

"Mallacht is a deviant little shite, Ar...Mr. Morgan," Lilly sighed. "He is a manipulative narcissist and an expert in all things strategic and tactics. You thought Dubh was one to be messed with? No no...Mallacht is a million times worse. He was put inside me when I was a child, as a festering curse, and I..."

"Your father already told me about all that," Arthur replied, taking slow steps forward. "I know how long the son of a bitch's been festerin' in you...and I know he took control of your time manipulation abilities."

"That's not all he took control of," Lilly huffed, slunking even lower. "He took control of my SOS messages, my mail...anything I could think of to get word out to you was...thwarted."