Crown of Beauty and Vengeance

Chapter 42

Chapter 42

The moment he stepped out of the tent, Jai knew Gideon was going to follow him. He had promised they would talk peacefully for the first time since they were together in Escarral. From the beginning of the siege onward, they had been fighting. Now, especially now, Jai needed his best friend back at his side.

Gideon wasn't the only one to follow, though. Camilla did as well. And as if she had called out his name, Soren was there with her in the next moment. Four of the most powerful warriors in all of Dalcaine, having been friends for all their lives, walking through the encampment of troops that surrounded the Asturian stronghold.

Camilla took the lead of the group then, guiding them to another tent not far from the previous. It was her and Soren's, but it had chairs to sit in and alcohol to drink. Jai had a feeling they were all going to need it after this conversation.

Gideon was the first one to grab the bottle, not even bothering with a glass as he drank straight from it. "So Lyv knows about you being her true mate. Your scent was all over her. Please tell me you two didn't..."

"Yes, she does," Jai nodded, and took the bottle from him. "And no, we didn't. Still, the bond isn't whole yet and I think that wall holding back her raw magic is to blame. But she needs time. We need time...time to really talk about what happened in Escarral."

"Then just confuse her even more, why don't you?" his friend groaned. "Mother above, Jai. You don't know how hard its been keeping your secrets from her, especially when I saw her break down more than once. You even saw what she goes through when those memories hit her, but that wasn't even the worst of it. Did I ever tell you what happened when her mother had her locked in her rooms after killing him?"

Jai nodded, looking down at his hands twined together in his lap. "You did, remember? When you almost slit my throat with that knife?"

But Gideon told him what happened again anyway. "She destroyed everything in her rooms, then went catatonic with a bottle of alcohol and that damn note in front of her when I was finally able to make it back. That wasn't the only time I had to help her through and it won't be the last. She turned that heartbreak into anger and rage and directed it toward you. Then you walk back into her life..."

"I wouldn't call it walk, since, you know, he was on the verge of death," Camilla stated nonchalantly.

"You walk back into her life," Gideon continued, "and she doesn't want to take your life anymore. It might seem like she is better on the outside with her smiling and laughing, but she's still in so much pain. You did that to her, Jai, and I hope you spend every moment of the rest of your lives trying to make up for it."

Gideon's next mini monologue had Jai staring at him, throat burning.

He continued after taking another long sip from the bottle before passing it back to him. "She was starting to be happy with Destan. That was why I asked you to give them space and let them be together. But I knew. I knew there was nothing that could change what you two are to each other. I don't know what happened between the other night and the next morning before we met Drue, but something must have."

Jai answered honestly. "She'd had the dream again...the one she's had many times where she was pregnant with his child...and she finally saw Amory turn into me. I've been having the same one. She had another breakdown in front of me, but I helped her through it. We fell asleep together, woke up, and talked. Really talked for the first time. She knew things had changed, knew what I was going through after the siege as well. She knew then I was what Amory had been to her. And when she finally accepted it when we were in Blackloch...that dream finally gave its ending, the one both of us have wanted."