Warrior of the Moon

10

Tarin refused to let Iefyr see that his words had gotten under his skin. He also refused to allow images of his queen's dark-haired beauty admittance to the surface of his mind, knowing it would be utterly impossible to focus on the task at hand if he did so. Time was of the essence.

"We need to talk, Iefyr. Privately," he stated, with a pointed glance at Raven. The girl's face flushed with color again, and Tarin wished he could just order her out of the room to save both of them this embarrassment. When Iefyr pursed his lips playfully and stared the girl down, Tarin pushed, "It's rather urgent."

Finally, Iefyr's expression hardened, and his countenance became one of a lord rather than a mischievous young man. He dismissed Raven with just a gesture, and the girl scrambled from his chambers as if she could not move quickly enough. It gave Tarin a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, though he had hope that Iefyr did not abuse the women of his city. He might objectify them, but hopefully that was where he drew the line. Not that that was great, either.

"Alright then, Tarin. Let's hear the story. You show up on my doorstep with your Wolves, looking worse for the wear, I might add. You're seen dragging the Lady Iliss on a rope leash. If you really want these things to be discussed in private, you should have considered doing something other than all of that in the middle of Reave."

Tarin was already shaking his head before the man finished speaking. "People will gossip no matter what they see. I have bigger things to worry about, and if I had spent the time it would have taken to sneak into your manor rather than stride right in... well, to be honest, Iefyr, I'm not sure what would have happened."

That made Iefyr's face lose every ounce of amusement. He sat back down in the chair behind his desk and offered Tarin the armchair on the other side with the wave of a hand. "Tell me what's going on, Tarin," he said. It was not an order. Neither of them could order the other, as they were both lords on the council, by decree of King Agros when he was still living. Technically, Tarin had more authority than Iefyr did when it came to Azure and the royals, being the queen's advisor and the general of all armies of the Realm... but they were in Reave, which leveled their playing field at least slightly. Tarin hoped that this conversation would be between two allies. Two old friends, indeed.

So Tarin sat down, and he told as much of the story as he could without giving away his princess' part in any of the horrors that had been happening. He just told Iefyr that his princess had been put under a blood curse, thus exempting her from any possible blame the lord might try to place on her for the poor way in which Azure had been led for the past few weeks as Tarin shared all of the events with him. He also neglected to talk about Muiress' part in any of the events, as the queen had told him that she yet had a part to play in the war, and to be discovered before she could do so would be disastrous. Iefyr listened in silence, his expression as unreadable as he always made it during the council meetings as well, something that Tarin respected in the man, as he always tried to do the same thing to keep any potential enemies from knowing his thoughts.

He even told Iefyr about the way in which he had tricked Iliss. This was something he was thinking about during their journey to Reave: to risk telling Iefyr, whom he had once been close with but had not quite maintained a relationship with these past decades, that his queen was actually alive. If Iliss was playing him for a fool right now, it would be detrimental for her to learn anything that could hurt his princess, his queen. So long as he could make the Infernals believe Serena was dead, she would not be hunted in the human world, something that was much easier for Infernals to accomplish than the Fae themselves.

But he decided to tell Iefyr the truth, on the condition that the man swore to tell nobody else that did not absolutely need to know until it was safe for her once more. Iefyr shook Tarin's hand with that oath, and he seemed to understand the weight of the risk Tarin was taking in confiding in him. It was done now, and Tarin could hope only for the best as he continued speaking.