One Of Us Is Lying - Merlin Apply Fic

Chapter 7 - Heartbreak

Welcome back! This chapter will probably be short so I'm sorry in advance! Also, as you can see, I'm a very slow writer and the updates aren't frequent or regular. I also (stupidly) opened a new apply fic recently so I'm trying to balance that into this as well! Anyway, I hope you enjoy Chapter 7!

And yes, the picture is of Cedric because he gets a lot of POV in this chapter.

It had been three weeks since Amelia's trial and yet the emptiness refused to fade from Tiv's heart. He saw his own grief every day, reflected back to him in the shining eyes of his remaining friends, especially Evelyn and Callahan. He knew that they felt guilty for organising the whole damn thing and in his seething misery he couldn't help but resent them too. After all, without those two and their meaningless feast idea his best friend would still be alive.

Even now, after so long, he couldn't bring himself to accept that she was truly gone. As he went about his daily life as Amber's servant, he expected her to be around every corner, or in every shadow lining the corridors, for her to tease him and laugh with him and for heaven's sake, for her to be alive. But every night he was rewarded for his false hope with only bitter disappointment and a hole in his heart that would never fully heal.

He knew the others felt the same. Red-rimmed eyes were common in the kitchens and servants' quarters, even in some of the lords and ladies of Camelot. Tiv envied them; he wanted to cry, to let his emotions come flooding out and to accept that Amelia was never returning. But in the back if his mind a little voice kept telling him that tomorrow, maybe, he would wake up from this nightmarish reality and his life would revert to how it was before.

Maybe.

But it never did.

———

No matter how hard Cedric tried to block it out, he could still hear River's muffled sobs from the next room. His ward spent hours every night crying himself to sleep and, although Cedric recognised the child's need for personal space, this had gone on long enough. Standing with a sigh from his desk, he entered the small bedroom.

Inside, the sight that met his eyes nearly broke his heart. There, on the bed, was River, his small shape hunched over and his figure wracked with heart-wrenching sobs. Quietly, the jester approached his apprentice and lowered himself gently onto the bed beside him.

"River. Hey, River. It's me."

Sniffling, the boy looked up, large eyes shining beneath his dark lashes. "Uncle Cedric?"

"Come here now, River, it's ok child, it's going to be alright. Come here." He opened his arms and the boy practically fell into him, fingers clasping Cedric's jacket  and tears soaking it. The older man rubbed his ward's back soothingly until his tears subsided and then pushed him away a little until he could look into his eyes.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, but... Amelia isn't coming back. I know that it's hard to accept it, especially when we both know that magic doesn't have to be evil, but, well, fear corrupts and Amelia tried to kill the king." A ghost of a smile brushed over his lips as he stared into River's eyes, River who was precious beyond imagining, beyond anything. "He might not be the best king, but he's doing what he thinks is right. True, it's wrong to punish her for having magic. Can you try to think of it as her being punished for murder? I know this is all Uther's fault, but he's king so River, I beg you, don't challenge him. You'll only get us both killed."

"I won't." whispered River, his voice hoarse from crying.

"Promise me?"