Chapter 18:

  They crossed the corridors in silence, their steps echoing across the stone ground, then muffling when the stone transitioned to carpet. As their group walked, Eli settled into deep thought.

  Failure was terrible, but it was also an excellent motivator, and a great learning opportunity. So, what could Eli learn from getting caught?

  Well, first, he had been impatient. He had been entirely too blase about who he was now – again – and about how his actions affected the people around him. It wasn't that he did not consider the potential consequences of his actions. However, he had intentionally allowed himself to minimize the potential fallout from his actions. It was a dangerous delusion to indulge in, and it couldn’t happen again.

  This time it was his family who were most affected by what he had done, but it was also every guard that had been reprimanded, every attendant who went to rouse him, but who had instead been forced to report him missing. It was also the completely unintentional disrespect shown to the people who had prepared the training grounds. He had expressed a desire to improve, and to increase his training, and the people of the keep, his father included, had shown him an incredible amount of good will with their subtle renovations of the private training yard.

  To them he hadn’t just been reckless, but dismissive of the good will of every attendant who had woken early or stayed late to make the changes, of every copper chip spent on new equipment or improved equipment and better gear. Even worse, it was dismissive of his father’s very precious, very limited time. The fact that Eli had not been late, but his father had, said more about how his actions had affected the man than his spoken words ever could. That wasn’t even accounting for how he may have affected his mother. He needed to take responsibility for every white knuckle, every clenched jaw and every held back tear he knew his mother would have refused to shed when she realized her only son was missing.

  Eli would do better.

  Despite not knowing exactly what was going on, Aria could keenly sense that something was amiss. In her unease she had somehow managed to shrink even farther into herself, pressing her tiny body so close to Eli’s back that she too had damp patches on her clothes from Eli’s soaked clothing, not just from her own sweat. When Eli finally pulled himself out of his reflections he became genuinely concerned that he might kick her just by walking wrong. Her actions brought a little bit of levity to what had been a grim procession. Enough so that the despondent air around the group had lifted by the time they made it to the residences.

  At the family quarters a still silent Gabriel handed his son over to one of Eli’s personal chambermaids, managing to express his intentions and dismiss Kara with a simple gesture. Eli understood and made no move to object to what he knew was going to be a thorough scrubbing. Shooing Aria away with a different servant and ensuring she would be taken care of as well, he moved quickly into his chambers, stripping off his damp clothes before being subjected to the gentle, if rushed ministrations of the woman who had been caring for him since he was an infant.

  Her fingers were swift, and her gaze chiding as she smoothed his hair back, fixed his collar, and gently patted his downcast face. Where she got the time to reassure him as she went about her well orchestrated tending Eli truly didn’t know.

  “They never stay unhappy with you for long, young master,” Angela said.

  “That’s because I never make them unhappy,” he raised his chin, and gave her his best impression of an air of superiority. She grinned at him, pulling him into a hug he didn’t know he needed, but that she seemed uncannily able to anticipate for a mundane without even a sliver of empathic magic.

  “Of course not, young master. Now off you go.”

  When he stepped back out of his quarters, his father was waiting there. The man had somehow left and returned, cleaned and tidied for the day, in less time than it took for Eli to be washed and dressed. Now the Lord Rodrigo stood in the corridor, eyes fixed on his son with the intense gaze of a hawkhound.

  Eli was glad he had not delayed.

  Both father and son waited in silence until Aria joined them. She had been whisked away to a guest room in Eli’s wing. At what point someone had stocked it with things fit for a little girl Eli did not know. He was immensely grateful none the less.

  Eli struggled not to gape at the absolute picture of adorableness that walked into the hallway. Reprimanding himself, he fought with his need to coo at the vision.

  “Aria,” he breathed. Even Eli’s father was not immune to her charm. The gruff man nodded once to indicate approval, unable as he was to completely hide the sparkle in his eyes.

  Whoever had styled her had put her in a baby blue sundress with a ruffled white collar, and white stockings underneath. Her shoes were a sensible leather ankle boot that had been laced up with white ribbons and tied off with a bow that matched the one tucked into her hair. She didn’t have enough hair to pull it into any real style, but the small curls had been tamed, and now her hair was less ‘puffball’, and more defined. The tightly coiled ringlets had then been pulled back with a ribbon and topped off with the bow.

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  “You look beautiful,” Eli said, and meant every word. She always looked lovely to him, but it was nice seeing her this way. No road dust, no work sweat. No battle grit or blood. No clean-cut combat uniform or utilitarian throw-on. Not Aria the student, when he’d first truly met her. Nor Aria the freedom-fighter, as he’d first truly known her. Just Aria the girl. His friend.

  “Thank you,” Aria said. She dipped into a clumsy curtsey at his compliment and Eli just smiled and held out his arm. Looking at it confusedly Eli slipped her hand in to the crook of his elbow, resting her fingertips against his forearm.

  “My lady,” he said. Seeing they were both ready to go, and still occasionally giving his son a side eye, Gabriel turned without a word, walking with clipped steps Barely slow enough that Aria wasn't trotting along to keep up. Eli knew he was lucky she was here, or this whole walk would have been a steady jog that his father kept just above his comfortable walking pace.

  The shock of seeing Aria all done up as she had been almost enough of a distraction to make him forget that he would be seeing his mother next. She knew he had snuck out. She obviously didn't know why, but she wasn't going to be happy. Perhaps he could use little Aria as a shield? It was only fair since she seemed to constantly be hiding behind him. Relationships were about balance, right?

  Pride as a man, as a noble. Who needed it in the face of a mother's wrath.

  Seemingly picking up on his thoughts Gabriel wasted no time on striding into the breakfast room, servants holding the doors wide open in his wake.

  ~

  Sela was already seated by the time they got there. She was carefully poised on one side of the table and the rest of the family fanned out while Aria lingered uncertainly near the edge. Her free hand clenching and unclenching the fabric of her new dress’s skirt. Gabriel took his place beside his wife and Eli gently guided the nervous girl into a chair and felt relieved when Sela’s eyes shifted from where they had been slowly dissecting her son to focus on Aria.

  “You look lovely this morning, Aria,” Sela said.

  “Thank you,” though her eyes were fixed on the table, Aria was beaming. She’d been given the guest quarters to clean and change in. An army of staff had primped and primed her until she was almost unrecognizable to herself. They had been nice, and she felt so pretty, and the whole thing had made her feel both welcome and included.

  Breakfast was served and the moment the staff had left Lord Rodrigo spoke.

  “There was a disturbance at the wall last night.” Eli’s father cut straight to the heart of the matter. No preamble, no filler.

  Eli stood up and bowed to his parents. His mother was very pointedly not looking at him. “I mentioned recently that I wanted to increase my training,” he said.

  “Alone,” his mother asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Outside the keep?” his father asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Without telling anyone? Just disappearing in the middle of the night. How in the abyssal hells did you even get out?” His mother’s questions were both fair, and truly difficult to navigate. He could tell the truth, and significantly hinder his future movements, or he could lie, and get an innocent person reprimanded. He didn’t want to lie though. He wanted to go back in time and tell past Eli to hurry up, because none of this would’ve been a problem if he’d just shown up on time for the morning call.

  So, he chose to keep silent instead. It was a gamble, but he’d done enough to make the guards lives harder, and he was not predisposed to lying to his parents either. The air around the table was stifling, and nothing but the sound of cutlery against plates could be heard for a while.

  Gabriel’s expression did not change when he broke the tense silence. “Good warriors are wise before they are strong.”

  It stung, but he understood. In their minds he had been foolish, arrogant, and dismissive of the effort put in by the people around him as well as their feelings. He couldn't really refute All of his father's statements. He had been foolish and arrogant just not in the ways his father was reprimanding him for. But he'd never been dismissive. He'd never taken their efforts for granted.

  “What would you have me do?” Eli asked, his voice measured. He was making it clear that he understood their feelings, but that he would neither apologize, nor explain. He was glad his parents were who they were and didn’t dismiss him out of hand because of his youth, or their power over him.

  Sela’s response was brief but sharp. “You’ve broken our trust.” It wasn't a reprimand, a punishment or a threat but the words cut deep. “Worse you put yourself in danger.” Eli found himself struggling to maintain eye contact, but whatever expression he was making seemed to satisfy his mother because eventually she nodded at him before turning back to her food.

  “It will take a while to rebuild what was lost,” Gabriel said honestly. “As for the matter of leaving the keep unaccompanied, well I'm sure you can earn the privilege.”

  “We just need to know you can keep yourself safe,” Sela said. “You're strong my little star,” she reached over and stroked the side of his face. “But there are things out there that you cannot even fathom let alone defend yourself against.”

  Eli smiled at his mother, knowing she didn't even understand how true her words were.

  Gabriel considered his son for a long moment. “Beat Kara. One-on-one in a classic-rules spar. If you sweep two of three. Then we discuss you leaving the keep unaccompanied.”

  “Only in the town,” His mother clarified. Then her eyes flickered to Aria. “I know you see the other children out there, but the dangers you face are not the same.”

  Eli understood, he really did. He knew their worry was truly unnecessary for the him of right now, but he didn't figure it was worth revealing too many of his secrets or further betraying his parents trust over.

  He thought about his future plans and realized he had some time before he would next feel the need to sneak off for long enough that his parents might notice. Otherwise, he would just be more prudent about sneaking out to train.

  “I just need to beat Kara, then I'm free to roam the town unaccompanied?”

  “No ‘just’ about it, she’ll be a tough opponent.” Sela said. That statement would only be true if he essentially crippled himself when facing her, which he would of course be doing. However, their compromise was entirely more magnanimous than he really deserved. Eli was mostly a good kid, and his parents rarely had cause to reprimand him let alone punish him, so this seemed like a more than fair way to assuage them.

  Eli inclined his head. “As you wish.”

  “Now, Kara will be accompanying you for additional daily conditioning,” Gabriel said.

  “And if you decide to go out, you ask us first, and Kara stays with you. Every time.” Sela added.

  Eli accepted the restrictions, his face calm. He looked at Aria, who had apparently checked out of the conversation around the time the tension had bled away into negotiation. Eli smiled. It looked like he would be quite busy for a while.