“For now,” Credour responds firmly.
“Fine. These quarters should be ready within the next half hour, until then feel free to explore the gardens. They can be found on the main floor at the end of the left hall.” She turns in a flourish and walks back the way she came, looking much too busy to continue hanging around us.
“So...” I start.
“Come,” says Credour. He walks in the direction of the gardens and Fadres herds me with them. I finger the blade hidden in my skirts ready to fight them if they get too handsy with me. It is a small black blade that Sam had given me on my twentieth birthday. Its handle is wrapped in leather and has little symbols carved into it. He told me never to unsheathe the blade unless it was an emergency. I could not bear to leave it behind, especially with Mandi’s warnings still ringing in my ears.
We make it outside and Fadres throws a hand up. I flinch and shrink away from him.
Fadres laughs. “Don’t worry, Lace. I’m just disabling any surveillance magic or devices they might have out here. Since they think little of our magic usage, I knew they would not be hard to disable.”
I look at him, puzzled. “Your voice sounds familiar and yet I do not know of you, nor have I ever met either of you in my lifetime. Why is this?”
“You haven’t figured it out, yet?” Credour chuckles his voice transforming into a very familiar sultry sound. I glare at them, confused.
Fadres rolls his eyes and waves a hand. In a blink their forms morph into Sorin and Sam’s. I squeal and Fadres—now Sam—covers my mouth. “Lace!” Sam whisper yells at me. On a chuckle he continues “I only disabled the enhanced listening tools; I did not cloak the gardens; we still need to be quiet.”
Credour—now Sorin— ruffles my hair a bit. “Did you really think we would let you go without any kind of protection?”
“I mean technically I did have protection.”
Sorin wrinkles his nose. “Those jerks?” He says referring to the forms they were just inhabiting. “They would not have been much protection. Sam and I went down to the pubs the night before your send off and caught them doing some… let’s sayunsavory… things to some of the women within them. There was no way in all of the kingdoms of Ptheryeth we were going to let them anywhere near you alone, especially as your only form of protection.” Sorin and Sam shared a disturbed look.
“Are the women okay?”
“Physically, yes,” Sam offered. “Mentally? We don’t know, but we did make sure Fadres and Credour would never touch anyone ever again…”
“How can you be so sure?” I wonder aloud, upset by the turn in conversation.
“Kind of hard to touch anyone from beyond the grave,” Sorin states, flippantly.
“You killed them?” I say in shock.
“We did what we had to,” Sam remarks, looking a little troubled.
“Wait.” I hold up a hand. Both men turn towards me. I point at Sorin, accusatory. “Last time I saw you, you were hauling ass away from me, abandoning me to my father’s anger out in the woods, and now you are here claiming to be my protector and a martyr to others?”
“I know. I know! I will explain, but I told you if I was with you when your father caught you, I would be of no help later. I would not have been able to be here now if he had caught me then.”
“I would not have been here now if it were not for our outing then,” I bite back.
“I know you think that but there is more at play now then what meets the eye—”
“More riddles...”
“Lace, I would tell you without them if I could, I promise, but even now my tongue is spel—” he chokes on that word and grits his teeth. “Look more information is to come, but Sam and I will have to remain in disguise until we can sort out a couple more details. We only revealed ourselves to you so you would knowyou were not without allies here, but you must not let anyone know of our identities."
I grunt in frustration. “Fine. I guess I am happy you both are here, even if you are being quite strange about everything…”
Sorin smiles gently at me. “Thank you, Lace.”
“You are not out of hot water yet, Sorin, I am still very upset with you.”
“I understand.”
“Good.”
Sam smiles widely. “Now that that is out of the way.” He pulls us into a huge hug, and I release tension I did not realize I had. I love Sam’s hugs. “I am happy we are together again,” Sam says this almost inaudibly, his face buried in my hair. Baby elvisera are alight in my belly having them so close and I allow myself to luxuriate in the feeling. Sorin is usually the touchy one of the two, a fact of which I adore, but it is always a treat when Sam initiates. I inhale deeply, breathing in both of their scents, but do my best to be quiet. For the first time since Sorin left me in the clearing, I can feel myself start to relax. Once he releases us, he nods his head as if he is agreeing to some internal thought. “Alaceandra you should be able to see through our forms now that I have revealed ourselves to you. Please be sure you continue to call us Credour and Fadres in public. We do not want to cast further suspicion on ourselves by dropping the disguise now. Too many have seen us with you.” I nod. “Good. We should head back to our rooms. We do not want people to come looking for us.” Regrettably, I agree. Sorin and Sam re-cloak themselves back into Fadres and Credour’s forms and we all head back into the castle and the madness that awaits us.
