Private Tales Ash and Iron

Tendrils of shadow crawled over him, slithering and coiling around his neck & limbs, seeking to protect him from the power they sensed in Maeve. They shuddered, tightening around him, pulling him back, but he stood his ground, his black eyes never leaving her as she stepped toward him.

The composure he wore slipped as she spoke, and he instantly regretted cracking open whatever box she'd kept her honest thoughts locked up in. This was worse than a dagger to the heart. Pain rose from his chest into his throat and he swallowed, his jaw tight as he fought with the urge to fall to his knees and fucking grovel.

Lorcan locked his pain away, concealing it and masking his intention. He ignored the regret he felt, and the realisation of how ridiculous an idea this was, and continued to be..

"I did not steal you, I saved your life. You belong to me. Don't blame me for a deal your parents made. I fucking wish they hadn't."

His words seemed to surprise him, his brows lifting for a moment. He couldn't lie, not directly, and yet he really, truly wished she had never had to come here. That she'd never had to suffer at the hands of the fae. To suffer him. Because he'd rather have her safe than have her for himself.

"If you want to leave. All you have to do is ask." he growled at her, his blackened hands curling into fists by his sides.

He could feel his heart splinter and crack, and he so desperately wanted to explain, wanted to tell her how much he loved her and try to repair the wounds he'd caused her, but not now, not when she'd been so close to letting the power in her loose. He'd happily let her shatter him if it meant nobody would ever hurt her again.

He looked down at the ring as it bounced and rolled to a stop next to his foot, his eyes burning. What in the name of fuck had he done?

"We're not done here." he said with all of the conviction he could muster, but even then his voice cracked. He moved quickly, and reached to take hold of her wrist before she could leave.

He didn't want to move. He wanted to feel the brunt of it, fuck, he deserved it.

Pure, cold light collided with him with the force of an anvil, knocking the air from his lungs and hurtling him into the wall with such a force that the mortar cracked and his spine screamed with pain. The weight of the rubble that came down atop him was crushing, and he felt each bone that snapped beneath it before everything fell into darkness.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there for, it might've been minutes or hours. He heard his name being called in some distant part of his mind, but he didn't stir until the weight of rubble was lifted from him and his cracked chest rose. It was the most painful air he'd ever breathed, his bones grinding as he coughed at the dust he drew into his lungs.

"Mae."

What the fuck had he done?

She was gone. His eyes shot open, tears streaking through the dust that'd settled on his skin.

"Raph.. Sid.." He needed them to find her, to bring her back, to explain..He swallowed painfully, gritting his teeth as he tried to move. "Maeve.."

"Be still, Prince Lorcan, until the mender arrives." one of the Nymphs pled.

He ignored the request, though his body screamed in protest and he roared out in agony. "Where.. Is Maeve.." he trembled, his tears unbidden. The scar across his heart burned, everything fucking burned.

He searched for that bond, fearing that perhaps he'd died and severed it. Maeve, please come back.

Raphael tried to be as gentle as he could as he forced his friend to lay back down. His wings spread to keep his balance as he crouched beside the broken Prince and kept his hands firmly on his shoulders.

His friend was not going to lay still when he found out the truth. So the Truthseeker skirted the edge of it.

"Maeve is in no immediate danger... but she is no longer in Endora. I have people watching over her," he tried to soothe.

"What?" Lorcan's eyes darkened, but it was with more fear than anger. "Where is she?.." he rasped and coughed, sending a fresh wave of pain coursing through him.

"I need to find her. This was..my fault." his eyes rolled as he fought against the unconsciousness that threatened to pull him back under and let him forget the pain. He shook his head in attempt to stay awake, but he let out another sharp cry at the white hot agony burned down his back.

"Fuck." his voice cracked as he choked on a breath.

Raphael and the Nymph shared a look.

"What matters is she is okay," the puca soothed and once more gently but firmly pushed his friend back down into a still, flat position. "We can discuss it when your spine isn't sticking out your back," he grimaced as he peeked at the wound.

The mender took that moment to arrive, warily stepping through the gaping hole.

"I take it the plan to grovel did not go well."

"I fucked up.." he answered through gritted teeth, his bleary eyes blinking hard in effort to stay awake. He tried his best to ignore the mender and his work. It didn't matter how many times he'd had to have flesh and bone healed in the past, the sensation made him nauseous.

"I pushed her too hard.. I just.." he hissed as a bone snapped back into place, his eyes squeezing tightly closed. "I... wanted her to know what she was c-capable of. I need her to be safe." he swallowed.

He turned his head, regardless of the pain. Seeing the ring laying there in the dust was more painful a thing than a broken spine. His chest felt as though another wall had landed atop it. "It was only a matter of time before I pushed her away." he frowned..

"She wants to go back. Will you take.." snap. "Fuck!" he snarled. "Will you take her back for me?.."

Raphael warily looked at the caved in wall. A team of fae had arrived with the gifts and knowledge to keep it from weakening the foundations of the rest of the manor house.

"I think we've all seen what she's capable of now," he glanced down at Lorcan with a scowl. He could understand his friends motives but it didn't stop him thinking he was a fool for taking the risk. They had all known her powers were deep and dangerous, could sense it on her the same way they could sense Lorcan's or Midir's magic. Playing with unknown magic was a recipe for disaster.

The mender very gently rolled Lorcan onto his side to get a better look at his back.

Raphael took the moment of distraction to clear his throat and say, "She ah, didn't want to go home. At least not her home."

How many times in his life had he been injured, almost died, been left in agony from his father's training? None of those times compared to this time. He was broken in more ways than one, and the only thing keeping him clinging to consciousness as the mender moved him, was his worry for his mate.

"So long as she has seen.." he grit out, his eyes closing tightly as another bone snapped into place. "Ffffuuuuccckkkk.." he growled out like a dying animal, shadows shuddering around him.

"Wh-at do you mean.. Not her home." he frowned, turning his eyes to Raph. "Tell me where she is. Right f-ucking now." he demanded as another bone cracked.

"I really think you should focus on your bones right now..." Raphael muttered half heartedly. He knew Lorcan would not stop pressing for an answer and was just as likely to cause himself more harm trying to bludgeon the answer out of him. With a resigned sigh his shoulders and wings slumped.

"Like I said, she is perfectly safe and I have People watching her - Sid is with her too," the warrior had insisted even though the city of the Autumn Court made him more uncomfortable than Raphael.

"She... is with the Erlking."

The Prince's furious roar could no doubt be heard echoing across Endora. No words, just a cry of pure rage and frustration, of heartache and self-loathing. There was little he could do to contain it, nor the shockwave of shadow and starlight that burst from him, throwing the mender from his feet, smashing every window and shattering everything that could shatter. The ground trembled, the Orchard creaked and groaned, cracks splitting and racing up walls and across ceilings, as his home began to crumble..

Raphael knew there was little that could be done to stop his friend, but that if he wasn't stopped he would rip the island in half in his rage. So the puca did the only thing he could after praying to the gods.

Raphael slapped him.

Twice.

"Sid is with her. Midir hasn't touched her, Lorcán. She's fine, and probably in the safest place she could be now we are at war. You want her back? You're going to have to fight for her. Not in this war, but with yourself. Be better. Not... this."

Lorcan silenced as the first strike came, the second less expected than the first. He swung a shadowy fist at him, and stumbled to his feet, staggering into the crumbled wall. "You really believe that she's safer with him!? Do you remember what he did.. to the last female I loved?!" he bellowed, the timbre of his voice shaking loose a little more mortar here and there, a crash sounding from down the hallway as something caved in. He looked betrayed at his brother, his eyes burning.

"She made it clear that she doesn't want me. She said she wanted this bond broken." his gaze dropped to the ring on the floor and he swayed, his voice quieting.. "It was only.. a matter of fucking.. time."

Lorcan growled as large, raven wings burst from his mutilated back, and he staggered toward the courtyard. "Don't you dare fucking follow me." he breathed, trying his best to walk away from the crumbling wreck. Blood soaked his skin, streaks of it still running down his face and neck and bones were still not where they ought to be.

The terrified mender said nothing to object as he cowered in the corner of the room, and Lorcan's wings opened to carry his broken body to his father's home.

Three days later...

"You should rest," the Erlking leant against the doorway to the forest arena and cast his eyes critically over the scene before him. Two of his shucks lay groaning on the floor but the third had managed to pin the Princess when she had been too busy dealing with one of the others. The thunderous look on her face suggested she knew her own mistake so he didn't point it out. His sons mate required a more... delicate touch.

"Go," he intoned to the Shucks. The one pinning his future daughter in law warily stood, backing off a good few feet to ensure she didn't launch another one of her gruesome attacks. The other two were slower but scrambled to their feet before all three melted into the background.

"I don't need your help," Maeve snapped and rolled to her feet, rubbing at a bruise that was already forming on her cheek. Midir watched with quiet curiosity as before him her fae healing took hold and the bruise faded from black to a mottled green.

"I'm more concerned for the structural soundness of my home," he drawled and her sniff told him how much she believed that. He struggled not to smile. By all logic she must have heard the worst of the stories surrounding him from his son, yet still she treated him no different to an annoying old lecturer. It was quite endearing.

"You said you would help me."

Midir pushed off the wall and walked towards her. Instead of flinching back she only set her heels in and raised her chin.

"Pushing yourself too hard all at once will burn you out. Control takes time," he waved a hand and the arena began to knit itself back together again in an almost lazy manner. He took hold of her chin. "You are done for today. We can begin again tomorrow, if your mate doesn't tear my heart out when he arrives," finally emotional flickered in those cold emerald depths.

"He's really coming?" Was that hope he saw in her eyes beneath the rage? He let go.

"Yes."

"I don't want to see..." The lie choked in her throat and Midir offered her a cold smile.

"I shall tell him you're resting and unable to see him," she nodded jerkily and then stepped around him, heading back inside the Palace proper. The Erlking sighed and glanced to the skies above. A darkness was moving in, a sure sign as any his son was finally here.

Midir sat down on one of the benches and waited.

Thunder rumbled in Lorcan's wake, casting shadow across the Autumn Court. His body, heart and mind were hanging by a thread, though by some miracle his wings remained strong enough to carry him to his father's courtyard.

He landed with little grace, the ground trembling beneath him as he skidded and stumbled forward, a hand on the ground to steady himself as he fell into a kneel. He turned his gaze to see his father apparently already waiting for him, his eyes black with fury.

"Where is Maeve?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous. He pushed himself to his feet with a grimace, once more regretting not allowing the mender to do his work. "The one fucking time you set foot in Endora and you take her away with you?!" the Prince seethed.

"She is resting," Midir replied with the cold calmness he usually adopted with his son. He lounged back on the bench and hooked an ankle over his knee. Despite Lorcan standing and he sitting, he still seemed to look down on the younger fae. "I would leave her alone for now, her temper is almost as bad as yours," he mused, waving his hand over his sons appearance as though he proved his point by the state he was in. Which, in fairness, he did.

"I did not take Maeve, she wanted to leave Endora and I thought it wiser she come to the Autumn Court than heading home - her Ancestral lands fall under the Summer Court and the Lady Fiadh do they not?" his brow quirked.

A muscle ticked in Lorcan's bloody jaw as he swayed slightly. "She is safest, in Endora. It's a fucking Island, she doesn't have to so much as look at me if she doesn't want to." he growled.

"And don't assume to tell me when I can and cannot speak to my mate - Midir." he muttered at him and turned to stagger away and find her himself.

"Maeve?!" his voice cracked at the pain it caused to yell her name, but he cared little. "Please, Maeve!" he called, searching for her through the bond they still shared. The bond she hated.

Mae.. I'm sorry. Please don't hide from me..

Midir appeared unphased by his son's growling anger. He flicked an imagined piece of lint off of his shoulder and then stood.

"Endora was a cage; she knows it and you know it, no matter how much you tell yourself it was for her own good," his words whilst painful however did not carry their usual spiteful tone. He walked alongside his limping son as he hollered through the corridors. A painful quiet answered him. When it was clear Maeve was not going to answer him and reveal herself, he continued in a tone he had never used with Lorcan before. He almost sounded... human.

"I shall not hurt her, Lorcan. This I swear," a tendril of magick crackled in the air. Binding the oath. "Your mate is broken in a way that only time can heal. Give it to her. Do not make the same mistakes as me."

"She was never caged. She wound up here, didn't she? More than once. Fuck she'd been to the fucking Spring Court..How much further from me does she want to be?.. All I've ever wanted since the moment I set eyes on her was for her to be safe. And that meant keeping her the fuck away from you." he grunted as he stumbled into the wall, his breaths hitched and ragged.

He felt his father's oath and scowled at it. "You think that makes me trust you around her? She doesn't know you like I do. She doesn't know this fucking world like I do. Hurting isn't the only thing you're good at." he snarled. His father had a way with manipulation. If Maeve hated him now, she'd no doubt hate him far more when his father was through with her. That, or end up in his bed.

"I will give her all the time she needs. I'll fall on an iron blade if that is what she wants. But I'm not letting you keep her here."

"MAEVE!!" he called again, his voice breaking.

Midir gave an inaudible sigh. He supposed he really only had himself to blame for his sons bullheaded way of thinking, but he had always hoped his mother would deal with such softer matters.

Silence continued to meet Lorcans cries. The odd servants they saw curiously glanced between the King and his son then hurried on. Their relationship was well known amongst the Autumn Court, as well as the fact it was best to not be near when they were together.

"She isn't ready to see you, Lorcan. Why not take your old rooms, I can send a medic to you."