Chapter 176 - Rememberance

ETAN

Everyone froze. 

Two breaths later, "Not quite the reunion any of us envisioned," Borsche said dryly.

"Speak for yourself," Ayleth snarled.

Hysterical laughter bubbled in Etan's chest, but he still had a knife nicking the skin of his throat, and two deadly men standing over his wife with bare blades. 

"Everybody just… hold!" he barked. "Let me explain."

"Of all of us, you are the least in a position to give orders right now," Falek growled. 

"I am not giving orders, I am pleading," Etan said, softening his voice, and meeting Ayleth's wide, tearful eyes. "Ayleth, I did not cheat. I have pushed aside every advance from Sarya. She is a… a tool. A deception to clear the path to get my parents and our Court away from Zenithra. Your mother knows about us, Ayleth, and she threatened to see you dead if I took you." It all came rushing home to him then and he cursed. "Holy fuck. You can't be here. She's going to kill you!"

Ayleth's upper lip pulled back in a sneer. "Lying, cheating sack of pus—"

"No! Ayleth!"

"He speaks the truth, Princess," Borsche said casually. "He returns to Summitras to find our Chief advisor, a former sorcerer, to see if he knows how to lift the spell your mother holds over your life."

"My mother has never cursed me!" she snarled. "And she never would. She loves me!"

"She says she put your life in a bottle—a link to your soul—after you were almost kidnapped, so she could kill you if you were taken. Save you from… from… dying at the hands of evil. She said she can crush your heart just by smashing it. Ayleth, think. She said she cast it after you were kidnapped and that you knew and… she claimed she would use it against you to keep you out of Summitran hands."

Ayleth's face went still, then she frowned. Then he watched, his stomach clenching, as a tidal wave of emotions crashed over her. He could actually see her mind follow the trail he'd just laid—and try to discard it. 

"She would never…" Ayleth said through her teeth, but the quaver in her voice…

It killed Etan to see her look to Falek then—for his reassurance, for his wisdom. She should have been looking to him! He was her husband! He loved her to his soul!

He wanted to scream—and sob—for the trust she'd lost in him. 

He moved nothing but his eyes to look at Borsche, but his man, mindful of the blade at Etan's throat, was watching Ayleth too. 

"I fear, Ayleth," Falek breathed, then swallowed. "I fear that your mother might… I would certainly believe she would threaten…"

"I am still here! She has not! She would not!" Ayleth said, and he saw the doubt in her eyes and his heart broke for her.

"Ayleth, love—"

"DO NOT CALL ME "LOVE" YOU WORTHLESS PRICK!" she snarled. But in the split second she let her guard down because she was fighting the urge to stamp her foot, and the blade she held drew a bare inch away from Etan's throat, Borsche snapped an elbow high to knock Falek's blade away from his own neck in the same movement that he whirled, taking Ayleth's blade in his bare hands and yanking it away from Etan, twisting Ayleth around—who shrieked and fought.

Etan rolled, tackling Falek at the knees to take the warrior down, praying that the Knight would have the forethought to see that they were only defending, not attacking.

A flurry of activity, grunts and curses ended with Borsche standing at Ayleth's back, her arms pinned behind her back, her blade on the ground. Etan was still wrestling with Falek, who hadn't made a sound, but whose eyes screamed murder, even as he attempted to flip Etan, who'd gotten the upper hand when he fell.

"I… will… end you," Falek hissed.

"You already could have. Stop bluff—" Etan cursed as, fast as a snake, Falek whipped his lower body up, threw an arm over Etan's chest, his legs scissoring. Seconds later, Etan found himself on his back, his neck and arm pinned by Falek's legs, chin forced back by the warrior's knee and pressure a hairsbreadth away from stealing his air completely, on his throat. 

Falek had locked his ankles and leaned away, glaring down at Etan, his eyes daring Etan to try to break the hold.

But Etan didn't miss that Falek didn't bring his weapon to bear.

A dry chuckle—Borsche—echoed through the night. Then he said goodnaturedly to Falek, "So, I have yours, and you have mine. Trade and call it even?"

"Yours has betrayed his vows, mine has not."

"Etan has betrayed no one. Least of all his wife. He has done everything in his power and causing himself pain, to bring Ayleth through this safely. Every step he's taken has been in defense of her life."

"I saw them kiss!" Ayleth hissed.

"You saw her try to take advantage of Etan's baser instincts, and you saw him turn away, and you know it!"

"She would not have attempted that if she hadn't felt… welcome," Ayleth sneered.

Etan stretched, the edges of his vision beginning to flash with reduced oxygen. But he could still mostly breathe. "She was… testing me…" he wheezed, gripping Falek's knee, trying and failing to lever it, to loosen the pressure on his windpipe. "I… sent her… away." Then he looked at Falek. "Please… I need to… talk to my… wife."

Falek eyes remained dead, but he looked to Ayleth for instruction.

She stared at Etan, pale and tense, her brow furrowed. He saw her fear then, the fluttering bird of self-doubt—and doubt of him as well. She was afraid to speak to him. Afraid of being deceived. Again, as she saw it. 

"Please, Ayleth…" he croaked. "Remember… my vow…"

She blinked and Etan prayed. She had to remember! He'd told her!

He'd whispered with her in the dark, knowing this moment was coming and he'd tried to make her understand. "… if things get scary or look uncertain, you remember this: They can tear us apart. They can imprison me—even kill me. But it will not stop me loving you. They can't touch that. Do you know that, Ayleth? Deep inside, are you utterly certain of it?..."

He saw the moment she remembered those words and gave herself over to hope. Her tears wanted to return, but she blinked them back. Her chin went up, and her eyes warned him that if he deceived her, he would not live to enjoy it.

"Release him," she whispered through gritted teeth.. "Let him speak."