Undone

Chapter Eighteen

Two weeks had passed since that day out by the river. Two weeks of silence between them. Two weeks of learning how to defend herself training with the others. They had meant to leave camp three days after arrival, but Ivar had disappeared once again.

They took this time to re-evaluate, to train every last person here the best they could, including Meghra.

Meghra had been a comfort for Elora, they found themselves spending most of their free time together, where Lex was off doing god knows what and Leif had vanished for two days in a row, Elora unaware of where he was or what he was doing but they had hardly exchanged two words between them in this time and it had hurt.

She didn't mean to ignore him, she wasn't doing that. It was just that every time she thought about approaching him, it was like he sensed her and somehow, he found somewhere else to be.

He had been giving her space.

"Where is he?" Elora asked Lex, she covered her wet body with a towel. They had just bathed in the stream.

"I don't know, pretty girl."

"I don't know what's going on with him. I'm scared for him, Lex. He's never happy. I'm not enough for him." She couldn't do anything to help him and it killed her inside.

"There's nothing to be done. It's not solely down to you to ensure his happiness, he's got a lot of baggage, and he just deals with it in an unconventional way. It's not your fault." She knew he was right.

"Do you think there will ever come a time where we don't fight? I can't..." she shivered, slipping into a yellow sundress and a pair of mostly dry knickers. She was running out of clothes, washing them in the clear river every chance she got.

"I don't know. Don't worry about him, Elora. He can take care of himself." Mostly. Lex knew just as well as Elora did that Leif was a ticking timebomb.

"I wish it was as easy as that. I just can't help but think we're doomed."

Lex swallowed, there was a lump in his throat. He felt so guilty, he knew Elora deserved to know, needed to know about her parents but he didn't want to be the one to tell her, not when she loved Leif so much, when the worst part about him was his mood swings–this information would change things, Lex knew that.

A part of him wanted to tell her, he knew she would be mad at him for keeping it to himself but... he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had yet to talk to Leif about it, too.

"Come, Kiera wants us all in the main tent." He gathered her into his arms and teleported them out.

***

"So that's the plan." Sunflower exhaled. She glanced at Arrow, who was lounging on a fishing chair to her left. He had been nothing but a nuisance for her, a distraction. Her mother had been so harsh towards her since she brought him into all of their lives. Kiera had wanted Sunflower to be with Erik, if anyone, Arrow was too perky, too flirty for his own good.

Erik was action focused, his head always in the battle plan. Arrow was...time consuming, he needed too much attention from Sunflower, and Kiera didn't like that, but she would accept it if it meant her daughter was happy.

The bond between them couldn't be ignored.

"Okay. A week from now, what's to say he'll even be there? He can see us coming, with the witch at his aid, we don't stand a chance." Evri, Meghra's brother-in-law, had spoken.

"Please," Sunny scoffed. "She's a baby witch, and he's forcing her. We know that much. Our numbers have almost tripled since the last time we fought. We have the numbers, I think we can really do this this time."

"What makes this time any different than the last time? The time before that? We've been attacking this man and failing every time. How is this time going to be the time we win?" Someone called out, a fae male Elora did not know.

"We will try, that is all we can do. He is one man, Lukas." Lukas, the fae male Elora didn't know, rolled his eyes and slouched back in his chair.

"If it was that simple, we wouldn't be here right now. Just one man, you say, well just one man is responsible for the death of hundreds, thousands of our kind and more. I don't think we can win this." the room fell silent. Kiera's deadly cold eyes settling on Lukas, no other indication that she was raging up a storm inside.

"Then leave." was all she said, before choosing to ignore his protests.

"Sunflower is going back in." The silence was replaced with gasps and protesting, Arrow standing to his feet, shaking his head at his mate's mother in anger.

"You're not sending her back! She'll be killed!"

"Silence, Arrow. It's already set into motion. Sunflower will go to him, she will reveal the truth to him, we hope to catch him in a false sense of security, the aim is to get close enough to him for her to be our informant. If Ivar knows the truth about her, he might be willing to let things slip. We need to have hope."

"What makes you think he'll forgive her? He's seen her face. He knows she helped us..." Arrow choked out. This was killing him, the thought of her going there, being so close to such a monster.

"You think he'll fall for it?" Erik growled, coming to his ex girlfriend's defence.

"We have to try. I don't like this any better than you do, but Sunflower means something to him." Kiera had hoped. Prayed that this would help, that her only child would be enough to buy her some time.

"How so?" a few raised brows.

Kiera cleared her throat. "She's his daughter."