Coming for your trust

Chapter 20

Eren POV

Silence followed Historia's statement but only for about a minute.

Eren had seldomly had the feeling that one minute could be this long. The last time would have been when Zeke made him stay in a plank position for just a minute as well. He had called it his starting point and when he had told him that 3 minutes were the goal – Eren had nearly fallen over but was now getting closer and closer to his brother's goal thanks to Zeke's endless pursuit of discipline and strict routines.

"Care to fucking repeat that?", Levi growled after that one long minute had passed. Eren was simply staring ahead, not saying a word. His thoughts turned over a thousand times in his head, blood rushing through it like a river after a storm.

Historia's jaw tightened, the warning glow in her eyes now slowly twisting into a compassionate but tense glint. She sent a nod in Jean's direction, who in turn barked a few orders at the assembled generals. Their faces turned sour upon hearing them but they nodded with tightened jaws and red faces before leaving the four of them alone. Only when the last of them had left the quartet among themselves did Jean bow to Historia and said after a quick glance in Levi's direction: "I'll go search for Ledior. I think his opinion will be of importance here."

Historia granted him merely a nod before focusing her attention back on Eren and Levi, who were listening with different emotions displayed on their faces. While Levi resembled more of a guard dog ready to attack, like Izzy, whom they had left outside on the palace grounds when her interest had obviously been the frantic rabbits she could hunt down there, Eren was short of needing to sit down like an old man.

"Now would you please fucking explain what's being played here?", Levi said just when Eren gave in to his weak knees and let himself fall on the next-best chair. "Where are the children?"

"Ida is with Sir Ledior, whom Jean is currently fetching for us. He was their teacher after all and spent quite some time with all three children.", Historia said in a poor attempt to calm them down.

"Lio is around as well?", Eren asked quietly, knowing that Erwin would want a report on the boy's wellbeing as soon as they returned to the palace.

Historia's nod somewhat calmed him while they waited for Jean's return. "He is smart and patient. He has picked up everything Ledior has to offer in a remarkably short amount of time and his writing is getting better and better by the day."

"Armin will be glad to hear that.", it slipped from Eren's lips before he could recall just why the boy would not hear about any of this any time soon. His face darkened and averted his eyes.

Historia cleared her throat and an awkward tension filled the space between them. Behind her the storm had picked up again, wind clashing against the window. The queen tapped her fingers on the desk. "They should be here any-"

"Here we are." Jean barged in, unannounced and without warning but Eren did not care to look over his shoulder to him and the second man he must have surely brought with him if the second set of steps in the room were any indication.

"That was fast." Historia could barely hide the relief about having a few additional pairs of eyes in the room next to Levi's permanent scowl and Eren's white face.

"I swear, if one of you doesn't tell us about right now where the fuck our boy is, you'll find sticks up in the most unimageable places!", Levi barked and Eren took a deep breath when he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. He gently curled his fingers around the coat he was still wearing, the touch soft despite the harshness of his words.

"Excuse him, please." Eren exhaled, covering Levi's hand with his own to ensure that it stayed right where it served as the only thing grounding him right now. "But you've not exactly given us any reason to trust that things are in order here. Jean's letter sounded rather...distressed."