Dream Weavers

Chapter Nineteen

Aline clutched at her head, wheezing. Don't panic, she told herself, but it was much easier to tell herself that than not actually panic in the end. She didn't know what she had just seen; she refused to try to make sense of it, but the only thing she could think of was Hain.

Hain. Hain had purple hair--but so did other fae. It couldn't be him. It was impossible. No way. No way. She couldn't believe that Hain could do such a thing.

Yet, a creeping voice told Aline, he broke Radin's arm. If he'd go that far, what's stopping him from slitting two faes throats?

Aline shook her head, digging her nails into her scalp to clear her mind from those thoughts. It wasn't Hain. She trusted Hain. She knew that Hain was loyal. She would believe him. He wouldn't do this. He had no reason to do that to them. He had no motives.

Breaking an arm wasn't the same as killing someone, was it? It couldn't be. She refused that it could be.

"Aline?"

Aline lifted her head to see Hallee's outstretched hand over her, pulling her right back into reality where it smelt like death and blood and urine. "Y-yeah?" She stumbled as Hallee pulled up on her hand and she felt the sudden urge to cry.

"Knights are here to question you. They already questioned me," Hallee said, pushing her out of the hallway into the main room. "Come on, girl." Her voice was lacking emotion.

Aline wondered how long she'd been in that daze, clutching at her head like she'd just seen something horrible. She had, of course, but she wished that someone had forcibly dragged her out of the hallway beforehand. "How long did it take?" she whispered, staring at the wooden floor. The other rooms were empty, probably evacuated in fear that the killer would return to strike again.

"Just a few seconds. There wasn't much I could say, after all, and I'm sure it's the same for you," she said, rubbing Aline's back as Hallee guided her through the halls and into the main room.

Xavier was there and Hallee went to stand nearby, whispering something to him and the other doctors and apprentices. Aline stood still, unsure of where to go or where to stand

"Aline Roux?"

Aline looked up to view two knights standing in front of her. Behind them laid someone she didn't know--and Hain. She immediately felt better, trying to meet Hain's eyes. He was right there. Impossible then, that he had done such a thing.

He wouldn't meet her eyes. He kept staring at the floor, his grip tight on the spear he held. His tail twitched back and forth, almost hitting against the paneling on the walls.

The knight captain cleared his throat. "Did you see anything?"

Aline snapped her eyes back up to the questioning knight. He had orange hair with scruff, and he looked tired, bags underneath his eyes. She just shook her head, unable to fathom words toward what she'd seen.

"Are you sure?" he said, leaning down to meet Aline's eyes. "Anything at all could be of use to us more than ever." He balanced on his spear, eyes narrowed.

Aline swallowed the bile making its way up her throat. "Purple hair," she whispered, finally meeting Hain's eyes. She watched him shake his head, so subtly that she thought she had imagined it, in response to her question toward him. "They left through the window."

The captain leaned over to a knight and whispered something in his ear, his shoulder tilting back to motion to Hain.

Automatically, she knew who they were referring to. "No!" Aline exclaimed, startling everyone in the room. "It wasn't Hain. I know it, okay?" She breathed out a sigh, looking up at Hain. Even if his parents had been assassins, he couldn't be. He wanted to spite them, not join them.