My Midnight Boy

Chapter 19

Joel and I sat talking for a long while, it was good to get back to some form of normality. He was what kept me from falling over the edge. Being surrounded by so much that I had once thought to be impossible, to be the work of pure fiction, was driving me to the edge of my sanity. He kept me from slipping.

It was hard to remember much about that night that had brought me here but I was working to finalise the details so that I could have a stone cold account in my head. I hated feeling so clueless, having my memories stolen from me.

That's another thing, glamour had addled my brain. One downside of Aelfric trusting me I guess. 

Aelfric didn't trust me around Joel. Well, it was more that he didn’t trust Joel with me. Or at all to be perfectly honest. Something about Joel unsettled him and I couldn’t understand why.

In the days that passed I grew stronger and that was a good thing as the tension was building in there already strained relationship and at times I actually had to force them apart. Of course my tiny fists had no effect on either of them, but they seemed to recognise that in hurting each other they would hurt me, so they refrained from openly brawling. But the snide remarks, and sharp glares were slowly wearing me down.

The peace lasted only for a little while. Around two weeks had passed since my arrival and I was healing well, we were sat in the keep of the fortress.

Gannon was sat on one side and Joel on the other. Aelfric had gone out hunting for Aelfgar that morning and had returned covered in dried blood and caked in mud. He refused to let me help him, pushing me roughly away and roaring for Cwenhild.

"You bellowed?" She had asked.

I could see how annoyed she was that he was treating her as more of a servant then a sister. The stress of the past few weeks was clearly getting to him, I barely saw the old Aelfric any more. He was hidden from me, buried deep within.
"Help me off with all this." He had snapped.

Cwenhild, the one best at human humour, had made a snide remark about whether he wanted that done here or in his chamber, at which he had stormed off and she had run snickering after him.

I looked from Gannon to Joel and sighed. I wished I could see everything through there eyes, I needed a fresh perspective. I was well aware that my opinion of Aelfric was somewhat rose-tinted. But apparently they weren't about to offer up any opinions for me to mull over.

Gannon chuckled quietly at my frustration."He's stressed out, Aelfgar is moving closer and growing stronger all the while and all the time while he is out tracking him he worries that you m'dear are snuggling up to Joel."

I decided to ignore that last remark, there was no way I would be snuggling up to anyone but Aelfric. Instead I probed deeper into the biggest matter at hand. Aelfgar. "What does Aelfgar want?" I asked.

Gannon shrugged and leant forward to swipe a berry from the bowl on the table. He popped it into his mouth before answering. "The secret, the one that Aelfric told you."
"I still don’t see why he bothered." I sighed. There was no point in telling someone something and then wiping all memories of it. I understood that he wanted to protect me but still...

"He wanted to be honest with you." Joel grunted. "I have to give him respect for that and then double it because he's refusing to reveal it too you for your own safety." He shuffled closer. I could feel his warm hand intertwine with mine.

I withdrew mine slightly at the thought of Aelfric being jealous it wasn’t fair of me to be so close to Joel.

Joels face fell. It wasn’t fair of me to withdraw from being his friend for the sake of my boyfriend. I was in a mess.

I looked to Gannon for some help but he shrugged. He'd been doing that a lot recently.

The old wooden doors creaked open and Quinlan squelched in dripping with rain. "It's cold out today."

"Yeah well, welcome to the lake district." Joel scoffed.

"We have resided here for-" Quinlans lip quivered for a moment as he was interrupted.

"Many millennia blah blah blah we get it." Joel growled.

"Joel." I Glared at him. Quinlans face had fallen as Joels had only a few moments ago. It seemed he was unsure of how to proceed.

I shoved my elbow sharply in Joels side. "Pack it in and play nicely." I growled, eyes narrowing. I hated how he was so disdainful of them. They had been nothing but courteous toward him the entire time he had been here and yet he refused to give them any in return.

"Sorry mate, getting cranky, didn’t mean to insult your pride." Joel sighed but his tone was sincere.

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger, squeezing my eyes tight shut. Elven politics were even more confusing than human ones. Joel squeezed my hand comfortingly.

There was a fierce some snarl from behind us. "let go."

Joel was up as soon as the words had passed from Aelfrics lips. I instantly went to stand also but Gannon held me back, shaking his head and frowning at me.

“Don't” He advised.

Aelfric was instantly towering over Joel, teeth barred like an animal. "She is mine!"

Joel spat at his feet."She doesn’t belong to anyone save herself."
"She is mine, she promised me-"

"I don’t care what she promised you under glamour. In human society we have something called pride maybe you should look it up. Oh wait you don't know what a dictionary is."

Aelfric shoved Joel hard in the chest, his face contorting into an ugly snarl. "I don’t see you doing anything to save her from the peril she is in."

Joel shoved him back.  "Your the one who put her in this situation, if you had just left her alone then I-"

I made to get up but Gannon held me back shaking his head. His eyes were wide like a rabbit in the headlights, he knew what was coming.

"If I had left her alone you would never have met her! We hired you to keep her safe while-"

"He hired you to be my friend?" Outrage flooded through my body while blood filled my cheeks in humiliation. I Rounded on Joel. "You had to be paid?"

"Hales, I didn't know you! I'm sorry!" Joel made to move toward me but Aelfric grabbed his shirt holding him in place by the scruff of his neck.

"You still don’t, do you know anything about her you ignorant mortal?"

"You can shut up Aelfric! You lied as much as he did." I snapped. I couldn’t believe he had paid someone to be my friend.

"You had to be protected." Aelfrics face was frozen in surprise and his voice was high with strain.

"She only had to be because of you." Joel shook away Aelfrics hand and rammed his hands into his stomach.

"Hey now!" Quinlan warned.

 But it was too late.

Aelfric threw the first punch. And that was all I saw. Everything was a blur until Joel was lying broken and bloodied on the floor.

I let out a long shrill scream.