The Offering

Chapter Seventy Five - Demwyn

The mist in the yard had long ago settled with the rising sun while I had finished my usual training. Sparring with my brothers as we always had done, feeling the familiar routine I had missed these past weeks filled the void inside me and made me think for a few happy moments that everything was back to normal. It was only when the other men had started to fill in and instead of turning to me as they always had done, they turned to my brother that I realised that was not the case.

I had stood and watched as Alvaryn had taken command, leading them through drills and training as I had done. Aeris was there, watching on with his discerning yet bored expression.

Things were not as they had once been, we hadn't stepped back in time where everything was normal and right, no, we would never go back to that.

I forced myself to take a step back, to allow Alvaryn to take his place and for me to take mine.

I didn't leave though as I probably should have, no instead I stayed, watching and longing and wasting my time. I could practically see all the paperwork that was no doubt waiting for me in my office, the meetings I was meant to attend, Varis would have messages for me and while I knew I should do my duty and leave the training grounds still I stayed.

As I look around, watching the men move around the yard I notice a splash of colour.

A dark blue gown stands out against the dull greys and blacks of the men.

Daella stands watching the training ground, her pale face set in a calm expression.

I find myself moving towards her, wondering what she was doing here of all places.

She startles as I approach and turns to me.

"Your Majesty." She curtsies and I can't help the jarring feeling inside at hearing the title, it still hadn't settled and felt wrong.

I turn back to watch my brothers, Aeris had stepped forward now, directing a group of men as Alvaryn did the same with another group.

"It is strange for me to watch my brothers take control and to be on the outside." I say quietly, feeling honesty is the best way to start the conversation.

"It must be very difficult for you." She replies.

"I have spent almost my entire life being their older brother, watching out for them, teaching them, training them, watching them learn and grow and make mistakes." It had been over two hundred years of being their brother and yet felt like just moments.

She doesn't reply.

"I do not agree with their intentions for you." I say simply.

"I know." She nods once, her voice clipped.

"But they left me no choice in the matter, choosing you, a human, over their kingdom and their family." I reply, feeling my anger rise at the memory of them giving me the ultimatum, of their betrayal, of their demands. They had given me no other option, of course I had to agree, I couldn't risk losing them after everything.

"I didn't ask them to do that." She says quickly.

"But you didn't stop it." I return.

No reply.

"I agreed to their terms because I did not want to lose my brothers, and short of putting them in chains and locking them away it was the only way I could ensure they stay here where they are meant to be." I tell her, making sure she understood that agreeing to their terms had not been an easy decision.

"I don't want you to lose them either, I don't want them to leave, to walk away from their people, from their home." She says quietly looking up at me.

"But they would have, for you."