Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 59

"We're leaving as soon as it's dark," Tanwyn informed Meegan.

Meegan nodded. "I have to get out to get supplies for my trip to the country. Thijs is looking for me... for all of us... so I need to leave as soon as possible as well."

"How is Mistress?" Tanwyn asked.

"She left the castle without any harm. Thijs is headed home and Baerghast is too absorbed in finding us that he hasn't thought about anyone else helping us."

Tanwyn nodded. "We'll be heading to a mine," he said. "Once I find out where it is, I want you to send us a message to let us know the news. By then, Thijs should be back."

"Of course," Meegan said, her face grim. "We should all rest now. We need as much sleep as possible before we leave. We're going to be running away for the rest of our lives now."

Cole didn't know if Meegan knew just how true that statement was. Not only was Thijs after them, but now the entire faerie kingdom. There would be no one to trust now, so they'd have to disappear and make sure they never spent too long in one place.

After a few murmurs of thanks and well wishes, everyone made their ways to the cots that lined one of the walls of the tiny room. Tanwyn flopped down on his cot, not even bothering to climb under the thin blanket or kick off his boots. He lay sprawled over the edge, his legs dangling to the ground, and within seconds was passed out. Meegan slept on the cot next to his, rolling over to face away from them and pulling the blanket high over her head.

Cole helped her mother into her cot, tucking her in and hoping that the heat wouldn't build too much under the thin blanket. She brushed her mother's hair away from her face, wishing that they could bathe and get new clothes so that she would be more of the woman that she remembered. But it didn't matter, really. There was the soft and gentle face that she had thought was lost to her forever. It didn't matter if it was dirty of clean, Cole still pressed a kiss to the cool forehead.

When her mother had closed her eyes, Cole got up and searched on the table where the pitcher was located until she found a small wooden box. Pulling it open she saw dried herbs pressed into its depths, along with a small roll of bandages. It wouldn't be a much, but it could help stop the burning of infection in her shoulder that came from Tanwyn.

Taking the herbs with her, she walked over to his cot and knelt by the side so that she could lean over him and grip his collar. She held her breath, slowly inching it away, revealing his collarbone first and then the bandages where her mother had attempted to heal him before. Unpicking the knot, she pulled the bandage off him, hoping he was exhausted enough that he wouldn't wake up as she worked. She didn't feel like hearing his snark if he opened his eyes and saw her leaning over him, her hands pressed against his bare chest, eyes trained on his skin.

She got up to soak a corner of the used bandages with water she poured over them from the pitcher, and then brought it back to dab against his wound. It stung on her own shoulder, but not bad enough that it seemed like he might wake up. She grit her teeth and tried not to let out all the curses she wanted to hurl at him for being stupid enough to get hurt.

Once his wound was not full of clotted blood, she packed the herbs in to the slash. Blood oozed up around her fingers at first, but once she had emptied the wooden box, it had stopped. She then wrapped the new bandage around his shoulder, though there wasn't enough for a proper bandage. The pressure was enough apparently, because the pain lessened in her shoulder and she was able to finally think about sleeping. She quickly flipped Tanwyn's shirt back into place and got to her feet in order to clean up.

After rinsing her hands and tossing the bloodied bandage in a corner, she came back to the cot by her mother's side. She sat down with a flop and for a second she thought she saw Tanwyn's aqua eyes trained on her. But she looked again and he looked just as blissfully asleep as he always had. She rubbed her own eyes, letting the heavy exhaustion fall upon her like a suit of armor.

Rolling backward, she closed her eyes as soon as her head hit the pillow, and she fell asleep knowing that her mother was safe. For now.

--

 They left the safe house early the next morning before the sun had even risen. Meegan had left sometime before them, but behind her she had left some food and a note with the place that Tanwyn could reach her once they were at the mines. Tanwyn barely glanced at it before ripping into shreds and scattering it around the room. They ate briefly and soon were on the road, walking away from the city and out to the fields that surrounded it.

Once they were free of the city, Cole's mother returned once more from her dazed state. She blinked a few times and then it was if she had never gone mad in the first place.

"Where are we headed?" she asked, as if she had just woken from a dream.

Tanwyn glanced at her. "I was hoping that you would know," he said. "You said this stone is in a mine, but which one?"

Her mother's brow dipped as she frowned. "I don't know if they ever told me exactly where in the human world it was contained," she said.

Tanwyn halted abruptly, forcing Cole and her mother to stop if they didn't want to slam into his back. He sighed loudly and slowly turned around. "Do you mean we have no idea where in an entire world this stone is?" he asked, his voice carefully measured and quiet, but obviously capping something explosive deeper down.

"I'm sorry," her mother said, her hands twirling around themselves in front of her stomach. She stared at the ground hard enough to make Cole wonder if she was about to slip back into the madness. If that happened, Cole was prepared to punch Tanwyn square in the jaw even if the pain would come right back to her through their shared bond.

Tanwyn glanced at Cole, and when he spoke again his voice was calmer and less filled with hidden aggression. "They didn't tell you anything at all about where it would be?"

Cole wondered what had changed that he hadn't taken the opportunity to say something snarky or try to take a jab at her. It was almost as if he had seen the upset he had caused and... changed his behaviors to soften the blow. Cole frowned, not sure what to think, but by then her mother was speaking again.

"No, the stories only mentioned that the stone was buried deep and far away from the sun," she said.

"Nothing else?" Tanwyn asked.

Her mother was quiet for a moment, her face twisted as she tried to remember. "There was nothing else about the place it was hidden, but it was said that creatures guarded the stone." Her mother's shoulders pulled in close, her body going tense. "My guardian told me that the stone, in the lonely darkness, spawned black monsters to keep it company. So grateful to be brought into existence were these monsters, that they swore to help the stone and keep it safe. They were said to be on a mission to conquer the human realm for the stone, if they were ever set free from the stone's dark prison."

"That doesn't help me at all," Tanwyn said, rubbing his forehead. He turned away, tipping his face up toward the sky.

Cole turned to comfort her mother and let her know that it didn't matter if she could remember or not, but as she did, something about dark monsters stirred in her mind. Shadowy images swam through her memories, trying to resurface, until she froze as she came to the realization that she knew where the stone was.

"King Thijs. He's digging up something," she whispered.