Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 69

As Cole made her way back to the bed where her mother was slicing some bread on the small table by its side, Tanwyn stirred from his sleep. His aqua eyes reflected the orange glow of the hearth, giving him a crazed looked for a brief moment before he turned away as she reached the bed. She shuddered, remembering the time she had first seen him and how feral he had looked back then. She knew she shouldn't trust him even now, and that he was just as dangerous as ever, but somehow she now saw the softness of his skin and the way his lips turned down in a gentle slope. She saw him scan her over, resting on her bandages, before he gave the smallest of nods to himself and got to his feet.

"Tell me you're feeling as awful as I am," he said, rolling his neck and wincing as he rotated his shoulders. Cole answered him with a similar wince and an involuntary hunch as the aches passed through her uninjured shoulders.

"We should disconnect ourselves," she said, taking the piece of bread her mother offered her. "It's just going to cause more problems, and if your aunt isn't around then there's no reason for us to be joined."

Tanwyn didn't answer, instead chewing on his bread and staring out the paned glass behind her. She sighed and finished her meal before continuing.

"My mother and I need to start on our own way," she said. "King Thijs and your aunt will be after us, and we need time to disappear. That means that I can't be connected to you anymore, otherwise we're putting ourselves in unnecessary danger."

Tanwyn's jaw jumped as he stared even harder out the window. "You shouldn't be leaving," he said. "You should be taking your rightful place on the throne and helping to take down Thijs. My aunt will never take him down, and I fear that the Eldritch and the humans alike will all suffer for that."

Cole chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I know that you want to help, but I am not the person who can do what you want. I barely managed to get close to Bastian, and I failed to even kill him. You think I can take down Thijs?"

"Yes," Tanwyn said. "You can take him down with help from those who believe in you. There are Eldritch who would follow you to the ends of the world." He paused. "I would follow you."

Cole shook her head. "You don't know me. I'm not a princess or a queen. I'm just a girl who wants to have a normal life for once." She got to her feet, taking a few steps away from him. Her eyes shifted toward her mother. "My mother and I are going to go away and finally have peace."

"You'll never have peace if Thijs succeeds. No matter where you go."

Cole shrugged. "We'll see if that's true."

Tanwyn sighed and stood as well, his face stormy and drawn. "I wish you could see what I see," he said, brushing past her and toward the door. He pulled it open and disappeared into the hallway, letting the door slam shut behind him.

Cole inhaled slowly through her nose, trying to understand why she felt so angry. He was just an Eldritch concerned with power in his realm, and he wanted to use her to gain access to the throne. With no wings or magic, he would need more than the stone to convince his people to abandon their sworn queen and follow him. She knew she shouldn't care at all about what he thought or did, but yet she couldn't shake the burning in her chest and the feeling of needing to run and run until her eyes didn't feel quite so watery.

"Darling, maybe we should spend one more night before we part ways," her mother said. "He may be an Eldritch, but he has done so much for us. Without him, you would never have even known I was still alive."

Cole clenched her teeth. "Fine, but that's as far as it goes. One more night. But I'm still unlinking from him as soon as he comes back."

Turned out, that would be sooner than later, as the door swung open with a crash and smacked into the wall. Tanwyn stood in the frame, aqua eyes wide and face white.

"Thijs' guards are downstairs," he said, turning and shutting the door. He flipped the lock and backed away, running his hands over his bristly hair. "We can't get out. They've got the doors guarded and they're talking to the innkeep."

Cole's mouth popped open. "How did they find us?"

"The idiot innkeep betrayed us. He was telling them where we were, and they gave him money. The cursed son of a pig somehow knew we were involved with the king."

Cole's mother's face blanched. "I- when you transported us here, he was out in the yard. I thought he was trustworthy. He seemed so nice and wasn't scared even though we appeared from nowhere."

"He saw gold, that's why," Tanwyn spit out. "He knew Thijs would be interested in magic. Especially with all that's going on up in the mountains."

"We can't let them find us," Cole said. "We might be able to fight off a few with the stone's power, but neither you nor I am in a condition to sustain use of it. If the innkeep told the men about our use of magic, they'd be sure to send as many soldiers as they could."

"We'll have to run and hope that we won't have to use too much of the magic at once," Tanwyn said, crossing to the bed and throwing the blankets onto the floor.

"What are you doing?" Cole asked, coming up behind him. By this time he was knotting the sheets and blankets and pillows together.

"We can climb out the window. Thankfully, I think they're more focused on the door and coming upstairs, so we might be able to lose ourselves in the village and then slip away when it's fully dark."

Cole bit her lip and looked over to where her mother stood shivering and wide-eyed. "Do you think you have the energy to make it down to the ground?" she asked.

"I should..." her mother responded, but already her voice was misty and unstable. She was in danger of slipping back into the world of her mind, which would do them no good when they were running from guards.

Tanwyn straightened. "Don't worry. You're my sworn sovereign. I will protect you," he said. "Caspia and I are going to get us out of here, and we'll all be safe and unharmed."

Cole wanted to snap at him for using the Eldritch name, but she saw some stability return to her mother. His gaze was sincere as he reached out and gently placed his hand on her mother's arm, offering a gentle squeeze before returning to his task with the blankets. She couldn't yell at him for using a name when he was helping them get out of the inn alive.