"How does that feel?"

Fawn ran her fingers gingerly over the clean, linen bandages on her wrist, wincing slightly at the raw bite of the rope-wound hidden beneath.

"Better," she looked up timidly, "thank you."

She was met with the kind reassurance of Garrick's smile, the rough warmth of his hands departing from her as he stood up.

"It's not much..." he continued, his back to her now as he dipped his fingers into the ancient stone basin. "I didn't want to risk rousing suspicion by bringing you to the medics tent. But at least the wound is clean. I'd advise you put a salve on those and rebind them when you can."

Fawn nodded distractedly, rising to wander about the hushed and earthy darkness of the crumbling stone room. It was clear it hadn't been used in some time, moss and vines threading their way through half toppled pillars and across the great alter of stone that stood squarely in the middle. It was cracked down the middle, small white flowers sprouting in the fissure. It's a mercy the well here still bears water, she thought. Still, the atmosphere was not one of decay...perhaps it was the cool nudge of fresh soil at her feet or the way the light fell mutely through the aged glass panes, but there was something ancient...almost sacred about this place.

"Where are we?" she whispered.

"This? The temple of the divine." He turned his head over his broad shoulder, nodding toward the shadowy corners of the room. "See there, the four statues. Two gods, two goddesses...together they - "

"hold up the four pillars of the earth" she echoed.

"Yes," he turned towards her, a broad smile widening across his wide jaw. "You too are a believer?"

Fawn turned her head from him quickly as a small flicker of light danced across her chest. "I was raised in the faith." 

Rising from her seat, she walked forward, peering curiously into the gloom. As her  eyes adjusted to the shadows, she could make out the statue of a goddess before her, the woman's long, thick hair billowing outward in a cloud around her. Though the statues' left arm had been severed from the frame, her right hand extended outward in invitation. Fawn found herself reaching forward, as if to grasp it.

"As you can see," he gestured, "the cult of the divine has dwindled to almost nothing...there is not much use for stone deities when you walk in the shadow of a living God."

Fawn's heart jolted at the mention of Thomas, her hand dropping back to her side. "Is that truly what they think? That he is Saeros, god of the Sea?"

"That is what they say."

"Yes, well...they say much about him that isn't true."

Fawn bit her lip, regretting the slip immediately. Though Garrick's expression remained stoic, she could see something shift in his gaze, as if he was seeking the answer to some question that hovered unseen.

"Forgive me..." she stammered, "I do not know why I said that..."

He smiled sadly, slowly closing the distance between them. He shook his head, taking her hands gently into his. "Do not apologize, Fawn. I all of people know what it is like to be close to him...to stand in the shadow of his magnitude. To be shown favour...acknowledged even in some small way by such a being...it can stir great fealty in one's heart."

Fawn's eyes flashed to his, her heart aching with a raw and sudden vulnerability. The truth of his words, the relief of his understanding...it all but shattered her carefully constructed walls.

"I will not tell you whether that fealty is deserved, or even if it is wise to offer. I will only say this. Guard your heart, Fawn. To trust easily here is to invite danger."

For a moment, they simply stood still, their gazes locked, and for the second time today, Fawn found herself searching the clear green eyes before hers intently.

As the seconds passed, she felt a deep peace settle over her heart, a low warmth in her stomach rooting her in place. He was so different from Thomas...she thought. So different from that wild, unbridled power. Yet there was great strength in his steadiness too..like the steadfast rock that withstands the raging sea...

Garrick was the first to speak.

"Now," he broke off gently, gesturing forward. "I believe you seek an audience with the Godking?"

It took Fawn a second to return to the present moment, shaking the thoughts from her mind. "Yes, my lord," she stammered. "If I am to be a slave here, I hope I may appeal to his mercy..."

Garrick nodded, his expression unreadable.

"The soldiers said he was engaged today..." she continued, "that he was not to be disturbed."

"They're not wrong," he rejoined, leading her toward the very back of the chamber. "He will be receiving envoys from many of Agraria's outer regions today, and presiding over the lord's council. But it is early yet. You may chance to find him alone in the throne-room."

Fawn's heart quickened at the thought. She was so close. After everything she'd suffered, the moment she hungered for was finally within reach.

"You won't be able to enter by the main doors. They're heavily guarded. The temple here was part of the original fortress, before the Godking conquered and expanded the castle. There are few who know it, but this room still connects to the inner chamber."

Fawn looked down as he dragged a stone slab roughly across the floor. A shadow darker than the rest of the temple bloomed before her.

"There?" she asked fearfully.

He nodded assent. "The walk is long and winding, but the path never deviates. If you feel an opening on either side, do not enter it."

She swallowed heavily, making to lower herself down.

"Sir Wolfe," she turned back towards him.

"Garrick, please."

"Garrick..." she spoke shyly, the name tingling on her lips. "Why are you doing this...why are you helping me..."

He seemed taken aback by her question, and for a moment he merely gazed at her, the autumn sun drifting through the stained glass panes behind him.

"My hope for you, Fawn, is that one day you are so accustomed to kindness, you will not need to ask." He cleared his throat. "Now remember. Straight and true. Hurry."

Breathing in softly, Fawn nodded and began to lower herself down. Still, she couldn't help but look up one final time, Garrick's words still echoing in her ears.

"Thank you Garrick," she whispered. "For everything."

"May the Godking have mercy on you, my lady. Whatever happens today, you have a friend here. Remember that."

And with that blessing, she turned and departed.

***

Fawn blinked through the musty darkness, her fingers trailing roughly against the wet stone for any trace of a door. She had lost all sense of time in the pitch-black void, claustrophobia pressing in as tightly as the walls around her. Her adrenaline had pushed her onwards at first, but as the dank, chill of the tomb-like tunnel stretched on endlessly, dread began to seep into the marrow of her bones. In the dark, her mind whispered terrible things. Could Garrick have betrayed her? Sent her to her death? Trapped her in an endless maze of darkness to be entombed alive? The thought sent a shot of icy panic through her, her hands patting frantically along the endless walls as she stumbled forward blindly. Just as she thought she couldn't bear it any longer, her fingers touched the warm grain of wood, relief flooding every inch of her being as she leaned against the safety of the door. Grasping the handle, she pulled it open, pushing past layers of heavy tapestry until she staggered out onto the side of the unknown chamber.

What she saw there stole the very breath from her lungs.

A room of brilliant, alabaster white stretched out before her, vast and cavernous as the endless sea. Delved from the very heart of the mountain itself, it's jagged ceilings soared up to the heavens, endless rows of stately pillars carved straight from the rock. Elaborate balcony galleries wrapped around the walls, their graceful arches whittled out of the surrounding stone and accessible by deftly hidden, winding staircases. To her right, the massive arch of two steel-studded, redwood doors loomed.

The entrance to the throne-room.

Garrick was right, she thought, there was no way she could have slipped through there.

As she edged her way forward from the outer walls, Fawn could see that the center court was lit by a thick slab of sunlight that poured in from a wide and jagged crevice miles overhead. In this golden light the room came alive, beckoning her forward with its majestic splendour.

It was only when she skirted the nearest pillar that the crushing weight of realization bore down upon her.

The magnificence of this room was not crafted for its own beauty. Every feature of its design, every intricate detail and painstaking carving of stone was fashioned for a single, dreadful purpose: to draw the onlooker's eye toward the monumental and terrible figure who sat omnipotent upon the central throne.

The Godking.

Fawn's heart staggered at the long-awaited sight, her eyes drinking in every detail of his presence with a wild and insatiable thirst.

His legs were stretched out casually before him, long and lean in trousers of midnight black. Over his chest, he wore a tunic of deep crimson, covered by a waistcoat of richly gilded brocade, whose intricate gold pattern twisted maddeningly into a flurry of sharp thorns. The effect reminded Fawn eerily of seeping blood, or the low, slow smouldering of a pyre against the cold, white room. Each of his powerful hands grasped the arms of their alabaster throne, his long, slender fingers adorned with rings of gold and precious stone that cast hollow refractions of light across the floor. But perhaps, most imposing of all, was the massive five-pointed crown of polished bronze that rested heavily upon his brow. Though Fawn could not make out the scene, she could see it was engraved with a life-like tableau, each carved figure the size of a real Agrarian human.

As his roving gaze swept over the place where she stood, Fawn couldn't help but suck in a stilted breath, her body flinching in the half-shadow where she stood.

His attention sharpened immediately, grey-blue eyes of storm and thunder coming alert with a fierce and intelligent awareness.

"Well now...what do we have here..."

Fawn's heart spiked wildly at the rumbling timbre of his voice, every nerve in her ringing in visceral remembrance of the sound.

As the force of his unwavering gaze settled down on her, Fawn felt herself crushed beneath a power so dreadful, a reverence so deep, that she seemed to lose all sense of herself. She found her body bending beyond her will, bowing down to his sublime authority. For a moment, as she kneeled under the staggering weight of his presence, she believed all of it: every dark legend, every quaking rumour, every drunk word whispered in the dusty corners of a tavern. He was a God of old, terrible and beautiful, come down to pass judgement and reign over them all for eternity.

He was her own private reckoning.

"Come forward," he thundered.

The command was unquestionable. It reverberated across the great stone hall, coursing through the marrow of Fawn's bones as it was endlessly amplified by the arching, cavernous room.

Rising up unsteadily, Fawn became starkly aware of the way her small body trembled uncontrollably. It was as if he was suddenly a stranger, her heart seized with an awe-struck fear of him such as she had not felt since their very first meeting. Hugging her arms to herself, she walked forward hesitantly, her steps swallowed by the gaping room.

Though she kept her gaze on the ground, compelling herself to put one foot before the other, Fawn could still feel the burning heat of his languid stare bearing down heavily upon her. She seemed to walk for an eternity, yet when she raised her head, he still towered so unattainably far before her. 

He tsk'ed lazily in amusement.

"Such a frightened little thing. Is that really as close as you will dare?"

Fawn stopped abruptly in her tracks, a fierce pang striking her chest. His words were cruel, mocking, his voice slicing through her like a cold, steel blade.

"Don't tell me you've lost your nerve?" He drawled. His thumb played leisurely with one of his rings, rolling it around his middle finger slowly as he watched her casually from his immeasurable height. "You knew it was forbidden to come here, yet here you are."

Fawn felt the well of her tears rising as a deep current of doubt began to ebb at her heart. She knew he had been angry the last time he saw her, but surely...

"Please, Thomas..." she whispered.

"What's that, little one?" He cocked his head towards her, as if to catch her voice. The offhand gesture sent a wave of shame burning through her; she felt so insignificant.

"Please..."

"Ah yes, the begging." He waved his hand as if dismissing her. "It's very simple really. In life there are choices, and there are consequences. And I'm afraid, little one, today, I am your consequence."

Fawn's body seized up, the buzzing in her head growing louder again. She took an involuntary step backward.

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked, frowning in mock confusion. When she didn't move again, he leaned forward slowly in his chair, his elbows settling onto his knees. "I didn't think so."

"Now," his voice dropped, crackling with the threat of violence, "this is what's going to happen. You are going to walk forward and you are going to kneel. You are going to tell me who you are, and what you're doing in this room and then you are going to beg for my fucking mercy."

Fawn's lungs froze, realization crashing over her like an icy wave.

He didn't recognize her.

Indeed, from this distance, with her thick mahogany hair chopped roughly to her shoulders and her ragged clothing filthy and poor, she would have appeared a total stranger. But it wasn't just this that shook her to her core. It was the sudden understanding that the man who sat before her was not Thomas. Cloaked in the guise of a stranger, she had glimpsed someone else.

She had glimpsed the Godking.

Even as the truth hit her, she felt her heart rail in resistance. She wanted to scream, wanted to call out his true name, wanted to banish this...this imposter before her, but with each quaking step forward a primal terror clawed tighter at her throat, turning her tongue to lead. She could say nothing, do nothing but obey, head arching upward to his distant face as she sank down before his feet, her teary eyes beseeching his for recognition.

"Look at you..." he mused. "You're like a lost little lamb..." 

He smiled thinly, and the awful sight stole what little warmth was left in the cold, stone room. 

"Didn't anybody tell you not to wander so close to the den of wolv-"

Fawn felt a jolt of lightning strike through her as the Godking faltered, the bored amusement in his eyes snapping suddenly to awareness as he finally registered the familiarity of the one before him. A heavy hush fell over the great stone room as their gazes locked, neither speaking a word for what seemed like an age.

Then a small, fearful voice broke the stillness.

"Why did you do it Thomas...why did you leave me..."

For the briefest of moments, Fawn was sure she glimpsed it: a tender painfulness flickering across his face. She blinked and it was gone, his eyes frigid as the vaulted halls, his features hewn and hard as the stone surrounding him.

"You should not be here."

Fawn felt a violent pang in her stomach at the sound of his voice, so cold and detached. She fought desperately against the wave of despair that threatened to drown her. "Please Thomas..."

"I don't want you here." He interrupted. "Leave now, before you must suffer the indignity of being removed."

But Fawn couldn't take another step. His words had utterly eviscerated her, and she sank down to the floor as she bled violently from within. Devastation. Devastation, as the entire world collapsed in on itself, spine caving inwards through her ribs until she was left with nothing but a gaping hole in her chest. Her head hung downwards as if partly severed from her body as slow sobs began to wrack through her tiny frame.

She waited for comfort that never came.

"I had thought...I had hoped..."

Fawn clenched her jaw, trying to hold back wave after wave of humiliating grief. How foolish she had been to believe the Godking had truly cared for her, would want anything to do with a shy and stupid peasant girl who no man had looked at twice. She felt the last piece of her ragged soul tatter as the truth became apparent to her. She had been nothing to him...nothing at all.

"How cruel of you," she whispered, her voice breaking through her tears. "How cruel of you to have toyed so carelessly with my life...to have made me realize the extent of my own worthlessness..."

At this, Thomas leapt up from his throne, not bothering to move carefully or slowly as he closed the gap between them in one effortless, thundering step. Fawn cowered backwards in blind terror, trembling helplessly on the floor as the very room seemed to shift with the unbridled force of his movement. The air was crushed from her lungs at the deafening sound of his footfall, her head swimming sickeningly with vertigo as he came to a sudden standstill, towering incomprehensibly far above her. Hot tears burned her sight as she gasped for breath, her eyes gravitating up the staggering enormity of his body.

An earth-shattering crash shook Fawn to her core as his knees hit the floor to either side of her, his whole body straddling her. His enormous hand lifted up slowly before her eyes, the heavy shadow of it bearing down on her from above with the memory of its crushing strength. She felt herself wilting beneath his monumental power, her terror and grief clashing violently within her until her body gave up control. She couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't even cower backward in a pitiful attempt at self-preservation. She no longer cared what happened to her. It was all too much to bear. Clenching her eyes shut tightly, she awaited the fall of his judgement.

Then, with impossible fragility, she felt the rough warmth of his finger brush gently against her tear-stained face. She sucked in a sharp breath, her entire body frissoning. It was like the entire earth had stilled, anchored firmly to his touch.

"Fawn, look at me." His voice was deep, raw; it reverberated through her thundering heart.

But Fawn kept her eyes soldered shut. She had craved his touch for so long, yearned for his tenderness so deeply, she was sure she must be dreaming. She wouldn't open her eyes, wouldn't lose this moment for anything.

"Look at me!" he thundered, making no attempt to soften his passion. Fawn shrunk under the terrible booming of his voice, shuddering to her very core. Still the pure, unbridled authority of it compelled her to react, striking all emotion other than blind obedience into her heart. Her tear-clouded eyes flashed open and upwards toward her King, taking in the fury of his perfect face.

"I don't ever want to hear such a thing again! Do you understand me!"

Though his touch had been gentle, there was no softness in his voice, no apology. It almost sounded like a threat, stark and savage in its violence. Fawn began to shake, her body flushing with icy heat as a torrent of rage joined the deluge of emotions battling within her.

"Don't you dare!" she screamed at him, her face smeared with the tracks of her tears. "Don't you dare try to fool me again! If I'm not worthless, then why did you cast me out! Why did you send me from your presence without even a word! Why did you steal me away from everything I loved and then make it unbearable to return!" 

She began to heave with sobs, the painful memory of his abandonment crushing in against her. 

"You tore my heart from my chest, Thomas, and you left me broken and alone to bleed..."

He clenched his jaw tightly, his voice savage. "Don't do this, Fawn. Please."

"I loved you, Thomas," she wept. "Even after everything you did to me, I loved you. I would have followed you to the very ends of the earth..."

"Yes, god damn it!" he slammed his fist into the marble, unable to control himself any longer. His wavy hair hung wildly over his eyes as he leaned over her trembling form. She could see the effort it was taking him to master himself, his hand shaking against the cool floor. "Do you think I don't know it? For god's sake, Fawn! Why do you think I sent you away?"

Fawn's chest heaved wildly, long, wet lashes blinking back tears in her confusion. "I...I don't understand..."

He leaned further over her from where he knelt, the bulk of his body covering her in his thick shadow. She shivered at his power to make night fall, simply because he demanded it.

"Do you know how easy it would have been? Do you know how easy it would have been for me to take you?" His fingers flexed once, as if acting out the ghost desire. Fawn barely had time to register the movement before his hand sailed out toward her, a panicked whimper escaping her mouth as his powerful fingers crowded in around her, enclosing her in his all-encompassing, grasp. She struggled weakly as she was lifted up leisurely towards his face, her arms pinned firmly to her side by just the gentle pressure of his thumb and fingers. She shuddered at the reality of his words, her frantic, fluttering movements pathetic against his unflinching hold.

"Look at you, Fawn," he snarled. "You are nothing in my hand. Completely and utterly helpless. I could have taken you with me whether you wanted to go or not. You wouldn't have been able to stop me." His voice dipped low, thundering with a terrible fury. "Oh I wanted it. I almost did it. I was so close, god damn it! So close to keeping you with me forever, to never letting you go!"

Fawn shook her head frantically, desperate in her confusion. "Liar!" she sobbed. "Stop lying to me! If you wanted to so badly, then why didn't you!"

"Because I love you, Fawn!" he exclaimed, his chest heaving with his passion. "I love you more wildly than I have ever loved or will ever love again! You eclipse everything! Everything! My own happiness, my own needs, my own selfish desires! Don't you understand? I would rather suffer a thousand partings, a thousand years of unending ache for you if it meant you had a chance at a good and peaceful life! If it meant you were safe from all of this", he gestured wildly. "Safe from me."

At that moment, the entire world seemed to reel before Fawn's eyes, all sensation fleeing her body as a wave of shock barrelled through her. It was as if the very fabric of the universe had been torn away before her. Paralyzed, she could only stare up unflinchingly at the man she loved as everything she knew crashed down around her.

"I thought I could escape it, Fawn. The weight of my rule, its violence. I wanted to escape it. But I am the King. I cannot hide in the countryside licking my wounds while Agraria teeters on the brink of destruction. War is coming. My enemies are all around me, in this very castle. The things I must do to hold this crown, the things I must do to keep this country from descending into chaos...they are unspeakable!" he trailed off, his eyes wet with pain. "You would have followed me to the ends of the earth, yes, and there, your soul would have grown as black and twisted as my own. I will not see you put in harms way, Fawn, nor let your innocent heart be dragged down into the depths of sin for my sake."

Fawn's heart threatened to burst from her chest, her lungs burning as she dragged in breath after ragged breath.

He loved her. All of this...everything...had been to protect her...

Though it was more than she had ever hoped for, the revelation was almost too much to bear. Fawn felt her body wilting as the adrenaline faded from her blood, the dregs of wild emotions draining what little energy she still had left. She clutched his fingers tightly.

Thomas' grip slackened, his brows creasing in pity. He lifted his other hand, the front of his finger straying towards her, as if he desperately ached to touch her face. He hesitated for a moment, then seemed to think better of it, his longer fingers curling back into a fist. He sighed tiredly, the gust ruffling Fawn's hair about her. The familiar, masculine smell of him was almost too painful to bear.

"My enemies will not stop until they see me dead, Fawn; and if they cannot have me they will not hesitate to destroy anyone I hold dear."

Before she could speak, she felt herself being lowered toward the ground, his hand steadying her gently as she found her footing. "Do you see now? Do you you see why I sent you away? You cannot stay here...every moment you remain by my side, your life will be in danger."

Fawn swooned slightly as a fresh wave of panic followed his words. In the madness of their passion, she had forgotten the very sacrifice she made to get here...had forgotten to tell him she had sold her life...

"Thomas..."

"Nobody knows you're here, yes? I can hide you with me until it's dark. Then I will arrange for someone to escort you out of the castle and transport you to safety. Perhaps...perhaps when the danger has calmed I can send for you at the summerhouse..."

"Thomas, listen to me..." she looked up at him in fear.

He gritted his teeth. "Please Fawn, I'm begging you. Don't make this any harder than it already is."

"There's something I haven't told you!" 

His face slackened as an expression of empty dread stole over his features. His eyes swept over her, quickly then slower, as if truly taking in her lowly appearance for the first time.

The horror that widened in his eyes chilled her to her core.

"Oh Fawn..." he whispered. "What have you done..."

Author's Note

BAM BABIES WE'RE BACK! FAWNY AND TOMMY TOGETHER AGAIN. I think some of you wanted it more badly that Fawn wanted it herself ;)

And for those of you who doubted my beautiful tol boi and his intentions, I hope you eat your hat.

Okay, a lot going on in this chapter, so let's talk: The reunion, the confession of LOVE, Garrick, the scary-ass persona of the Godking. Go, go go.

And remember: vote, comment, follow, and fund (https://ko-fi.com/auroraboreale)

xx