Half Moon Rising-Chapter 16

Notes:

• So, I really haven’t done any reaserch or anything on Castle Rysen, so the descriptions are very vague. Please let me know if I made any mistakes.

• Odran’s official title is Lord Conan.

• Previous Chapter

Half Moon Rising Chapter 16-Choices

Artham wove through the crowd, trying to make his way around the multitude of people between him and his brother while retaining at least some dignity. Thankfully, most people let him through after a quick word and handshake. He finally spotted Esben, with a rush of relief dodged around two people and almost tripped over someone else to find his brother talking with Arundelle’s fourteen-year-old identical twin brothers, Cahor and Sheridan. Artham stepped to his brother’s side, close, but not close enough for easy conversation. Esben glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and his strange expression was another ingredient to Artham’s confusion and indecisiveness.

Artham spoke with Arundelle’s parents, thanking Nathan for his participation in the funeral, and when the family left, the twins clearly didn’t want to leave, even though their conversation with Esben seemed to have started out rather awkwardly. Artham saw Arundelle again before the Illings left. While he had been talking with Natan, he had also been glancing over the heads of the crowd to see if he could find her, but he wasn’t really sure he wanted to talk to her again that night. When he did see her, she was walking toward him-no, not him, her mother, with a quick glance at Esben. When she said goodbye to Artham, she gave him a look that was somehow hard and gentle at the same time. She leaned toward him slightly and whispered,

“You know what you need to do.” Artham felt his heart pounding in his ears for a reason he refused to explain and nodded.

“Goodbye, Aru, I hope I’ll see you again soon.”

“We’re staying in Rysentown, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be staying in the castle the week of your coronation. Until we meet again, Artham.” She gave his hard, calloused hand a warm squeeze that sent a delightful thrill to his heart, and though he tried not to, he smiled in spite of himself. He found himself at a loss for words and merely nodded at her. Then she walked away with her family, and another group of people came quietly out of the surrounding crowd to speak with the boys.

* * *

The walk home left no time or opportunity for private talk between Artham and Esben, surrounded as they were by counselors, servants and lords who currently resided at the castle. Half of Artham was glad that he didn’t get a chance to speak with his brother. The last couple weeks ran through his head over and over, accompanied by Arundelle’s words.

Enough to know that you need to stop…He doesn’t need you to act tough, Artham. He just needs you.

The thought of starting that ‘necessary’ conversation terrified Artham. If he was going to talk to Esben, what Aerwiar was he going to say? It seemed that every conversation he started these past few days ended in him leaving.

That’s one thing I need to do, he thought determinedly. When I talk to Esben, I can’t leave. No matter how hard it gets. Another pang of familiar guilt hit him as he realized how many times he had run away in the past few days. I’m supposed to be the Throne Warden. Frustration and anger at what he thought of as his complete failure boiled up inside him.The Throne Warden never runs away. I have to stop running away!

He instantly stopped that train of thought when he saw Odran looking concernedly at his angry expression and furrowed brows. He changed his pace on purpose so that he fell behind both his brother and Odran as they entered the castle gates. He couldn’t talk to either of them. Not yet. He had to figure things out first.

And I’m figuring it out tonight, he commanded himself, knowing that with everything he was thinking about, it would be another sleepless night for him, and he might as well put it to good use. The large group went down the main hall of the front wing of the castle, and nearly all of the group scattered. The rest, about twenty people who were either members of the king’s council or castle staff, headed toward a large spiraling staircase that was past the dining hall. It was growing harder to stay in the group without encountering either his brother or Odran, and once they had reached the stairs, it would be nearly impossible to reach them. He continued walking and watched his window of opportunity grow smaller and smaller until he stepped forward quickly and opened his mouth to tell Esben to wait up. Then he hesitated, and someone stepped in front of him. They had reached the stairs.

There was no way he would be able to reach Esben now, and part of him was relieved. At least he would have time to think before they talked.

So when the group filtered onto the stair, Artham paused for a moment and put himself at the very back of the small crowd. As he ran his hand over the flat, cool marble of the stair rail, he mentally searched the castle for a place to think.

He had decided against going outside because of the multitude of visitors who had come for the funeral. Many would probably leave in a day or so, but a few, who lived in the towns furthest from the center of the island, were most likely staying for the coronation. When the castle was so full of strangers, Artham didn’t think it would be the best idea for one of them to see the Throne Warden sneaking off in the dead of night. If any of the usual residents had noticed his strange habit, they had either gotten used to it or were avoiding the topic. Artham closed his eyes as he walked up the stairs, trying to think of a place no one would find him, and where he could think in peace.

The library. The castle had two libraries. One was a very large one that was more public, and the second, the one Artham was thinking about, was the king’s smaller, private library. It contained many rare volumes, and was just at the top of this stair. Artham glanced around him at the yawning courtiers. No one was paying attention. Slipping into his Durgan mode, Artham soundlessly separated from the group and slipped into the library, breathing a sigh of relief when no one noticed, and he closed the door behind him.

* * *

Esben said goodbye to Odran when they reached the steps that led into the Royal apartments. He shook hands with him, and as Lord Conan walked down the other hall to his own quarters, Esben looked over his shoulder, expecting his brother to come striding up behind him. He waited a moment, then looked down the hallway they had come from. Artham was nowhere to be found. Esben sighed and walked down to his room alone. When he reached his door, he hesitated again as if still expecting his brother to be following. He huffed in frustration, and his eyebrows were furrowed in visible confusion.

“I guess Arundelle wasn’t able to talk some sense into him…” he murmured, then went into his room and closed the door. After a moment of hesitation, he locked the door securely behind him.