Lingering Shadows- Chapter 10

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Chapter 10- Completely Planned (Not)

Artham blew out a breath slowly, nervously running his right hand over the cloth of the armrest of the chair, first shaking his head quietly at Esben, then bending over a little to see Arundelle’s face, trying to imagine what she was thinking. He shook his head at Esben, because while he had told Arendelle the whole story, he had skimmed over some parts that he thought would make her worry more than the bandage on his shoulder, and the fact that he had been shot already had. He considered it completely unnecessary for Esben to elaborate. Esben had a knack for details, and Artham didn’t want to hear them, let alone let Arundelle hear them. He reached out gently and tucked the hair that had fallen in a glossy curtain that hid her face behind her ear. She leaned toward his touch but then Esben whispered very loudly,

“Arth, I think you will want to head out soon. Remember the council meeting that you called?”

Artham groaned inwardly. He fully intended on ignoring Esben until Arundelle said something, but he stood up to make it seem like he was listening to his brother. He realized that the throbbing and occasional pangs in his shoulder weren’t going to be leaving anytime soon. Arundelle finally stood up and turned her face toward him.

“Arundelle…are you going to say something?” He asked softly. Arundelle met his blue eyes with her clear, sweet green ones as Esben kicked at a bookshelf impatiently, huffing at Artham.

“I’m thanking the Maker that he gave you the strength to protect your brother. You proved yourself as an amazing Throne Warden. You were brave.” Her voice wavered and her eyes shone.

“Aru, I can’t remember a time I was ever so scared.”She slipped her hand gently into his.

“Which just makes what you did so much braver.” Artham saw an ache of fear and sorrow in Arundelle’s eyes.

Suddenly, before he realized what was happening, she glided forward and set her arms softly around him, resting her head on his chest, sending his heart pounding like a runaway horse and a million thoughts he desperately wanted to speak to his mind but leaving him dumbfounded. Esben gasped silently and laughed unbelievingly behind his hand as his eyes got wide and round at the rare thing he was witnessing.

This was what she wanted to do when I came in, was the only complete thought his racing mind could fully form, other than that he couldn’t remember the last time he had been so surprised. Well, pleasantly surprised. “And I’m thanking the Maker that I didn’t lose you,” She whispered quietly to him, stepping away from him but keeping one of his hands in hers. Esben puffed out his cheeks, his eyes still wide with astonishment, obviously keeping back laughter and a flood of things he wanted to say and Artham silently praised him for it as Arundelle met his eyes again. She laughed softly and he realized that his jaw had fallen open. He snapped it quickly shut but his breathing and his heartbeat were still far faster than he thought possible. Esben made a choking sound and Artham realized the blessed moment of brotherly silence had ended when the High King somehow forced down a laugh that must have been enormous based of the sound he made, cleared his throat and said,

“Um, Artham? Council meeting, remember?” Artham nodded silently, not wanting to break whatever spell seemed to hold Arundelle’s hand to his and kept their eyes fixed on each other.

“You should go now, Artham. That meeting is important.” He held her precious gaze for one more moment then looked away, turning to Esben. The vague impression entered his mind that he was in for a huge amount of teasing in the near future.

“You’re right,” he murmured, still trying to regain his voice. He cleared his throat and that seemed to help.

“Do you want to come with us? Unless you’re staying here, of course.”

“I’ll leave with you, but I’m sorry to say my parents were expecting me a while ago.” The three of them went out of the secret room again, but when Artham slipped between the two shelves, his mind must have still been whirling because he took a wrong step and his shoulder pressed hard against the side of the shelf.

He stifled a hiss of pain and bit his lip, feeling the full force of the agony in his shoulder again as he grabbed one of the shelves to keep him steady. He squeezed his eyes shut and realized that his shoulder was bleeding more, and was silently grateful that the shirt Esben had randomly grabbed was such a dark grey it was almost black, which meant that any small amount that made its way out from beneath the bandage would hopefully be very hard to see. Arundelle touched his other arm gently.

“Artham…are you okay?” Esben asked, the concern in his voice deepening with surprise. Artham straightened up quickly,

Too quickly! and forced himself to get used to the burning stabs. The pain had taken him by surprise, or he wouldn’t have reacted like that.

“Yes, I’m alright. I just hit the…the shelf.” The worry in Esben’s eyes only increased, and his little brother gazed at Arundelle with overdone significance, much to Artham’s dread.

*

All his life Artham had imagined dire situations and emergencies in which he would be called upon to protect his brother. The fact that he had gotten injured for his brother’s sake was not at all surprising to him. Not a day had gone by in the time since their coronation that he hadn’t remembered the words he had committed to memory.

I swear to hold his safety in higher value than my own, to stand by his side, to be prepared to shed my blood for him and lay down my life for his. The words had become a part of his identity.

But somehow, he had never thought past that part. It had never occurred to him that said injury would cause some people, namely his brother and Arundelle, to consider him out of commission. (He suspected that the doctor had spoken with Esben privately, Esben had told Arundelle, and they were all carrying out a conspiracy not to let him do his job.) It was very annoying.

He had fully intended to go into the council room with its tall, hard-backed chairs and insistent councilmen for an undetermined amount of time, ordering and organizing and preparing and planning to the best of his ability, but it seemed that Esben, (and Arundelle too, until she had to leave) considered the High King fully capable of an emergency council on his own! Artham was horrified at the idea of not being allowed to go to his own council meeting, because Esben could technically forbid him, and seemed inclined to do just that.

It took Artham forever (actually the full amount of time left until the council meeting) for him to argue his brother into allowing him to attend. But Esben didn’t give up easily. The meeting was only with five or six of the highest counselors that were available at the moment, so his little brother concluded that they could meet in one of the smaller meeting rooms, and he coaxed (with a small dose of threatening added in) his older brother into one of the more comfortable but still regal looking armchairs.

By the time they had reached a compromise, both brothers were exasperated, Artham was determined to hide how bad his arm was actually hurting, and Esben realized that most of the councilors were probably already in the council room, and the designated start for the council was in three minutes. It was one of the only times he was grateful that pages stood in practically every hall. Esben left Artham trying not to look tired in a chair and walked over to the page. In a normal tone of voice, he told the page to go tell the councilors where the new meeting was going to be. He then bent over and whispered something suspiciously.

“Do not repeat whatever he just told you,” Artham called to the page. The boy looked between the two, looking very conflicted.

“Artham!” Esben exclaimed in exasperation. “They just need to know why we changed the location.” The King nodded at the bewildered page, and the boy ran off. Artham was pretty sure that ‘why we changed the location’ was actually probably something like ‘Artham was hurt so he needs to be in a place where he can rest better.’ Artham was about to say something to his brother about that, but he realized that Esben’s annoying ideas about what he couldn’t take were far better than what he could definitely be doing at the moment, teasing him about Arundelle. So instead he began planning a statement to make when those councilors arrived.