Chương 27: Guilt

Nightfall soon fell, and the group of silent companions were interrupted by Axel's orders to set up camp. Ger fell in line with Evanna, helping her with the horses while the rest continued with their routines. He did not say anything but made sure to keep his distance, though the fairy did not attempt to stop him when he came closer than he had earlier in the day.

Ger understood that this was a good sign, and Evanna became more approachable without damaging repercussions. There were so many questions on his lips that he needed answered. Going between what happened to Evanna to the fairy that sat on her shoulder protectively.

Ger wanted nothing more than to console her. He took a slow, calm step towards her, the fairy stood up, but instead of her angrily shooing him away, she flew over to Midknight's back and took a seat, facing the other way. He was grateful for the privacy the creature provided. Evanna crossed her arms, holding each by the elbow as she raised her eyes to his. He reached his arms out slowly, anticipating her flinch, but once his hands were placed on her arms, her body relaxed.

"Evanna, please forgive me. My behaviour today was unacceptable."

Evanna smiled gently back at him, her smile not quite reaching her eyes, "It is okay, Ger. At least you did not kill Cilv," She replied light-heartedly with a tight smile.

His eyes hardened along with his fingers on her arms, which he quickly loosened, releasing the pressure. He lightly pulled her in for a hug. Her body tensed but soon relaxed as she let her head fall onto his chest. The feel of his chest rising and falling rhythmically soothed her racing thoughts of being held in a man's arms. One of his hands rubbed up and down her back gently before he stilled his movement.

"It is not okay. What happened to you is not okay. We were meant to protect you, and we failed," Ger spoke as his chin rested on the top of her head. Evanna wanted to correct him, but she knew she needed to talk to all of the guys, not just Ger. Otherwise, she would soon find herself repeating her words.

Pulling back from his embrace, she squeezed his arm gently before turning around to collect Nesrin again. "Eat first. Then we will talk," His half-opened mouth shut before he nodded his head.

Ronan and Axel sat quietly at the campfire after the tents were made up. Although they were one man less in building them, they were faster from practice, in putting them up, than the other night. Cilv returned into their view after leaving them once she made a fire, only to come back with a few dead rabbits in her bloodied, gloved hands.

Axel looked up at the furry animals in front of him with an arched eyebrow. Cilv dropped them to the ground, and without saying another word, she turned around and left again, the darkness of night engulfing her figure. Shaking his head, he started to skin and gut them.

He came to realise that she was quite the little huntress. His amusement, however, did not last long as he watched Evanna and Ger sit down around the fire. His eyes lingered a little too long on her bruised neck, his knife stopping midway in the air, but he quickly recovered himself before continuing with the night's dinner.

They sat there in a tense silence before Ronan spoke up what was on his mind, "I think I speak for all of us when I say that we are sorry for not protecting you, Raven." He stood up, then walked and placed himself in front of Evanna before he kneeled, one knee placed on the wet ground in front of her, sword in hand as he stabbed it down into the earth, head bowed. Axel and Ger followed suit, all three men kneeling in front of her.

Evanna was once again stunned into silence as she scanned her eyes from each of their bowed heads. Their faces shone with shame as they asked silently for her forgiveness. Standing up, she placed her hands on Axel and Ger's heads before finally resting it on Ronans, who kneeled between both of them.

"Please rise. There is nothing to forgive. You are not my guards but my friends. We were equals the moment I asked you on this quest. We protect each other"

Axel and Ronan stilled, astonishment showing on their faces at the princess's words. Ger rose from his position and grabbed Evanna's hand, covering both of his over hers, "We will not fail you again. You have my word."

"Starting from tonight, we will do shifts throughout the night to guard you," Axel spoke as he rose back up to his magnificent height.

Ronan stood as well, slightly dwarfed next to Axel; he cleared his throat, "I will take first watch."

"You really do not need to do this. Our tents are close together. If something happened, we would all hear it," Evanna spoke up to them all, concern filling her features.

"We would like to prove ourselves to you," Axel responded, his eyes unwavering from her own.

Evanna looked back at Ger, who watched her face intently, his hands still not removed from her small one. She then glanced back at each of their determined faces and sighed. She knew she could not make them change their minds on this. The guilt was eating away at them, and even though she forgave them, she knew they needed to do this to help them heal. She would not deny them of this.

"Okay," She nodded her head, all three men beamed at her response. Ger squeezed her hand gently, reassuringly, easing her that she made the right decision. Removing her hand from his, she sat back down, already feeling the group's tension dissipate as they sat in their spots around the fire.

Ger scooted closer to Evanna, who sat on the fallen tree that they decided to camp by. He looked over at Ronan and Axel, who were now chatting to each other as dinner was being made. He raised his hand, so his head leaned against it while he looked back at Evanna,

"I know you do not wish to talk about what happened last night. But.. what happened to the men?" Ger questioned quietly, trying not to attract any more attention to the matter, yet, Axel and Ronan stopped what they were doing and looked over at the pair. Their attention was more on the princess than they led her to believe.

"Cilv took care of them", Was all Evanna replied with. Ger searched her face then nodded. His attention then went to the fairy that sat quietly on Evanna's shoulder.

"So.. does the fairy do anything other than sit like a pet on your shoulder?" He asked. Nesrin stood up then flew in front of Ger's face, her own red with anger.

"Excuse me! I am nobody's pet!" Nesrin shouted, yet her voice was no higher than that of a chirping chic. Everyone sat around the fire, looking at the creature, amused. Nesrin's wings slowed their movements until they completely stopped. She began falling down until Ger held his hand out for her to land onto.

"So she speaks!" Ronan whisper-shouted dramatically as he looked at the fairy in Ger's hand. Evanna smiled as Nesrin stood with her hands on her hips, looking between Ger and Ronan. She was happy to see that they were moving on from the situation that happened the night before. The more they moved on, the more she felt better and could focus on the quest.

"I am guessing that she cannot help with magically making the gem appear…" Axel said while his eyes did not remove from the meat, he was rotating on the skewer above the fire.

"SHE has a name! It is Nesrin! Men are so rude!" Nesrin shouted, placing her arms across her chest as she looked over at Axel. Ronan laughed in response to the little outburst the fairy had.

"Nesrin, I apologise on behalf of these brutes here.. they are not used to such a pretty face", Ronan smoothly said to the fairy, putting on his killer smile that would make any girl blush.

Nesrin giggled and flew over to Ronan, landing on his knee, "I like you! Now.. Unfortunately, my talents as a fairy are limited. I am only able to help grow plants and conjure tiny spells."

Ger and Axel rolled their eyes knowingly at Ronan, who once again charmed his way into getting answers from a female, even if the female was the size of a small bird.

Axel's attention suddenly moved when he noticed Cilv walking towards them, emerging from the darkness. Ronan and Ger followed his gaze, their faces hardening on seeing who it was. Cilv's face was expressionless as she glanced between the men who were angered by her presence. Her eyes then narrowed down at the fairy sitting on Ronan's knee but soon composed herself before she sat down on the other side of Evanna.

"So, it speaks more than Muranthian.." Her voice was cold, emotionless while she looked at the people sitting around the fire. The men kept their eyes down, pursing their lips together, not responding to her words or registering her existence.

Axel prepared the now cooked rabbits; Ronan and Nesrin were staring at each other, no doubt mind linking whilst Ger clenched his jaw, looking down. Anger radiating off of him. Turning her head slightly, she looked at Evanna, suspicion showing on her features as she waited for her to reply.

"So it would seem. Nesrin started speaking when Ger insulted her," Evanna replied her face void of guilt and only held a look of innocence as she stared back into Cilv's hazel eyes.

Distrust flickered across them, and in a blink of an eye, it was gone. It happened so quickly that Evanna thought she imagined it. She shifted a mere millimetre, the only sign that she felt uncomfortable. Nobody else noticed the action except Cilv, who smirked before picking up her dagger from her breeches.

"Maybe I was too nice to her then," Cilv said as she spun the dagger on her outstretched hand, her head tilted slightly as she watched Nesrin with mirth. A shiver went down Evanna's spine, she could not tell what was on Cilv's mind, but she looked at the fairy as though she was her dinner. Standing abruptly, Cilv walked towards Ronan and sat back down next to him, spinning the dagger again as she looked down at Nesrin. Ronan glared at her and picked Nesrin up, placing her on his shoulder, opposite Cilv.

"What's the matter, honey? Cat got your tongue!?" At this, she placed the tip of her dagger on her lower lip. A slow smile spread across her face as silence ascended.

Evanna noticeably grew uncomfortable at the change in atmosphere, but before she could save the night, Cilv burst out laughing. Everybody's eyes widened at her. She placed her dagger away again and leaned her hands back onto the ground, sitting comfortably as she crossed her outstretched legs.

"Is the food ready yet?" She queried, her voice showing one of boredom.

The group found themselves eating quietly. The only noise was coming from the blazing flames in front of them. Nesrin soon found herself on Evanna's shoulder again, accepting small parts of the meat from Evanna's dinner. Once dinner was finished, Cilv excused herself and went to one of the tents, claiming it theirs.

Evanna shuffled closer to Ger to speak freely without the others hearing their conversation.

"Look, Cilv is a little shady, but she has done nothing wrong here," Ger opened his mouth to interrupt, his face fuming, but she stopped him by raising her hand to silence him. "She rescued Nesrin, and then she reclaimed my honour by dealing with those.. men."

"Evanna, she could have taken Nesrin for her own selfish reasons. You do not know why she took her. And secondly, she was the reason in the first place that this all happened. That you were nearly.." Ger's stern face became gentle as he searched Evanna's eyes. "You have a gentle heart, but she does not deserve it."

"No, she does not deserve the silent treatment from you guys!" She whisper-shouted back at him, causing the other two to look over at the heated discussion they were having.

Ger crossed his arms along his chest, back straightening, while he narrowed his eyes down at her. Evanna reached out and held her hand on one of his biceps, pleading with her eyes.

"How can you ask this of me when she just acted like a complete psycho!" His voice raised slightly.

"Because you guys forced her to.. I think it is like a reflex?"

"No, she is just a psycho. I am not happy with you sharing a tent with her."

"I have survived two nights with her. Another will not hurt. Plus, I now have a guard and a fairy to keep me safe," Her triumphant smile grated at Ger, who reluctantly let out a sigh.

Yawning, Evanna pulled out her pocket watch from the inside of her cloak pocket, reading it; her eyes widened, it was only 8 in the evening, yet it felt so much later. She soon stood up and found herself saying goodnight before making her way into the tent Cilv was in. As she entered, she saw Cilv curled up in a fetus position on the furthest side of the tent from the entrance.

"Cilv?" Evanna whispered, but there was no response from her. Shrugging, she started to get herself ready for bed. As she did, she soon saw a figure posted outside of the tent, presumably, her guard. Once she was settled with a cover over her shoulders, Nesrin began her little dance and lullaby without asking. She thanked Nesrin quietly before darkness quickly swept her into a deep sleep.

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