After defeating Orrin and installing new leadership in the Iron Legion, the group heads to the Silent Brotherhood’s airship.

Gwendolyn peers down at the map, “It should be around here”. Her voice is hesitant; there is something she hasn’t told the others yet, something that they will have to deal with once they arrive.

Gwendolyn sees the airship and stops in her tracks.

“Is something wrong? We found it let’s go,” Xander turns back to see her standing there. She looks up at him and he notices the panic in her eyes. Why would she be afraid of coming home? Xander thinks to himself upon noticing.

“Guys there is something I didn’t tell you about before,” Gwendolyn begins to explain shakily. They all give her their attention, confused about what is going on.

“There is going to be a man on board named Cenred, and while it wasn’t like this when you came here before, right now he is my fiancé,” Gwendolyn drops the bomb on them.

They all stand there shocked, Xander is speechless, afraid of what this means about their relationship.

“What?” Kayde is the first to ask.

“I didn’t break it off with him yet, I mean I did before after I met you guys, but in this timeline, it hasn’t happened yet,” Gwendolyn explains the misunderstanding.

“So you are going to dump this guy again, right?” Kayde makes sure nothing fishy is going on here.

“Yes, of course. I have Xander and I don’t want anything to change between us because of him,” Gwendolyn looks at Xander, trying to convey her sincerity.

“I understand, how about you go there alone and break up with this Cenred guy like you did before, that way it will happen in exactly the same way and this won’t somehow lead to Grayson resenting me forever,” Xander suggests, worried about the important things, also to him it’s the most logical approach.

“No!” Gwendolyn grabs his arm almost screaming. Xander looks down at her and sees the utter terror in her eyes at that proposition. Whatever happened last time it must have been bad.

“I… I need you this time,” she begs him.

Xander sighs, unable to refuse her, “And I thought having to spar with your father was going to be my biggest problem, I studied his fighting style for this”.

“About my father… he might… well, he is very gung ho about me marrying Cenred,” Gwendolyn adds to his troubles.

“Great, now Grayson is going to hate me from the start,” Xander brings his hand to his face.

“I know, I’m sorry, but I can’t face him alone… not again,” Gwendolyn apologizes, leaning against Xander’s shoulder as she does so.

While Gwendolyn and Xander share this moment together, Drakthar spots a man run out from the airship. He is sprinting towards them. Drakthar notices the enraged expression on the man’s face, as he gets closer into view.

“Gwen! Who the hell is this man?” The brown-haired hothead screams out before he is near them.

Drakthar stands in his way, extending an arm to keep him from his friends, “Who are you?”

“I’m Gwen’s fiancé, who the hell are you guys?” The man who could only be Cenred asks in anger.

“We are her friends, buddy, so calm down,” Kayde moves next to Drakthar also standing in Cenred’s way.

“Friends? Gwen doesn’t have any friends,” Cenred declares as if her making any was an utter impossibility.

“She does now,” Drakthar informs Cenred.

“I don’t like that you are so close to that guy Gwen, come over here right now,” Cenred orders, not wanting to witness her affection for someone else anymore.

Gwendolyn looks unsure of how she should respond, “n… no,” she finally lets out meekly.

“What is this? Don’t tell me you are defying me again. You know the consequences of that,” Cenred seems to take joy in reminding her.

Gwendolyn’s head shoots down, embarrassed by the state she is in, trying to hide her fear from the others. She slowly walks towards him, passing by Drakthar and Kayde.

“You guys can go now, thank you for delivering my fiancé,” Cenred dismisses them.

Gwendolyn stares up at him and back at them when he says this, “no!”

“What did you say?” Cenred scowls down at her.

“They… they are my friends, they are coming on board,” Gwendolyn insists.

“No, I don’t think so,” Cenred wraps his arm around Gwendolyn and starts to forcibly guide her towards the airship.

“This… this is an order… as a leader of the Silent Brotherhood,” Gwendolyn digs her feet in the sand insistent that the others will stay.

Cenred grabs the side of her face and starts to shake her roughly leaving a red marks on her cheeks. Xander, having seen enough, walks forward and puts his hand on Cenred’s arm stopping him from hurting Gwendolyn.

“What do you think you are doing?” Cenred asks Xander haughtily.

“Stop that, I am not going to stand by and watch you hurt her,” Xander sneers at him.

“What this? I’m just pinching my finance’s cute face. No need to get so upset over it,” Cenred lets go of Gwendolyn’s face.

“I guess you guys can come on board, but know this I don’t like you guys, and your stay here will not be pleasant,” Cenred walks off by himself towards the airship.

Once Cenred is out of earshot, Xander puts a hand on Gwendolyn’s face, softly going over where there is now a mark, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Gwendolyn lies unconvincingly.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“Obviously not. I don’t know what that guy has over you, but don’t be so scared, we will help you out with this,” Drakthar tells her assuredly.

“How did you end up engaged to that guy anyway? He’s a total psychopath,” Kayde asks not able to connect the dots.

“He wasn’t always like this, well maybe he was, but I didn’t realize he was a cruel man until after it was too late. Anyway, don’t worry about me, I’m going to talk with my father and see what I can do to end this,” Gwendolyn informs them of her plan.

Xander pulls Gwendolyn in and kisses her, suddenly feeling very territorial, “No matter what happens it won’t change how I feel about you”.

“Thank you, Xander, I really needed to hear that right now,” She hugs him one last time before leading them on board.

They are met by Grayson who hugs Gwendolyn when he sees her.

“We need to talk in private right now,” she whispers to her father as they embrace.

“I saw you kissing that boy,” Grayson confronts her right there.

“Yes, I did,” Gwendolyn admits without hesitation.

“You, what are your intentions towards my daughter?” Grayson turns to ask Xander.

“Just what they look like… sir,” Xander responds afraid for his life.

“You know she is engaged to another man, still knowing this will you not yield?” Grayson informs him in case he didn’t know.

“I will not,” Xander finds a little confidence in responding.

Grayson turns around and follows his daughter into a different room. A man shows Xander, Kayde, and Drakthar to their rooms, coincidently they are the same ones as before.

“What are you doing? Coming home with another man months before you are to be married?” Grayson starts to question Gwendolyn angrily as soon as they are alone.

“You know how I feel about Cenred, you don’t like to admit it and I’ve been too scared to always tell you about it, but I… I don’t like him. I like Xander,” Gwendolyn insists.

“You’ve been gone for a week, you can’t convince me that a man you have known for probably a few days is going to be your excuse to get out of a commitment you made four years ago?” Grayson reasons, oblivious to the fact that she has traveled through time.

“Listen, dad, I… its been for longer than a few days. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I traveled through time. Well back in time, I’m from two years in the future, two and a half really,” Gwendolyn breaks the news to him.

“I knew you would try something crazy to get out of this marriage, but this is more than I expected,” Grayson reacts, clearly not convinced.

“No, it’s true! I can prove it look at this,” Gwendolyn shows him the golden bow off her back.

“That's the artifact we’ve been researching,” Grayson recognizes it.

“Exactly, Xander and his friends got this for us when we requested their help. I’m not lying to you to get out of anything, you’ve met him before and it was after you let me end things with Cenred,” she continues to plead her case.

Grayson takes a step back, starting to believe her story.

“If that’s true how did I let this happen before? I know that there must have been a good reason if I let you cancel your engagement to Cenred,” he speculates.

“It’s because you saw what you’ve been neglecting to see this whole time. Before I came back and told Cenred I was done, I finally stood up to him, but he wouldn’t let it happen. We got into a heated fight and at the end of it, he pulled a knife on me,” Gwendolyn pulls up her shirt showing Grayson the slight scar along the small of her back.

“That night he gave me this, you barged in when you heard my screaming and finally saw it with your own eyes, the way he really treats me. That’s why you allowed it because you saw him do this to me,” she lowers her shirt back down.

Grayson stands there silently processing everything he has just learned.

“I understand, but that was a different Cenred, this one hasn’t done that to you,” he finally starts to say. Gwendolyn’s head starts to lower, slowly realizing this is going to be more difficult than she thought it would be.

“But, forcing you into a loveless marriage like this wouldn’t be fair. So I’ve come to a decision, I will talk to Cenred about what you have told me, leaving out the time travel parts, of course, I will give him a chance to win you back. I know you have grown apart, but I’ve seen the love you used to have for each other and that is something that doesn’t just disappear. I will pit him against this Xander of yours, the winner will be the one who I decide gets to be with you,” Grayson gives his final decision.

“Shouldn’t I have a bigger say in this?” Gwendolyn starts to argue.

“I think we both know why this isn’t a decision I want to take lightly,” Grayson reminds her, knowing the larger implications it has on the Brotherhood.

“Fine, what will you have them do?” Gwendolyn asks so she can fill Xander in on it and hopefully give him an advantage.

“I do not know, I am going to talk to Cenred about it now,” Grayson informs her, clearly already subconsciously taking sides.

“Before you do that I want you to know the entire story of what happened since I’ve been gone,” Gwendolyn stops him. She proceeds to tell him every detail about what happened before they traveled back in time.

Gwendolyn joins the others who have been sitting in the cafeteria for a while.

“How did your talk with your dad go?” Kayde asks her once she sits down.

Gwendolyn sighs, clearly it did not go well, “I told my father everything, but he is fond of Cenred. Even though I told him everything Cenred did to me and that I want to be with Xander instead, he still won’t listen”.

“So where does that leave us?” Xander asks Gwendolyn wanting to know what he can do to help.

“The two of them are plotting something for you right now,” she informs him.

“Like murder?” Kayde jokes while he shovels down a scoop of rice.

“Come on man,” Xander throws his hands up.

“Wait, it’s not really murder though right?” His eyes get wide believing that Kayde’s outlandish quip could actually be the truth.

“No, it’s more like a test I think. I think they are planning to pit you against Cenred in some battle for me. It’s really demeaning if you ask me, but this might be our only chance to convince my father to ditch Cenred. So I am counting on you,” Gwendolyn kisses Xander. She gets up and leaves after giving them the message.

“Knowing Grayson it is going to be a fight,” Xander figures given how he was ripped out of his room by Grayson that one time to spar.

Drakthar remembers Cenred’s muscular form, not as built as his own, but still fairly impressive, “I don’t think you can win in a fight. Unless his body is all for show”.

“Oh come on have a little faith in our boy,” Kayde puts a hand on Xander’s shoulder.

“Drakthar is right, Cenred looks tough. He is definitely stronger than I am, but hopefully, he is not that bright,” Xander starts to hang his head.

“You guys are acting like it’s already over, you are like two inches taller than that guy, and you have those sick powers, with those you can’t lose,” Kayde points out the obvious in an attempt to cheer Xander up.

“No, I can’t use my abilities. The last time I sparred with Grayson he called them shortcuts. The match will be null and void if he sees me use them, I have to win without them,” Xander explains to Kayde what happened last time.

“Shit, I don’t know maybe it won’t be a fight. You could always win when it comes to other things,” Kayde tries to look at the bright side.

Xander feigns a smile, “Yeah maybe”.

Just like the last time they were in the Silent Brotherhood’s cafeteria they hear whispers around them.

“I can’t believe he would have the guts to try and take her from Cenred, that guy is a monster,” they hear one of them say.

Another agrees, “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to get that guy mad. I guess this kid will be dead by tomorrow”.

“Poor guy,” one seems sad like they are aware of the type of person Cenred is.

“That’s not too reassuring,” Xander thinks out loud after hearing them.

“Kayde is right, you should look at this positively. You need to believe you can win,” Drakthar urges Xander to ignore their whispers. Kayde nods along enthusiastically with Drakthar’s statement.

“Yeah, I will try, but in the end, I am a pragmatist,” Xander agrees half-heartedly.

Kayde starts to laugh, “Says the guy whose goal is to destroy the largest religion in the world”.

This gets a chuckle out of Drakthar. “I guess you guys are right, fuck it I am going to win this,” Xander stands up confidently.

“Yeah! That’s the attitude,” Kayde cheers, causing everyone to look over at them.

“Come on you two let’s get out of here before something happens,” Drakthar ushers them out of the cafeteria and back to their rooms for the night.