Arthur's Point of View

Pendragon Estate

After Typhon’s confrontation, he returned to look after his two moms. I portaled back to my room. Closing my eyes to relax was the first thing I did. The second was having them immediately shoot open. An eerie feeling swept over me as I spun around. Floyd was there, and I immediately grabbed him by his face. Lifting him in the air, part of me considered killing him given his ability to somehow get behind me.

Studying him as my head shifted back and forth, there were a few things I noticed. First, he didn’t even move. Floyd was dangling in my grasp by his face. This didn’t seem to bother him as he just hung there limply. My eyes found one of his watching me through my fingers. His iris appeared to be pink, but as I brought him closer, it appeared to be a trick of the light. Then again, it felt like this had happened before.

“Are you trying to make me kill you?”

“Where’s Ayda?” Floyd immediately responded.

That stumped me as I kept him locked in my grasp. “Go home, Floyd.”

I opened a portal, but he curled his body and wrapped his legs around my arm. “Not until you tell me where Ayda is.”

“If you could sneak into my room, you could’ve found Ayda yourself. Stop making bullshit excuses and get the fuck out.” Squeezing, finally got his attention. “I’m in no mood for your shit, Floyd. You come back, I’m breaking your arms.” He still hadn’t let go, so I slammed him into the floor, which result in his grip loosening. I quickly tossed his ass through the portal. “Creepy fucker.” I muttered to the possibly unconscious Floyd as he disappeared.

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Moving to my desk, I sat down after taking my armor off and letting Defiance fall wherever it leaned to. Once in my chair, my head titled back as I stared up at the ceiling. Running my hands over my face in a tired manner, they soon focused on the emerald ring on my finger. Aydan wanted Rudnurth to live… I let it go this time, but can I really just let him go?

My door opened with no knock. Part of me wanted to tell the person to fuck off, but I was so used to having no privacy that it was nothing new. After no response from the interloper, I just sighed. Both my arms fell to my sides as they hung off the side of the chair.

“What?” I let out in a barely restrained, annoyed tone.

“Wanted to see how you were doing.” Marina said from the doorway. “You seem tired.”

“I am tired.”

She got closer as I heard the splashing of her floating water get closer. “Did you kill him?”

I brought my head forward lazily as I looked at her on the other side of my desk. “Rudnurth?” She nodded. “Wanted to.”

“But you didn’t?” I shook my head. Marina titled her head, curiously. “Why not?”

Holding up my hand to show the ring, I answered. “Your other ‘father’, as you call us, asked me to spare him. Should’ve left the ring here.”

“Yet you still haven’t taken it off.” She quickly pointed out as she gestured to it.

“Unfortunately, I need this ring. Some of what Aydan hinted at has me concerned.” I leaned to the side of my chair. “Really wish I could get a straight answer from someone.”

“You say that, but you do the same thing. Part of me is surprised you didn’t just kill Rudnurth anyway.” She said with a small gesture towards me.

“Yeah, well, the thought crossed my mind. That sick fuck definitely deserves it. As for my actions that mirror others, there is a clear difference. I can actually do something with the information.”

Marina didn’t look very impressed. “I suppose. Yet, the way you lord it over others at times would be frustrating. If you do not give trust, I would not expect any in return.”

I frowned at that as I crossed my arms. “Tell me, Marina, what do you think would happen if I told people where I came from?” One of my brows cocked as I asked my question. “How well do you think people would take it? Have you considered the ramifications of revealing such information?” Then I shrugged. “Besides, quite a few secrets of mine were revealed during our little journey to your lake.”

She shook her head, as she cocked an eyebrow. “Do you really think that counts? It was revealed out of necessity. Not trust.”

“That’s about as good as many of these people are gonna get. Besides, still worried about others finding out and using that against Elincia and Arceana. If they die, that’s a lot of extra work for me that I don’t want to deal with.”

“Then what are your plans moving forward. You spoke to us about giving us specific areas to explore when we go out to enjoy the world. We’ve been assuming that the locations you’ve selected are for a reason.”