“He was trying to help and you detain him for it?!” Iris screamed at the top of her lungs in the palace foyer, pacing from side to side.

“Iris, I know you’re upset but you must be open to reason,” Bellona instructed, trying to calm the raging girl. “Sentarus has to show the people that something will be done about this.”

Iris ran her hands through her hair with a deep sigh. “Yeah, you’re going to make an example of him. That makes me feel so much better.”

Bellona took a deep sigh, trying to calm herself as well. “I understand how this looks, but our hands are tied here. People died out there, others got hurt, many had their homes or places of work destroyed.”

“And I find out that had I stayed at home, my friend could have died!” Iris screamed. “Trust me, I understand, and it’s not right.”

“I’ve already gotten Sentarus to agree to let you talk to Arylos,” Bellona explained as if she hadn’t told Iris this many times. “You just need to be patient, that’s all.”

Iris took a deep sigh and covered her face. With a shuddered breath, she nodded and slowly approached a bench by the wall and sat down, rubbing her nose. “I’m sorry for blowing up like that. I just don’t want to lose anyone else. I’m tired of losing people,” she explained while trying to calm her emotions.

Bellona took a seat next to Iris and rubbed her back. “I can understand; I really do. He’s the only one you have left after Nageki was destroyed and since then, it’s like everything keeps trying to take him away from you.”

“He still blames himself you know,” Iris whispered softly. “For what happened to Nageki. He thinks it’s easier to just blame him and move on.”

“Do you blame him?” Bellona asked.

Iris shook her head. “We both share the blame, and I’ve told him that, but he’ll never agree to it.”

“That’s just Arylos being himself,” Bellona explained, trying to comfort the broken girl. “He’s always been the guy to take the blame. I guarantee you he’s in there trying to convince Sentarus that all of this was his fault; that the people who died today died because of him.”

Iris slowly nodded; that was Arylos in his entirety.

“That’s just his nature,” Bellona let out a relieved sigh. “His body heals and he can tolerate pain, so he would rather take that pain so no one else has to. Sentarus is the same way; he would prefer that if anyone has to suffer or die, it would be him. You’d be surprised how well they get along.”

Iris rubbed her eyes and cleared her nose. “Sentarus will banish him, won’t he?”

Bellona let out a chuckle. “If he does, then he won’t be the Sentarus I know. He’s definitely mad at Arylos right now, but had Arylos not been here, that man would have done a lot more damage. However Arylos would try and say that if he wasn’t here, none of it would happen. They’ll just be at an impasse for a while until one of them agrees.”

As if summoned, a door in one of the halls opened and footsteps sounded in the hall as Sentarus entered the foyer with a concerned look on his face. Iris could swear he looked almost apologetic and frightened. He came over to the women and knelt down to eye level with Iris.

“I’m sorry to have taken so much of his time,” he explained with a soft voice. “I believe it’s time you go talk to him. Bellona and I have some things to discuss.”

“Is something wrong?” Iris asked, concerned about Arylos’s health.

Sentarus’s expression when cold and sad. “That’s something for the two of you to decide,” was his only reply as he stood up and gestured for Bellona to follow him and they went off to another corridor of the palace.

Iris sat in silence for a moment before mustering her courage and standing up and making her way towards the room Sentarus left. She played each possibility over in her head, trying to prepare herself for what she might hear or see. Her heart pounded in her ears, unsure what to believe or think.

She came into the doorway and saw Arylos on the opposite side of a circular table with a single candle in the centre and a chair on the other side. He raised his head and Iris recognised the red glow of his eyes but his expression was different. ‘Defeated’ would be the best description. Iris entered the room and closed the door behind her as Arylos lowered his head again, unable to look Iris in the eyes.

Iris sat in the chair opposite to Arylos and rested her hands on the table, unconsciously searching for Arylos’s and finding they were still in shackles. Many of the worst possibilities came to her; was he going to be imprisoned? Executed? Exiled? What would any of this mean for her? For the both of them?

“I lied to you,” Arylos said in a growled whisper. “I deceived you and took advantage of your trust in me. I made a decision on your behalf in my attempt to protect you. And my arrogance of your personal feelings almost led to something bad happening to you; the exact thing I wanted to avoid. And for all of that and more, I am sorry and I am unworthy of your forgiveness.”

Iris was taken aback by his sudden confession. “Why are you apologising already? I don’t feel wronged.”

“You should be,” Arylos returned.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Iris thought for a moment about why he would be apologising. “Did you not go to that training exercise? Was that what the fighting was about?”

Arylos shook his head. “That was a lie from the start; an attempt to keep you out of harm’s way.”

Iris felt his words cut through her. “What do you mean?”

Arylos sighed as he finally worked up the courage to look at Iris. “Do you remember that man that caught us in the alley? The one who Bellona said was found dead?”

“Yeah, the one that you wanted to help investigate,” Iris responded.

“He was killed by that creature I fought today,” Arylos explained. “We knew that he would come for me and if he did, it would get dangerous. The plan was to lock me away to give the impression that I was no longer in the city, all the while Bellona and Sentarus would locate him. A week passed and they couldn’t find him. I made a selfish move and went back outside; I didn’t want to be locked away any longer.”

Arylos leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table so he could see Iris more clearly. “That action drew him out. He found me and I was forced to fight him. I knew it would be dangerous if the two of us had to fight and so I lied to you so that I could handle this myself because I couldn’t guarantee your safety.”

Iris thought about Arylos’s explanation in depth. Not only did it all make sense, but it’s exactly what Arylos would do. But he has never lied to her before, that she knows of.

“Why would you lie to me?” she asked softly, trying to not scare him.

Arylos looked down to his hands as if he could still see blood on them. “Because I was concerned that if you knew the truth, you would want to fight with me. This is my fight and I didn’t want you to get involved or you would die, so I took the choice away from you.”

Iris nodded, her theory confirmed. “You don’t have to apologise then; I understand.”

“I need to,” Arylos responded without hesitation. “It’s wrong to lie to you and take advantage of your trust like that. I knew that you wouldn’t question me and I used that against you. It was wrong, selfish, arrogant, and I should have never done it.”

Iris sighed and reached for Arylos’s hand. “Arylos, I understand. It was to keep me out of your way in case something happened. While I’m not thrilled about it, I understand you only wanted to protect me.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” Arylos responded, clenching his fists.

Iris saw that this hurt Arylos deep, and she couldn’t place why. Something about this was wrong to him, more than usual.

“Have you lied to me about anything else?” Iris asked in a calm voice.

Arylos’s grip released as he was silent for a moment before responding. “No. I have not told you the whole truth, but everything I have told you was the truth.”

“So that’s the first time you’ve lied to me?” Iris asked, keeping her voice calm. “You just don’t tell me everything, but what you have told me is still the truth. Right?”

“Yes,” Arylos responded in a steady voice with a firm nod.

Iris took his answer but it made her concerned. She initially thought he was lying about his people, his world. Yet he told her a lot so if that’s not where he’s withholding information, there’s something else he isn’t telling her. That thought scared her more than the thought of him lying.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Iris asked, keeping her hand on his.

“Many things,” Arylos responded. “My age, my personal history, Odin’s devolution, the devolution of your own world, and more importantly the origins of my vessel; the body that you are speaking to right now.”

Iris had many questions. She knew that devolution was when a world falls into chaos, but she still didn’t understand it even when it was shown to her. But the question of his body, that was one that needed to be answered first. She took a glance and noticed that his body was fully healed from his fight just a couple of hours ago.

“How are you already healed?” she asked, pointing out the change in his body.

Arylos took a deep breath, accepting his first difficult question to answer. “This body is dead, Iris. To maintain it, I must consume other forms of life. For my day-to-day life, the meals you and I eat are enough. But with each fight, as parts of me are lost, I must consume in order to repair the damage or take it from somewhere else.”

Iris thought about what he was saying and thinking back to his fight with Baldr. “So it’s like trying to repair a vase; as pieces are lost each time, you have to get replacement pieces from somewhere. And when you fought Baldr, you healed slowly because you ran out of parts to work with and you had only eaten human food for almost a year.”

Arylos nodded. “It’s a limitation of trying to work with this body.”

“Does this mean I’ll have to cover for you if the neighbour’s dog goes missing?” Iris asked with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

Arylos eyed her carefully, but cracked a smile and looked away, trying to hide his red cheeks. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” he laughed before his face suddenly went dark and sad. “I don’t think that will be necessary,” he repeated, his voice now sad.

“Stop that,” Iris ordered in a stern voice.

“Stop what?” Arylos asked.

Iris puffed up her face. “You were just thinking ‘that won’t be necessary because we won’t be living together anymore’, weren’t you?”

Arylos raised his voice but fell silent with a slow nod.

“And what makes you think that?” Iris asked. “Is Sentarus going to exile you?”

Arylos shook his head. “Nothing like that.”

“Then why are you still chained?” Iris asked while pulling on his shackles.

Arylos looked down and his voice got soft. “He’s waiting to know what you will say.”

“What I will say? Does he want my permission or something? Why would he need my permission?” Iris asked as her voice started rising.

“Because I didn’t finish explaining my situation,” Arylos explained in a stern voice. Iris took the hint and quieted herself and waited for Arylos to continue. “I am now considered a risk to be around, and with Baldr out there hunting me for Odin, that’s only going to get worse. And Reyz was a sign that the worst has yet to come.”

“What do you mean by that?” Iris asked, tightening her grip on Arylos’s hand.

“Reyz was imprisoned long before your ancestors imprisoned me,” Arylos explained. “I made his prison to be impenetrable and erased it from human memory. No one knew of it and no one could find it, and yet he came here today trying to find me.”

“Maybe he just broke out,” Iris suggested.

Arylos shook his head. “His body works similar to mine; he needs to consume to live. Right now, he’s rotting in the basement with the blood drained from his body; the exact way I left him three millennia ago. He is unable to move or do anything so long as his body remains that way; he can’t so much as breathe in his current state.”

Iris slowly had the realisation come to her. “Which means someone knew where he was, found him, and set him free,” Iris completed aloud. “Which means someone set him free and sent him after you.”