Excalibur's Seven - Chapter 35: Chapter 35

GISELLE'S EYES OPENED TO the sight of Selene at her bedside, holding her hand and brushing the hair from her forehead. The glow was gone, and she felt drained, more than she was used to being.
Her pink dress was replaced by a loose blouse and a long, brown skirt, a bandage wrapped entirely around her waist. The wound still felt fresh, but there was no blood seeping through the linen.
Selene sat up the moment she saw that she was awake, leaning over to check on the princess. "Darling, are you alright?"
"Selene," Giselle whispered, placing a hand over the one on her cheek and turning her head to press her lips to Selene's palm. "How is everyone else?"
"Good," she breathed. "They're good, I think. If they weren't, they'd say so. Kit didn't get help until someone found him on the dungeon floor but... he's Kit. He'll survive."
Giselle believed her. Kit was as tough as nails and too stubborn to die. She was fully convinced an arrow to the throat couldn't kill him so quick. The prince would run through fire to prove a point and stay standing, he was almost more headstrong than Morgana.
"How are you?" Giselle croaked, trying to sit up further. Selene pressed a glass of water into the Seelie's hand, and she lubricated her throat while her Lady spoke on.
"I'm alright. Nothing serious for me, they patched me up quick," she said. The princess didn't miss the ugly cut on her brow, or the nasty bruise on her cheek, but Selene wouldn't dare say it if it actually bothered her. Giselle pressed her fingertips to the cut on her forehead, and when Selene tried to stop her, she fixed her with a glare.
"It's okay. I'm not wasting anything I need," she whispered, watching the cut sew itself shut, leaving behind an angry scar. "There. Now, you look more badass and less beat up."
Selene chuckled, then gently scooped Giselle up into an embrace, tucking her face into her shoulder. The Seelie held her back, fists gripping the white fabric of her tunic while the Lady breathed her in. She felt a warm dampness against her skin and she realized Selene was crying. She threaded her fingers into her hair and soothed her as she let it out.
"Talk to me," said Giselle, plump lips brushing against Selene's ear.
Selene pulled back, wiping her red eyes with her fists. Clearly, she hated when people saw her like this. This was more than Giselle had ever gotten, and she couldn't help but love it.
"Conan," she breathed. "I hate his bloody guts, I swear it, but I... how could he do that? You know, every day I was with him, he spoke of how much he loathed my position. When he wasn't insulting me for thinking a woman could live up to the job, he was insulting the King for needing us, insisting a real king could defend himself. And now look at him.
"I bet he was just bitter," Selene chuckled. "That his wife wasn't a submissive housemaid with no ambitions of her own and nothing better to do with her time than serve him. And jealous, that I was more of a man than he'd ever be."
Giselle sat with this. She knew full well Selene was married, but she was accustomed to marriage being an arrangement of duty before it was ever an arrangement of love and never thought much of it. But clearly, it meant something to Selene.
"If it makes you feel any better, I think his 'beard' is just a bunch of ingrown hairs," Giselle hummed.
Selene's eyes creased with laughter. "Or perhaps pubes he stuck on with tree sap."
"He didn't treat you well, did he?"
"He tried not to," the Lady said. "But I know he was too scared of me to be cruel. I know it's not good to intimidate your partner but..."
"It was self defense. If you didn't scare him first, he'd try to hurt you. I'm a faerie, Selene, I understand better than anyone that manipulation isn't always a bad thing. Everything is too complicated for it to be all bad," Giselle assured her. "For the record, you don't scare me."
"Thank you, my love," she whispered, pressing her forehead to Giselle's. "That means more than you know."
They shared a brief kiss before Selene stood up, helping Giselle to her feet. It was a struggle with the piercing pain in her stomach, but she did it, the bare skin of her soles resting against the wooden floor.
"No one brought me better clothes, did they?" she wondered, looking down at her own sad getup.
Selene's eyes widened and she rushed over to another corner of the room. There was a long dress draped across a table, far prettier than what she was wearing.
"Help me, will you?" she asked, gesturing to the clothes she had on. She paid no mind to modesty, but Selene gulped as she tried very hard to keep her gaze respectful.
The princess grinned and stepped forward, guiding Selene's hands to the hem of her blouse.
"It's okay, you can look," she whispered, watching Selene's blue eyes drop down as she slid the fabric upwards. Giselle raised her arms above her head, and Selene tossed the blouse aside.
The Lady couldn't help herself, and Giselle's breath fluttered with the lips that pressed against her bare shoulder.
Her skirt pooled around her ankles, and for a moment, she wanted to stay like that. Naked and vulnerable before the woman she loved, overtaken by the feeling of her gentle touch and even gentler lips.
They hadn't the time, though. Selene took the dress, helping Giselle balance as she stepped into it, then pulled it up and over her arms, covering up her chest as much as the fabric permitted.
"Turn," Selene whispered, and Giselle obeyed. The Lady's fingers brushed against her skin and the transparent tissue of her wings as she tied the back, frequently enough that Giselle had to wonder if it wasn't all an accident.
She finished with a kiss to the nape of Giselle's neck. "There you are."
Giselle turned and placed a hand to Selene's cheek, rising up to her tiptoes to kiss her. "We should do that again, but next time you aren't putting more clothes on me."
"I agree," Selene chuckled, putting their foreheads together.
There was a storm that raged inside Selene, but it was a storm Giselle never feared. Her anger was righteous, her pain the kind that didn't want to hurt anyone else.
She was a bitter woman, because the world made her so. All she wanted was to prove to herself that she wasn't everything they said she was. She wasn't the vengeful type, and Giselle admired that. She didn't know what it was like, to not be tied to making things even. Selene wanted to make things right, but she wasn't the one to give an eye for an eye.
Of all their companions, her beloved Morgana included, Selene was the most level-headed. She was the most sensible, the most mature. A bit impulsive, sure, but Giselle didn't feel like she had to reign her in or talk any kind of sense into her. With Selene, she felt like she could just be.
"I love you," she whispered, eyes meeting the Lady's.
"I love you," Selene repeated back. "Are you hungry?"
The banquet hall was full of food of every variety, bustling with servants waiting for her to come. The situation was strange enough that there wasn't an official mealtime, so Giselle just filled her plate and sat in her chair, urging Selene to join her.
"So," Giselle started. "Do we have any idea what the plan even is?"
Selene took a roll from the middle of the table and pulled it apart. "No idea. Everyone's left us alone for the most part, which I'm glad for. Eurion stopped by to tell me Kit was awake again but she seemed bothered, so he must've been an ass the moment he woke up."
"Shocker," Giselle teased, to Selene's amusement.
In some ways, Kit reminded her of Morgana, the way the sun reminded her of the moon. Stubborn, insecure, unsure of how to let out his emotions. She loved Kit, just as she loved Morgana, but the both of them seemed to always be looking for a fight.
"Well, I think the first thing we should do is make sure everyone is alright," Giselle continued on. "Not physically, but... you know. If we're going to go back out there with fresh wounds in our hearts, we won't be at our best."
"Fair point," said Selene. "Where do we start?"
Giselle went quiet. It was a good question. Who needed it the most? Chalice seemed to be the most emotionally intelligent of all of them, perhaps the most understanding. They would still be capable of their best even with the trauma of it all, Giselle was sure.
Eurion wasn't as easy to read. She was talkative, but she kept her secrets, and Giselle never had the slightest clue what she was thinking. She didn't know the first thing about her, other than the fact that she's a thief and at the very least, she has southern lineage. If she was struggling, Giselle had every confidence she'd keep it to herself, no matter what they said.
That left the boys. Kit would likely be more impulsive and difficult with the guilt she was certain he was feeling, and Morgana wasn't even on their side anymore. But Lionel... he was just a kid. It was clear he's been through a lot, but this wasn't something she thought he would overcome so easily.
"The kid," Selene murmured, as if she'd gone through the same thought process. She pursed her lips and propped her chin on her knuckles. "Poor thing. We all have shitty childhoods, but he didn't have to have one, too."
Giselle sighed, taking a long gulp of wine and setting down the glass. "Where is he, then? We should check up on him."
"With Chalice," Selene answered. "They volunteered to watch him, they said they would be awake all night."
"Do they even know how to sleep?"
"Hell if I know." The Lady rose to her feet, offering her hand to Giselle. The princess stood and followed her out of the dining hall and towards the medical wing once more.
Chalice looked a thousand times better than they did when Giselle last saw them. The pool of blood was replaced by a long, jagged scar and a single cold, foggy eye, surrounded by a bright red sclera. It was shockingly similar to Morgana's, though it sat on the right side of their face as opposed to the left.
"Morning," the druid said, though their stare was set on the boy. His hair was back to normal, but his eyes still held an ancient, unsettling glow.
Giselle sat a few feet away from the boy, giving him a small wave. He returned it, but he didn't look at her face.
"Is he okay?" asked Selene, arms crossed over her chest.
Chalice shrugged.
"How are you?" Giselle asked him. "Yesterday was pretty crazy, huh."
Lionel nodded.
"What's going on in that little head of yours?" she continued on.
The boy's big eyes finally met hers. "You guys have good bread."
Giselle chuckled. She could tell he didn't know how to talk about his feelings yet, but she would do her best to help him.
"You can talk to me, Lionel. What's going on in your heart?"
Lionel looked back down at his hands. He was playing with a flower, picking apart the petals and letting them fall to the floor. "Scared," was all he said.
Giselle frowned, reaching out to stroke his hair. "About what?"
"That more people will die 'cuz of me."
The Seelie felt something tighten in her chest. Children had a tendency to blame themselves, but she wasn't about to let that happen.
"No one died because of you, Lionel."
He looked up at her for a minute, then back down at his flower.
"A lot of people started to speak up, but it wasn't your fault that the King did that, okay? The King is a bad man and he didn't have to kill all of those people, but he did. It wasn't your fault at all, okay?"
Lionel sniffled. "I knocked people down. I thought I killed you guys."
"But you didn't," Giselle said, tilting his chin up to look at her. "You couldn't help it, the shard was protecting itself."
"I don't want it," he murmured.
"What?"
It was silent for a moment. "I don't want the shard. But I don't know how to get it out."
Giselle looked down. "I don't, either. But you might just be saving thousands by having it. Prince Connor can't use the sword without you. At least we know he isn't using it to kill more people. No one is dying because of you, Lionel, they are living because of you."
The boy finally looked into her eyes. It looked like he might say something else when the door swung open, pulling their attention to it.
It was Kit, standing at the door. "We have a problem."
Giselle stood, looking at the prince with a furrowed brow. "What? What is it?"
"I can't use the sword," he said. Everyone froze, waiting for him to elaborate. "I'm not of Arthur's descent. Only those of his blood can wield it."
It was quiet.
"We can't defeat the King alone, and we can't get Excalibur back unless we get someone of Arthur's descent on our side." His eyes were wild. "We'll need an army, and then we'll need someone that's really good at hypnosis."
A grin broke out over Giselle's face. They were back in business. "I've got just the thing for that, Your Highness. Follow me."
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