"Where is Zeven?"
"I'm not entirely sure." He pulled back from her. Almost afraid to meet her eyes.
"Give me your best guess."
"Chris…" he bit the nail of his thumb, thinking "I know what you are wanting to do and I would strongly advise against it."
"If you know what i'm going to do, then you also know that there is no point in trying to deter me. If you want to stop me you will have to do so with force."
She put her feet down on the ground, daring Brennan to make the first move. When he didn't try to stop her she pushed herself off of the bed.
Once she was standing she immediately missed the numbness of her body. Like fire creeping at her skin, standing left her in agony. She forced her cries down as she took a step towards Brennan.
He tried to offer her his arm, but she did not take it. Even as her body screamed in protest and her muscles began to shake she held firmly to her ground.
"I'm going now." She tried to walk past him, having to use the wall to steady herself as she fought the urge to collapse.
"You can't be serious. Look at yourself you're hardly even able to walk."
"We both know Zeven. And he will do something stupid if we don't stop him," she turned her head to look at him, "So I can go alone, or you can go with me. Those are your options. Me staying here is not one of them."
"I can't change your mind." It wasn't much of a question, more just a stating of fact.
"No."
Brennan sighed. Once her mind was set there was no changing it. At least if he went with her he could keep her safe.
"Fine, what's your plan?"
"I'll figure that out later. Let's go."
He could see how hard it was for her to peel herself off the wall, but he didn't say anything. Nothing short of death would dissuade her. So he walked slowly behind her ready to catch her should her legs give out again.
The ride to the palace was a few hours from the cottage. Seeing as how Chris could barely keep herself upright earlier, Brennan didn't comment when she fell back to sleep against his chest. He felt the pang in his chest as he knew that this would be the only time he got to feel her in his arms. Looking as helpless as she did, he never would have guessed what she had been through. Sleeping soundly in his arms she looked just like any other girl.
He tried to keep his mind from that thought, because she wasn't just any other girl and she never would be. With great difficulty he switched his thoughts over to Zeven. What was he planning? It wasn't like him to jump in without a plan, and several others just in case the first one didn't work out. But it had been so long since he had seen him so shaken. Chris was right in wanting to help him, there was no telling what he could do in that state.
Not to mention that the palace was his most hated place in the entire world. There were several years where even the thought of returning for a day would cause him to panic. Brennan wasn't sure if that feeling ever went away or if he just got better at hiding it as the years passed.