Chapter Text
“Remus! Remus, stop!” Janus sounded frantic.
He appeared at the side of Remus’ vision, reaching up to grab his hand. Something wasn’t quite clicking in Remus’ brain. Why was Janus defending this thing? Why did he want him to stop? Remus found the eyes of the assassin beneath his hood, they were wide and afraid. Something wasn’t right.
“Remus, it wasn’t him!”
That worked, Remus released his hold immediately. He wasn’t going to be responsible for harming someone who wasn’t to blame. The would-be-assassin sank down the wall, holding his throat with one hand.
“What do you mean? I saw him-“ Glamours existed, he knew that. But if the assassin had simply been glamoured as this guy, why would Janus have brought him here?
“I know and I will explain everything, but can we come in first? We’ve travelled a very long way and we are exhausted.”
“Tell me something first.”
“Your donkey-tail needs more water.” A failsafe, in case Deceit wasn’t Deceit. Glamours could be strong, but this knowledge was theirs alone. Remus nodded.
“Fine. Let them in,” he said to the guards. They stepped aside and the three of them were allowed to pass through the gate.
A groom came to take the elk, though he looked more than a little confused at what exactly he was meant to be doing with it. Remus didn’t care, he just wanted answers. He stormed into the halls, hearing Deceit’s quick footsteps behind him and the much softer pad of the assassin. He moved like an assassin, he smelled like the assassin, so why was Deceit so sure it wasn’t the assassin?
Instead of returning to Roman, he ushered them into one of many waiting and meeting rooms off the central hall. The walls were covered in darkened panelling, carved to show battle scenes. Remus threw himself into the chair at the head of the table.
“Tell me.”
Janus sank into a chair next to him. He was covered in travelling dirt and Remus found his eyes passing over him to check for marks. There was a red mark peeking out from beneath his glove and Remus filed that information away.
The not-assassin remained standing. Which was suspicious. He looked ready to bolt, which Remus guessed was better than ready to attack. He squinted at him to show him he didn’t trust him and found the other squinting back.
“Using the scrap of fabric and a scrying charm I followed him to the Winter Palace.”
“You went to the Winter Palace?”
“Remus, this story is going to take a lot longer if you interrupt every three seconds.”
“Rude.” Remus wasn’t exactly known for being good at keeping his tongue in his head, but he settled as best he could, wiggling in the cushioned chair, waiting for Janus to tell his story.
“Yes, I hitched a ride on the back of their coach disguised as a footman. I traced the Spider in the palace, back to his room and it wasn’t what I expected to find.” Here, he glanced back at the other guy.
“He had a mild-mannered twin?”
“Remus.” Janus sighed. “No, they were keeping him in a locked room, with no food or means of escape. He was being held as a prisoner, not a guest of the court.”
“And that excuses murder?”
“Will you stop? Again, no. But he wasn’t in control of his actions, The Dragon had taken his name from him. He’s a puppet, a weapon.”
“And you brought him back here where she could use him to do anything?”
“She can’t use him at all any longer, I tricked her into giving me his name.” Janus’ fingers brushed over the mark on his wrist.
“You tricked the Dragon into giving you the name of her prized pet?” Remus laughed, a wild mad cackle that made the Spider jump. “Of course you did! Oh, Dee, you-“ He laughed again, too tickled by the idea of it to even formulate proper sentences.
Janus graciously allowed him a few minutes to laugh, before interrupting again.
“Yes, it’s very funny, but we barely escaped the Winter Court with our lives and she will be seeking revenge shortly.”
“She already declared war by trying to assassinate Roman! What more can she do?”
“It’s not an official war, not yet.”
“But once dad knows-“
“Yes, once your father learns that his son was attacked there will be outright war in the kingdoms. How is Roman, by the way?”
Remus glanced over at the Spider, frowning.
“Is it safe?”
“I assure you, Virgil is perfectly safe.”
“Roman’s awake. He’s gonna be fine.”
The Spider- Virgil- made a startled sound. “You fixed him?” He didn’t sound angry, Remus noted. Just relieved.
“Yes I did,” he said proudly, beaming, showing his sharp teeth.
“Good.” Virgil looked relieved too.
Remus turned his attention back to Janus. “So you brought us home our own pet assassin?”
Janus met his gaze levelly. “I brought you a refugee who’s testimonial will tell everyone exactly what the Winter Queen did. But, it’s up to him what he does now. He’s free.”
“A refugee that’s going to be wanted across all four kingdoms for the rest of his life. I think that’s the opposite of free.”
Virgil seemed to be thinking the same thing. His eyes flickered from Janus to Remus and then back again. He steeled his shoulders. “I don’t want to be a weapon, but I don’t really know who I am…behind that.”
Janus turned to face him. “Then stay here and we’ll help you find out.”
His tone was so soft that it twisted Remus’ stomach and made his chest ache.
“You’re a bleeding heart,” he said to Janus, rolling his eyes theatrically. “If he stays, you have to keep him on a short leash.”
“Fine, he can have the room next to mine. I assume you don’t mind that, your highness?” There was a challenge in Janus’ eyes as he looked back at Remus. The little shit.
“I’d rather he stay in the dungeon but he’s your pet.” He saw the flash of hurt in both their eyes. He needed to stop being so mean. “I’m going back to Roman. I need to tell him he owes me some money for betting you were dead.” Remus got up from the table and headed for the door. He paused as he reached it. “You can join us when you’ve recovered from your journey.”
Then he was gone, stomping back up the steps to Roman’s room.
He pushed open the door and felt his stomach drop through his feet.
“What are you doing?” He demanded.
“Sorry-“ Patton jumped up from the end of the bed. “Roman fell asleep and- we were hungry so… we didn’t think it would be a problem.” He had a half eaten bread roll in his hand.
Remus felt sadness well up inside of him. “I’m sorry..” he offered, hollowly.
“Is it poisonous?” Logan had, at least, picked up on his tone, examining the grape in his hand with mild confusion and concern.
“No, no, it’s not poisonous. You can eat as much as you like.” Now.
“You’re acting weird.” Logan said, frowning.
“I’m always weird, I’m the weird twin,” Remus said, trying to push lightness back into his tone. His body felt heavy as he clambered onto the bed next to Roman, dropping his head onto the pillows. “I’ll tell the attendants to set up some,“ he yawned “rooms for you.”
Then his eyes closed.
In his dreams he was chasing shadowy, smoke like figures through the forest. Roman, Janus. Even Virgil, Logan and Patton. Their faces seemed distant and sad and whenever he’d get close enough to touch one, the smoke would billow outwards and vanish.
The trees closed in overhead, blocking the light, making his task harder until he couldn’t see anything and he was alone in the dark. “Come back?” he begged into the thick air. They didn’t. Remus groped blindly in the darkness. “Please! I don’t want to be alone!”
He awoke with a start into a sunset-dim room. Roman’s room, he knew after a moment. With Roman still tucked in on one side of him and then in the chair beside the bed, Janus. They were talking very softly.
Remus saw with dismay that the Spider was also in the room, perched on the balcony railing, listening apparently quite intently to Patton who was gesticulating madly. Then there was Logan, curled up on a chaise with a blanket over him, asleep or just resting.
Remus made a big deal of stretching himself awake.
“There you are,” Janus murmured softly, giving him an almost smile.
Remus yawned. Roman rolled onto his back. “You still snore.”
“The sign of healthy lungs.” There was a new plate of food at the end of the bed and Remus dragged it up to the top so he could shovel some into his mouth.
“You’re going to choke,” Janus said, exasperated.
“You’re going to choke,” Remus shot back, spraying crumbs everywhere.
“My bed!” Roman exclaimed sadly.
“You don’t clean it,” Remus pointed out, slowing his chewing and swallowing. He became aware that the Spider was smirking behind his hand. Not smirking. Smiling? Laughing? There was amusement in his eyes.
“Well now I’m lying in your saliva! It’s disgusting.” Roman was seemingly oblivious to the attention.
Remus leaned over and licked his face.
Roman gagged. “Uh, no- get off me! Are you five?”
Remus giggled, Janus exhaled a soft amused breath and, only because he was listening for it, Remus also caught Virgil hiding a chuckle.
Some scary assassin that was.
“Fine, I’m getting up.” Remus catapulted himself out of the bed.
Patton made a startled sound and Remus realised he’d moved too fast for the human. He winked at him as he landed on the carpeted floor.
“Okaaay, quick discussions then. We’re keeping him?” He pointed at the Spider.
“Yes,” Janus said without hesitation.
“Okay, I figured that was the answer. Second thing, the humans.”
“We have names,” came a drowsy voice from the corner.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” Remus said, looking over at Logan’s blanketed form. “You’re going to want to hear this.”
Logan sat up.
Remus turned to Roman and Janus.
“We’re keeping them too.”
“What?” Janus raised an eyebrow.
“We can’t keep the humans,” Roman said. “Father would never allow it.”
“Sucks for him cause we’re keeping them.”
“Don’t we get a vote?” Logan said. “I’d quite like to return home.”
“Here’s where it gets hard because I would love to return you to the mortal world, but I can’t.”
“You can’t? That was never mentioned when you were kidnapping me.”
“Because when I was kidnapping you, I could and had every intention of taking you home after Roman was fixed. But unfortunately for you, now you can’t leave. When I came in yesterday you were both snacking on Roman’s leftovers. So you’re stuck here.”
Both Roman and Janus made a noise of understanding, and exasperation.
“A human who eats faerie food is trapped within the realm,” Janus explained, softly. “You have, quite unknowingly, trapped yourselves here.”
Patton made a soft sound of distress.
Remus clapped his hands together. “So I guess what I’m trying to say is that we’re all stuck with each other! Isn’t that great?”
No-one looked like they thought it was particularly great. There was wetness in Patton’s eyes and Logan was frowning so hard at the floor it looked like he was trying to burn through it.
Remus was very surprised to see the Spider place a hand gently on Patton’s shoulder. How long had he been asleep?
“We will, of course, be making sure you have every available comfort,” Roman assured them, in his usual confident way. “You’ll love it here, it’s a wonderful place to live.”
“You’ll forgive us for not being overjoyed at the prospect of losing our homes, jobs and families,” Logan said, his tone icier than the Winter Realm.
“To live in a palace!” Roman clearly wasn’t seeing the bigger picture.
“Roman,” Janus admonished, “They’ve lost a great deal and no matter how nice the palace is, the fact of the matter is that they are essentially prisoners here.” Remus certainly didn’t miss the way his eyes strayed across all three of the new arrivals, rather than just the humans. “And we are very likely to, in short order, be at war with the Winter Realm. They are, of course, going to have some feelings on the matter.”
The Spider lowered himself silently from the railing.
“About the war-“ he started, then hesitated.
“If you have information that could be useful, speak.”
“There will be other assassins. The Winter Realm has an army, but they won’t want to use it. They’ll try and destabilise your Kingdom instead.”
“But you were their best, were you not?” Roman asked, staring intently at Virgil.
He nodded. “I was…”
“Then you know their strategies?”
“I do. The current ones, anyway.”
“Could you fight them on an even field?”
“Um…yes, I think so.”
“Then congratulations, you’ve just been promoted to royal bodyguard.” Roman and Janus exchanged a look. Remus felt like he’d been placed on the outside of a loop.
“Ro! You can’t just hire someone who tried to kill you as your bodyguard.”
“I haven’t,” Roman said with a smug smile. “I’ve hired him as our bodyguard.”
“Do I get a say?” Virgil asked.
“No,” Remus said.
“Yes,” Janus said at the same time.
Roman held up his hand to stop them both from arguing.
“You do, but it is important to tell you that placing you in a position in the royal household, and having you give us information on the Winter Court is going to be key in preventing our father from executing you when he returns home.”
Virgil pressed his lips together into a thin line. Remus didn’t know why they were bothering.
The former assassin deliberated for a long moment, shrinking under the gaze of everyone in the room, practically disappearing into the shadows of his cloak.
“Fine,” he said, finally. “If I can use my knowledge for something other than harming innocent people, I want to.”
It was a miracle he’d survived the Winter Courts at all.
Roman clapped his hands together. “Good choice. We’ll draw up some paperwork and make up some rooms for our other guests to enjoy.” He flashed the humans a sharp-toothed smile and waved his hand as if dispelling them all. “Dismissed!”
As they all trudged from Roman’s room as an unlikely team, Remus couldn’t help but wonder.
What was going to come next?