Page 13 of Custodian

“You going to check out the chade numbers?”

Bey shook his head, “I know training is in a moratorium at the moment, but someone should really check on the unbound paladins. They are all still awfully young and on their own.”

Lark studied his best friend. Everything he’d just said was very true but he couldn’t shake the feeling Beyden was holding something back, “What aren’t you telling me?”

Beyden pursed his lips, not answering. Lark sighed. He knew his best friend would not lie to him, so Beyden’s way around that? Don’t say anything at all. “Are you in trouble?” Lark asked, feeling worried.

“No. No trouble, I promise.” Bey was quick to assure him. Beyden looked at Lark for a few seconds before obviously reaching a decision. “Cas called me this morning. He, Leo, and Lawson have been keeping an eye on the Lodge for us, reporting which Orders have been arriving. Trent is here.”

Lark paused, “Trent? The dickbag who betrayed you?” Lark felt his anger rise on behalf of his friend.

Beyden rolled his eyes, “This is why I didn’t want to tell any of you. You all overreact.”

“Overreact? He’s the reason why you were disqualified from the Paladin Trials and all but exiled!” Lark fumed.

“It was a long time ago, Lark. We were all so young – practically kids. Trent did what he had to do for himself,” Beyden defended.

Lark didn’t doubt that for a minute. The other paladin had only been thinking of himself and not the consequences to his best friend. Bey had told him the whole story a long time ago. Just as Lark had revealed his past and his miserable father and Order. Lark knew Beyden hadn’t heard anything from his ‘best friend’ since the incident.

“Are you going so you can punch him in the face?” Lark asked, before quickly shaking his head. “Of course not. You would never do that because you’re too nice. I’ll come with you so I can do it for you,” he informed Beyden.

Bey was already shaking his head, “I don’t want him punched in the face. I just want to talk to him.”

Lark chewed on his lower lip for a moment, “Does Ryker know?” he asked.

Beyden narrowed his eyes at him, the usual light amber darkening by a few shades. It was a sure sign that the ever-patient man was getting annoyed. “He knows I’m going to the Lodge alone. He’s not happy about it but I reminded him of the Order link. I’m not like Max, I’ll keep it open and call for help if I get into trouble – which I won’t,” he added firmly.

“But Ryker doesn’t know about Trent,” Lark persisted.

“No,” Beyden gritted. “He doesn’t know about Trent. Are you going to tell mummy on me?”

Lark sighed, “Of course I’m not. I’m just concerned for you. That’s what friends do –realfriends, anyway.”

Beyden lost some of his stiffness, “I know. And I appreciate it.” He clapped Lark on the back, sending him forward half a step, and Lark mock-punched him on the arm.

Ryker, Darius, and Beyden were always doing that to him and Axel. They were slighter than the giants and he knew it amused them no end. Lark didn’t really mind, he knew it was a form of affection. It was what friends did – what brothers did. He only hoped Beyden remembered who his real family was during his little reunion.

SIX

Beyden lowered the window in the car, despite the coolness of the air. Winter was fast-approaching and the weather was beginning to have a decided bite to it. But the cold sting felt good on his cheeks as he drove the twenty-odd minutes to the training lodge. He smiled in appreciation when he thought of Lark’s concern. He knew his friend was only thinking of his welfare, but it was a little exasperating too. Beyden knew everyone believed he was a pacifist at heart. That fighting, protecting, and killing chades wasn’t in his nature, and therefore, not something he wanted to do. But they were wrong.

Well, not about the pacifist part exactly. He abhorred senseless violence. But he had always wanted to find a place within an Order. Ryker was right when he said duty and service was in their blood. The need to serve the wardens of their world, who gave so much of themselves in order to maintain the precarious balance of nature, was just as much a part of him as any other paladin. He also wasn’t as even-tempered as people thought. He felt anger just as much as the next person and had certainly been furious over the incident which had ruined his standing in society. He just didn’t believe that anger got you anywhere – other than in trouble – which he had quickly discovered.

Seeing the violent reactions of his brethren and also the most esteemed members of their society after the incident when he was younger, had left him with a sour taste in his mouth for a long time. A taste he hadn’t been able to wash clean until Ryker had offered him a job at the training centre here in Australia, Beyden thought, as he pulled into the carpark. He had even been turned off the whole bonded-knight thing for a long time. But then Max had come along and cured him of that. He cut the engine, feeling nervous and wondering if he shouldn’t just turn right back around. Maybe it was best to leave Trent where he had been for the last eight years – firmly in the past. But there was so much he wanted answers to and this was his opportunity to get them. Perhaps, he would also get the apology he felt owed.

Unfolding himself from the SUV, he decided to head straight to the back where he would be meeting Trent in fifteen minutes. His nerves had caused him to arrive a little early, and he was helpless to stop his mind wandering back to the time that had changed his world forever.

He’d been young, and although he didn’t like to admit it, naïve. He had been filled with excitement and happiness over finally being old enough to undertake the Paladin Trials. He had enrolled at his local Training Lodge in his home country of Spain as soon as he could. It had been much smaller than the one he currently worked at, Beyden mused, wandering aimlessly through the large obstacle course filled with ramps, balancing beams, pits, and tyres. But it had been a formally registered location for the Paladin Trials. And at the time, the best part of it was that his best friend would be going through the testing process at the same time.

Beyden had been friends with Trent for over fifteen years by the time they were thirty and therefore able to undertake the Trials. They had both been filled with nerves but Beyden had welcomed his because they had been the result of anticipation of things yet to come. The first few days were demanding both physically and emotionally but Beyden had thought he’d been doing well. The pleased looks on the faces of the trainers had filled him with pride. But then, on the third day of the Paladin Trials, everything turned to shit.

He had entered the showers, towel slung around his hips after an intense twenty-kilometre run. He’d been focused on his aching muscles and tired legs and feeling rather sorry for himself, but he had still noticed the strange look on his best friend’s face as he began drying off. He shook his head now, wondering how he could have been so naïve as to not recognise the look on Trent’s face. Beyden leaned back against the obstacle course and let his mind drift back to that fateful day.

‘Trent? What’s up? You look kind of constipated,’ Beyden joked, keeping the towel in front of him as he dried off from his shower. He wasn’t necessarily shy but not having grown up with any other men resulted in him retaining some modesty in the locker room.

‘Huh?’ Trent stopped staring at him, quickly shaking his head, cheeks flaming. ‘It’s nothing. Forget it,’ he mumbled.

The reaction surprised Beyden. Not once had they ever avoided talking to each other in all their years of friendship. ‘Seriously, Trent. What is it? Do you need help? Are you in trouble?’

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