Chapter 59 Braxton
Braxton
Thank fuck I gave Azalea that necklace. Though I didn’t give it to her for this reason, it’s enchanted with a tracking spell that’s currently leading me right to her.
I gave her the necklace because it was rightfully hers.
It was her wedding present that I felt I had held on to for too long.
I either wanted her to wear it when the curse was finally lifted and she remembered me, or I wanted her to take it with her when she left, so that she always had a piece of me, even if she didn’t realize it.
I inherited the necklace from my mother before she passed.
It wasn’t until I was much older that my father told me what it really was.
He’d gifted it to my mother when he first started courting her as a protection method against his enemies.
I’m not sure my mother knew the truth of the necklace, but she wore it every day without fail.
The magic is bound between the necklace and its pairing ring.
While the necklace leaves small glimmers, like shining orbs, of where the wearer of it has been, the ring turns the ability to see those glimmers on and off.
Once I got back to where she was abducted from the carriage, I twisted the ring on my finger and was easily able to follow the trail it led me to.
When I reached the outskirts of the Grimoire Forest, I decided to continue on foot, with Luna by my side.
She refused to stay in the castle, and I didn’t have time to waste arguing with a dog.
While I never thought Dianthus would stoop to such low measures, I should’ve guessed this necklace would come in more handy than I ever wanted it to.
And it was needed. I would’ve gotten lost at least three different times if it weren’t for the tracer.
Dianthus did an excellent job of making sure her house was difficult to find in the hollow.
It probably doesn’t help that the only other time I’d been here was while I was cradling a lifeless Azalea to my chest. I prayed for a miracle and got scorned by the phantasm that is Dianthus.
It’s clear to me now that she wanted me to find it. She was waiting for me to find her.
I aggressively twist the ring back and forth on my finger, making the small opal orbs flicker on and off in my vision. After I flick my ring around my finger one last time so that I can see the trail left for me, I drop my hands back to my side. Fidgeting isn’t going to help anything.
As the witch’s house comes closer into view, I crouch behind one of the trees nestled on the outskirts of it.
After dropping Rhoden off in the infirmary, I didn’t hesitate to go after Azalea, even as the healer asked me 100 fucking questions.
I know Rhoden is in good hands, and when I bring Azalea back to her, she will be on the mend.
The air around the house is still, giving off an equally eerie and unwelcoming feeling.
My eyes scan the land stretched out before me, peering into each of the windows and finding no one inside.
This might be my best chance to slip inside without being detected.
Although I won’t be able to see any magical wards Dianthus might have in place, so my only hope is that she’s too smug to think she needs any. I turn to Luna.
“Stay here,” I command, before stepping out from around the tree. To my relief, Luna does as she’s told.
Taking a deep breath, I follow Azalea’s magical footprint. My hand gingerly grabs the handle of the door, finding it unlocked. Either I’m the luckiest man alive, or Dianthus is waiting for me. Knowing that it’s most likely the latter, I raise my guard as I step inside her home.
My mind is racing with a hundred crazed thoughts of all the things the old crone could have planned.
Because she has a plan, of that I’m sure.
It doesn’t help that after what happened with Gravesley, I had no choice but to come by myself.
I still wasn’t sure who I could trust in that castle, and now wasn’t the time to be taking chances with allegiances.
As soon as I step into the house and look in the direction the tracer is leading me, my stomach drops.
I know exactly where the witch is keeping her.
Azalea is currently in Dianthus’s dungeon.
I lose all sense of stealth as I race down to the dark and dank corner of the house.
When I wrench the door leading to the dungeon cells open, I’m surprised to find that Dianthus is nowhere in sight.
It’s particularly frigid thanks to the cold stone walls and floor covering every inch of the room.
Great Abyss, this woman is such a piece of shit that she doesn’t even give her prisoners the comfort of a dirt ground.
I snatch the keys resting on the hook next to the door, and run around the corner until I find the cells.
When I see her, my chest squeezes. Azalea is in the very first cell, wearing nothing but a sheer slip.
I assess her quickly and feel relief course through my veins at finding her seemingly uninjured.
Her curls are a mess around her, but none look as if they are matted to her head due to any kind of bludgeoned wound.
That gives me some semblance of peace. Maybe Dianthus hadn’t been torturing her in the way I feared she would.
Goosebumps line Azalea’s flesh, and I swear there is the slightest hue of blue on her lips.
Her eyes are closed with her lashes fanning across her cheeks, and from this distance, I can’t tell if her chest is moving up and down.
My mind spirals as I wonder if I’m too late.
Did I just unknowingly cause her to die in the same place I brought her to to save her life?
She’s lying on her side with her hands both pulled above her head. I follow the shackles that start at her wrists and see they’re secured to the stone walls behind her. Even though she’s lying down, I can tell the rest of her body is slumped, and I’m hoping it’s because she’s asleep.
Dianthus had me drink one of her sleep potions before she transported me and Azalea back to the castle after I made the agreement with her. I remember how much of a pain that potion was. I didn’t feel like myself again from days. I was groggy, starving, and felt like I could never get enough sleep.
I shove the first key into the lock bolting the door and immediately hear the clack of a single heel behind me.
My head dips in defeat. If I can hear her approaching, it’s because she wants me to.
It’s because she knows I’m here. This was all too easy.
I’m such a fool. Of course, the door was unlocked.
Of course, I didn’t run into any magical wards.
Of course, there was no one in the house to stop me from going into the dungeon.
Of course, Azalea’s magical trace hadn’t been tampered with.
This is where she wanted me. She wanted me to see this.
She wanted me to find Azalea, and I was too scared of losing my Wildflower again to think clearly.
This was all a trap… for me, and in the mess of it all, just like with our curse, Azalea is the collateral damage for Dianthus’s vendetta and my stupidity.
Hastily opening Azalea’s dungeon door, I leap forward and cradle her to my chest. For at least a sliver of a moment I got to feel her in my arms one last time before something solid strikes the back of my head and everything goes black.