Chapter 64 Azalea
Azalea
I can’t believe I hadn’t realized it before. Although, in my defense, my brain is still trying to sort through the myriad of memories flooding it. It’s making it hard to tell what happened now, and what has happened that doesn’t matter anymore.
From what I’ve been able to sort through, I’ve met Dianthus four or possibly five different times, which isn’t much, but makes it confusing on what is the present and what was the past.
While I was in the dungeon, and Dianthus was droning on about her great evil plans to lure Braxton here, I remember seeing her lock up a small cabinet.
I wasn’t able to glimpse the object that she put inside of it, but I had seen that it had this kind of lavender glow surrounding it that matched the essence of Dianthus’s magic that she was shooting at us through her fingertips.
I didn’t piece together how they matched until she literally tried to kill me with it.
“Where’s the cabinet now?” Braxton asked, pulling my focus back to him.
My face pales as I think about the last place I saw it. “Back in the room she just had us trapped in,” I murmur, swallowing heavily. “We were right there. It was right there, and we all but ran away from it.”
“That makes sense,” Braxton sighs.
“It does?” I ask perplexed. Nothing about tonight makes sense to me.
“I’ve noticed her magic fading. That’s why there were cracks in the curse, and she’s started aging. I figured whatever she had her magic tethered to, she would need to be keeping it close by.”
My ears prick at the sound of silence. The chaotic noise from the crashing furniture has ceased, which I quickly take as a bad sign.
“I’m growing tired of these games, you two. It was fun when you were scared, but now you’re just scheming, and it bores me,” Dianthus calls, her voice echoing through the expanse of the house. “When you two are ready to come out of that little closet, you’ll know where to find me.”
My eyes bulge, and I look at Braxton in a panic. She knew we were in here the whole time.
“What are we going to do?” I whisper, hoping she might not be able to hear everything we’re saying.
“It’s okay.” Braxton caresses the back of my palm with the tips of his fingers.
The gesture is oddly soothing, leaving me with an indistinguishable sense of familiarity.
I try to find the memory linking me to this feeling, but come up short.
Regardless, I have to fight the desire to lean into him and let him comfort me.
I’m still torn on how to feel about Braxton.
My heart loves him too much to let him die, but my mind can’t come to terms with what I believe he did to bring me back to life.
So once again, I find myself stuck between my head and my heart when it comes to this man.
And for the love of all the stars in the sky, I am sick of feeling this way.
Braxton’s expression morphs, and I watch him sort through something in his mind.
“Braxton, no.”
“I have a plan.”
“I drew that conclusion on my own, and I’m saying no.”
“You don’t know what it is.”
I blink at him, dumbfounded. “I think between the two of us, we can agree that you aren’t the first choice in coming up with plans.”
I can see in the subtle wince that pinches his features that my words landed heavier than I intended.
“Fine,” I concede through a bated breath. “What’s your plan?”
I’m making a lot of discoveries today.
One: I was a part of a curse that really was for Braxton that tortured him by forcing us both in a castle together when he was devotedly in love with me while I hated him.
Two: that same curse made me forget about how he is the love of my life and subsequently made me want to kill him.
Three: Braxton is a complete idiot who comes up with terrible ideas.
Four: I am also a complete idiot because I go along with his terrible ideas.
That’s how I find myself currently crouched low to the ground, waiting for Braxton to cause enough of a distraction for me to sneak back into the dining room through the other door that leads to it.
“Back so soon?” Dianthus taunts. I poke my head around the doorframe, and I see her sprawled out on the same chair she sat in when we began all of this.
My eyes lock on the mahogany cabinet that holds whatever object she’s bound her magic to sitting directly behind her.
Shit.
This is why I shouldn’t have listened to Braxton’s plan. I was supposed to sneak around Dianthus and grab the object while Braxton distracted her, but I’m not sure how she won’t notice me when I’m right next to her.
I huff a breath of frustration and wonder why I was the one supposed to do the sneaking for this plan. I’m a much better distractor.
“Dianthus, good to see you again,” Braxton greets with a mockingly chipper attitude.
“Right, right. I know you two figured out what my magic is tethered to. Honestly, I’m surprised you went that route. I was sure you would choose to run for the hills.”
“You would have hunted us,” Braxton states, inspecting his nails before brushing down the front of his shirt.
“I know,” Dianthus whines. “It would have been so fun.”
Braxton crosses his arms over his chest and nonchalantly leans against the doorway he’s still standing in. “Well, you know my favorite pastime is ruining your plans,” he quips.
Dianthus sniffs, tilting her head so she’s looking down her nose at him. “Where is your oh-so-precious, Wildflower,” she goads, throwing around his nickname for me.
I don’t realize that hearing her call me by the name that was reserved only for Braxton has me grinding my teeth until I feel a light pop in my jaw.
“I told her to go. It’s me you have business with, and I’m quite sick of my wife being wrapped up in the stupid games we’re playing. You wanted me, right?” Braxton pushes off the doorframe and steps closer to Dianthus. “Well, here I am.”
I practically jump out of my skin when I feel something soft and fuzzy skate along my feet. I wouldn’t put it past Dianthus to have rats lurking in her hallways. Whirling around, I see Luna coming to sit next to me, her fluffy white tail brushing along my feet and legs.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I gently shush her when she releases a soft whine and begin petting my fingers through her fur.
Turning my attention back to the cabinet, I try to figure out how I’m going to execute this plan.
Sweat is beading along my forehead and I watch Braxton step closer to Dianthus.
This wasn’t part of the plan; he was supposed to keep his distance.
He’s trusting me to save him, and I truly don’t know if I can.
Dianthus’s eyes flash with a stomach-churning hunger.
“Oh, and what fun we’ll have, Braxton, just as soon as you stop lying to me.”
“I’m not—”
“I said stop lying!” Dianthus voice goes from calm to chaotic in a flash.
“What? Don’t you want your pound of flesh, Dianthus? Is this not good enough for you?” Braxton holds his arms out wide.
“Among other things,” Dianthus coos, leaning forward in her seat.
I run my sweaty palms over the thin material of my slip. He’s getting too close. He won’t be able to run from her. She’s too fast. She could hurt him. She’s going to hurt him.
My heart ricochets against my ribs, and I hold my breath, waiting to see what Braxton does next.
“Come and get me,” Braxton taunts, and I finally realize what he’s trying to do.
He must have figured out that the cabinet we’re trying to gain access to is the same one that’s behind her. He’s trying to get her to move so that I can have a chance at actually unlocking the cabinet.
“Braxton, no,” I groan under my breath. This is a reckless, dumb idea. She’s still too strong, and being this close to her magic source is making her stronger.
To my shock, Dianthus takes the bait. Pushing herself up from her chair, she stalks toward Braxton, my breath hitching with each one of her gliding steps.
Luna senses my anxiety and rubs her face against my palm, doing her best to comfort me. I’m only half paying attention to her as I peek my head further out form the doorway. My eyes dart to a flash of light I see across the room, my chest tightening.
My heart relaxes when I realize it wasn’t Dianthus shooting a bolt of magic at Braxton like I initially feared. It’s only the moon glinting off a piece of shattered glass from the window that Luna broke through.
Oh. My. Sweet. Skies.
The window Luna broke through. I smile down at my sweet, overgrown dog and make a mental note to never let Braxton live down the fact that this dog is about to save his life.
“Luna,” I say her name with stern urgency.
My plan continues to form as I look around at what I can use to my advantage.
I need something I can throw. My eyes spot a slivered chair leg, courtesy of some of the debris from Dianthus throwing her temper tantrum around the house.
Grabbing it, I wave it in front of Luna’s face.
Her eyes sparkle, and her tongue wags out of her mouth as she follows the chair leg while I swing it back and forth in the air.
“Okay, Luna, are you ready?” I pull my arm back, and I watch as Luna bows her body so that she prepares herself to launch.
“Fetch!” I yell, hurtling the stick across the room where it smacks against the cabinet with a dull thud.
Luna launches herself, running for the glorified stick at full speed.
She’s not even attempting to slow herself as she approaches the cabinet.
Upon hearing all the noise, Dianthus spins around.
Her eyes flash with recognition as she watches Luna’s body slam into her precious cabinet, which immediately goes hurtling to the floor.
Even if Dianthus wanted to, she couldn’t have stopped this. We did it. We caught her by surprise.
I swear I can feel the reverberations of the cabinet hitting the ground as it finally lands on its side with a loud crash.
More importantly, just as I hoped, the movement and pressure of the solid wood slamming against the stone floor causes the doors to the cabinet to burst open, and the object carrying all of Dianthus’ magic, the object that is our ticket out of here, comes tumbling out.
I can’t make out what it is as it keeps rolling swiftly past Luna, past the table, past Dianthus, until it comes to a stop right at Braxton’s feet.