22. The Rose
Chapter 22
The Rose
T he guards didn’t believe us.
That much had been obvious. It was blatantly displayed on their less-than-enthused expressions when we met them outside the Headmaster’s office the following morning, and it had only grown more apparent with each minute we spent trekking through the trees.
It wasn’t their disbelief that bothered me, it was the growing doubt it inspired to bloom on Grayson’s face. The internal debate in his mind may as well have been printed on his face as his features grew more and more pinched the longer we walked.
He’d already been awake in the common room when I slid from Isaac’s bed to sneak a cup of coffee from the kitchens before dawn. I hadn’t needed to. He had a steaming mug for himself and another waiting for me. That early in the morning, when the only light and sound came from the crackling fireplace, it felt like we were back in the library, huddled in our own world behind the curtains or under one of the tables.
That I managed to hold perfectly still when Grayson reached over to brush a thumb over the already half-healed cut on my arm was an act of the goddesses themselves. When he followed the gesture by dropping his arm around my shoulder and gently guiding my body to lean into his, I gave into the flutters in my stomach and let him. Neither of us spoke as we sat on the sofa together, sipping from our mugs.
Words had felt unnecessary. Now, when it seemed he couldn’t even look at me, I wished I’d asked for them. Maybe then I’d know which side of him was more likely to win: the side that made me feel cherished or the side that made me feel condemned.
The further he walked from me, and the more distant the look in his eyes, the more convinced I was it’d be the latter. I shouldn’t have been surprised–I’d been the one to tell Isaac his newfound faith in me wouldn’t last.
Sometimes I hated being right.
“It’s just up ahead,” Eris said, pointing toward a fallen tree in the distance. Just like our first meeting, her brother and cousin walked on either side of her. I would’ve expected the Crown Prince to place himself at the center.
“About time,” Isaac grumbled while rubbing his eyes. The sun was just starting to peek above the horizon, and he wasn’t one for mornings.
“I swear this path is twice as long as it was yesterday,” I told him.
“Yesterday you had my riveting conversation to distract you,” Kenna offered, “I was keeping quiet because it’s an ungodly hour, but I’m happy to entertain you if you’re bored. Last night I was reading about this new interrogation technique where they take the space between your toes and?—”
“I think we’re good, Kenna,” Grayson interjected. So he would talk to her just not to me. Noted. “Like Eris said, we’re nearly there.”
She paused to consider this then nodded decidedly. “I’ll save it for the walk home.”
“Can’t wait, I’ve been wondering about that but haven’t explored it yet.” Fabian’s jovial response and smile seemed genuine, and I suspected more danger lay behind it than the naked eye could see. I sent a silent thank you to the goddess we were on the same side.
Our steps slowed as Kenna called to the guards that we’d arrived. Well, what she actually yelled was they should watch their step unless they wanted their boots coated in demon blood. We learned it did, in fact, stain much to Kenna’s delight, but the point of the message was the same.
They walked thirty or so feet ahead of us scanning the ground for the corpses. I knew Eris was right, this was the spot, but their scent had faded from the trees. There was but a single reason that could be possible: they weren’t here.
“Is this some kind of joke to you kids?” One of the guards asked with his eyebrows drawn in, a snarl ready on his lips. “A way to kick off the start of the year by wasting the Academy’s time and resources?”
“I’d be careful of who you call a kid,” Kenna said, the point of her dagger twirling on the tip of her middle finger and her tongue tracing the edge of her teeth. “Unless of course, you’d like to join me for a bit of play time.”
The guard’s expression remained stern, but he couldn’t hide the color slowly leeching from his face. He mumbled something about troublesome students, but I tuned out of the conversation.
They had to be somewhere if not here. There must be a trace, a footprint, a trail, something! I searched, but I saw nothing. Even the grooves in the trees where our blades struck were mended as if it never happened.
“Are you sure this is the spot?” Grayson asked. Asher walked closer and titled his head in question, presumably asking the same without breaking his silence.
“Yes,” I said, hands splayed out in front of me, “I’m certain this is the spot.”
“Then where are they?” Grayson kept his voice low, but I didn’t miss the streak of frustration running through it.
“What,” I asked, “You think we made the entire thing up? Staged a fight, and even went so far as to knock Eris unconscious to gain a little attention, is that what you think?”
Asher, who’d stood at Grayson’s side, took a decided step away from him and shook his head. Probably wise.
“I don’t know, Briar, why don’t you explain this to me then? I told the Headmaster you were sure, are you? Is it something else? Did you and the girls eat an herb or a plant in the forest that could’ve confused you?”
“Are you implying I was hallucinating?”
“If you weren’t then where is the blood? Where are the bodies?” He ran a hand through his hair. Maybe I should’ve reached out and broke it.
“I don’t know, but they were here,” I said emphatically, “Is it so hard for you to believe what I’m saying? Silly me, but I thought that after last night we were on the same side again. Was I wrong?”
He said nothing in response, pacing a circle and surveying the scene around us where our companions and the guards continued to search. Grayson moved until he stood a few feet in front of me, his arms folded across his broad chest.
“If you hadn’t just left the bodies here, then we wouldn’t even be having this debate right now. They’d be at the Academy right now as tangible proof of your story. If there were dead demons, you should have known to collect them. You should’ve known it’d be too difficult to believe without evidence. Otherwise, it just seems like?—”
He cut himself off and ran a hand over his mouth, the other planted on his hip.
“Like what?” I dared him to continue.
“Like this was all a ploy. A poorly planned plot to prove to me—to the pack that you have the strength necessary to lead it.”
The crack of my palm against his face brought all conversation around us to a halt.
I’d handled his ignorant dismissals. I’d handled his lack of faith and mood swings. I’d handled the rumors in the hallways. I’d even handled the humiliation of him claiming I was incapable of leading in front of our pack and the other realms. This? This I would not handle. At least, I wouldn’t handle it gracefully.
“You disgust me,” I seethed, “And if you’re going to insult me with your theories, at least make them somewhat sound. Kenna was there with me. What motivation would she have to make me seem strong enough to lead the pack, which, by the way, I am?”
His wolf looked two inches from the surface when he shook his head and snarled.
“You two seem oddly close having known each other for such a short time, maybe she wanted to leave you with some dignity after defeating you in the Rite.” He tossed his hands in the air. “Regardless, even if your story is true, you were wrong to leave the corpses behind. It was poor judgment and I’d expect better from a leader in this pack.”
“There isn’t a single word you’re spewing that makes sense. If I’d brought the bodies it would’ve meant leaving Eris unconscious and unprotected in the forest. And who are you to pass judgment on me?” I asked quietly. “What right do you have to question my choices?”
I stepped toward him, crossing the short distance between us.
“I am the —”
“Alpha?” I asked with a humorless chuckle. “It’s concerning how frequently I have to remind you that you do not outrank me, Grayson Pierce. As much as you hate it, unless the Pack Rite proves otherwise, I am the Luna of this pack, and screw you for acting otherwise. I’m done with you for today.” I should be done with him forever.
The set of his jaw promised an argument, but a melodic voice halted whatever words he planned to say.
“I am exceedingly grateful you chose to get us all to the Academy safely.” Eris placed a hand on my shoulder. “That was a difficult choice to make, but I thank you for making it.”
“In other words,” Fabian said, smirking, “Relax, Grayson. I would hate to think of you, preferring my sister, not to mention your pack mates, lingering in harm’s way rather than leaving a couple corpses in the woods for a night.”
“I never said I wanted them in harm’s way.” He straightened to his full height, an inch or two above the still smirking fox. “I trust that Briar and Kenna are more than capable of handling themselves against any threat they may come into contact with.”
At that, I had to laugh. And I did, so hard that tears began streaming down my face from the sheer force of it. The foxes looked between us before backing away and joining the others as they spread out to search the surrounding area.
I could still smell traces of rot lingering in the air, but I couldn’t tell the others that without raising suspicion. The bodies had to be somewhere nearby. Maybe a predator had dragged them away in the night or turned them into a meal. They deserved a far worse fate than turning into excrement scattered across the forest floor. Grayson’s feet remained planted as he frowned down at me, making no move to join the others.
When I collected myself, I was able to say, “Are you serious?” I wiped my eyes. “How convenient for you to decide that when it suits your purpose. I don’t even think you know what you believe anymore.”
I turned toward the foxes to bid them farewell but was pulled back to the wolf in front of me, his forehead pressing into mine, eyes beginning to glow.
“Do not walk away from me, Briar.”
“Why?” I whispered. “You keep walking away from me. I can’t keep doing this with you Grayson. Either you trust me or you don’t. Choose and choose quickly because I am two seconds from not caring what you think of me and writing you off altogether.”
He released my arm as though it burned him and moved back a few steps. The movement was so abrupt I had to do a quick self-check to confirm I hadn’t actually burned him by mistake.
“You said you wanted me to give you a chance. This is not how you earn one. This is you making me think that maybe we can’t fix whatever this is between us. Maybe this is just who we are now, Gray. I made the best call that I could at the moment,” I said, “Eris was unconscious, and as far as we knew the demons were dead. We had no way of knowing if others were on their way, and if they were, we had no way to know how many there would be, not to mention the other threats lurking in the woods. So, if you think I made the wrong call, I simply don’t care. I would do it again because all three of us made it here alive. And there is nothing I regret about that.”
He wanted to argue with me. I could see it in the muscles twitching along his jaw, but I was right, and I think he knew that too. Our quiet stare-down could’ve gone on for hours had Eris not spoken.
“Do you smell that?” Eris asked one of the others from behind us. Neither Grayson nor I turned until she added, “It smells like blood.”
Asher was the first to reach for his weapon at her observation. He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword as one of the guards made her way to Eris and said, “Not just blood. It smells like death.”
The other guards who’d only been half-heartedly searching the forest floor prior began to look in earnest. Grayson and I exchanged a brief look—his tinged with regret, mine with resolve. We separated to search in the direction Eris had been walking, the scent growing more pungent by the second.
It made sense we’d follow the trail, but what didn’t make sense to me was that the scent held only the faintest hint of demon atop it, so faint I would be surprised if any of the others would be able to detect it.
The predominant stench was not the same smell that had burned to inhale the day before. When we’d tracked it another half mile it became obvious this rot was not as strong as the two demons yesterday. It was stronger, but it didn’t smell of demon. It smelled of death.
Unease grew tighter in my chest as we kept moving and then the blood in my veins turned to ice. Not ten feet ahead at the edge of a small clearing, Kenna stood still as a lake on a breezeless day. Even from her side profile, the dismay was stark across her face.
She didn’t turn to any of us when she shook her head and said brokenly, “I don’t understand.”
I froze. I wanted to steal one more moment before I saw whatever lay in wait for us. Isaac reached her first, then the guards, then Asher, Eris, and Fabian. I was still rooted in place when Grayson walked past me, brushing his hand against my side as he went.
He reached the others before I’d taken a step in their direction. In my life I’d seen Grayson happy, angry, annoyed, and murderous; I’d never seen him scared.
I took a fortifying breath and walked over to my horrified friends. Kenna said nothing, only raised an arm and pointed in the direction of her gaze. Then I was horrified too.
Arms.
Legs.
Torsos.
They were all strewn across the moss-covered plain, their blood weeping into the earth below. I hadn’t noticed the smell, I’d been too distracted by the tar and brimstone, but it permeated the air now, and I doubted it’d ever leave my senses: death. So much death.
“Have you ever?” Kenna’s whispered question trailed off.
“No,” I said gravely. “No, I’ve never.”
A wave of nausea threatened to drive me to my knees. I tried to push it down, to focus on something else like the mild breeze swaying the branches of the trees or how squishy the ground was under my feet. I couldn’t.
Long fingers laced with mine. I’d been a young girl the last time Grayson had held my hand. I could’ve withdrawn from his hold, but I let his firm grip provide the grounding I couldn’t find myself.
“Why would they have done this?” Kenna’s question shook me from my stupor. Action. We needed to take action.
“I don’t know,” I answered, walking closer to the spread of body parts, taking care not to touch them.
Each end was nearly touching another. I released Grayson’s hand and darted to the nearest tree. I climbed just high enough to get a view of the entire area.
“It’s in a pattern,” I called down to the others. “Some kind of broken spiral bordered by a hexagon.” I’d never seen a symbol like it before.
“I’m coming up.” I moved to a nearby branch to make space for Kenna. She climbed up quickly and curled her lip at the new view of the carnage.
“Do you recognize it?”
She shook her head and pulled her quiver of arrows to her front, grabbing the remaining few arrows and holding them out to me. “Take these.” I did but looked at her questioningly until she reached into the bottom and pulled out a rolled-up, leather-bound journal and a pencil.
“You keep a notebook under your arrows?”
“You don’t?” she asked, looking over at me as if I were the odd one. “Weird. What do you do when you need to write something down?” Her words held a shadow of her usual teasing.
“What would I need to write down, and why would I need to write it down in a situation involving arrows?”
“The techniques and tactics you learn from your opponent so you can study them later.” This is why people gave her a wide berth in the halls. “The point is, I’m prepared, and you’re welcome. Now please stop talking so I can concentrate.”
Normally I’d bristle at someone else issuing me an order, but in this case, I thought it best to comply. It wasn’t the moment for politics and hierarchies. I watched as she began sketching the scene in front of us, adding a separate dash in the outline for each appendage and labeling them. Her face grew more somber with each line and letter. When she was finished she released a heavy sigh and lowered the still open book to her side.
We climbed down in silence when the diagram was complete. Kenna handed her notebook to Grayson who studied it before passing it on to Isaac who passed it on to our companions in turn. When it reached the guards one of them moved to tear the journal. Kenna’s blade stopped their hand.
“Does it feel like a wise choice to damage something that belongs to me?” she asked in a level voice. “I don’t like people taking my things.”
“We need to bring this diagram back to the Headmaster,” he said without taking his eyes away from the dagger resting against his wrist, “He’ll need it for us to investigate what occurred here.”
The other guards were poised to reach for their weapons. I pitied the person who tried to draw it. My fellow students, on the other hand, were watching the guards—not Kenna—with keen eyes. I suspected even the guards knew who’d come out as the victor if it came to blows.
“Then I suggest you make a copy for him to keep and give my book back to me.” The guard visibly swallowed, his eyes darting between his fellow soldiers before unhanding the page and returning the journal to Kenna’s care.
The guards broke away from us and began scrutinizing the massacre in earnest.
“What are they going to do with the bodies?” Eris’ question broke the heavy silence.
“More than just the pattern needs to be documented before they can be moved,” Grayson said, his upper lip curled as he stared at the carnage.
“They deserve to be put to rest,” I added, “and identified. Their communities—their families—deserve to know their fate.”
Except what was that exactly?
“Is there any chance they were already here yesterday, and none of you came across it?” Fabian asked hesitantly.
“Maybe?”
“Absolutely not.”
Eris and Kenna answered at the same time. Both women turned to look at the other in surprise over the provided answer.
“I would have scented it if this were already here,” Kenna said.
Eris countered, “I don’t think we can be certain of that. This is at least a quarter mile from where we fought. There’s no guarantee we’d have picked up the scent, especially if the kills were recent.”
Except I would have. There was no chance these bodies had been here last night. Eris and Kenna continued debating their opinions while I contemplated how to take a side without drawing suspicion. I glanced at the others, expecting them to each be focused on the quarreling females, and they were, except Asher.
Asher was looking at me. A single arched brow offered a silent invitation for me to weigh in on the matter.
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” The quarreling stopped. “If they were already here or not makes no difference. They’re still here, the demon corpses are still gone, and we still don’t know what we’re up against.”
I was met with silence.
“Our next steps are clear: document what we can and leave no stone or leaf unturned for any trace of who did this.” And why they did it. “We’re going to need a carriage to bring the bodies back when we’ve finished. Isaac, head back to the Academy and fetch one. Be discreet. Few should be awake at this hour, but we don’t want to start a panic. Kenna, start collecting blood samples. It’s hard to tell underneath the rot setting in, but I smell at least two different realms amongst the victims. We can’t rule out that they’re in a pattern. Goddess only knows what we will wish we’d documented later. We have to work under the assumption that everything is relevant from the space between the pieces to the color of hair on the limbs.”
Isaac left for the Academy without delay. Kenna bristled slightly at the direction but nodded and set to work adding samples and additional detail to her diagram. Maybe the guards would document their findings but I wasn’t taking any chances. The Headmaster’s dismissal yesterday had set my teeth on edge and these people deserved more than a forgotten fate on a forest floor.
“I won’t presume to give you orders,” I said to the moon foxes with a humorless smile, “But I think there’s value in the rest of us splitting up to survey the surrounding area. It’d be too much to hope we find a trail nearby, but maybe they lowered their guard with more space between them and the attack.”
Fabian and Eris waited for Asher to nod before starting in opposite directions. Asher headed on his way, though notably slower than the others.
“You were right,” I said the wolf standing silently beside me, “I shouldn’t have left the bodies behind.”