Chapter 20 A Journey Begins
Chapter twenty
A Journey Begins
A hero’s journey is often defined by the hardships and difficult lessons. Often enough, it is the small moments in between that end up meaning the most.
Tales from Merida, Volume II
Freshly inked black hair pulled back into a long braid, Luci leaned over and pressed a kiss to Brielle’s forehead. Over the course of the night, she fought fevers off and on, but when her eyes opened, there was a clarity that sank into Luci like a potent pain reducer.
“I’m glad you finally believe,” she whispered, her pale lips pulling up.
Luci choked back the lie, swallowing it whole. Not now. Not here. She wouldn’t lie to Brielle when it could be the last words she ever spoke to her.
“Midnight, but you are dramatic,” she wheezed before a coughing fit took her.
Helping her to sit up, Luci held her through the attack, wishing all the while that love was enough. If it were, then Brielle would have never known sickness. It was never enough, though, and since logic and reason abandoned them, all that was left was magic.
Lying her gently back down, Luci cleared her throat, hoping it would drown out the lump forming in it.
“Have faith in the vision,” Brielle whispered.
Her infinite eyes bore into Luci’s, and everything Luci ever believed in was in that gaze.
“I will,” she said.
It seemed impossible that a woman on her deathbed should roll her eyes, but then again, it was Brielle Treveon. It dislodged a piece of hope from Luci’s chest, and it floated up, soft as a bubble, popping when it met the surface. She was Brielle, but she was undeniably sick.
“Don’t you dare say goodbye to me, or I will be angry with you,” Brielle said.
Her cheeks were hollow, and there was no color to her at all. It was worse than Luci could ever have imagined.
“Send in Ira,” she ordered.
Luci nodded, a rogue tear slipping down her cheek. No goodbyes. There was only one thing when it came to Brielle.
“I love you,” Luci said, lip quivering.
Brielle squeezed her hand, and it was a weak sort of grasp, but it meant more than all the gold in the kingdom.
“I love you too,” she said.
Her hand ached in protest as she withdrew it.
She couldn’t save Brielle from her bedside any longer.
Delaying now felt like a nail in the coffin.
Without leaving room for retreat, Luci stood and made for the door.
The bag she’d packed was already gone, taken by Prince Ira to be saddled.
He’d shown no emotion at her announcement that she was joining him.
Instead, he simply nodded and told her that he would come collect her bag shortly, but that they needed to leave shortly.
It was odd to see the grimness of illness on his usually smiling face.
It was out of place and foreign to him, aging him, and then many creases appeared around his eyes.
That was the power of illness. It took, and it took until you looked around at the devastation, there were only shells of what had been.
There was no stopping the tears that flowed freely once her back was to Brielle. All she could do was keep her body from shaking. Opening the door, she kept her head down, finding brown riding boots standing to the right of the door.
“She wants to speak to you,” Luci whispered.
His hand grazed her arm, but she didn’t allow more than that. If she did, it would be like a dam losing its structural integrity. Only ruination waited on the other side.
There were no further goodbyes to say. Noah promised to take care of Brielle, and Max gave them all of his research compiled into a small brown leather book.
The reason for his constant work since they arrived at the castle.
The only thing remaining was to put the fear of death into Lucien Vencia, and that was likely the easiest thing she’d ever done.
All it took was promising to turn him into a frog the next time she saw him if he so much as thought about hurting Brielle.
Small mercies, he didn’t have the courage to meet her eyes as she passed him in the hall.
On the one hand, she was glad her message was well received, but on the other, it was alarming that he thought she was capable of such an act.
The morning air was a crisp song of fresh dew drops and spring breezes. The sun was lazily hanging over the landscape as if just awakening. It was the sort of morning where they would have run to the lake and spent all day on its shores. A perfect spring day.
A whinny drew Luci’s attention, and two horses stood saddled, a servant wearing white and blue livery holding their reins.
One of the horses was the tallest she’d ever seen, midnight black with piercing blue eyes.
It watched her with a gaze that boasted intelligence.
Next to him and several hands shorter, a tan horse with a white mane sniffed at the ground.
She let out a frustrated huff of breath that spread sand and pebbles, scattering.
“She’s hungry,” Luci said.
The servant, a young man barely twenty, laughed.
“She’s always hungry, my lady,” he said.
Luci wrinkled her nose, disliking the way the words fit in her mind. It sounded too much like Lord Treveon complaining that Luci was always in the kitchens.
“What’s her name?” she asked.
“Cinnamon.”
“Cinnamon, well, if you are hungry, you should be allowed to eat.”
Taking the reins, Luci walked her over to a perfectly green patch of grass. Cinnamon made a deep sound that could only be interpreted as appreciation before she went to eat. An apple or carrots would have been better, but this would do for now.
“I see you already met Cinnamon.”
Luci stilled the absent-minded petting of her name’s smooth hair. It was wrong that his voice ran through her lightning. That sparked her heart to beat too fast. Her best friend’s fiancé. Her best friend, who lay dying in her bed.
Blissful self-loathing eroded the hoard of butterflies that dared to invade her stomach. The only way to survive this quest was to remind herself what was at stake every time her body betrayed her. There was no world for her without Brielle.
This was the part where she said something back, but there weren’t suitable words in her mind. Instead, she resumed running her hand over Cinnamon.
Steps on gravel warned her before, but it was like a force barreling into her as he came to stand next to her, holding out a shiny red apple.
“Apples are her favorite, here give it to her,” he said.
She made the fatal mistake of raising her eyes to his, and entire worlds danced in those forest eyes. His full lips were pulled up into a devastatingly crooked smile that chipped away at her sense of self-preservation.
Swallowing, she took the apple for it and stepped in front of the horse, clicking her tongue.
Raising her powerful head, Cinnamon sniffed at the apple once before opening her mouth and taking it in one bite. Sweet juice mixed with an alarming amount of saliva was sprayed into the air around them, and Luci shook out her hand.
Gross.
“I should have warned you that her love of apples was aggressive,” he laughed.
It was a nice sound. The sort of sound she could lie down and listen to with complete calm. A sound that was built upon a life of happiness and privilege. For all the privileges she’d been afforded, she doubted she would be capable of laughter like that.
“She’s beautiful,” Luci murmured.
“She is,” he agreed, a note of solemnity in the words.
As if summoned by her name, the sweet and spicy mixture of cinnamon wafted by. It wrapped around her before it drifted, and she was left wondering if she was losing her mind.
No use in wasting time. Luci swallowed hard and pulled up the front of her riding dress, but Prince Ira was already kneeling down, offering her his hands. Rolling her eyes, Luci ignored him and set her foot in the stirrup before lifting her leg up and saddling the horse.
Refusing to look at him, she shifted, adjusting to Cinnamon’s width.
His deep chuckle ran across her skin before clogging her throat.
She hated the way she reacted to him. Hated what it made her.
Grabbing at Cinnamon’s reins, she led her over to where his horse was and waited for him to mount.
He did so with a grace that befitted his lean stature.
He was more suited for Brielle with her thin frame.
“What’s his name?” Luci asked.
His answering smile was devastating.
“Grimsbane,” he said.
Luci stared at him.
“So my horse's name is Cinnamon, and your intimidating monstrous horse is named Grimsbane,” she said.
There would be no unrest in Meridea if the people could see their prince’s joy.
He was the antithesis of pain and suffering.
Charismatic and charming. Suddenly, the idea of staving off unrest through a royal wedding and subsequent tour wasn’t such a ludicrous idea.
Yet he didn’t need someone at his side to alleviate the people’s unhappiness.
Something deep inside Luci told her he could do that all on his own.
“I think it suits us, don’t you?” he asked.
She hated the way her lips pulled up and how hard she tried to fight against it.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve never been grim a day in your life,” she said.
He brought Grimsbane up beside her.
“Untrue. Once, I was very grumpy when I was eight and was told I couldn’t have more dessert.”
“How tragic for you,” she said.
He nodded, solemn. “I know, but persist we must.”
With a ridiculous wink, he clicked his tongue, and Grimsbane began trotting away. How could one man be infuriating and endearing all at once?
Tapping her heel gently into Cinnamon, Luci caught up within a few seconds, wind blowing back her hair that fought with its life to stay in the braid.
It was the strangest sort of release, but as Prince Ira and Grimsbane picked up their pace, so did Cinnamon and she.
Soon they were galloping past the gates and the uneven road that stretched infinitely out before them.
A small town lay far in the distance at the base of the mountain, but other than that, it was just them, the wind, and the crisp spring air. Floral and fresh.
It was then she realized how closeted she’d felt in the castle. She missed the open greenery of Blythe that boasted preserved nature. She missed the sounds of the bird singing and the feel of the wind against her skin.
Throwing back her head, she closed her eyes and smiled. Holding one hand out while the other clutched Cinnamon's reins. It was tempting to let go entirely, but she was unprepared to fall off her horse.
When she opened her eyes, she found the prince watching her, a vacant smile on his face as he took her in. It was then she realized how ridiculous she must have appeared. She shifted in the saddle, feeling her cheeks warm.
He shook his head.
“None of that, try to keep up,” he called as he urged Grimsbane faster.
Despite herself, Luci smiled and vowed she would not lose to a spoiled prince on horseback.