Chapter 38 Blood Briar
Blood Briar
Asterious
The prince paced the moonlit cobblestone of the courtyard, his eyes tired and his nerves shattered.
They had been searching for two days with no sign of her, and he had delayed their journey to the Shadow Woods yet again.
Riven and Wryan had given him hell for it, but he didn’t care.
He couldn’t leave until he knew what happened to her.
The thought that she might have decided to betray him—to destroy him—plagued his mind.
That she might run straight to Felhold and tell his sister everything.
The thought of it tore him to pieces, and he wasn’t sure which outcome was more painful to think about—if she was on her way to betray him or if she was in danger.
He scratched at the prickle in his chest where the scars were.
The flesh scars, obscured beneath the cursed magic ones.
A scar for each time he’d been betrayed by those who were meant to care about him.
What was one more if she betrayed him too?
“Your Highness.”
He hadn’t even noticed when Azell's frail frame appeared in the archway. She carried a small plate with a meager amount of meat and bread.
“I don’t mean to overstep, Prince Asterious, but I fear you’ll grow weak from hunger if you don’t eat something soon.”
The prince straightened himself, conscious of his fatigued appearance. “Thank you, Azell.” His voice was weary, and he was ashamed for how he’d let the mere thought of this girl burden him so much. “You’ve always known best, Azell, and as such, your concern is always welcome.”
He took the plate from her and forced down a few bites which his stomach did not welcome. Leaning against a cracking stone column, he stared across to the other side of the courtyard garden, lost in thought. Azell reached to take the plate from him, and he handed it back to her without hesitation.
“I don’t understand it.” He crossed his arms, his steel eyes shifting to a rosebush wrought with thorns growing wildly beside him.
He leaned over to pluck the single remaining rosebud from its brambles.
“I should be focused on everything but this. Sinevia, finding Mother. The kingdom and its people. But it seems I’ve been cursed yet again…
and this time I don’t know how to break it. ”
“Oh?” The maid’s reply was barely audible.
“It’s so stupid of me, Azell. It’s madness to say it out loud, but…thoughts of her consume me day and night. I crave her with every dawn and yearn for her under each moon. Like a fool I find myself whispering her name in the silence, as though somehow it could call her back to me.”
“You speak of the Lady Caramyn?”
“Unfortunately.” The words drifted from Asterious’ in one breath like smoke in the dark as he clutched the withering rose in his hand. “I don’t understand what she’s done to me.”
Azell stepped closer. “Your mother once confided in me about a similar feeling,” she said. “About the consuming passion she’d felt for King Vaerwynd before Daemar killed him, and how it ached like a hole in her chest every day that she had to live without him.”
“Yes, but of course she would feel that way. He was her mate,” Asterious muttered, shaking off the thought before it could take root.
Mates were rare. A fated Lightborn bond created only when two souls carried fragments of the same god’s heart from the divine Shattering.
And there was no possible way a Shadowblood could be his mate, if he even had one.
He sighed and hung his head. “What I feel for Caramyn has no explanation.”
As he concealed the rose in a closed fist, he thought of his last words to her, and still felt their bitter sting on his tongue.
I never want to see you again.
When he’d said those words, he didn’t know that despite what he thought he wanted, he needed her to stay. He hadn’t known how he would break for her when she was really gone. Had he known the anguish her absence would bring, well…
He didn’t know what he would do—because no matter how badly he wanted her, he couldn’t let himself destroy her.
All he hoped for now was the reassurance that she was safe.
“There’s...there’s something...” Azell’s voice quivered but strengthened as she spoke. “There’s something I need to—”
The rapid beating of wings above interrupted. Asterious looked up to see a raven—Caramyn’s raven—sweeping down to them with its talons curled around something sharp and metallic.
“That damned bird.” He clenched his fist, and his voice lifted, suddenly filled with hope that she was near. “That’s her bird.”
The raven swept down near to the ground, as though it had used every last bit of strength to perform the maneuver. Azell gasped as the creature ruffled its feathers and stared upright at the prince, dropping the object at his feet. A dagger.
Asterious reached down to pick it up, but then remembered the jolt of pain he would feel if he so much as grazed it with a fingertip.
So he crouched down instead to get a better look.
It was a hunting knife with the unmistakable craftsmanship of rural mountain folk.
Marks of frequent use stained the well-worn black handle, but the blade was just as sharp as new.
“What is this supposed to mean? Whose is this?”
The bird fluttered to his shoulder and immediately began to preen its feathers. Asterious cursed under his breath and shook his head. Whatever puzzle this strange, confusing creature had delivered, it was quite unclear…and he didn’t have time for more puzzles.
“Did someone hurt Caramyn? Did this belong to her?”
The raven poked up its head to let out a caw and then went back to preening nervously.
“Someone hurt her? Is the dagger hers? Is that a yes or no, damn it?”
“It is hers.” Azell added suddenly.
Asterious turned to her, his face wrought with surprise.
“I noticed it strapped to her leg one evening when I was preparing her bath, and she began to undress behind me. I never let her know that I saw her in the reflection of my silver pitcher.”
“You knew she had a dagger? All this time? She could’ve tried to kill me with it.”
“But she didn’t. And we both know she would’ve had quite the difficult time trying to kill you.
I wasn’t worried.” Azell’s voice held firm with a hint of a laugh as she met the prince’s gaze.
“Don’t you see, Asterious? You and her aren't so different. You both hide beneath these hardened exteriors, both terrified of someone looking closer and seeing your true heart.”
“The only thing true about my heart is that it would destroy both of us. It’s for the best that she’s gone.”
“Is it?” Azell raised an eyebrow.
Asterious stood, catching a brief glimpse of his hated reflection in the blade.
“If she wanted to betray me, she could have done it long ago. She had every reason to hate me from the beginning.” He gently poked the bird to get its attention, hardly believing he was desperate enough to be asking it questions.
“If this is her dagger, then why isn’t it with her now? ”
The bird lifted into the air and clamped its beak around Asterious’ coat lapel, tugging insistently. “I think he wants you to follow him,” Azell said, a twinkle in her eye.
“I’d say so.” The prince remarked, stepping forward as the bird flew off, soaring into the palace halls.
He and Azell rushed back through the castle corridors, following the flight of the raven.
It led them to the West Wing, where it dove to the ground and pecked urgently at floor of the hallway leading to Asterious’ chambers.
The prince knelt to examine the area, his eyes scanning the deep red of the rug lining the hall.
He strained to see, unsure of what he was looking for, until he spotted stains of blood, well-camouflaged against the ruby carpet.
“What’s this?” Asterious’ voice darkened.
“Your Highness.” Azell interrupted. “Earlier in the courtyard I came to tell you about something I saw that seemed...unusual. I was hesitant, but now I’m convinced I have good reason to be suspicious.”
“Well, what is it?”
“Well, I didn’t want to accuse anyone without cause, but I can’t deny the blood here.
The morning Caramyn disappeared, I awoke earlier than usual.
There was a noise outside keeping me awake—now I think I realize it was the bird.
” She narrowed her eyes at the raven and took a deep, nervous breath.
“Anyway, since I couldn’t sleep, I decided to get an early start on the day’s tasks.
And as I was preparing things for the day, I passed by a window and saw Sir Wryan returning from a ride with a riderless horse, which I found odd at such an hour.
But I thought maybe he had just been returning from hunting for the journey.
” Asterious listened with intensity, leaning into her words.
“Wryan?” he repeated. “I certainly didn’t send anyone on a hunt that night. In fact, he’d offered to guard her room. That's where he was supposed to be. You’re sure it was him?”
“There’s more.” She lifted her chin and unfolded a shirt that was tucked in her apron pocket.
“He came to me later that day and asked if I could mend his shirt when I had time. I thought nothing of it until I sat down to fix the tear this morning and noticed small specks of blood.” She handed the shirt to the prince.
He stared at the faint red dots as a sick feeling rose within him. “Are you saying you believe Wryan had something to do with Caramyn’s disappearance? You think this blood is hers?”
The raven cawed and beat its wings, only calming down when Azell spoke again and lifted her hands in a surrendering motion. “Your Highness, I’m not saying I believe anything. I am only telling you what I saw.”