Chapter 56 Consider It A Duty
Consider It A Duty
Asterious
He never should’ve let last night happen. He never should’ve done this to her.
Asterious followed Caramyn blindly through the thick of the trees, his thoughts echoing how beautiful she’d looked while unraveling beneath him in the candlelight.
But now it was all drowned out by the wounded way she’d looked at him this morning, after he’d said the only terrible things he could think of to keep her from getting hurt far worse later.
They’d promise not to lie to each other. And he hadn’t. All of it was truth. Cold, bitter, razor-sharp truth.
He trudged behind her, ignoring the ever-present hissing black fog threatening to nip at his ankles, as they headed deeper into the forest where he’d met this woman so many weeks ago. This woman who he never could have suspected would have brought his unfeeling heart to life.
And yet, he’d just broken it into pieces.
Because it was all he could do to save her from the pain.
Unless some miracle could save him, letting her love him would only end in tragedy one way or another.
It would crush her either way, whether she would have to watch him become a monster forever—or end his own life in front of her.
The only hope was the Shadowblood’s sword. If it couldn’t save his black heart, at least he’d already done his part to spare hers…though that didn’t change the fact that it was one of the most painful things he’d ever done. Far more painful than any blade that had ever left him bleeding.
Caramyn quickened her pace as the stream came into view, a narrow channel running through the forest like a vein.
Asterious was quiet, listening for the sound of birds to distract him from the thoughts that tormented him, but he realized there were no birdsongs this deep in the woods. The only sounds that filled this place were the whispering echoes from the Shadows haunting it.
Caramyn knelt at the stream, staring down in the trickling water as though she was captivated by something in her own head.
Asterious waited for her to dip her hands in or lean over, but instead she straightened herself and looked over at him.
Her eyelids fluttered, and she stuttered out a semblance of a word. “Asterious, I—”
The sound of flapping wings rushed overhead. The prince glanced up, squinting at the sun's glare off the frosted white branches. The raven had returned, soaring in figure eights, diving down just over their heads before swooping right back up to do it again, each movement brimming with urgency.
Caramyn leapt to her feet, never taking her eyes off the bird.
“Hide. Now.” Her voice cut like stone.
The prince glanced around before he scrambled with Caramyn to find a place suitable enough to cover them in this maze of crooked tree trunks and twisting branches.
Distant hoofbeats and clanking armor closed in, their rhythm unsettling.
A Shadow curling at Caramyn’s feet caught Asterious’ attention. Snaking around the both of them, it coiled and curved through the trees. His eyes followed the winding black smoke against the white ground, settling on a massive fallen tree in the distance.
By the time he looked back, Caramyn had vanished, but her raven swept past him, leading him to the end of the fallen tree, a great dirt cradle from where the roots had once held. He slid down into the hollow space just as the footsteps passed right by the stream.
Asterious peeked through the gaps in the mossy cage of roots shielding him, hoping to catch a glimpse of what exactly they were hiding from.
A small guard of men—dead men—marched through the snowy banks of the creek, their dead eyes as empty as the grave.
Black metal armor glinted against the dullness of their decayed graying flesh as they moved in unison.
Their steps appeared synchronized at first glance, but a closer look revealed the variation in their lifeless steps as they charged forward at the command of the one controlling them—a cloaked rider atop a nervous black horse that pranced behind them.
Asterious would recognize that regal silhouette anywhere.
The jewel-encrusted horse head clasp on her cloak was enough of a giveaway on its own.
But she pulled back her hood, lifting it over her obsidian crown, and with a quiet rage burning in her eyes, she scanned the area, searching desperately for something—or someone.
And beside her, atop a dark bay horse, was a man who was very much alive, marked by the ruddy color in his face and his eyes that scampered back and forth at his surroundings.
And the familiar voice that pierced Asterious to the core as the rider slowed with a lift of his own cloak that made his features undeniable. Wryan.
Barring the confusion, the impossibility of it all, his greater worry was his soldiers, fearing Wryan might have done something to them. But he couldn’t help them from here.
“This place is sending us in circles. We should’ve been at the Veil by now,” Wyran hissed.
“Patience, Captain. I sense my brother’s blood nearby. And even better.” Sinevia lifted her chin with a wicked smile. “I sense his mate.”
Mate?
His breath stuttered. It couldn’t be. He’d considered it briefly but hadn’t believed it could be possible—that he and Caramyn shared the rare bond of two souls intertwined before the Shattering itself.
But it would mean everything he’d felt, since the moment he saw her, was all real.
“Oh, she’s here. And right by his side, no doubt.” The sneer on Wyran’s face told the prince all he needed to know. He’d told Sinevia about Caramyn, about everything.
Caramyn appeared beside him, sneaking in so quietly that he jolted at her presence. She moved like a wraith in this place. She knew every hiding spot, every fallen branch and dirt nook. But wherever she had been, he wondered if she had heard the same thing he did.
Mate.
He felt her body tighten next to him at the sight of Wryan glancing their way, and they both ducked down further.
“I have an idea,” Caramyn whispered. “But you’re not going to like it.”
“What is it?”
“We never washed in the river. You still carry my scent.” Her face was unreadable, void of emotion. “So, I suppose you can consider last night a duty, if nothing else. A necessity to mark you with my protection.”
“Caramyn, that’s not—"
“The Shadows won’t hurt you, because they see you as part of me.
You no longer need me with you to wander these woods.
” He was sure his expression must have betrayed his uneasiness as she continued.
“I know these Woods and she does not. And whether she can manipulate Shadow magic with her spells does not change the fact that they are on my side. I’ll lead her on a chase.
It’ll waste time and her Soldiers will expire.
That will give you all the time you need to go find the Blade. Nocthar can lead you to it.”
The thought made his stomach drop. She was his mate.
And sending her into the hands of his enemies was something he could not bear to consider.
Had she not heard the same thing? Was she pretending not to know?
He couldn’t bring up such a thing here and now.
But neither could he express his devastation at her plan without doing so.
“No...no, Caramyn. You want us to separate?”
“Why not? It’s time we focus on the task at hand, remember?” Her amethyst eyes scorched as she turned his own words against him. She was always quite good at that.
Caramyn held her gaze on Wryan and Sinevia as they rode farther into the forest, the troops long ahead of them.
“It’s too great a risk. This is my battle, not yours.”
“It became my battle when Blackwynd blood crossed into these Woods.”
She leapt up, her bow in hand, but Asterious grabbed her arm. “I won’t try to stop you. I won’t try to control you. But I want to make sure you understand that you’d damn better survive.” He muttered, her face inches from hers.
She leaned in, her lips close—too close—as she cocked her head stubbornly. “I always do.”
And then she was gone, like wind in the night.
Asterious whipped around at the shriek of surprise that came from Wryan, only to see Caramyn leap down from the treetops to land right in front of the horses, her fall softened by the Shadows around her.
She looked up with cold eyes as the Shadows cleared, and the horses balked. “Did you get lost in my Woods, Wyran?”
Wryan was silent and went pale as a ghost. Sinevia stared at Caramyn for a long time, the air so tense Asterious could feel it from behind the tree stump.
“And just who are you?” Sinevia tilted her head, her unwavering gaze locked onto Caramyn. “Tell me like I don’t already know.”
Caramyn lifted her chin, but Asterious could see the way she subtly ran her fingers around her bowstring, the way she always fidgeted when she was nervous. “I am the Witch of these Woods. And you are a lost woman parading as Queen. The Veil’s power will not truly give you what you seek.”
“And how is it you know what I seek?” Sinevia laughed out the question, merely toying with her at this point.
“Because I once wanted it, too…” Caramyn’s brow hardened, and she clenched her fists at her side. “You want vengeance. You want the world to mourn with you for what you’ve lost. And you want the power to make it happen.”
Sinevia clapped her hands slowly, a low cackle escaping her red lips.
“Beautifully put.” She moved her hands, summoning Shadows from the most obscure corners of the forest, and sent them spiraling toward Caramyn, who made no effort to move, but instead stood her ground and watched the darkness come for her.
Asterious held his breath, gripping the edge of a root so hard it snapped.
He could jump out now and let himself transform, driven by animalistic need to protect Caramyn and destroy these traitors, and kill every single one of them in less than ten heartbeats.
But then he’d be trapped forever. Fully darkened by his curse until all that was left of him was a bloodthirsty, raging beast. One more kill was all it would take to imprison him forever.
He had to trust she knew what she was doing.
The Shadows collided into Caramyn, before breaking apart with a deathly whistle and falling away as if burned, slithering back to the depths from which Sinevia had called them.
Relief flowed from Asterious in the form of an exhale.
At least he knew even Sinevia couldn’t turn the Shadows against Caramyn.
“Try again, Queen,” Caramyn taunted her with a sideways smirk just before dodging an arrow fired from Wyran.
“Don’t shoot her, you fool!” Sinevia reached across her horse and shot a burst of Shadow at Wyran, knocking his crossbow from his hands.
By the time it hit the ground, Caramyn had once again disappeared, and Sinevia’s fury roared at Wyran and the Shadow Soldiers ahead.
“Find that little bitch. If we have her, we have Asterious.”