Wretched.
She stood admiring the armor for just a few seconds longer, and then continued down the hall wandering more uncharted sections of the castle, until she noticed a dark corridor leading to the western edge of the castle.
Do not go near the West Wing. It’s dangerous.
Maybe he had been telling the truth. It was nearly pitch black, and cobwebs and crumbled stone peppered what she could see of the corridor. But her curiosity called to her. She stood staring down the dark hallway, but thought of the prince, and their morning together, and decided it was best not to disrupt whatever small trust they’d started to build between them.
Then, as if on cue, she heard her raven calling to her. She turned on her heels and left the West Wing far behind.
26
Urgent News
Caramyn
The next day’s session was spent on the ground, where Asterious showed her how to cue the horses for things like rearing and trotting in circles and patterns around them with no more direction than a movement of her fingers. At the end of the session, he tapped the ground and his magnificent stallion lay down like a playful puppy by his side.
“Want to ride Alofreise?” he asked, patting the horse’s rump.
“With no saddle or reins?” Caramyn raised an eyebrow with a chuff.
“The best way. Remember, if you know what you’re doing, you don’t need any of that. We’ll just keep it at a walk.” Asterious reassured.
Caramyn hesitated. She feared Alofreise might not listen to her the same way Frasya did, but she wanted to try, if for no greater reason than to test herself. She walked to the horse lying down, and with an encouraging nod from Asterious, swung a leg over his back. Asterious gave a cue, and the horse tucked his hooves beneath him to stand. The motion of the horse rising from beneath her felt like getting caught in a wave. She grabbed a handful of thick mane to steady herself on the way up.
Asterious pointed and gave a voice command that sent the horse plodding along slowly in a circle around him.
“I can’t believe you haven’t ridden much in your life. You’ve taken to it quite well,” Asterious said, his eyes fixated on Caramyn.
“Well,” Caramyn took a deep breath, carefully weighing her words before speaking. “There’s a lot I haven’t done in my life. Growing up, my village was small. And I didn’t leave the house much. I’ve...been on my own a lot since.”
Asterious looked down at his boots. The horse’s steady walk became even slower as he continued the circle, and Caramyn watched on to see what the prince would do next. “It seems we have something in common. My father kept me locked away, too. In a place where the only company I had were the damned souls he sent me to kill.”
Alofreise lazily halted in front of him and stomped a hoof. The prince glanced up at Caramyn, squinting from the sun that made even his duller grey eye look starlit silver.
She felt her heart quicken. She knew all too well what it felt like to be alone and forced to kill. “But you broke free of your father. How did you do it?”
“Someone let me out.” Asterious brushed back a few stray locks of black hair that had fallen across his eyes. Then he looked back at the ground, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Someone?” Caramyn repeated softly. “Do you know who it was?”
“Wyran.” Asterious shook his head ever so slightly, almost with an edge of disbelief. “I know he can be an asshole, but in some ways, I owe him my life. I am only free—only here—because of him.”
She couldn’t fault him for thinking that way, for feeling some loyalty was owed to someone who helped save him. She couldn’t deny that she felt indebted to the Shadows in much the same way. Perhaps there was more to Wyran beneath that cobblestone exterior, she thought, though she still wasn’t convinced. So, she simply said, “No wonder you tolerate him and that grating voice of his.”
“Someone has to.” Asterious said, almost joking, but with a dullness in his voice.
“Where did you go once you escaped?” Caramyn said, trying to move on.
“I didn’t want to go far, because I still needed to stay close in hopes to find my mother. So I posed as a soldier at the training camps outside Felhold at the base of the Silver Spine mountains. They’re cold, harsh, and isolated, and the perfect place for me to go unnoticed. It was originally Wyran’s idea—to keep me disciplined and focused. I think it did me good. I’d been treated like a monster so long it helped me unlearn how to be one…mostly. If there were any who recognized me, they likely feared me far more than they feared my father. And as I trained with them, some became close friends.”
“Gariel, Riven, and Tyrios.” She smiled, almost wishing she could indulge him in her past the way he opened his to her. “Sothat’s how you were able to convince some of them to follow you when you fled?”
“Yes. When I heard the king was assassinated, I returned to Blackwynd Court to confirm it and to make sure Sinevia was safe. That’s when I noticed she was…different…and then she gifted me that thoughtful ‘welcome home’ cursed dagger. Thankfully I didn’t have time to tell her where I’d been hiding the past year. So, I returned to the camps to garner support. Most of those in Daemar’s army were there long before he betrayed the rest of the realm, and not all of them agreed with what had become of the kingdom. Some of them were forced into his army during the purge, either to protect loved ones or themselves. So, I suppose that was reason enough for some of them to see me as the better option.”
“That’s all very truly impressive.” Caramyn nodded with a teasing sneer. “Now you just have to convince me that you’re the better option.”
“For whatever reason, I can’t seem to stop trying.” Asterious purred, and for a moment, everything seemed…terrifyingly, suspiciously…safe.
