He couldn't quench his growing curiosity as he focused on the curving locks of her unruly bark-brown hair, barely bound in a loose braid. She looked worn, her eyes tired and her body thin, even for someone of her smaller frame. But she was fit. Certainly not too delicate. Despite her wild look, there was still something lovely and soft about her. And he still wasn't quite sure what to make of those eyes like gleaming amethysts. Of all the Lightborn he’d killed, he’d never seen eyes like those. His father would’ve ordered her dead on sight for them, regardless. But she was far more useful to him alive right now. A clue about his mother was the last thing he expected to find at the edge of the Shadow Woods, and he wasn’t going to waste it, magic or not.
They rode in silence, except for the occasional caw of a single raven circling above. Color had returned to her skin, a stark contrast from the ghostly pallor that had consumed her when he found her. But she still seemed far too exhausted and feeble to hold a conversation, as his earlier attempt had proven.
"She seems to be recovering." Tyrios spoke up from his left.
"What did she say her name was?" Wyran asked.
"Carmen, or something." Gariel carelessly waved a hand.
"It's Caramyn." There was a sharpness in the girl’s voice, even as she weakly corrected my soldier. "Ka-ruh-min." She enunciated each syllable through short, labored breaths.
"Caramyn,” Asterious ensured he said the name correctly, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible. If she felt well enough to correct her name, perhaps she could answer him now. “What you had in your possession was…is very important to me. And if you tell me where your home lies, I can take you there. First, however, I want to know how you found the ring.” He drew a breath, knowing his next sentence could come across asa subtle threat, but said it anyway. “And how much you truly know.”
Caramyn turned slightly in the saddle, cocking her head. “And if I tell you I don’t remember?”
Something sinister sparked in Asterious. Whether it was the truth or not, it wasn’t good enough. He’d already failed at what he came all this way to do. He wouldn’t let this all come to nothing. Not when it was the only hope he had left.
"Then…you have a long ride ahead of you. Because I'm not letting you go until you do.”
He felt the girl tense against him. "You’re taking me to your father? To Felhold?" She uttered, her voice frail but full of disdain.
"No."
"Then where?"
“When you answer my questions, then I’ll answer yours. But until then, you’re my captive, and I owe you no response.”
Caramyn grimaced. “How noble a prince to save the injured young maiden in the woods and then turn on her like a wolf. I suppose you really are as cruel as they say.”
Her words prodded at something deep inside him, something he’d rather not unleash. He didn’t want it to be this way. But if she was going to think she could fool him by lying, he had all the more reason not to let her go. She knew something. Shewassomething. And they were each other’s problems now.
He urged his horse onward to pick up the pace. The sooner they reached the witchlands, the better.
5
Cruel and Reckless
Caramyn
This wretched asshole, pretending to be the honorable one here, while spewing his threats like an entitled, petulant child. She would expect nothing less. But let him throw his tantrum. He was only confirming to her that he needed her information more than he needed her dead. At least for now. At least until she could get close enough to find out what he wanted from the Shadow Woods and kill him first.
He startled her when he spoke again, as though he’d been stewing on their last exchange.
"You think me cruel? If I were cruel I would have left you to die in those Woods. You were barely breathing. It’s a miracle the Shadows hadn’t already finished the job.”
“Ah, so you rescued me, all for merely the price of my blind obedience. And to be punished for not responding not to your liking. For simply not remembering what you want to know.” Caramyn spat.
“If you truly don’t remember, then it shouldn’t matter where I take you, should it? You have no home awaiting you. No family missing you. At least none that you know of, so you say.”
He wasn’t wrong. There was no town she could tell him to take her that wouldn’t turn her right back in. And anywhere beyond the Havenspeak mountains would be unfamiliar territory that she couldn’t risk crossing weaponless. If she told him to leave her in the Bleak Wilderness, he’d be even more suspicious…and she’d never learn what he wanted from her Woods to begin with.
She reached to pet the horse’s neck, desperate for something to distract herself from the painful sting of his mention of home and family. Just as she moved, Asterious grabbed her arm and whispered against her ear, his breath warm along her neck. "Don't think you can make him run away or whatever else you're plotting in your pretty head. He'll only listen to me." She ignored the tingle that fluttered down her back.
She peered down at the mighty black stallion below her, his hooves nearly the size of dinner chargers, and his ebony mane reaching past his chest in flowing waves. It was said the Blackwynds were known for their superior horsemanship, and perhaps that proved to be true by the loyalty of this stunning animal. What a shame for it to be at the command of this bastard, thought Caramyn.
"What's his name?" she asked.
"Alofreise." She was surprised he answered, and even more surprised when he halted the animal with a cue she couldn’t detect and dismounted.
