Page 22 of Ash and Roses

The woman who’d spoken is plump, but in a pleasing way—a way that I’ve never been. She eats well and regularly, which is a luxury no one in Lunae has had for some time. The man beside her is thinner, but the ripples of his muscles make up for it. He too hasn’t known starvation. At least not in recent years.

“Can you tell us your name?” the man asks in a deep voice. He looks like he could be the same age as my father, but the years have been kinder to him. Age-greyed hair falls in gentle waves that just touch his shoulders, and the wrinkles at the corners of his dark eyes portray a man who has seen both beauty and horror in his time. His dark skin is tight over his thick arms and chest, and I’d bet he could do as much damage with just his fists as he could with a sword. If this man isn’t in command of whatever this place is, then I don’t want to meet the person who is.

“Prin—” I cut off abruptly, because the last thing I want these strangers to know is my true identity. Sure, they’ve done nothing worthy of distrust, and their treatment of me now is evidence enough that my status likely wouldn’t change their opinions of me. Now that most of the blur has left my eyes, I can clearly see that this room can only be a royal bedchamber. The walls and ceiling are made of wood and stone, but the intricate detail of carved flowers painted in colours that are nameless to me and accented with gold is more than enough evidence of the status of the individuals that sleep here. Are these roses? Flowers haven’t grown in Lunae since I was a child, but roses were never among them. I only know of them from a book in Father’s library.

“Prin?”

“Yes. Prin.” It’s better than ‘Princess’ anyway, though I feel foolish for not just going by Abby. Either way, this could be my chance to start over. When I don’t return home, my family will think I’m dead. Sacrificed, just as Arabella’s dream had predicted. No one will look for me. This could be my chance to start over with Jade—because he’s not dead—and leave my royal title behind. I don’t have to be a princess here, and he doesn’t have to be Marked. We can be free. “I was Abilene’s lady’s maid. Abilene is—”

“We know who she is,” the man says grimly. “Was she traveling with you?”

I think back to Teagan’s torn body and my throat goes as dry as hers must be now. “Yes. She…”

“She didn’t survive the attack.” The woman finishes for me before sharing a nervous glance with the muscular man. “What were you doing in the forest?”

The lie comes easier than it should. “Lunae is starving. The king sent Abilene with an envoy to search for anyone who could help.” I gaze around me again, knowing full well this is a palace. “Am I in Marein?”

“Marein is further South. You’re in Rosewood.” Rosewood? Where the stars is that?

“I need to speak to whoever is in charge. Your… King?”

The two speak silently to each other with another shared look before the woman stumbles into a nervous explanation. “His Highness, Prince Quinn is away at present, but he will return in seven or eight days.”

“And the king and queen?” If they have a prince, they must have a king.

The man speaks this time. “Only Quinn remains.” The informality of his phrasing isn’t lost on me. This man must be close with the prince, but even Teagan would have never called me Abby to anyone other than me.

Oh, Teagan.

I shake the thought of her unseeing eyes from my mind. I will mourn her later. “Then I would like to speak with him when he returns. Where has he gone?” I know they won’t tell me this. As an outsider, and a lady’s maid at that, they have no reason to share details of their prince’s life with me. It’s odd, though. If his family is gone, why does he not call himself King? And why would he leave his kingdom for so long without a ruler? Perhaps they do things differently in Rosewood, but that’s something we would never do in Lunae.

I also need to get my hands on a map and see exactly where I am, because as far as I knew, the forest was empty of civilization. A band of people surviving off the land, maybe. But a separate kingdom? There’s no way my father knew about this. …Or did he? Entering the forest was considered desertion and punishable by death. Could he have been hiding something? Could he have been hidingthis?

The woman makes a sound of surprise, but it seems forced. “Oh, where are our manners? You’ve told us your name, but here we are prattling on without telling you ours.” I wouldn’t call what they’ve been doing prattling, but I wait for her to finish. “My name is Tess. I’m head of the castle staff. If you need anything at all, I’m your woman. And this here is Ruben. He found you in the woods.”

“You brought me here?”

“To the castle, yes.” Another oddly specific answer. What aren’t they telling me? “What do you remember?”

The details of the attack come back all too clearly. The screams, the Guardian torn in two, the sickening scent of blood.

The monster.

“There was a creature. It attacked us on the road.” It’s not a lie. They don’t need to know that I wasn’t traveling with the party.

“Did you see it?”

I shake my head and regret the motion instantly. “It moved too fast. What is it?”

Another shared look. “The reason Rosewood fell.”

“Are we safe here?”

Tess takes a seat on the edge of the bed and puts a gentle hand on mine. “You have nothing to fear so long as you stay out of the forest. The monster doesn’t come here.”

“I’m not worried about that. I just want to see Jade. Where is he?” Another look passes between them, but I recognize this one. Confusion. There must have been multiple survivors. “He’s my age with hair the colour of sand and striking green eyes.”

I wonder for a moment if they even know what sand looks like. I doubt they have much of it this deep in the forest. Even I’ve never been to the coast, but Teagan compared it to the arid patches of ruined soil blanketing Lunae. If Jade is in a room half as nice as this one, he must be losing his mind. I doubt he’s ever slept on an actual bed. Part of me hopes he hasn’t woken yet just so I could be there to see his reaction. If he were awake, he’d be here with me. Nothing would keep him away.

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