Page 33 of The Ballad of a Bard

“It’s me, Blue.” She let out a sigh of relief that he was still alive. West seemed to take note of it. “I’ve brought someone that can help you.”

“You’re all the help I need.” Cobalt responded, shifting over in the cot. “We don’tneedanyone else. We’veneverneeded anyone else.”

West’s handsome features fell into a painting of sadness, mixed with sorrow and a dash of rage that all mixed into one. His jaw flexed, as if he held something else back, something itching at the surface of his skin. His hand curled inwards, muscles jumping at his white knuckles.

“I know.” Crimson found him, checking his pulse and running a hand over his forehead, looking for any sign of a fever. It was warm, but not overly so. “But he has access to supplies that we can’t afford. We’re going to go with him now, okay?”

He peered up at her with concern. “Are you coming too?”

“I wouldn’t dream of separating the two of you.” West swiftly answered for her. “You’ll be taken care of, as will she. I promise that neither of you will want for nothing ever again.”

Her heart leapt into her chest at his sincere vow, the way he smiled down at her brother. Her breathing steadied out to a strange pace, one that she’d never felt before as her lungs constricted and her head spun like thread on a loom.

“Thank you.” She whispered up at him from her place on the bed.

He nodded as if what he offered her was nothing and knelt before Cobalt. “Hello, Cobalt. I’m West. Like a compass direction.” He took her brother’s hand in his and shook gently. “You’re going to come live at the palace with us now, alright?”

“You’re tall.” Cobalt giggled. “Crimson’s almost the samelevel as you.” His arms came up as he pretended to measure, squinting to gain a better view.

“I am, and she is.” His teeth peeked out from his lip. He swivelled his chin in her direction, addressing her. “Go pack whatever you wish to take with you. I won’t rent this room out to anyone else, but it’ll be a while before you can come back here. I’ll look after him until you’re done.”

She pushed off the bed and found another knapsack along the kitchen wall. Her hands trembled as she began to shove items into it, things they wouldn’t be able to live without. Clothes for both of them, mostly. A few books that she couldn’t live without, as books seemed to be her only saving grace in this terrible world full of miserable things and horrible people.

When she came back into the main room, her bag with Red Lyric’s items slung over one shoulder, and the other knapsack on her right, she stopped before West. He held Cobalt in his arms, carried like a babe fresh out of the womb. A blanket was wrapped around his frail body, keeping the chill of the night away.

“There’s one condition I need to make you aware of before you agree to coming with me.” He informed her slowly, as if he was unsure of her reaction. “I had to inform Altivar about our arrangement. Not all the details, but that you would be moving into the palace with me. I didn’t want him to stumble upon you and become the stupid twat I know him to be.”

“Stupid twat?” She raised an eyebrow.

His face almost became crimson, something that made him appear like a flustered mortal man. “He- He won’t try to make a move on you if he thinks that you belong to someone else. So I told him that you and I, were…romanticallyinvolved.”

Honestly, it was a passable excuse.

Especially when he looked likethat.

West was the sort of beauty found in the rarest of gems, the most clear of waterfalls and the ineffable stars in the night sky. He was alluring in the way that one always wanted to look into the sun, even if it might blind them in the end. She could easily see herself falling for him, madly, deeply, eternally.

She might already be falling for him.

“I see.” Crimson pressed out. “Did he buy it?”

“A little too easily, in my opinion.” West abashedly admitted. “But that’s a good thing. It means that he hopefully won’t try to pry any further. But he is the Prince. Which means that people report to him, regardless of location in the castle.”

She thought she understood where he was going with this. “You want me to pretend that we’re together, whenever we’re seen together in public.”

“I do. I promise that I’ll never bring anyone back to our room, and if it’s such a desperate,primalneed that I can’t seem to help myself, then I’ll stay in one of my rooms here for the night. Keep it out of the palace and anyone who could possibly report back to him.” He hoisted Cobalt even closer, not seeming as if his weight bothered him at all. “But I rarely take someone to my bed, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

She didn’t want to let her mind even venture in the direction of imagining West in bed. Or the things he would undoubtedly do to whomever joined him. It was a treacherous path that would only cause her to spiral. If she found herself falling in that direction, then it would be a hard recovery to bring her back into the real world and not the one of her daydreams. Sometimes she feared falling, because there had never been anyone to catch her before.

Instead of letting herself fall like that, Crimson dared to ask, “Is Prince Altivar really that dangerous of a person?”

West looked her dead on, unflinching and unfaltering inhis gaze. An unregistered shiver went down her spine, and not in a good way.

He was low, warning as he said, “Altivar is one of the most dangerous people I’ve ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with.”

Fourteen

Crimson wasn’t sure what she thought the castle would be like, but it most certainly wasn’t this. The ivory towers that turned into dome peaks, covered in gold, silver and bronze. It was stunning, an absolute work of art. There were no other words to describe it as West carried Cobalt through the halls. He pointed out certain areas to her, including the Empress’s chambers and his co captain, who mostly occupied the Empress’s chambers.

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