Page 34 of The Ballad of a Bard

Osira Talon was a lover of all things beauty.

Sex, included.

There was no one that she wouldn’t have in her bed if she found them beautiful. Currently, it was Satori Marx, a buff female that held no fear when it came to strategic battle plans for an Empire that hadn’t seen war in centuries. Most nights, they were tangled together in her rooms, instead of in their own.

West was quiet for most of their walk through the castle and in the absence of speech, she took everything in. It was all so colourful, vibrant, alive. There were woven tapestries depictingall of the Saints hung on the walls, carpets with garden scenes unfolding on them laid about everywhere, and glass creations with flowers all over. There wasn’t a single drab inch to be found in the array of light and life.

Crimson loved it all, as much as she could love anything.

He turned down a corridor and she had to run to catch up after staring too long over the second floor that overlooked a courtyard. The floors were even painted, a wonderful display of all the Saints together.

She found him.

But he was easy to find, because even in a group of radiant immortals, he stood out. He always would. There, in the back left corner, he stood behind them all. Muse and Dream took the front center, on display for all to see in lavish gowns of seafoam and lavender. They were the exact opposite of each other, in perfect reflection.

Muse, with her slightly darker than West’s skin, and her golden hair that pooled at her feet. Her eyes were painted in an almost exact same shade, save for the hints of brown that stuck out every now and then. Dream was made of silver and aquamarine, and nothing but that. Her hair was nearly as long as Muse’s, if not a few inches shorter. Her eyes were molten steel, and her skin was that of the moon.

Imp was next, followed by Grimm on the right side. Grimm with his shoulder length blonde hair and tanned skin that suggested a life spent outdoors. A healthy glow, not a burnt one. But Imp was the darkest of them all, with curled brown hair that rounded their ears. Their face was painted half white and half black, a frown and a smile shown on either side. Green eyes that seemed to glow with madness, even within the painting.

Then she saw Heartache.

Exactly as she remembered him.

With her same shade of hair, down to the colour and broken glass eyes that represented heartbreak and heart power all in one. He was both sides, the good and bad of the world’s strongest emotions. His scarlet clothes were tattered at the edges, suggesting that he could always become unravelled at the fastest second. He was breathtaking, as she always remembered him being.

But none of them could compare to him.

To West.

Because he wore a simple navy tunic, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and there on his right arm, was a tattoo of constellations. Many of them, all woven into an intricate pattern of golden ink that wrapped from his wrist to his shoulder, she assumed. He was stunning, alluring in the way that the others tried too hard to appear as.

It took more than she expected to pull away from his piercing gaze of sapphire and stars, to catch back up with his physical form instead of getting lost in the painted portrait of them all.

West motioned for her to open the doors in front of him and she did, allowing him to pass through without a single word as he tenderly carried Cobalt’s wrapped form through. There was no sign of his strength tiring, or any formal complaint regarding her brother’s weight. He set him down gently upon the first of the many rows of cots, all empty save for two at the very end.

“Leysa, are you here?” He called into the room, untucking the blanket and adjusting the pillow so that her brother would rest more comfortably. “I have need of your skills!”

“Westley?” A feminine voice sang out from around the screen. “Is that you?”

“It is.” He confirmed and draped the blanket over the metalbed frame at the end. “I have someone for you to grace with your healing skills, unparalleled to anyone else’s.”

“I’ll be with you in just a moment!”

Crimson remained quiet as a woman stepped out from the wall, a few bottles in her arms. She wasn’t as tall as Crimson was, but almost the same height. Her hair was spun into a bun at the nape of her neck and her eyes appeared to switch between grey and black, darker than any other shade she’d ever seen before.

Leysa laid them out on a close-by table, wiping her hands on her white smock before heading for them and adjusting the spectacles perched on her nose. A chain connected to them, wrapping around her neck for close proximity.

“Now, who do we have here?” She asked as she examined Cobalt with an intense gaze that could only belong to a medicinal professional. “Hello, little one.”

“Hi.” He said meekly, diving under the layers.

“This is Cobalt Bard.” West introduced her brother to the woman with a smooth voice that was like melting chocolate. “He’s the brother of my… partner, and he requires the utmost discrepancy with the most care you’re able to provide.”

“Partner?” Leysa looked up at her, and Crimson felt the wave of heat wash over her once again. It ran along her shoulders, washed over her stomach and tingled in the tips of her toes.

“A recent development, I assure you.” He looked as though he almost rolled his eyes at her expression and sudden interest. “If it had happened sooner, you would have been told sooner.”

“I just never would have guessed that you’d be the sort to bring a girl back with you.” She continued to study Cobalt, checking his temperature, pulling back his lip to see the colour of his gums and observing his eyes. “Must be serious then.”

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