Page 79 of The Ballad of a Bard

Muse pushed off the counter and began to rifle through her dusty books. One’s he recognized from the library as she set them aside. “It would seem that our isolated Heartache tried to experiment and wrote his findings down.”

Of course it was him.

Out of all the Saints, only Heartache would dare to question and test the boundaries, the limitations, the verystructureof being a Saint.

“Where can I find his writings?” West questioned her, adjusting the top button on his captain’s coat. He’d shoved his arms into it before quickly exiting to find Muse, before he could find some way to make it work with Crimson that wouldn’t inevitably lead to his demise.

There wasn’t a choice there.

At least not yet.

Her smile faltered, and she didn’t answer for a moment. But then her mouth opened and she sighed. “With him, I’m afraid. It was one of the things he took with him before he left. He made one stop, to grab his things before taking off. I’m afraid you won’t find them elsewhere.”

“Of course they’re with him. Add it to the list of reasons to find him, I guess.” West contemplated how he could ask such a thing from the mysterious Saint. How he could even go about explaining to Heartache that he wanted to be with his daughter. “It’s ever growing.”

Which meant that they would set sail to find him before the end of the week.

Thirty Five

Crimson ran her thumb over the intricate veins that had been carved into the scarlet heart. There were blue lines and red, mingled together to create the anatomically correct look to the eerie pendant, down to the muscles exact details. She could remember when her father gave the pendant to her mother, on one of their lovely evenings together. When their emotions were thick and their passion was easily identifiable.

But she’d also been young, and foolish.

Because her father did not love her mother, otherwise he wouldn’t have left.

She had the overwhelming urge to throw the beaten necklace as far as she possibly could. To toss it into the ocean around them and never lay her eyes on it again. But then she would never see Heartache again, and Cobalt’s life would be traded in vain.

Getting rid of the damned thing wasn’t an option.

She’d already done that once, before she’d known the incredible power that the artefact held. Now, the only good thing to come of throwing it away, would be sure pettiness and the swiftflash of relief that would vanish as soon as she required it again.

Crimson held it up closer, studying the design on the talisman. Her heart fluttered as she drew it near and her mind filled with all of the reasons she wanted to see him again. Not why she hated him, not why she never wanted to see his handsome face again.

Crimson wanted to see him for Cobalt’s sake.

Crimson wanted to see him for Tazali’s sake.

And most importantly, Crimsonneededto see him for herself. To ask everything she alway wondered, to see why he left them. To ask him why he’d never come back or even tried to stay in contact. There was a chance that his excuse was shit, that nothing changed and Crimson made her peace with that.

But she had to know.

After eight years, her mind wouldn’t let her leave it alone. There were things she had to do, which meant setting it all aside for the sake of the greater good. Her own stubbornness persisted but she swatted it away before it could ruin it all.

So she lowered her lips to the heart, pressing them against the cold ceramic heart and whispered, “Come home, Dad.”

Thirty Six

When West entered his chambers in the castle to finish grabbing the proper supplies for their trip, he paused outside the doors as he heard the soft giggle of a young boy. Then followed a feminine laugh, light and gentle. His mouth slank upwards as he entered, glancing up as a black head of hair slapped two cards down.

“I win! Again! That means I get double the tarts I had last round.” Cobalt chuckled and held his hand out expectantly towards his sister who feigned shock as she clapped her hands on either side of her face and gasped loudly, dramatically.

“You’re just far too good at this game. I can’t even catch up.” She shook her head and reached behind her, plucking two lemon candies from the jar she had partially hidden and handing them over to her sibling. “I think we need to change the rules or something, otherwise you’ll never eat anything else again.”

“There’s something wrong with that?” He scratched the top of his head as she swiped the cards up from the bed, which appeared to have been jumped on relentlessly by the messy sheets and scrunched covers.

“You need more than just sweets, Blue.” Crimson tsked and began to shuffle the cards, folding one into the other effortlessly and dropping them from one palm to the other without a single one falling out of place. “Like carrots.”

Cobalt made a face.

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