Flames of Auriel (A Caeles Adventure Book 1) (14 page)

She had lost her father, such a kind and gentle old man, he had always been too kind hearted, and in the end that is what had caused his downfall. Murdered by his own flesh and blood. And Alice, sweet proper, Alice. Always lecturing her on decorum, never giving up on the possibility that Zoe would be lady-like one day. Who knows, maybe if she had listened to her, she would have been married to the prince now and none of this would have happened?

If only she was more like her mother. Though she did not remember much about her, Zoe knew her mother had been a vision of elegance and grace, everything Zoe was not. She could not imagine her life without any of them and now they had all been taken from her. Even her best friend, Garrett, would no longer be there for her to lean on.

She knew they would never be able to go back to the way things were before. No matter how much he promised to still be her friend, there was no way he would be able to forget his love for her that easily. She could only hope he would find someone to replace her in his heart soon.

“Look at you! Quite the mess you’ve made of all my hard work!” Zoe glanced up at Rebekah standing in the doorway of the tent. “Come now, you can’t be feeling sorry for yourself all day, we’ve got work to do!”

Rebekah had run into Garrett on his way out. He had made her promise that she would keep the princess so busy she would not remember his name by the time he got back. Now as she looked down at the pitiful woman on the floor, she doubted her ability to keep that promise.

She knelt down beside their new princess and patted her on the back. “We have a saying here for when we have lost ones we love, would you like to hear it?” When Zoe nodded Rebekah closed her eyes. “This is what my mother used to always say to me after our father died,

‘Auriel keeps us safe and warm,

Camael shows us the way that’s worn,

Don’t fret or linger on the past,

Because the Dark One will take us home at last.’”

She opened her eyes to look back at Zoe, “It means don’t worry about those you have lost, you’ll see them again someday. I know it is hard to believe now, but it will get easier. It just takes time.”

Zoe gave a small smile, “How does a girl your age know so much?”

Rebekah put her hands on her hips and scowled, “I’ll have you know I am sixteen and by gypsy years I’m already a woman.”

Zoe laughed at Rebekah’s fire, happy to have found a kindred spirit. “Well Rebekah, as the wiser of us, what should I do now?”

Rebekah gave her a thoughtful look, and then scrunched her nose, “Well, first we have to fix your face. You look like a three year old mistook your face for a canvas.” As the young girl fixed her makeup, Zoe sent a prayer to Auriel would lead her back home, but not before she had found their revenge.

***

“I thought you said you could throw a knife?”

Zoe growled at Rebekah and missed the target once again. She had spent the last two weeks getting used to the camp. She had thought living with the gypsies would be a piece of cake, but she was starting to wish she had not turned down Randolph’s offer to use his tent. She had claimed she was perfectly happy sleeping with the rest of the entertainers, but Zoe had no idea their definition of a comfortable bed mat would leave so many aches and bruises.

She poised her knife again to take aim. “It’s kind of hard to concentrate with you circling me like a vulture.”

Rebekah had not left her side since the first day in her uncle’s tent. She had tried to show Zoe how to make her own meals, but that had been a disaster. Rebekah had shown her the stream where they washed clothes and bathed, and had laughed when Zoe asked her how they heated the water. She may have thought Zoe was not a proper princess, but she was still a pampered one.

“How do you expect to be able to perform in front of strangers if you can’t even hit the target with just me? A child could do better than you!” Rebekah grabbed one of the knives from the case and moved in front of her. She threw the dagger hitting the damnable target on the first try. She shot Zoe a satisfied smirk.

Zoe eyes narrowed at the girl and pushed her out of the way. She had beaten grown men back home and she was not about to let a little brat one up her. She pulled a blade from its place on her corset and threw it at the target, completely knocking Rebekah’s out of the wood as hers lodged into its place.

Rebekah clamped her hands, “Not bad for a princess.” Rebekah collected the knives and placed them into Zoe’s hand, “Now do that about a hundred more times and then we will move on to hitting an apple off of my head.”

Zoe gaped at the girl, “I am not going to throw knives at you! I could kill you!”

Rebekah just laughed, “Not with your aim you won’t. People aren’t going to pay you just to watch you throw knives at a stationary board. You have to do something to wow them.” She grabbed a cloth ball and knife from the case. She threw the ball into the air before launching the knife after it, the knife pinning it to a tree. “You stick with me and you’ll be an expert in no time. Who knows after a few performances you may be even good enough for Uncle Dolph to let you into the Autumn Festival at Greenwich.”

Zoe’s initial shock at the young gypsies performance, turned into horror. “What? I can’t go to Greenwich. Someone will recognize me!”

Rebekah grabbed the flustered princess by the shoulders, “No, they won’t. No offense, but you don’t exactly invoke thoughts of royalty anymore.”

She looked Zoe up and down. The princess really had changed in the short amount of time she had been there. Zoe’s once pale skin had darkened from her time in the sun and her hair no longer had its usual shine from expensive bath oils. The charcoal she had become accustomed to wearing now gave her the mysterious air the gypsies were all proud of.

“We are only going to the village not the castle. So you won’t even see any royalty there. Besides the prince is too preoccupied interviewing the princesses the queen keeps throwing at him. He won’t even be thinking about you.” Rebekah put a hand to her mouth at Zoe’s hurt eyes, “Oh Zoe, I’m so sorry. Sometimes my mouth just runs away from me. I’m sure he still loves you.”

Zoe bent down to set the knives back into their case. “It’s fine. I’m dead. What else is he going to do?” She willed the burning in her eyes to go away. “Asher has to protect his kingdom.”

Rebekah could really kick herself for her loud mouth. It took her a week to get the princess out of her grieving slump and into a semblance of a real person again. She had offered to teach Zoe the ropes of living as a gypsy and as a fellow performer, how to put on a show. Her instructions had proved to get the princess’s mind off her loss, but now she had to go and put the princess right back to where she was a few weeks ago.

“I’m sure it was all his mother’s idea. You know how the queen is better than we do, always jumping from one thing to the next. That woman really must slow down.” Rebekah laughed a little and looked expectantly at Zoe. “Besides, your boy Garrett will be back in no time and you’ll be able to come out of hiding and be with your prince.”

Zoe gave a hesitant smile, “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” She aligned her arm with the target, “Asher never did enjoy those dull women at court.” She imagined Asher’s smug face in the center of the target. She grinned to herself as the knife sunk in between his eyes, he better not if he knew what was good for him.

“Your mother made another chambermaid cry.”

Bryce picked up one of the arrows from Asher’s quiver and fiddled with its point. Things in the palace were getting a little ridiculous. The people were already talking about an invasion now that the alliance was dead. They did not need their leaders giving them more need to worry. Bryce sighed when Asher did not respond to his news and tapped him on the shoulder with the arrow.

“Asher, are you listening?”

Asher just cocked another arrow back. He did not show any sign of having heard his friend’s words. Bryce waved a hand in his face to break the prince’s concentration.

“That’s the fifth one this week.”

Asher frowned and realigned his shot. “And?”

Bryce let out another frustrated breath, he was getting nowhere. “And it’s all in preparation for her grand ball she is throwing for
you
.” Asher just quirked an eyebrow, “Don’t you feel a little bit responsible?”

Asher let the arrow go and turned to look at his pestering friend. “Responsible?” He grabbed an arrow, notched it and viciously released it. “Why would I feel responsible? She is the one who is trying to parade me around like a prized hog up for slaughter.” He threw his bow down. “I never wanted this, Bryce.”

Bryce frowned at his friend. It had been a little over a month since the princess’s disappearance and they were no closer to finding her. Everyone else had resigned to her being dead, but his friend never gave up on the chance that she could still be alive. They had never found a body.

“Asher, I know you loved her, but –”

“Don’t start with me Bryce.”

Asher had this conversation with his friend before. Several times over the last month in fact. He could not believe someone as strong and as stubborn as Zoe would just let some low account mercenaries take her out like that. It was not like her. She could outfight any one of his soldiers, including himself, though he would never admit it to her.

He had spent the last eleven years of his life trying to get away from her and now he would give anything to be near her again. He wanted to see her even if it was just to hear her yell at him or give him her trademark scowl. He regretted all the nasty things he had ever said to her and wished for the chance to say all the things he never got to say.

He would sometimes wake up in cold sweats imagining all the horrible things that could be happening to Zoe right then. Other times, Asher would dream of holding her in his arms, of making love to her. He would then wake up, hardness between his legs, cursing the Dark One for taking her away. He could not let go, not when there was still a chance.

Asher packed up his things and headed back to the castle. His friend hurried to follow in his wake. He ground his teeth when Bryce continued to pester him about his mother.

“She’s doing all of this for you, Ash. She doesn’t want you to be alone.”

Asher scoffed and threw open the doors to his room, “She’s not doing it for me. She’s just worried that if she doesn’t marry me off to another country’s princess, we won’t have enough backup if the Camelians attack.”

“You can’t very well blame her, Asher.” Bryce took a seat by the fireplace, his legs thrown up on the table there. “With Zoe gone and her uncle now on the throne, we have no hopes of keeping the alliance. You know as well as anyone that without the alliance we are helpless to Dederic’s armies.”

Asher started throwing things out of his wardrobe into a canvas bag. “I am aware of my duty to my kingdom, Bryce. But I can’t just pretend like the last eleven years of my life never happened.”

Bryce came up behind him and peered over his shoulder. “What are you doing? You know your mother will not be happy if you miss this event.”

Asher drew a hand through his hair and sat on his bed. “Bryce, I have to get out of this place. I can’t walk around these halls without thinking of her.”

Bryce sat on the bed next to him, “You should get out of the palace, Ash. The only thing I’ve seen you do is eat, sleep and practice.” He clamped a hand on Asher’s shoulder, “I miss her too. She was a pain in the ass, but she was still like family and you can’t put your life on hold for a whisper of a chance, you have to move on.”

Asher gave a small smile at Bryce’s apt description. Zoe really was a spitfire, which is all the more reason why he could not believe she would just go without a fight. He had to get out of there before any of the princesses started to arrive for the ball. Just the thought of making small talk with the dimwitted women made him ill.

“I know and that is exactly what I’m going to do.” Asher pulled the bag over his shoulder and headed out the door with Bryce trailing after him.

“But where are you going?”

Asher stopped to look back at his friend, “I don’t know yet. But I’m sure mother is going to raise hell when she finds out.” He waved a hand at Bryce, “Just tell her I’ll be back in time.”

Bryce looked at him worried. He was not looking forward to that conversation. “Don’t you want me to come with you?”

Asher laughed at his friend’s pale face, “No. Not this time, Bryce.”

Bryce watched his prince’s retreating figure, “Dark One guide you, my friend.”

***

“What do you mean he’s gone?”

Bryce winced as Queen Marie’s voice screeched through the palace halls. He knew he should have taken off right after Asher and left the queen to wonder where they went. It would have been better than the alternative he was facing right now.

Bryce held up his hands like a shield to the irate queen, “He said he needed time.”

Marie threw the fabric she had been approving for table settings up in the air. “Time! He had time, it’s been a month since our poor Zoe disappeared. Last I knew he didn’t even like the girl.” A servant girl picked up the fallen tablecloth and handed it back to the queen who jerked it from her hands, “My dear friend – Brom – is also gone, but you don’t see me falling apart, do you?”

Bryce looked around at the chaos that was the ballroom. He watched the servants hurry to set up the tables and decorations. They kept their eyes down and pretended not to be listening in on their conversation.

“He loves her, your majesty.”

Marie waved a hand at him and handed the tablecloth she had chosen to the servant. “Please, Bryce I’ve known you since you were at your mother’s teat, you know I prefer Marie. What do you mean he loves her? When did this happen?”

Bryce rubbed the back of his neck and threw a glance at the eavesdropping servants surrounding them. “Well, Asher’s only known for about a week before she went missing, but I think he’s been in love with her for a lot longer.”

Marie squealed and threw her arms around Bryce in a tight embrace. “Oh, my dear boy!” Bryce stumbled when she quickly pushed him aside, her eyes filled with tears. Marie put a hand to her quivering lip, “Oh, my dear boy…” She collapsed in one of the table’s chairs and ran a hand through her dark greying hair. “Oh, Bryce. What a tragedy. Asher learns he loves her just to have her ripped away from him in an instant.”

Bryce gave her an awkward pat on the back, “There, there. He’ll get through it, eventually.”

Marie jumped up and threw her hands up in the air. “Eventually! Eventually! We are talking true love, Bryce! You don’t eventually get over that!” She looked around the room in a panic. “Dark One forgive me, he doesn’t need this right now!” She grabbed Bryce’s pudgy arms, “I’m a bad mother, Bryce! You hear me, a bad mother!” She spun around the room and jerked cloths off the tables pulling them to her chest, “But it’s too late to cancel! The guests will arrive any day now!” She shoved the cloths into a servant’s startled hands, “What should I do, Bryce? What should I do?”

Bryce wrung his hands as he looked around the room. He was used to the queen’s wild tangents, but this back and forth was a little much for him. “Maybe this ball will be good for him. You know, take his mind off of it. He said he’d be back in time.”

Marie squealed and pulled his face into her hands. “Oh dear boy, I could kiss you, but I won’t because that would be strange and even I am making myself uncomfortable.” She took her hands from him and wiped them on her full skirts. “You will let me know as soon as he returns, yes?” Bryce nodded his head, still in a state of shock. “Good. Good. There is still so much to do and so little time. You over there!” She yell at an unsuspecting servant. “Don’t put those there! They go on the table by the buffet!”

With the queen distracted, Bryce made a quick exit. His friend owed him big time for leaving him there. He would have rather braved the Dark Forest than have another awkward encounter with Queen Marie.