Rose of the Oath

  Chapter 9: The Key

  I flung open the door and sprinted into the darkness as my breath rasped in my throat.

  The beast… the beast had asked me to marry him! Marry him!

  Six months, and now this? My hand slipped into my pocket and clenched the stone Dachs gave me. What did the beast think a marriage would gain him? I already helped at the castle. Already cared for his wounds whenever I discovered them. It was because of him I was here instead of with my family. Because of him I couldn’t leave, couldn’t protect them.

  My boots thudded over the ground. Leaves stung my cheeks and arms as I plunged into the forest. I didn’t stop, didn’t pause until the warm energy of the barrier hurled me backward onto the ground. The beast could leave, yet he didn’t. I couldn’t leave, yet I had to. There must be some way. Dachs promised.

  I curled on my side, one hand pressed over my mouth to smother choked sobs. The beast’s gaze seared my thoughts. An ache tightened about my chest, working its way around my throat and burning behind my eyes. What did I care what he thought? What he hoped? I couldn’t marry him. I just…

  No.

  I gritted my teeth. It wasn’t proper, and I’d not agree to anything while I was trapped here. Perhaps if I was free. If we were free…

  “Elissa?”

  I froze.

  “Elissa!” Dachs dropped to his knees beside me. “What happened? Did he hurt you? Did—?”

  I shoved myself into a sitting position, glad for the gloom that hid the heat creeping up my cheeks. “No, I just… I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look it.” Dachs’s brow furrowed. He rose and held out one hand.

  I grasped it and pulled myself upward. “I needed some air.”

  Dachs lifted his eyebrows but didn’t inquire further. “Whatever the case, I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t expect you to be.”

  “Nor I you.” My eyes narrowed. “What has happened? Did you bring Eldric?”

  Dachs glanced over his shoulder. “No, I couldn’t. I…”

  “Dachs?”

  “It’s… it’s the beast.” He brought his gaze back to me, his brows knit with worry. “I don’t want you going back there.”

  I clenched my skirt in my fist. “Do you have a way to release me at once?”

  Dachs sighed. I turned away, squeezing my eyes tightly.

  “Don’t go.” Dachs’s arm reached in front of me to block my way.

  I rested my head against the rough bark. Dry moss tickled my cheek. “Well?”

  Dachs took a deep breath. “I heard something from a nearby village.”

  “More rumors?”

  “I know you trust the beast.” Dachs met my gaze. “But the stories claim he’s been around for decades, maybe centuries. Flitting through the shadows with that wolf-skin cloak, invisible in the night, wooing unmarried maidens who are never seen again.”

  My jaw clenched. No. That, at least, could not be true.

  “Who do you think made the valley invisible?” Dachs asked. “Why do you think he cannot speak?”

  My gaze jerked to him. “What?”

  “Perhaps the King did care. Enough to keep him contained at least.” Dachs watched me behind strands of hair falling across his eyes. “But does he know of your family yet? Your line?”

  My brow furrowed and I retreated a step. What was the scout talking about? Had he finally gone mad?

  Dachs rubbed his neck. “Your ancestry. I told you I’ve done some searching. More than a little. Records and legends and such. Your family is ancient. It traces back to the Separation.”

  My lips quirked. “As does everyone’s.”

  “Yes, but yours is different. Mother to daughter, in each generation. All the way back to Chriselda, the betrothed of the one who plucked the rose and caused the split between the King and the people of Aslaria.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Indeed?” Why did everyone care about the legend of the Separation so much? The Stieg der. The King’s Oath. We’d enough problems as it was.

  Dachs glanced away. “I’m not the only one who has wondered such things. Your beast seems obsessed with that time. In all the stories, guess which family he has been spotted nearby? Which family wolves attack with the greatest regularity? Which family—”

  “Stop.” I retreated a step. He was speaking too fast, his gaze too erratic. “That cannot be the only reason you are here. You’ve warned me before and you’d not come again just for that. Either you discovered a way to get me out or…” My eyes narrowed and my chest suddenly clenched. “Dachs, what else has happened?”

  Dachs glanced away. “It’s your village.”

  “Bruen?” I gasped.

  “Tauscher’s sights are set there. He will take it, and he will burn it to the ground.”

  “And Eldric? The girls?”

  “Eldric is far afield. The girls might be safe, but…” Dachs hesitated. “Tauscher doesn’t give up his prey for nothing.”

  I blinked. “You’ve seen him!”

  “No!” Dachs didn’t meet my eyes. “But word has a way of slipping out. I may have a friend or two who joined the rebels instead of the King. And I know what he wants; why he is here.”

  My breath froze in my throat.

  “Elissa.” He finally met my gaze. “Tauscher wants the beast.”

  I choked. “What?” No. That was… there was no reason…

  I muffled a groan. What had he said, the very first day? There were much stronger forces than I who wanted to kill him?

  “Tauscher is coming here, then?”

  Dachs bit his lip. “No, not in force. Like I’ve said before, very few men can see the entrance.”

  “You still haven’t told me how you can see it.”

  He ignored me. “The rose, do you still have it?”

  I nodded.

  “It is the key to the barrier. If you hurl it through, the entrance will open. Tauscher’s men will enter and take him away.”

  “Tauscher’s men!” I interrupted. “If you think I am betraying the beast—”

  “He has held you captive for months!” Dachs raised his voice. He dragged a hand across his face. “Do you think he hasn’t known of this way out? Do you think he stays here for pleasure, or because the sealed entrance is the only way to ensure his safety?”

  I pressed my lips tightly.

  Dachs lowered his voice. “I will not tell you what to do, but if you open the entrance and let Tauscher take this beast, to whom you, I might add, owe no loyalty, Tauscher would leave.”

  “The girls would be safe,” I whispered. I glared at Dachs. “And you? Would this make you safe too?”

  “No.” Dachs bowed his head. “I will have to find my own way. And not yet. I’ll stay with the King’s army to the last. This is for you. For your family.”

  I still scowled. “Then I thank you for the information.”

  Dachs retreated a step. “Be careful, my Beauty. Because the rebel isn’t one to care who suffers so long as he gains what he wishes.”

  I wrapped my arms around myself. “I’ll be careful.” That much, at least, I could promise.

  The inside of the castle was dim when I reentered it. A lone lamp lit the solitary figure of the beast sitting on the bottom step, his elbows on his knees, his chin on his hands. He glanced up as I slipped inside the house, but didn’t move, his eyes watching me. I returned the gaze, sifting, probing.

  The rose? All this time. For what? There had to be more. More than just his safety. Whatever he was, he was no coward.

  “I’m… sorry.” I faltered. “Maybe if… when this valley is free…” my voice trailed off.

  He rose. I retreated a step, but he didn’t move, just looked, his gaze so deep, so full. He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut with a grimace.

  I swallowed hard. “Why can’t you talk?”

  He blinked. Tauscher.

  “A curse?”

  A gift, twisted and used for evil. Yet even his power can be broken. He hesitated,
then pivoted and strode down the passage toward the circle of corridors. I followed him with my gaze, then raced up the stairs.

  I didn’t pause at my door but darted along the corridor until I swept aside the tapestry and turned into the mirror room.

  I closed my eyes, touching the mirror and focusing on Bruen.

  The glass misted over. Golden light spread across the surface, flickering in angry red and lurid orange.

  Bruen was in flames.

  It was over. Almost.

  Adrian strode into the study, slumped at the desk, and buried his face in his hands. Years of death, of watching, of refusing to give in, no matter the cost.

  The enemy was clever. Always so clever. All that was left was the final wrench of the blade. There was only one way. Beauty would only have one choice. Pray the King his earlier message hadn’t been too late.

  She had to know, before the end. A love to resist the cruelest fear, that was the price to be paid for the breaking of Tauscher’s power. He couldn’t ask it of her, whatever the cost. But she had to know. Know the truth of the King’s love. Know the power of His Oath.

  Adrian stared at the scribbled parchments scattered about him. Then, pulling out a fresh sheet, he began to write.