Page 16 of When Ashes Fall

Devnair ignored him as he kept hold of my chin. “I don’t think you’re easily destroyed, Briar. It’s in your name to be strong; you’re the thorn, not the rose. Insects don’t devour you, you don’t require careful pruning and care, and you won’t wilt or perish in a storm. After it finishes blooming, the rose falls away and disappears, but the thorn… the thorn remains ever present and ruthless. Don’t ever forget that.”

I gazed up at him in disbelief and awe as I tried to process his words. Did he really believe I was so strong?

“Why are you being so kind to me?” I whispered. “My mother did appalling things to you too.”

He released my chin, shot an irritated look at Dromon, and tugged my arm to resume walking. “You are not your mother. Knox knows this too.”

“He thinks I betrayed him by telling my mother about our plan to run away. That’s why he thinks he was captured and taken to the harem. That’s why he believes his entire kingdom was cursed.”

“Did you tell her your plans?”

“No.”

“Then why does he believe that?”

“Because she somehow knew all the intricate details of our plan. I don’t know how she found out so much information, but I never told her, or anyone else, any of it. While he was in the harem, she told him that I betrayed him and all our plans. The only way she could have known so much was if I told her. If our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t trust him either.”

Devnair’s forehead furrowed. “How do you think she found out about your plan?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure that out, but I have no idea. If she’d somehow discovered I was sneaking into No Man’s Land and cast a spell over me to learn what I was doing, she wouldn’t have taken the memory from me. She would have ensured I recalled betraying Seth and tormented me with it, but she never did.”

Devnair pondered this as we descended the hill toward the woods. “That’s an interesting conundrum,” he finally said. “If you ever discover the answer to it, you must let me know.”

“I will.”

“That’s far enough!” Dromon called from behind us. “It’s time to turn back.”

When we stopped, I stared longingly at the woods only a few hundred feet away. If I ran into them, there was a chance something might eat me, but I preferred to take my chances with the unknown monsters to the known ones in that lodge.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Briar

“Would you let me run? If Dromon wasn’t here, would you let me go?” I asked breathlessly. “After the harem, you said you owed me a favor.”

This time, it was he who squeezed my hand. “I do owe you a favor, but no, I wouldn’t let you run. My brother-in-law trusts me to keep you safe and to keep the kingdoms from tearing each other apart.

“If I set you free, Knox and Marina would be irate at the elves, and while the night casters don’t have as much power as they used to, and four shifters aren’t all that terrifying, I won’t sacrifice any of my kind to fulfill my debt to you. It is my debt to pay, not theirs. Besides, what good would it do for me to thank you for saving my life by letting you run into a place filled with monstrous creatures?”

I couldn’t have gotten free with Dromon following us, but I couldn’t stop the crushing disappointment filling my chest.

“I understand,” I murmured.

Devnair looked behind us to where Dromon stood fifty feet away. With their superior hearing, he might still be able to listen to our conversation, but I wasn’t sure.

“Now, if you somehow got free and came to Terra for help, I wouldn’t turn you away.” Devnair cast his voice so low as he spoke that I had to strain to hear him. “Eternals are allowed to seek sanctuary in other kingdoms; it rarely happens as they seldom have friends in those kingdoms to help them, but it does occur, and you do have a friend. My sister is also eternally grateful that you insisted on freeing me, and my brother-in-law loves her dearly.”

I stared at the woods as his words sank in. He’d help me if I got to Terra, and I would have the support of the king and queen of the elves; it was far more than I had seconds ago, yet it was still so very far away and impossible.

“So, all I have to do is escape the shifters, flee into the woods full of monstrous creatures, and somehow find my way to Terra. And that’s only if, and it’s a big if, I’m not taken back to Nightshade and imprisoned again,” I whispered.

He grinned at me. “Be the thorn, Briar, and slash your way through the flesh of those who handle you unkindly.”

“I like this guy,” Gizzi whispered into my mind.

“So do I,” I admitted.

“Dromon is coming,” Devnair said.