The Crimson King

Chapter 52 | The Beginning

It's the one you've been waiting for.
A.N. at the bottom.
Love Daisy x
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Chapter 52 | The Beginning

*

"Hands are unbearably beautiful.
They hold onto things.
They let things go."

- Unknown

*

IRIS

In that first night after leaving Aether, Iris cried herself to sleep.

It was a small mercy, that Gabriel let her cry on his shoulder under the material under her cheek was sodden with tears, and not once, did he attempt to find reason for her sadness.

Even if Gabriel had asked, she wouldn't have been able to put it into words. That she was crying because of her own foolishness. She was crying because, although her actions and words had been selfish, she did not regret them.

Iris could not unsee the moment Darius had pulled away from her, his grey eyes filled with a dazed sort of recognition, like he had finally realised she was standing in front of him.

So, perhaps it was that Iris cried most fervently because she felt as though she had left half her heart in Aether and relinquished the other half to her King.

And if Iris had left half behind and given up the other, what was she left with?

-

When Iris woke the next morning, she found herself surrounded by unfamiliar forest, and it struck again – the realisation that she had left her home, and those she loved, far behind her.

She lifted herself from her mess of blankets, her eyes red and puffy, lips cracked and searching for water. Grabbing the water-skin, she chugged back a few mouthfuls and then rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes.

Last night, Gabriel had led the way – sensing that Iris was in no state of mind to think clearly. They had decided on their location before setting out and headed in that general direction before Gabriel had deemed them far enough from Aether for Iris to be able to rest.

"Princess, you're awake." Her guard re-entered their campsite now, forest green eyes alert. He gave her a once over and she attempted to pull herself together. It had been enough for him to watch her fall apart last night; she could not do it in the morning as well.

"How are you feeling?" He asked the question cautiously, as though fearing she might explode.

She answered him with a bitter smile. "Better." She said roughly. Reaching across, she tugged her back-pack closer. "Can you show me where we are?"

"Yes." Gabriel crouched down as Iris tugged a map from her pack, unfurling it on the ground. It was a map that she had copied from the war map in the meeting hall, every detail replicated with painstaking precision. She had pieced it together from memory, and after taking references in the library. Gabriel had helped her to fill in the last of the missing details.

"We are here," Gabriel said, pointing a point in the forest that spread past Lunex. "We will need to head over the tail end of the Jade Mountains, to reach the duchy of Melusine on the other side."

Iris nodded and marked down their location and the way they had come. "Melusine," she murmured. "You said it was the one that was attacked by Shifters a few years ago?"