Page 131 of Dare
Briar smiled. “Then it chose wisely.”
“Why?” interrupted a feminine voice.
Aspen stepped from the cellar stairs, her hood draped around her face. Dropping onto a humped chest, she cocked her head. “Why did this place choose you? Why you, over anyone else? What makes you more special than other people?”
Briar’s expression sobered. She opened her mouth to reproach the girl, but I set my palm on the princess’s shoulder, quieting her.
For a moment, bafflement lurched in my gut. I peered at the girl, who held her breath in anticipation. She had a snarky tongue, which I liked. Although her appearance with the First Knight had startled me, the rainforest surely had approved of their presence, and I’d been delighted to meet them.
Honesty had radiated from the soldier. Because of that and his otherworldly bond with the elements, I felt an immediate kinship with him. Besides, Poet and Briar trusted the knight, and they’d needed the backup, and he would not betray them.
Neither would this girl. This mystery female, who had vine patterns twining across her skin, as though she were made of trees. I’d seen glimpses here and there from under her sleeve.
She wasn’t asking this question to be mean. She was asking to understand.
This returned me once more to Jeryn’s questions. What did I think the quest would be? Which part of me was suited to the mission? Without the key’s help, I still didn’t know how to respond.
But I did understand the ultimate goal.
Flattening the parchment against a wall, I scripted my reply. If I’d been given a choice, I would have asked the rainforest to give sanctuary to my tower mates instead of me. And if I were selfish, I would keep this land to myself, hide away, and do nothing. Fated I may be, but this quest isn’t about me. It’s about born souls.
Aspen stood and inched nearer to read the page. She pursed her mouth in contemplation, then shrugged. “Well okay, then.”
We exchanged grins. My mouth flashed teeth, and her lips curled, a beauty mark tucked above her upper lip.
An investigative expression crossed the girl’s face. “So you’re a sand drifter, right? And you uncovered these ruins? The tales say drifters know how to discover relics and things. In that case, how do you track down something that … that doesn’t want to be found?”
Briar tilted her head. “Such as?”
“Nothing specific.” Aspen shrugged. “Just curious.”
She wasn’t just curious, but the princess and I didn’t probe. We respected a person’s sacred yearnings and knew the value of protecting one’s secrets, much like those exquisite physical traits she kept hidden.
Pensive, I thought about her question and wrote, You go where people don’t think to look. Or sometimes where they don’t dare to search. And you follow your heartbeat.
From under the hood, the girl’s eyebrows seemed to crinkle, but she accepted that answer. Then her attention strayed to the trove of patterns and fabrics.
Intrigued, she strutted to a case of bangles. “So where else has your heartbeat led you?” Picking one of the bracelets from the pile, she swung it like a hoop. “Bet he’s got long hair and a face that could cut glass.”
She’d only been teasing. But the instant my throat bobbed, Aspen ceased toying with the bauble. Her head panned to Briar, who studied me gingerly. Because they had witnessed the quarrel between me and Jeryn, they wavered, uncertain if I wanted to talk about my connection to the prince.
My quill shook across the parchment, the question meant for Briar. When did you know?
The princess’s eyes gleamed. Her freckles darkened along with her blush, but she did nothing to contain the smile stretching across her face. Passion filled her voice like an ocean—deep and eternal—as her gaze became remote, diving into unseen memories.
“I desired Poet when I first saw him dance.” A rueful chuckle slipped from her mouth. “Though, I would have never admitted it. But that desire only grew with every moment in his presence—an orchid garden, a hidden cottage, a night when we crossed paths in the kitchen, when I nearly succumbed to that yearning.”
For a moment, she whispered to herself more than to anyone else. “If he’d struck that water glass from my hand and hauled me forward, I wouldn’t have stopped him.”
Briar flushed anew, remembering Aspen’s presence. “I admired Poet when I met his son. I melted for him when we first kissed in the mud.”
“I’m sorry,” Aspen interrupted, raising her hand. “Did you say, in the mud?”
After we finished chuckling, Briar marveled, “I yearned for Poet every second after that, whenever he shocked me, inspired me, empowered me, seduced me, provoked me, infuriated me, touched me. I fell in love when I hurt him. I fell in love when I lost him. I fell in love when we were in jail. I fell in love when we were free again. I fell in love more than once, repeatedly, constantly.” She traced her ribbon bracelet, her irises swirling with heat and devotion. “And one night in a forest, that love became unbreakable.”
From the depth of her voice alone, I knew what had happened. It was the same turbulent thing that had erupted between me and Jeryn in the ocean. I wondered if Briar would have conveyed more about that night with Poet, had Aspen not been listening.
The princess turned to me. “You will have that too. If you don’t already.”