Roseblood

🍃Five🍃

Elang chooses now to swoop down from the branch he's on and flap close to Aura's head, not taking any care with his talons. The message is clear: Please shut up.

Thank you, I tell him as he perches on my shoulder.

Aura, meanwhile, gently presses her finger to the shallow cuts on her forehead and looks like the calm before the storm. "Watch your bird, or else next time you see him, it'll be in stuffed form."

I am tired of both trouble and this girl—no matter how deadly she might be—so I hold back from telling her that stuffing a dead Vinculum is like being buried with a gold tombstone.

"I said enough." Adam stabs his finger toward the stone building. "Roseblood, go back into the safe house. The Waveblood should be there to show you around. Air, you need to keep your mouth shut..."

His general's voice gets lost in a sudden wind—I wonder whose it could possibly be—as I walk to the said safe house. If a Sparkblood calls this small place a stronghold, then should I be worried? Based on what I've seen, a guy like that has no reason to be afraid of anything. Me, on the other hand...

Nope. I absolutely refuse to think like that. I just finished what could count as a conversation with two different blood types, externally unharmed. That has to count for something, at least.

Now that I'm at the door, this building looks a lot bigger—even at a stone throw's length it seemed smaller. Actually, it looks like a fort.

I'm calling it Fort Stone, for now.

"Hello?" Right away I notice the telltale signs of bad luck: the fort's door is unlocked—a sign if I was ever raised by my parents—the richly lavished halls are empty save for a maid, and the eery feeling I'm getting from here. I've just stepped foot in here and am already counting down the days until I can leave.

Days. Will it—whatever it is—take that long?

"You're the Roseblood," someone from behind me says softly. I almost jump out of my skin. Again. I really need a backbone.

I turn around, but there's nobody there. I look back at the maid. Did she do something? Then the closed door. Did the voice come from there?

"Below you," the same gentle-spoken voice guides me. I look down.

"How'd you get there?" I hiss. Looking up at me from across my feet is a boy. His upturned chocolate eyes, along with his cream colored face say that he's from the east, a Waveblood. Or at least I think so. I don't have the best view of what he looks like, and his hair is an unnatural shade of too-yellow blond instead of the black everyone says it's supposed to be.

"You're Brooke Tian," I say. "The Waveblood heir."

Brooke nods and mumbles something that I can't hear nor understand. I only catch the end: "...so do you want me to show you around?"

"Um..." I mean, he hasn't said anything rude or looks like he wants to gut me in my sleep, so that counts for something. "Okay?"

Wait. This doesn't make sense. After everything that had happened, I'm just going to go with a rival heir and complete stranger—not to mention a boy—all by myself? Either I'm very unlucky or very dumb. The latter works out better.

But, my inner "scratch everything" voice says. I'm surprised it took this long for it to come out. There's always a but.

Elang?

He fumes on my shoulder. I give his feathers a ruffle. Whatever mood he's in now, he doesn't want to talk with me.

Fine. After all, this prince is nicer, not really a rival, and my parents literally sent me off to live with strangers. I'm bound to have to converse with him sooner or later.

"Ready?" Brooke asks. I nod as he rattled off a short list of instructions, most of them too muffled to be comprehensive. "It helps if you go all at once," he finishes. "It should be safe."

Safe. Just like the ride here?

Something is definitely wrong with my mind, because I get on my butt and shimmy into the square shaped hole in the ground, Elang flapping behind me. The drop down surprises me a little, but it's nothing compared to the stacks of bright, colorful...

"Jewels," I breathe. Even the dimness of this secret hall doesn't diminish the bright piles of rare rubies, the hordes of silver diamonds, the stunning sight of clear gemstones.

The Waveblood nods and begins walking down the hall. I follow, and soon the amazement of the precious stones is lost to me as I manage to trip and fall dozens of times. I'm not sure where we're going, but if I stub my toe on another bedazzled rock, I'm not going to be happy.

"So where did you find this place?" I ask.

"In my room," Brooke replies.

His room. Right.

You chose a good one, Elang teases.

"Not now, Elang," I mutter. My voice unexpectedly echoes off the walls.

Brooke stops and goes to the side of a bare wall. He feels around it while asking me, "What did you say?"

"Nothing. What are you doing?"

"Trying to get us out."

"Get us out—?"

A sudden creaking noise finishes off my question. The wall that Brooke was on starts to moan, and...move?

Why am I even surprised anymore?

Tendrils of water swirl and push around the sliding stone, urging it back. Behind it, I can start to see a bed along with the mixed shades of a beginning sunset through a window. Already? How long were we down here?

Finally, Brooke opens the stone door wide enough for the both of us to go through side by side. He's breathing heavy and looks as if he is about to throw up.

"Are you okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder as the Waveblood heir starts to sway. "You didn't need to open it all the way," I say. "Not if it was going to drain you."

He just waves me off. Literally. Small pools of water gather around his hand like a glove, and as it moves little waves roll across. I smile at that.

Then trip and sprawl flat on my face.

"Are you okay?" Brooke asks.

Elang hackles. You are embarrassing yourself.

Hmph.

I pick myself up with what remaining dignity I have and nod. First an Airblood catches me puking, then a Waveblood watches me hug the ground. What next?

"Could be better," I answer. "It's been a long day."

Brooke purses his lips and nods. "It really has."