Eventually after a while of walking, we got to a grove in the forest. I had never seen anything as beautiful in my life. The moon was above the grove and shining down on it like a spotlight. In the middle of the grove I saw a circle of white rose bushes and in the middle of them, there was what looked to be a statue of a couple, but it was so worn away that I could only make out the rough shape of the two people dancing with each other.
As we walked more I could tell that no one was in the grove but us, yet Adriel insisted that we were late. As we got into the center of the grove Adriel called out, "Come on, they can be trusted, show yourselves!" I couldn't tell if it was a command or if she was just yelling out to try to get them to come out. Sure enough, four people cloaked in black came out of the trees, all from different directions I noticed. One figure came out and hugged Adriel, she pulled back her hood and I saw that she had really short black hair and dark skin. She was short and had black eyes.
"I never knew that I could miss your orders! Anna told us you had been watching over the princess, but couldn't you have told me about it!?"
"Well, the "visit" had to have very few people know about it. If there are a bunch of people that know about it, the plan has a greater chance at reaching the Queen's ears."
"Yeah, I know, I just wish that you weren't gone so long. I missed you."
"Okay, I will next time. I'm not sure if you noticed or not, we have guests." Adriel motioned to me, with Raven protectively on my shoulder.
A man with his hood down came up and bowed down. "Princess Rose I assume." He looked into my eyes and I saw that his eyes were lemon yellow, I gasped and I thought I saw a bit of surprise in his eyes too, but it was gone before I could confirm that it was there. Raven cawed into my ear.
The woman that had talked to Adriel came up to me and stuck out her hand for a handshake, "Lex." Was all she said. I didn't mind not being bowed or curtsied to. I shook her hand and looked to the next girl in line.
"Name's Ace," She said, "Pleasure to meet you." I couldn't tell what she and the next person in line looked like because they kept their hoods up and masks on, unlike the male who didn't have either.
"I'm Grace." The last person said.
"Alright everyone, we're here to see if we can trust Raven to know about what our operation is. Feel free to ask questions-" She was cut off by the male.
"He's trustworthy." Was all he said.
"How do you know Jest?" Adriel asked, I heard Raven gasp. He leaped off my shoulder and transformed. He was holding his ax in his large hand.
"He can't be Jest!" He yelled outraged, "Jest is dead!" I could hear him struggling to keep his cool.
"Oh boy, how did I know this would happen?" The person who I assumed was Jest said, "Anna!" He yelled, I felt a person run up to me and just as I turned to see who it was, everything went to black. Just before I lost consciousness I heard Raven let out a yell.
Raven's POV(Bet you didn't expect that!)
After a girl named Anna was called I turned back to Rose falling to the ground with a girl standing behind her holding a pipe.
I let out a scream and then who I assumed to be Anna yelled, "Huzzah!" As I turned back to the rest of the group I saw that Adriel was in shock, and the other girls weren't much better. The only person who wasn't shocked was the man who Adriel said was Jest.
"I thought you said she would be safe!" I yelled at Adriel.
"I thought so too! I had no idea about Anna being in the trees!" She took a breath and rubbed her temples, "Jest why did you have Anna do that?"
"NO! He isn't Jest!" I yelled, there was no way he could be my closest friend, "Jest got beheaded by Peter Peter and died! If there was any way he could come back alive Cath would've done anything to do it!" I didn't realize that I was clutching the hat that the real Jest owned tighter and tighter until the man took the hat from me and put it on his head.
"Well then," He said to me looking slightly hurt, "Ask me something only the real Jest would know."
"Let me think then," I pondered what only Jest would know, then it hit me, "Who is Rose the real daughter of?"
The man slumped and had a look of defeat to his normally unreadable face, "She's the daughter of Catherine and me, Jest." I nodded accepting the fact that he was in fact, Jest. Meanwhile the rest of the group around us gasped in shock, I didn't really think about their reactions when I asked the question.
"How?" I managed a weak whisper. How could Jest be alive? How is he here? Does Catherine know? Does he know about Catherine losing her heart? So many questions and so few answers.
"My friend, you know that impossible is my specialty."
A/N: Yeah, I did it. I brought Jest back. I have nothing else to say about that. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you have anything you have to add to the story feel free to message me about it! I'll try my best to include it!
Signing off- PandaPhoenix05