Honour or Reason - Book 1# in the Burning Prince Chronicles

Chapter Eleven

"She's not here, Your Highness," Zoysia repeated. The short shifter shook her head at him. Conlaed sighed. "What about Brilyn? Is he here?"

"Bri? Why, is he missing?"

The Mage looked concerned. Con hid a smile. "He's probably categorizing books for the Guardian." Zoysia scoffed. "You are a royal twit, Con."

"I've missed you, Zoysia."

She smirked and flipped her fluffy hair. "I know. I suppose I've missed you too, princey." The prince rolled his eyes. Ever humble. The Mage was in her usual disarray. Her shoulder-length hair was not in its lovely curls, no it was a bird's nest. Her locks stood out every which way and framed her small face in a pixie-like fashion that made her grey eyes shine with mischief. Her white robe was not pristine but covered in small stains and tears and the gold embroidery over it was picked and fraying. As a shifter, Zoysia had a habit of turning into a beast when she didn't want to be somewhere - this led to the terrible state of her Mage robes. When she first shifted in front of Conlaed, he had been arguing that she was as arrogant as the ladies of the court. She had pouted, and in a flash of gold sparks, in the place of the insolent girl was a raccoon. The shift hadn't mortified Con - no, it was the fact her clothes laid on a pile on the floor. From the raccoon, she'd turned into a falcon and flown about the Diamond House screeching. Unlike other Mages, she did not have one set animal she could shift into - her shifting was unlimited. When she finally soared back to the ground, her pile of clothes swept toward her and there was a shower of gold sparks. In a flash, Zoysia stood as a human before them, fully clothed to Conlaed's relief. At that moment, he had decided he preferred Aglaesha's bluebird to whatever the mess Zoysia was.

Over time, he and Brilyn became good friends with Aglaesha and her two friends. Con got to know Zoysia and Yaslin through the times he visited Aglaesha and Brilyn knew them through performing tasks for his master. Conlaed and Zoysia had repelled each other at first. They were both incredibly fiery and proud, so it was an inferno. Eventually, the two of them realized they could be fiery assholes together and had been friends ever since. Con was friendly with the handsome Yaslin, but he never considered they were friends. Yas barely talked to him, and when he did it was awkward and tense. Conlaed had seen him with the others; surprisingly he was particularly close with Bri. It seemed the calm gravitate toward each other. Aglaesha and Yaslin seemed to be good friends too; not that the prince suspected there had ever been feeling between them, obviously.

The five of them had a connection, whether they liked it or not. Conlaed supposed it was impossible to stop feelings from emerging when people are so close. They all knew of Aglaesha and Con's love for one another - it was the thing that had tied them all together so tightly - but his relationship with his beautiful Mage was not the only set of feelings blooming. Countless times he, Aglaesha and Brilyn had spotted looks passing between Zoysia and Yaslin. Intimate looks: they were sharing secrets with a mere glance. They had first noticed their odd demeanour four months ago. Before then, Con may have suspected Yas had feelings for Aglaesha - the flame Charmed Mage was beautiful and kind and calm and a listener and everything that Con wasn't -he'd had a reason to worry. He had brought up his concerns with Aglaesha numerous times, when he'd still been wide open to her. She dismissed them each time, vowing she only had eyes for him. She had whispered the last time he asked,

"Doubt the stars burn, Conlaed. Doubt everything you thought you knew. But please, never doubt that I love you with my entire soul. Doubt the stars burn, doubt the damned gods - just do not doubt me."

He never brought up the subject again. Her words... they had meant everything to him. Everything. When his eyes finally opened to the truth, he saw it. The love that passed between Zoysia and Yaslin. Countless times he had spotted the two of them; they had never been kissing or anything, only whispering, only staring. The first time he'd noticed it was when he and Bri had come to deliver some scrolls to Madame Danae - there had been so many of them, Con had insisted to help. Just as they spotted Zoysia and Yaslin in the Diamond House, the two had waved, then shared a strange look as their eyes flitted toward us. Zoysia's cheeks had turned scarlet. The second had been when Brilyn and Aglaesha were sharing insight on a history book they had both read - Con had been trapped in his bedroom with a minor sickness. The two, as Brilyn had explained, were returning the book to the House's library. When they were scanning the shelves for more by the same author, they ran into Zoysia and Yaslin. He had said how lovely they looked with their newly cleaned robes - the robes got specially cleaned once a month, which is the only time Zoysia's looked regal - and they exchanged a strange glance. The other times Con and the others had noticed their odd behaviour was Zoysia's birthday when Con helped put the locket from Brilyn around her neck, and King Maxum's funeral; he had seen both of them holding hands behind Brilyn. He hadn't told Aglaesha or Bri of that yet - it was not their business, anyway.