𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞

𝐓 𝐖 𝐎

𝐋𝐚𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧

Briéa knew getting out would never be the issue, it was probably the most seamless part of their night. The true challenge would be returning to Kelrose. Any sense of subtlety is long gone this late in the night. Their drunken laughs alerted the guards walking the perimeter minutes before they even arrived at the gates. Ahead, Briéa sees one guard turn and run towards the school. Probably to alert Mistress Ennell of their return.

Seems they're getting the special treatment tonight.

The remaining two guards stand at the gate. Magically enhanced staffs are readied at their sides. No point in trying to avoid her fate now. Briéa knows her friends will get a decent enough tongue-lashing, she on the other hand. Mistress Ennell is going to hold nothing back on her. Which Briéa admittedly deserves, she understands that.

They're stopped by the guards when they reach the gate. To bide her time while they wait for Ennell, Briéa and Reihan kick a stone back and forth to each other. Reihan giggles when she uses too much force and knocks the rock against the shin of a guard. She looks down, an irritated boredom on her face, and lets out an exasperated sigh when she eyes Reihan stifling her laughs.

The grand front doors of Kelrose open, the first guard who ran in, guiding two shadows towards Briéa and her friends. Even from this distance, they're threatening. As they get closer, Briéa catches the outline of two wicked-looking swords crossed behind the back of the second silhouette. Doesn't take much deduction to pin who that is.

Zaara, ever the dramatic. Were her blades really necessary at this hour?

When they're close enough and the illusion of shadow falls from their faces, the sight of the Thorn and her Shield claws through their inebriated stupor and sobers the four up easily enough.

Staring down at them is Ennell Havas of Dhorston. The Thorn of the Rose Syndicate, the most powerful mystic in the kingdom, only one sanctioned to wield two charms. She wears them around her throat. The clear crystals dangle from the opening in the solid gold necklace. For as long as Briéa's known her, Ennell has been a proud, elegant woman. Ebony skin smooths over her lean limbs, and if she were to grow her hair out it'd be in tight black curls. Ennell prefers to have them cut close to the scalp. The light of the moon reflects off the metal that lines the rim of her ears. Usually, an easy smile dances across her full lips. But tonight they're drawn tight. Briéa swallows under the narrowed eyes of the Thorn, it takes everything in her not to shift her feet in humiliation.

"This is bold," she takes her time drawing her eyes over each of her students. "Even for your four."

Her Shield stands close behind. Silent, as usual, Zaara de Asteril, crosses a pair of thick arms over her broad chest. The native Egaeyan is a mountain in the form of a woman. Tall and battle-worn. Years ago she aided in a civil war between the northern provinces. Earned her the three menacing scars that mar the side of her face. And even now her black hair is pulled back in its usual braid, the sides shaved clean. Briéa catches the glint of Zaara's deep garnet charm set in her silver wedding band, identical to the one Ennell wears.

When Ennell was ordained Thorn, she appointed Zaara to be her Shield. Zaara knelt before her Thorn and made a lifelong oath to protect Ennell no matter the cost. They would forever be bound by blood and magic. A few months after Ennell's ordination, the two tied their lives together even close by swearing to one another through matrimony.

Briéa's always loved their story.

But before the fondness that comes with the sweet tale grows too strong, she catches Zaara's eye. And if there was any tipsy bone left in Briéa's body, they dried right up at the scowl Zaara pointed at her, the woman's eyes darker than even midnight.