Wake of Darkness [1]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

♕ Ash and Wind ♕

"I give up"

Taj threw the book in front of the dining table, which seemed to have become their daily meeting spot for the past couple of days. If Aubrette was being a hundred percent honest, it felt like they had avoided the topic for as long as they could. And maybe that was because of Izabella, who tried really hard to seem like she was not having a hard time but Aubrette had a gut feeling it had more to do with the fact that they all were trying to realign. Trying to make their lives fit into each other's like they had until a couple of weeks ago.

Aubrette turned her attention to Taj, who kept cursing under his breath, the lack of sleep on his face more noticeable than the day before, none mentioned it.

"I'm not getting anywhere with it, and we already caught her so that's it. I'm done" he said shrugging, closing his eyes and placing his head on the edge of the table.

Asher and Aubrette seemed to have the same thought because both said at the same time, "You're done?"

Aubrette cleared her throat and focused her attention on the meal in front of her. It wasn't like it was weird that they hadn't talked since his birthday, in all honesty they hadn't talked much at all before that. But a small part of her had thought maybe now they were friends, or something close to that. The prince seemed to have other ideas.

"You don't get to say you're done" Vereena said, pushing the book towards him.

"Besides, I hardly doubt she was working alone." Aubrette murmured. Sipping on her tea.

She had not allowed herself to think much of Deirdre, not when she could almost feel her presence clouding the brightness of Goldcrest, but she could not deny that all of this felt far from over. Even when it should have. Not a single part of her believed that Nerezza hadn't been part of it, or at the very least known what Deirdre was up to.

"Has anyone report any more disappearances?" Aubrette asked Taj but Asher was the one that looked at her, his eyes a darker shade of brown than they usually were. He shook his head. "So maybe she was working alone here then." She said. "That doesn't mean she doesn't have allies in Blackstone."

"We should talk to your father Ash" Taj said lifting his head from the table. Everyone stayed silent.

Aubrette dropped her eyes back to her meal, trying to avoid her brain from spiraling. How exactly would that conversation go? Would that lead her towards the king? Would he be able to tell who she is were he to see her? Aubrette shivered at the thought of walking back to Blackstone knowing that there was next to nothing she could do to take her home back from him.

Asher sighed. "No"

"He thought the queen was behind this and..."

"He used it as an excuse Taj." Asher said and turned his back on them. "He hasn't sent one single raven asking if things have improved here" he said, and his shoulders tensed up. "Maybe he was the one who took Goldcrest manuscript and made sure it disappeared" he said after a while. Aubrette frowned.

"That's not Goldcrest copy?" she asked, reaching for the old book.

Taj shook his head. "I well, we kinda stole this one from Westbrook"

"You did what?!" Vereena asked and almost stood from her sit.

"Well what were we supposed to do?!?" He said raising his voice. Asher sighed. "It's the only one left and we didn't exactly have the time to memorize it."

Aubrette passed through the pages, her fingertips trailing the single black page before passing to the other ones. All blank. Decades of missing history that would remain erased occupied more than half of the book, and then it caught up to the present.