Heart of Ash (The Dark Arcane Series: Book 1)

Chapter Forty Three

With possibly mere hours until death came rushing in with claws and fangs, Ashyn stared at the Tegye San.

She wasn't sure what she'd expected from a mythic tree—perhaps nothing at all—but it wasn't a slightly weird looking plant with an identity crisis. Even though she found the yellow leaves gaudy, and slightly outlandish, she could admire the waving branches that swayed where they pleased, trailing their tips on the ground. The twisted trunk looked like someone had wrung out a wet cloth and let it dry.

She didn't feel like she was standing in front of a tree that harboured vaetterre in its purest form, where spirits went to after they died. She simply felt like she was standing in front of a tree.

The crunch of snow alerted her to Sariem making her way over to Tegye San, eyes looking up tentatively from under her curly brown hair. Darius strode just behind her, a sliver of finery and charm in this bleak forest.

She moved over as they stood a reasonable distance from her, prepared to leave but curiosity staying her feet.

There hadn't been a chance to speak to any of them alone yet, and there was a determination that seemed to power their movements.

Despite this, they stood in silence for several moments, just staring at the tree. From her peripheral vision, she saw the two of them share a glance. They seemed... close.

Then, like a feather dropping in an ocean, Sariem asked hesitantly, "Did you really kill all those people?"

Ashyn sighed, and spared a side glance at her. She looked as pretty as she always did, large doleful eyes and pouted lips, but there was hurt in her face. Betrayal.

She caught sight of Darius too, who met her gaze calmly. She tried to read some hatred or anger or hurt in his face but he was indecipherable, as per usual. If she didn't already dislike him for being the son of the bloody emperor, then she disliked him for being too good with his emotions. Now she understood why the witches always got frustrated when they couldn't read her.

She thought about her reply a lot, turning it over in her mind studiously, before she settled with, "Aye, I did."

They stood in silence for a few more moments. The leaves whispered to fill the air.

She struggled to understand why it was such a big deal—with the exception of Kade's predicament—because they knew she was the Ka l'asterei, hell, they knew she'd tried to kill Darius before, so why did this change anything?

"Why?" Darius asked. He seemed to have let go of the grudge he held for attempting to kill him, at least. But she could only grasp that from the fact he was talking to her.

The way Sariem looked at the ground made it look like she didn't want to know the answer.

Ashyn had to think again about how to word it; she didn't want to mess this up. "Because they were bad people. Because bad people killed my family, and I couldn't do anything about it. I don't have the resources to kill the emperor himself, but I'll be damned sure to kill whoever stands by his side, or may as well do. Every single person I killed was a threat, and I eliminated those threats from the world."

She didn't realise how long she could have gone on for until she sucked in a deep breath after she'd finished.

"You don't regret it, do you?" Her tone grew close to curious.

Ashyn fought the urge to laugh only because she actually wanted to maintain her relationship to Sariem. She regretted only one thing; her family dying. And with a huge weight like that, it was hard to see the point in regretting the small things. Regrets were weighted manacles you placed on yourself.