CHAPTER 14: Thin Air

  Ares jumped slightly when the door flung open, Damien’s chest heaving as though he’d seen a ghost.

  “Ares? What’s wrong?” Damien blinked several times, trying to clear the haze from his eyes.

  “I can’t find her,” was all Ares could manage.

  “Who? What?” Damien rubbed his face, half-convinced he was still dreaming.

  “Jade. Sh—she’s gone. I went to get her help with Eli, and she wasn’t in her room, or the library, the garden, the meadow…”

  Damien’s expression grew more serious with each passing second. Concern settled into his features as his gaze dropped.

  “You don’t think she ran away—”

  “I hope not. I mean… I don’t think she would, but—” Ares raked a stressed hand through his hair, a headache throbbing behind his eyes.

  “We should alert the guards — get more men on the ground,” Damien said, stepping aside to let Ares in.

  “No. Not until we’re certain. I need to find Madeline first. I think she’d know.”

  “You can’t find Madeline either?” Damien pulled on a shirt, then slid into his boots by the door, fastening his sword belt from the hook near the frame.

  “I can’t say I’ve looked very hard yet… but she’s my next lead.”

  Damien shot him a questioning look as he tightened the belt at his hip. “Isn’t there some spell you can do to find her?”

  “I already tried. Its like she vanished into thin air. Something is wrong, I only get a few paces at a time.” Ares exhaled sharply. “But I’m trying my best right now not to assume the worst — or worry anyone.”

  “Yet you came to me for help?” Damien shut the door behind him as he stepped outside into the cool night air.

  “I had next to no one else,” Ares scoffed, the two of them hurrying quickly up the road.

  “What about her horse? If it isn’t there, then we’ll know. Bone only lets females ride him,” Damien said.

  Ares nodded once. “For once, you’re using your brain.”

  They moved to plan B.

  Jade’s horse — Bone — was not in his stall.

  The guard on duty claimed he hadn’t seen the horse since a woman had taken him out several hours earlier, around ten o’clock.

  He was adamant the woman wasn’t the princess… but rather an equally beautiful wench with reddish hair. From the way he spoke, it was clear he’d been bribed.

  Both Damien and Ares knew exactly who he meant.

  Madeline.

  So they were back to square one — finding the maid.

  They walked quietly through the castle halls, heading back toward Jade’s chambers in the hope that Ares had missed a note… or some trace of where she might have gone.

  It had been an hour of searching.

  Ares was exhausted — but worry for the girl he loved burned hotter than his fatigue. Sleep tugged at him, heavy behind his eyes, yet he couldn’t spare a single minute to rest.

  He turned the knob to Jade’s chamber and swung the door open.

  Both men stepped inside quickly, only to freeze when Madeline gasped at their sudden entrance.

  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where is she?” Ares exhaled, relief lacing his voice.

  “Who? Me?” Madeline said, avoiding eye contact with either man.

  Damien strode to Jade’s bedside and ripped the covers clean off.

  Madeline huffed, planting her hands on her hips. “I just made that!”

  “You know exactly who,” Ares said, approaching her one slow step at a time. “Where is Jade?”

  Madeline rubbed her hands together nervously. “I thought maybe she’d gone to the library to clear her head. I’m just as worried as you now.”

  “Liar,” Ares hissed.

  “Out with it, Madeline,” Damien added, hands braced on his hips. “Her horse is gone — thanks to a wench matching your description. Spill it.”

  Madeline’s eyes bounced between them, unease written plainly across her face.

  “She told me not to tell anyone,” she finally admitted. “She’s safe, I promise. She wrote me a few minutes ago…”

  Ares’ shoulders dropped from around his ears, relief escaping him in a quiet breath.

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  “Where did she go?” Damien asked.

  Madeline shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why?” Ares’ voice faltered slightly. Gratitude that Jade was safe warred with the exhaustion catching up to him.

  “Why else?” Madeline sighed. “She needed time to herself. I tried to talk her out of it, but… I understood. She leaves in less than two weeks, and between having her heart ripped out by you—” she pointed at a defeated-looking Damien, “—and falling for y—”

  Madeline clapped a hand over her mouth, cutting herself off.

  Ares bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut, silently praying that confession had flown clean over Damien’s head.

  “Falling for who, Madeline?” Damien pressed, his tone trembling, afraid of the answer he was asking for.

  “It doesn’t matter, truly. What matters is that Jade is okay. We’ve been in contact, and she’ll only be gone a day or two.”

  An awkward silence settled thickly over the room.

  Damien dropped onto the blanket chest at the foot of the bed, his head falling into his hand.

  “Ares,” he said calmly — yet it sounded as though he held a knife to Ares’ throat.

  Ares sighed, debating whether to deflect… or be brutally honest.

  Granted, Damien was the villain in this scenario — the one who had shattered Jade’s heart chasing some twisted fantasy of another woman.

  So why did it matter to him now? The jealousy brewing beneath Damien’s surface made Ares wonder what truly lurked underneath.

  “Can I see what she wrote you?” Ares asked instead, pointedly ignoring him as his focus returned to Madeline.

  “Ares!” Damien’s voice turned bitter. Ares winced as though the sound itself had struck him. “Since when?”

  Ares straightened, glancing briefly toward the rafters before letting his gaze settle on Damien — who looked dangerously close to breaking.

  “Do you really want the answer?” Ares asked quietly.

  Damien licked his lips, on the verge of shaking his head.

  “I’ll find out eventually… right?” he said, his face going eerily blank — the practiced expression of an Iron Vow Knight on the brink of killing.

  Ares muttered, scratching idly at his cheek. “Why does it matter?” he lifted his shoulders in a frustrated shrug.

  “I know you’ve had an eye on Jade for years,” Damien said coldly. “But when did she suddenly get eyes for the likes of you?”

  The words struck like a serpent’s bite. Venom flooding Ares’ veins.

  He chuckled softly, brushing it off as best he could.

  “I think its been little by little over time… but when she caught you in your little rendezvous, I did what any good friend would do — I checked on her. Your mistake was the push she needed to realize the right man was me all along.” He smirked. “So I guess I owe you a thank you.”

  “You’re funny… There is no way she would ever see you as more than a friend.” Damien replied flatly, that blank, lethal stare locking onto him.

  Ares’ smirk deepened. “Her lips seemed to disagree — quite passionately, I might add.” He tilted his head slightly. “Strange, really… I'm still missing that shirt she practically tore off of me.”

  Damien shot to his feet, and in a blink of an eye had Ares shirt collar in a death grip. A punch hurling towards his jaw.

  Ares cast a spell instantly, freezing the attack mere inches from his face.

  “Idiot,” Ares scoffed.

  “Ares,” Madeline cut in, exasperated, “you didn’t have to say anything.”

  “He was getting on my nerves,” Ares said smugly. “Besides — he wanted to know.”

  “Let him go,” she murmured.

  Ares rolled his eyes, took his sword, stepped out of his grip and released the spell.

  Damien crashed into a side table, sending a vase of flowers shattering across the floor.

  “You could’ve spared the furniture,” Madeline sighed.

  Damien scrambled up, bewildered but furious, ready to lunge again.

  “Damien!” Madeline stepped between them before he could reach Ares. “It’s not worth it. Settle this later — out of my lady’s room.”

  He wanted to shove past her — but restrained himself, blinking the fire from his eyes. “Jade would never stoop so low. Her honor, she-"

  “She had nothing left to lose… Damien.” Madeline pressed a hand to his chest, forcing space between the two men. His eyes softened, a sad realization with her words hid behind them.

  No wonder Jade needed a minute, Madeline thought as she sighed. I should’ve joined her.

  “You both have to promise me you won’t tell a soul. Jade needs as much time as she can get out there — undisturbed.”

  She leveled them each with a hard stare.

  Both men nodded.

  “She's at Opal Lake,” she finally confessed. “Here, this was her last letter,” Madeline offered a folded piece of yellowing parchment from her pocket to Ares.

  “She went south… She's going after the dragon I- injured.” Damien's stare a hundred miles away.

  “What?” Ares and Maddie said simultaneously.

  “Hold on, you’re telling us you didn’t kill it? She is risking too much for a few words in a book. That dragon will kill her.” Ares tried to keep his tone even, but anger still seeped in.

  “When you told me about the legend, I told her the truth. If anyone can befriend a dragon, Ares, Its Jade. And if there is any way out of this marriage with Archibald, its with a dragon…”

  Ares took the paper, recognizing that it had been the ones he enchanted to send quick messages. He wondered for a moment when Jade had the chance to sneak them out of his house without his knowledge but, reading this letter was more important right now.

  Madeline,

  I made it to Opal Lake with little trouble. I’ve made camp, and am about to sleep. Let me know what goes on back home.

  I miss you. Give Eli a kiss for me.

  -Jade

  Ares stared at the paper for a moment, his soul hurting a little, a little betrayed. He knew she needed space, he knew this was important to her. But that didn’t stop the painful thoughts that she didn’t want his comforts right now, that he was part of the problem.

  Of all the risks she would take. It had to be this one.

  “I’m going after her,” Damien said sheathing his sword back into the belt around his waist. “She needs someone to keep an eye on her.”

  “Damien, she wants to be alone!’ Madeline reiterated. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

  “And that’s fine, she is safe at the lake, but that doesn’t mean anyone can’t lure her out. Anything beyond the border could be waiting for her,” Damien explained and started for the door. “The guard I heard from late last night mentioned a group of ruffians causing trouble in the Cascade mountains. Supposedly women have been going missing on the trails.”

  Madeline pressed a hand over her mouth. “I knew I should have gone with her.”

  “Wait-" Ares said, stopping all of them. “Damien and I will go, Madeline can be our cover. You can tell the king and queen that Damien and I decided to take Jade on a last hurrah before she leaves. If they know she is with us, they wont bat an eye.”

  Damien tossed the idea around, then finally made eye contact with Ares. “But she wants to be alone,” Damien rolled his eyes.

  “We can leave her alone…” Ares replied.

  “But will either of you survive that adventure?” Madeline folded her arms. “Can you try not to kill each other?”

  Ares looked at Damien with an arched eyebrow. Damien could only muster a glare.

  “I'm only out there to protect Jade…” Damien said. “Ares is in his own.”

  Ares rolled his eyes slightly. “I’ll be fine.”

  Madeline blinked tiredly “I'm going with, I get the feeling you two will need help keeping things straight,” she said more for herself.

  “We can leave at daylight. We would be better suited for the journey rested.” Ares suggested yawning.

  ??????

  Ares on a few hours of sleep, was packing a bag. Herbs and magic jewels, a spell book, an elixir for his on going headache.

  He stumbled when a sharp pain met his eye. He had to pause for a moment, rubbing the tender muscles around his eyes with one hand and clutching the edges of the table before him with the other.

  “Gah-...Perhaps I've bit off more than I can chew…” he scoffed. A picture he drew of Jade laid amongst the strewn potions and papers. “But this is all for her.”