Knight's End (The Knight Trilogy) (28 page)

“I’m sorry, Aston Smith. You are a fine man, but I can’t let you stand in Jade’s way.” They raised their blade, setting the tip against Aston’s chest. He looked up to meet the eyes of his murderer, surprised to
see a single tear slip from their
right eye. “I really am sorry.” As soon as the words left their mouth, Aston’s killer slid the bloodied blade home.

**

King Donn and Pr
ince Talbot arrived an hour after Aston was taken to the dungeon
. Jade was still seated beside her father, her nerves making her squirm in her seat. Talbot’s arm was in a sling, she noticed, but he smiled at her when they entered the room. Jade returned the smile, hoping Talbot hadn’t gone back on his deal with Aston. If there was one person King Donn would listen to, it was his son. Without Talbot’s help, she feared Aston would be dead by morning.

“King Donn, Prince Talbot, welcome,” her father said, standing to welcome his guests. Talbot bowed slightly and Donn gathered King Aric into a brief hug. “Donn, I have a few things I would like to discuss with you,” Aric began.

Donn held a hand up to stop him. “There is no need, old friend. Talbot explained everything to me yesterday morning. I’m sad to say I threw away my best knight without investigating the claims made by my son,” Donn said, surprising both Jade and her father. Donn sent a sideways glance at Talbot,
his eyes narrowed, and
at Talbot’s wince, Jade found herself wondering what Talbot had promised his father in return for Aston’s freedom.

“What are you saying, Donn?” Aric questioned.

“I am saying you should free my knight,” Donn answered.

Jade sprung from her throne and raced to Donn, throwing her arms around the man she had hated since meeting Aston. She then jumped on Talbot, careful of his arm, and kissed him on the cheek before rushing from the room. As soon as she was out the door, she ran into her brother.

“Jade! I was looking for you,” Ernst said, catching her by her shoulders.

“Can it wait, Ernst? I’m going to free Aston,” she replied, straining to look over his shoulder. The stairs leading to the dungeon were just to the left at the end of the hallway. She was so close, she could feel Aston’s arms around her already.

“That’s what I need to talk to you about, sister,” Ernst answered, ducking his head to meet his sister’s gaze.

She
met his eyes
then, her smile quickly disappearing. “What’s there to talk about, Ernst? I said I would help free him and I did.”

“He knows who I am, Jade!” Ernst said, keeping his voice low. “What if he turns me in? He’s a threat to this family!”

“If Aston was going to tell somebody about you, he would have done so already. He knows I love you and he will never hurt me. Can I go now?” she asked, spinning out of her brother’s grasp and continuing down the hallway. When she looked back, Ernst was walking away, shaking his head. She came to a sudden halt as she ran into someone else.

“Princess! I was looking for you,” Jacob said.

Jade sighed and frowned.
“So was everybody else, Jacob. Move, please. I have important matters to attend to,” Jade said,
exasperated. All she wanted was to hold her knight. W
as
that really so much to ask?

“Jade, your father hasn’t called off our marriage,” Jacob said, successfully interrupting her thoughts.

“He kno
ws how I feel about Aston
. This marriage will never happen. You may as well accept that now.”

“I’m not so sure
,” he replied with a smile.

“I really don’t have time for this, Jacob,” she said, moving around him. Jacob allowed her to leave, just as her brother had. She rushed down the stairs to the dungeons, taking them two at a time. She stopped when she reached the bottom. Beside the door, the guard was laid out on his back, his throat slit. Fearing what she would find, Jade entered the dungeon. She stepped as soon as she was through the door.

Then she screamed.

“When love is lost, do not bow your
head in sadness; instead keep your
head up high and gaze into heaven for that
is where your broken heart has been sent
to heal.
”
- Author Unknown -

Jade rushed to her fallen knight, quickly unshackling him and pulling his head into her lap.  “Aston? Aston!” She screamed his name, praying he would open his eyes. She wouldn’t even care if he called her princess, as long as he called her
something
! When those blue eyes she loved fluttered open, her breath caught in her throat and her heart jumped in her chest. He was alive.

“Jade?” His voice was harsh, choked.

She ran a hand through his hair, trying to soothe him.
“I’m here,” she answered, leaning down to place a kiss on his brow.

Aston sighed and coughed, placing a hand over the wound in his chest. “I love you, Jade,” he said, fighting to keep his eyes open. He had to tell her one last time. She needed to know.

“I know you do, Aston. I know. Hold on, okay? Help is coming,” she lied. Truthfully, she didn’t know if anyone would come. Her father was still talking to Donn and Talbot. Her brother and Jacob were long gone. The guard outside the door was dead. There was no help.

“I love you,” he said
again, allowing his eyes to sli
p closed.

Jade wasn’t allowing that.
“No, Aston, don’t sleep. I love you, do you hear me? I love you, Aston Smith. You’re a free man again. King Donn released you. We can go anywhere we want to!” she said, shaking his shoulders gently. Aston smiled, but otherwise didn’t respond.  “Aston,
please
,” she pleaded.

She had done everything she’d said she would. She’d traveled with this man, hated him, loved him, befriended him. He’d taught her to saddle a horse, to skin a rabbit, to make love. And now he was dying and teaching her heart how to shatter into a million tiny pieces.

As his heart stopped, she screamed, praying for someone to hear her, to
help
her. Her father appeared in the doorway, his eyes widening when he caught sight of his daughter kneeling in a pool of blood, a dying knight in her lap. Two guards came in behind him, the ones who had arrested Aston, and came to her side. She glared at them as they reached for Aston, daring them with her eyes to touch him. They looked to Aric for guidance.

“It’s too late, Jade,” the king said, coming to her side and grabbing her by the elbow. “H
e
’s gone, sweetheart. He’s gone,” he repeated, his voice soft.

Jade looked up into her father’s eyes and saw the hurt buried deep within them. She looked down at her knight and found his
midnight
eyes partly open, frozen, staring at her. She let herself break. Her father pulled her to her feet and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her from the room. No matter how hard she fought, he wouldn’t let her return to her love’s side. The last time she saw him, he was being lifted by the two guards, and not gently. She wanted to yell at them to be careful, but what was the point? Her knight was dead.

A strangled sob escaped her throat then as
the gate holding back her tears
broke, releasing the pent up agony she’d been too
scared to unleash. She fell to her knees halfway up the stone stairs; had her father not been holding her, she would have tumbled down them. Jade pounded her fists against the cool stone, wishing she could join her knight. Who had done this to her? Who had murdered the man who had stolen her heart? She placed a hand flat against her stomach, holding herself together when her world threatened to fall apart.

King Aric lifted his distraught daughter into his arms, carrying her to her room. She stop
ped fighting halfway there
, letting herself lie limp in his arms. There was no point without Aston. Aric set her on her bed and left the room, closing the door silently behind him.

Jade stayed where she was until her mother came to her, hours later. She was carrying a worn, leather sheath, a shining silver blade laid atop it. The sheath was stained with blood, undoubtedly Aston’s. Whoever had murdered him had thrown it to his side, as if taunting him, saying he couldn’t defend himself.

Jade
looked at
the queen as she floated closer
but didn’t sit up.
“What do you want, Mother?” she asked. She wanted to be left alone with her thoughts, her memories. She wanted to be allowed to fade away into oblivion.

“Come now, Jade. It is not befitting a woman of your beauty to mourn so. You knew the man hardly three months. Surely he could not mean so much to you.”

“I love him, Mother.”

“You mean loved,”
Queen Margaret
corrected.

Jade narrowed her gaze.
“I mean love,” she replied.

Her mother smiled, a subdued arch of her lips, before placing the bloody sheath on her bed.
“Your father thought you
might want this, though I’m not sure why,” she said. She gave Jade a gentle hug, which the princess did not return. Her mother knew nothing of love. A forced marriage didn’t show a woman her own heart.

“Thank you,” she replied.

With a sigh, the queen stood and left. Jade pulled the sword into her lap, marveling at its weight and size. She lifted it, wrapping both hands around the hilt and allowing the shining blade to reach for her canopy. It made her forearms hurt, holding the sword up, but it was a nice hurt.

After another moment, she
dropped the sword back down and slid it into its sheath. As she did, her bracelet caught the light. She allowed her lips a small smile as she pinched the silver sword charm between her fingers. She pulled her arm to her chest, wrapping the other around her stomach as she lay down again, allowing her tears to continue. She couldn’t pretend nothing had happened, as her mother was. Her mother had known nothing of Aston. She hadn’t even seen him alive! If her father died, would the queen mourn? Would she say nothing had changed?

Jade sat up again, eyeing the sheath at the end of her bed. What would Aston do, if he were there and she was gone? Would he sit around and cry, mourning her, or would he do something to avenge her? She took a look around her room, taking in the crystal horses she’d collected since she was a child, the pink canopy above her head, the matching silk comforter she was sitting on. She looked at her white wardrobe, still propped open from the day she’d left. Her wedding dress was hanging over her mirror, undoubtedly Matilda’s doing.

Jade stood and walked to the mirror, picking up the dress and holding it over her body. If Aston were alive, they would be making plans to be married, right now. She would have a reason to
wear the beautiful white gown. Instead, her mother would want her to go through with the original plans to marry Jacob. She shuddered at the thought.

She couldn’t stay here. She had no life in this palace, this
country
anymore. Her life lay beyond the castle walls, in a little cabin in the woods. Her life lay stone cold in the palace somewhere, being prepared for a warrior’s burial. Would King Donn and Prince Talbot take Aston back to Fridel with them to be buried? Would they return his body to his sister and father?

A soft knock at the door made Jade jump. She threw the wedding dress to the ground and returned to her bed before answering with a quiet, “You may enter.”

Prince Talbot walked in. His broken arm hung limp in its sling, and his neck was bruised from where her brother had tried to kill him. Talbot walked to her, sitting beside her on the bed, which shocked her. Even Aston had been more formal around her to begin with.

The prince turned to
her
, then. His eyes were red and moist, his cheeks holding clear trails where his tears had fallen. Jade was surprised; the man had never seemed to care about Aston before, when he’d ruined his life. What had changed?

“I wanted to apologize to you, Princess Jade,” he began. Jade nodded, encouraging him to continue. “I fe
e
l that this is my fault. If I hadn’t.. if I could have..” Unsure of what to do, Jade patted Talbot’s shoulder gently, careful not to jar his arm. Talbot reached up with his good hand and set it atop Jade’s. “This isn’t right. This isn’t how it was supposed to end,” he told her.

“I know, Talbot. I don’t blame you.”

“What will you do now?”

Jade looked away, thinking. She knew what she had to do. Could she trust Talbot? “I plan to leave Adion. I plan to never return, and I plan to find the person who killed Aston.”

“Do you have any idea who could have done it?” Talbot asked her.

Jade nodded. “I have guesses. For now, I want to leave.”

“Where will you go?”

“Back to Fridel, with Delgrab and Alys. I think they will have me, and someone has to tell them about Aston.”

Talbot nodded his agreement.
“I want to help,” he announced.

Jade turned to look at him. “Excuse me?” she questioned.