Kiss of Vengeance | 復讐のキス

Chapter 25 - Ink Rose

If you find any mistakes in this chapter - please let me know! x

I yawned silently, my eyes still shut but I had woken up from my dream. I knew I was on a horse, with the familiar feeling of bouncing up and down.

My arms were wrapped around the waist of someone and my eyes fluttered open. I looked up to see the back of Obi's head and sighed with relief.

I could feel his body radiating warmth, and his body was tense. I rested my head on his back, tightening my grip around him. He tensed even more, but then relaxed slightly.

We stayed in a comforting silence, listening to the sound of hooves scraping across the dirt, until I broke it.

"Hideki's gone, isn't he?" I asked, in a monotone voice and Obi was hesitant to reply, he just grunted.

I lifted my head up and looked at the sky. "Did he talk to you before he left?" I asked and he nodded.

We stopped halfway since most of us were tired at a nearby inn. It was extremely dark still, and was about snow. A few lights streamed front the windows inside the inn, and a few ablaze street lamps. However, these sparkling lights were not bright enough to fully replace the dull greys and blacks of the sky.

Once our horse halted, Obi dismounted it a few moments later. He began to walk off teasingly, until I shouted asking him where he was going.

He grinned, turning around and helping me off. I stumbled a soon as my feet touched the grass and shut my eyes, preparing myself for the fall.

Feeling someone catch me just in time. Already perfectly aware who it was, I grabbed his sleeve and  then opened my right eye. "A-ah! Sorry, t-thanks." I stuttered and he shrugged and smiled.

He helped me properly back onto my two feet, and I thanked him before staring at the building in front of me, there was a black sign with the words 'Ink Rose Inn' written in a beautiful cursive gold font.

"Your highness..?" I turned my head in curiosity to be faced with one the guards at Kalendra Castle. In the grip of his hands were two katanas, the engraved words in the scabbards immediately gave a way exactly what he was holding. "As of a request by your guests prince Zen and Izana of  Clarines I believe, I have brought you these. I believe they're yours." He handed them to me and I smiled, thanking him.

I gazed at my surroundings once again as some of the guards took our horses somewhere behind the inn, their hooves clicking on the ground. The rest of us waited for some of the other guards to dismount their own horses before entering the inn, desperately wanting to get out of the cold. I shivered, rubbing my arms.

As soon as I stepped in, the warmth of the air immediately hit me and I felt much more at comfort. I shifted my gaze to a teenager with this elbow against the front desk. He had a bored expression plastered to his face, but I could barely even see it with his black hair covering his right eye. His left, was a dark grey and once he acknowledged our existence, it gleamed and showed my reflection.

He stared at me and blinked a couple times before sheepishly looking somewhere else. I knew I sure as hell didn't look at all like a princess at the time, so they wouldn't recognise me. I noticed the tip of his ears turn a brighter colour and I looked away myself, fatigued.

One of the guards stated we would need four rooms, since there wasn't too many of us. Although I was the only girl, the boys would be sharing the rooms and I had one to myself. The boy who was talking to the guard's expression changed back to a bored one and he dissapeared into the back while the guard was in the middle of his sentence, looking dumbfounded.