“But… I think he’s telling the truth,” says Aster, even as Seraphina’s brows draw together in disbelief. “Although I guess he could’ve been nicer about the way he worded things.”

“Evidently.”

“Plus,” says Aster. “He’s Damien’s friend. I don’t think Damien would be friends with someone who truly intended to harm me.”

In the case that Gerard actually had it out for her, Aster has no doubt that Damien would be the one to deliver him straight to the castle’s dungeons himself.

The fact that he helped Gerard smuggle her all the way to the magic tower - even kidnapping Seraphina in the process - just to cover things up, meant that it truly had been an accident.

If Aster hadn’t been in such a frenzy earlier while trying to escape from the maze, maybe she could’ve noticed Gerard and avoided the plank in time. If she was just a little more aware of her surroundings and not so caught up in her own head, maybe they could’ve avoided this predicament altogether.

In a way, Gerard was right. Aster really had knocked herself out, out of her own recklessness.

“My lady,” says Seraphina. “You don’t truly believe him, when he says that you’re the one at fault?”

“Well…” Aster wraps her arms around her knees, huddling into them. “If I hadn’t entered the maze to begin with,  I would’ve never gotten lost, and then-“

“The maze?” Seraphina cuts her off mid-sentence, stunned out of propriety for once. “My lady, you entered the maze?”

“…Yes?”

“May I ask why?”

Aster wrings her hands together. “Well, you see…” She begins to launch into an account of how she ended up running late for her meeting with the queen, her voice dwindling smaller and smaller as she continues. “… and then I remembered what you said about the maze helping people who were in a hurry, so I- uh, went in.”

A beat of silence echoes between them.

“…I see,” Seraphina says eventually, voice terrifyingly even. Aster hears her exhale a small sigh. “Then… I am to blame as well.”

“No- Fina, of course not!” Aster turns on her indignantly.

“But if I hadn’t told you about the maze, my lady, then you wouldn’t have tried to use it as a shortcut and ended up getting lost.”

“But no one else has ever gotten lost in the maze. Unruly guests, yes, but none of the servants thus far, right? I was just… unlucky this time.”

Unlucky enough to get on the bad side of the nastiest spirit she’s encountered yet, Aster thinks to herself darkly.

Seraphina still doesn’t look convinced. “But-“

“Fina, if you’re to blame,” rushes Aster. “Then-Then we’re all to blame!” She blurts, not quite knowing what’s coming out of her mouth anymore. “You, me, Gerard, and that nasty sp-“ Aster stops short before she can out herself. Seraphina still doesn’t know that she can see spirits, and Aster doesn’t know if she’s willing to divulge that bit of information just yet.

Seraphina gives her a puzzled look.

“-and that nasty spider in the maze that scared me stupid!” Aster amends. “If it hadn’t spooked me so, I wouldn’t have been in such a panic to get out of the maze to begin with! And we wouldn’t be in this mess! So-”

Aster leans in towards Seraphina. “What’s done is done, Fina. Rather than fixating over who is to blame, let’s just think about what is to come. Like explaining this to Her Majesty.” Aster points damningly at the sore on the back of her head.

Seraphina frowns, looking like she still has much to say on the matter of who exactly is at fault. But instead, all that comes out of her mouth is a begrudging, “I suppose.”

Aster eagerly steers their conversation away from the maze. “It feels like it’s large enough for everyone to see,” she says mournfully, prodding at the bump gingerly. “Is it too obvious, Fina?”

“I can’t even see it, my lady. But does it still hurt?”

“It still aches a bit, but not as bad as when I first woke up.” Aster places the now slightly melted icepack over her injury once more. The cloth wrapping the ice is thoroughly damp now, soaked enough to have left behind a wet spot on her skirts. 

Seraphina purses her lips thoughtfully. “We have to treat it, my lady. Was the bowl you pushed away earlier a poultice of comfrey?”

“What bowl?” Asks Aster innocently.

“My lady.” Seraphina gives her a look.

“But it stinks! And it’s gonna stain my hair.” Aster clutches at her hair protectively. She’s encountered many stains in her life - thanks to a childhood of running amok on the Vastein grounds with Damien and numerous sparring sessions with her tutor – so she knows better than anyone else that nothing stains quite as bad as comfrey. Nothing.  

Aster doesn’t think herself vain, nor does she like her hair all that much, but having an awkward puke-coloured stain show on the back of her head for weeks is too much, even for her.

There’s a light knock at the door.

Moments later, Damien’s tan face peeks in. “Ladies,” he says. “I hate to interrupt, but it’s almost dinnertime and I wouldn’t want to keep you here for too long. Has everything been cleared up? No more misunderstandings? All explanations given? My innocence proven?”

“All good,” says Aster, while Seraphina gives a quick nod.

“Lovely.” He spots the bowl of comfrey on the floor, before levelling Aster with a bemused look.“Stubborn,” he sniffs.

 “It’s stinky,” says Aster extra maturely. “And it stains.”

“We can wash out the scent and cover it with fragrance,” suggests Seraphina. “And we can get you a hat for the stain, my lady.”

“Right?” Agrees Damien encouragingly, while Aster goes, “Not you too, Fina!”

“You need to get your injury treated, my lady.”

Aster flops back onto the bed with a groan. “This is bullying.”

“That’s a funny term for caring for one’s health and safety,” quips Damien.

Aster’s jabs a finger in his direction. “Quiet you.” She can practically imagine the amused huff that follows. “Oh.” She lifts her head up to look at Damien once more. “Where’s Gerard?”

“He left.” Damien shuts the door behind him, crossing the room. “Said he had business to take care of.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Aster tries to catch Seraphina’s expression. But her maid’s face is impassive, if unimpressed.

Damien plucks the bowl off the ground. “Miss Seraphina,” he says cordially. “Would you do me a favour and lend me a hand?”

“Certainly.”

Aster watches in confusion as Seraphina takes both her hands in hers. “I apologise in advance, my lady,” she says then, not a trace of apology in her voice.

Aster’s dread wells up like an awful, sticky tide as Damien begins to approach her menacingly, bowl held forth like he’s brandishing a weapon.

“No, no, no, no.” Aster scoots back to no avail, held in place by Seraphina’s vice-like grip.

“Don’t worry, princess.” Damien grins, teeth like knives. “It’ll all be over soon.”

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Aster tugs her cap further down her head. “Are you sure it’s not showing?” She asks again.

“Yes, my lady.”

Aster spares Seraphina a brief pout through the mirror. Beside her is a smaller mirror Damien, face much too amused as he stands a safe distance away, hands around the now empty bowl of poultice.

“Your hat looks very nice on you,” he says.

“Shaddup,” says Aster.

She gives the cap another firm tug over her head. It’s a soft woolly thing, woven with threads of varying shades of blue and topped with the largest, fuzziest pom pom Aster’s seen in her life. She can’t imagine Damien wearing it at all. But he’d probably look nice in it.

Much better than Aster does now, at least.

She takes another look at herself in the mirror, before huffing a sigh. “We’d better be on our way then,” she says, turning away to make for the door.

Damien grasps her sleeve before she can leave. “Hold on,” he says. He turns towards Seraphina. “Miss Seraphina, would you please excuse us for a moment? I need to share a word with Aster.”

Seraphina doesn’t respond immediately, the look that she gives him measured. Knowing her, even with all of Aster’s earlier assurances, she probably still doesn’t trust him, much less warmed up to him.

“Fine,” she says after a moment, eyes darting between Damien and Aster. “But make it quick.” She exits the room, not before giving Damien another warning look.

Damien’s face is bemused as the door clicks shut behind her. “She doesn’t like me much, does she?” He says.

Aster shrugs back at him plainly, hey, I tried.

Damien lets go of her sleeve, arms crossing in front of him. “So… do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Aster.”

Aster shrugs again, hand clasping over her forearm protectively.

 “So you don’t want to talk about it.”

 “It’s not that I don’t want to it’s just-“ Every time she thinks about what happened in the maze, it’s like all the blood in her body rushes straight to her brain. It’s like her head is overheating while her body is freezing. “-I don’t know how.”

When she dares to meet Damien’s gaze again, she’s met with familiar blue. Like sea glass and saltwater and afternoons in the highest maple tree, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world.

And suddenly she feels like she’s going to cry again.

By some miracle - or maybe just sheer willpower and the fact that Seraphina is still outside waiting for her - Aster doesn’t shed tears again. But her voice still tremors as she says, “Florian’s cheating on me.”

Mossa

hello hello! popping in to say that I'll be taking a temporary hiatus for the month of November to focus on uni and my last assignments of the semester (November is beginning to look like the death of me, but we shall persevere nonetheless :''' ) I apologise for my inconsistency with chapter updates thus far, but please be reassured that I have no plans whatsoever to ever drop The Vow until I manage to write it to completion. This series and its characters have a very special place in my heart, and my only hope is to them justice as best as I can :) In the meantime, please take care! And as always, thank you for reading <3 See you soon!