Ashton Flare

A backup plan, that's what I always have been to mother and father. Azela was the perfect heir to the throne. But then she died. The country had started to crumble. Arieon and I were expected to hold it up.

Arieon has always been the smart one. He could sway over alliances and win over trust of the people by using just a few words. He was the better heir. I was not. I would prefer my flames and fists rather than words. But power had less use when everyone were your allies.

But now as I stare at the uniform spread in front of me, I feel important. That one piece of clothing proves everything I did is not nothing. For a moment I want to believe it given to me by father who finally saw that I always have been trying.

But it is not. This belongs to our enemies, those who killed the very man I wanted to impress. I quietly slip into the black uniform and put on my own pin. It resembles Rory's, a shield.

Her funeral is due in a few hours at sunset, after which Arieon amd I leave this place behind, no matter the risks. I do not have any plans beyond getting out of here alive but I am pretty sure my brother has it all figured out.

Katrin waits outside my door, her usual lopsided grin replaced with expressionless blue eyes and a strained sad smile. As hard as I try, I can not help but remember how she fell apart in the transport on our way back. Rory was like a sister to her. Unfortunately, I know the loss of a 8 way too well.

I half expect her to joke about how weird Luca looks in formal attire, but her lips are set in a grim line, as if talking would be considered a felony. While Katrin does not even bother to hide her feelings at all, Luca tries too hard.

"If Rory was here she would drag our ass back to the garden to train." he continues as we head south towards the small graveyard at the back of the compound.

The stories I have heard here tell me that they are all empty graves. All the bodies destroyed or thrown into the river Dark Creek, never to be found again. Even in death, they remain afraid of the Unscathed. A person from a right house poking at a wrong body can be disastrous for their mission.

I do not bother to hide my surprise when I see no less than fifty people at the newly burried gravestone. Rory will not be forgotten. Would anyone mourn if I had died?

Even Luca quiets down as we move closer to her empty grave. The same raven haired boy from yesterday stands in front of her grave with a blue rose in his hand.

Katrin finds her own blue rose along with all the other people gathered here. Luca slips me one too as we stand in complete silence. Not one of them says any words about her like we used to do back at the castle.

As the blue sky drips to red, it is time to let go. Hard as it may be, the raven haired boy kneels and places the rose on her grave, whispering words barely audible over the wind.

"The blue rose may mean mystery but it will no surprise when we make the Unscathed kneel. The Shadows shall rise to consume the flaming crown." the young boy seems to have grown in the past few minutes. He gets up, releasing a shaky breath and walks back in, leaving the grave and memories behind.

"The Shadows shall rise." everyone echos as they place their own roses on the grave and move out.

I would like to die as one of them, when everyone who comes to your funeral are neither plotting to grab someone else's power nor trying to exploit weakness in others to use. But I can not.

~~♡~~

"Flare finds Flare, Ash. I can do this." Arieon insists only to be turned down again. It is too dangerous, if the last time was any indication. I am not losing any of my brothers, period.

"Ashton, when has fear ever stopped you from winning?" he presses on. I refuse to let him use the tactics mother burned into my mind anymore.

"Ever since it ment my twin could die." I snap. Mother would say Arieon's plan would work, that it a risk worth taking, too bad she is not here. Even if Arieon was killed, I could still rule alone. And if I died, the cursed golden crown passes on to Axel. Weapons can be replaced. But Arieon is not a weapon, not to me. "We can find other ways."

He was not at the funeral. He did not watch a boy, barely eight years old mourn his sister while her drowning body is being consumed by the shadows of the polluted acidic waters of the Dark Creek.

"Besides it was your idea to leave in the first place." I whine but he just shakes his head as a mother would when her child says something stupid.

Why is my brother so difficult? It was already infuriating that Arieon went behind my back to talk to Leona about joining their cause to spy on them. Now he wants to stay behind, again, for it.

"You know the Shadows attacks will not stop until we are dead or fallen. Our army can not fight two wars, you know the Grawhearts are going to attack in a next few months. If the Shadow threat is not terminated by then, the flaming crown will crumble." he explains. I know he is right, but my mind betrays me and images of Arieon dead are all I can think about.

"You are right as always, brother." I sigh. "But I can not choose between you and Axel. The people here are dangerous but so are the snakes are court waiting to betray the crown the first chance they get."

Arieon takes a deep breath. For the second time I am forced to choose between two people I love most, and for the second time I let Arieon choose in my place. But that bastard can never seem to be selfish enough to choose himself. "You should go."