Briar and Ash Penrose
❝ Anyone can love a rose, but only a saint can love its thorns.
Love is the only rose whose thorn’s prick is sweet.❞
― Emperor Meiji
― Empress Shoken
While other forests and woods wear soft greens in spring or glorious colours in autumn, the Forest of Thorns is always dim and grey, no matter the season. Dark brambles sprout from the ground and climb along the tree trunks; should they prick your skin, you will fall victim to the Forest’s poison, and it has no antidote save that which the forest itself creates.
But within the fortress of the Forest, its Prince awaits in his Court of Thorns. He offers asylum to those who have nowhere else to turn, and the Forest fiercely guards those under its protection.
Prince Briar has seen all kinds come and go, seeking the Court’s refuge. Tired travellers looking for a night of safe passage; reviled beings who have never found a place to settle; even criminals seeking to evade punishment for their crimes, to whom he doles out his own justice. But even so, he’s never met anyone quite like Ash Penrose.
Ash is… confounding. From the depth of his faith in the natural goodness of all that exists, to the mystery that is his not-quite-human and not-quite-fae blood then to the dark curse that’s laid over all of that — Briar isn’t sure what to make of him, and it seems that the more time he spends with him, the more confusing he gets. He would simply have written Ash off as naive, but it doesn’t take long for him to realise that Ash isn’t quite the sheltered child he assumed. Oh, he hasn’t seen the very ugliest the world has to offer, but he has seen its darker side. He bears its mark upon his back, counting down to his death.
Ash is aware that he hasn’t met, or experienced, much of the world in the grand scheme of things. Ash was young and had only seen a small part of it all; an itch always in the back of his mind, pushing him ever forward. But, even aware of his limited knowledge of it all, Ash could confidently say that there was no one quite like Briar.
Perhaps some might pause, feel a touch embarassed, to admit such a strong reaction to a stranger. Ash did not. Ash found himself charmed by Briar from the get-go — once he’d given himself proper time to rest. Briar was… lovely, Ash could think of no other word that fit the Prince of Thorns. So insistent on debating Ash’s view of the world that he went as far as to point out how Briar, himself, could be ‘a bad person’; as if the one that had shown Ash such hospitality could be anything less than truly kind. Ash had always thought that he was in touch with himself, could say with confidence that his emotions were no secret, and yet…
When Ash had started to love Briar beyond friendship Ash could not say. It had felt, when Ash realised with a start, like it had started from the beginning. So slow that it had snuck up on him.
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[center][img]https://www.mycenacave.com/img/item/Watchful%20Woods%20Background.1577985255.png[/img][img]https://www.mycenacave.com/img/item/Rose%20Candles.1577985591.png[/img][img]https://www.mycenacave.com/img/item/Prodigious%20Rose%20Background.1577984833.png[/img][/center] [h4]----❝every rose has its thorns.❞[/h4] Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc ut congue augue. Vestibulum vel efficitur lectus, ut blandit dui. Aliquam erat volutpat. Vivamus a elementum nulla. Vivamus nibh erat, vehicula ut rutrum dignissim, maximus sed massa. Fusce at sagittis sem. Suspendisse magna nisi, bibendum id imperdiet non, vestibulum sit amet magna. Etiam eu eleifend ante, ac lacinia ex. Etiam imperdiet blandit faucibus. Nullam purus quam, ullamcorper ac sapien et, aliquet iaculis nisl. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Etiam laoreet sapien et commodo rutrum. Donec sollicitudin consectetur massa quis dapibus. Maecenas placerat pulvinar odio, non condimentum ex vulputate a. Morbi sed convallis lorem. [hr]