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Bree’s hands curled into fists, and her heartbeat slammed hard against her ribcage. How could he? She shook her head, mouth dropping open. “I trusted you. I truly thought you wanted to help our realm. But...” The blood drained from her face as a new horrible realization washed over her. “What else have you lied about? Do you actually even care about stopping theTithe?”
“The Tithe is a concern, but it is not my first priority.” He tightened his grip around the horse’s reins. “My first priority is winning the Battle for the Crown and following in my father’s footsteps by sitting on histhrone.”
“The Battle for theCrown?”
He gave a nod and flicked his reins, motioning his horse forward down the dirt path. “In our realm, we do not merely follow a normal succession for Kings. The eldest son has first claim, but any other fae with a claim may challenge it. Any male who wishes to do so will put forward a shapeshifter champion to fight in the Battle for theCrown.”
Bree’s heart stammered, and she understood at once. “You brought me here to be your champion. You don’t want to save Otherworld from an invasion, and you couldn’t care less about the human realm either. All you want is a stupidcrown.”
Hate began to boil in her veins. Prince Taveon was far worse than she had thought. Tears pricked her eyes, and a strange kind of sadness battled with the anger. She’d left behindeverythingto come here. And she’d only done so because of a lie. She thought that she’d be helping Princess Norah and the Light Fae realm, and that she’d be helping humanity as well by finding a way to put an end to theTithe.
“Do you even care about the Tithe?” Bree demanded. “Are you even going to try to stop it? What about the humans? They’re innocent inthis.”
He let out a chuckle, and unease slithered along Bree’s skin. “Humans are far from innocent. When I have taken the crown, I will turn my attention to the Tithe but not for their benefit. For ours. No more going through the Light Fae to get our energy. Now, you will be the hand that draws our energy.Youwill go into the human realm and do the deedyourself.”
Bree opened her mouth to argue, to plead, toanything. This could not be happening. She had voluntarily given up her freedom. For this? To be turned into a monster. To spread the virus. To act as a vessel of violence anddeath.
She would not do it. She would not become that kind of monster forthem.
“Halt.” Prince Taveon pulled on his reins and stopped short on the path, throwing out his hand toward Bree. Frowning, she followed suit, watching as he gazed around at their surroundings. Ravens soared through the skies above and silence rained down on their heads. Nothing and yet everything about it looked wrong to her. The moon hung high above, one that was so large that it seemed to take up the entirety of the sky. Stars sparkled, though they were dimmed by the brilliance of the moon. And everything around them—the grass, the trees, the river streaming by—was all doused in a silvery bluelight.
It was beautiful but also strange. Bree had never seen anything like it, not during her childhood in the human realm and not during the past few months she had spent in the realm of the LightFae.
“Are you able to transform into the beast on command?” Prince Taveon asked in a low voice that was laced with a dangerous kind of dread that make Bree’s bones begin to quake. Something waswrong.
“Sometimes,” she said in a whisper. “Not always though. I’m still working onit.”
He gave a nod. “If you transform, will you go wild or will Bree still be in that beastly brain ofyours?”
“I’m not fully in control. Notyet.”
“Then, we cannot risk it,” he said, swinging his leg over his horse and hopping down to the ground in one fluid movement. “Get down and stay behind me. We have been spotted by the Wilde Fae, and they will be coming forus.”
Bree felt the blood drain from her face, and her heart began to tremble in her chest for the first time since agreeing to go on this strange adventure. “The Wilde Fae? But I thought they were an Otherworldthing?”
“They are an Otherworld thing, and they are an Underworld thing as well.” He cut a sharp look in Bree’s direction. “Now, get down off that horse and stay behindme.”
Bree followed his orders, if only because she didn’t know what else to do. Hate still churned in her stomach, and the betrayal of Prince Taveon still hung heavy between them. But she couldn’t think about that right now, not when the Wilde Fae were coming for them. Her fingers itched for a sword. Even a dagger would be better than being empty-handed.
“Give me a weapon,” she said, not even attempting to keep her voice “respectful” as the Prince had ordered earlier. Now was not the time for that kind of thing, and all his lies had quickly caused Bree to lose any ounce of respect she might have felt. Not that she’d felt much of any before. “I trained at Otherworld Academy with Alwyn Adair for a little while. She taught me how to use ablade.”
He arched an eyebrow, clearly surprised. “For howlong?”
“A fewmonths.”
He grunted his response. “A few months isnothing.”
Still, he pulled a dagger from the strap around his left thigh and tossed it her way. She caught the hilt just before the sharp edge of the blade hit her shoulder. And then she narrowed hereyes.
“I’m not going to be much use to you if you kill me on the first day,” she said in a snap, whirling the hilt around so that the blade was now pointedaway.
“If you hadn’t caught it, it wouldn’t have killed you. You would have had a wound, one that would have healed easily enough.” He stiffened as he twisted toward the nearby forest, his eyes scanning the luminescent greenery. “Get ready,Redcap.”
Prince Taveon gave the horses a quick pat on the backside before turning toward the cluster of trees once again. The animals set off with a start, galloping down the path away from them. Interesting that he would even bother, Bree thought to herself. The Dark Fae didn’t seem like the kind of beings to particularly care about any creatures other than themselves. Sometimes, the Light Fae even referred to them as demons. Plus, there was that whole feeding on the energy of humansthing.
But Bree didn’t have long to think about the actions of her new master. The sound of heavy footsteps broke through the quiet night, and the crash of limbs crackled like gunshots. Bree bent her knees and braced herself for whatever would come next, and she tried to clamp down the fear that had sent her heartracing.
At least a dozen Wilde Fae broke through the trees. They screamed in rage as they barrelled straight toward the two travellers. Their eyes were wild and tinged in red, and their sharp teeth glinted underneath the brilliant moonlight. Bree swallowed hard and tightened her grip around the golden hilt. How would the two of them take on so many WildeFae?
