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I closed my eyes and whispered a string of musical, otherwordly words, raising my dagger skyward. Tingles shot through my limbs, and the world became sharper and crisper. A warm, orange flame shot from the tip of the blade and into the sky, arcing over the towers and rooftops. It dissipated moments later. My body buzzed with magic. Magic I’d only allowed myself to practice a handful of times with Zephyr.
The voices and footsteps grew louder. Faces became clear as they funneled into the courtyard, men surrounding me on every side. They kept their distance due to the weapon in my grip, but it wouldn’t last long. There were too many of them.
“It’s the princess—” someone whispered, and murmurs followed. I was one of the most recognizable women in Karn with my flaming-orange curls that reached my waist. I was impossible to mistake for anyone else.
I took the time to glare at each man, looking them directly in the eyes as I spun in slow circles with my dagger outstretched. I wanted them to see my face, to see the princess that was treated like a criminal for the simple fact that her father had an affair with a faerie.
The only humans who knew who and what I really was, were the queen, and her most trusted guardsmen and advisors. I had no say over my bloodline, and I’d done nothing wrong. The queen’s wrath should have not been meant for me.
“Princess Kyre, you’re under arrest for trespassing on the queen’s territory,” said a man who stepped through the circle of guards. He was tall and graying with a thick beard and weathered lines around his once smiling eyes. I used to know him as my father’s guard captain, my friend who I’d once considered an uncle of sorts. “Come without a fight, Your Highness, and—”
“And what, Raurc?” I spat at him, pointing my dagger towards his face. “And you won’t hurt me?” I tilted my head, my lips spreading into a bitter smile. “No, you’ll just throw me in a cell and leave me to rot, all because that bitch on the throne told you to, nevermind that your true king is still alive and breathing.”
His gray eyes flashed with something like regret, but he didn’t budge. I knew he didn’t like this situation any more than I did, but when the queen exiled me, not a single one of them stood up in my defense. Hell, Raurc had been the one who escorted me straight to the slums, dropping me off without so much as a coin to my name. Any lingering affection I’d had for him was long gone and had been replaced with bitterness and resentment.
He was about to speak again when the thunderous flapping of wings filled the courtyard. My heart soared as a black shadow descended from the sky. The guards surrounding me cursed, backing up and drawing their larger blades. It didn’t take long for Zephyr to land in the center of them, his massive talons shattering the tile beneath his weight. He roared, the sound sending tremors through me as the guard continued to back up. The chimera’s teeth were longer than my forearm, ready to slice a grown man cleanly in half.
I blanched as I looked up, moving as if to leap onto his back, but Zephyr wasn’t alone. I met Neera’s eyes as she gripped his black mane, a bow and arrow strapped to her back. Her hair was bound behind her in a tight braid, and she wore my black flying leathers.
So Zeph had gone for her, as if he’d been anticipating something would go terribly wrong tonight. His keen senses had been right once again, and I was grateful. Still, fear lanced through me at the thought of Neera being anywhere near this mess. Now they’d seen her face, they knew she was involved in this, and she would have to live with the consequences of that once I was gone.
“You thought I’d let you do this without me?” She chuckled, holding out her hand for me to take. “Come on, let’s get as far away from here as we can.”
But where could we go? Where could we possibly run that neither The Wild Hunt nor the Queen’s Guard could find us. We could sail across every ocean and they’d follow. This damn brand on my palm would see to that.
“You're reckless, but I love you,” I said as I clasped my hand in hers. She was my one true friend in this world, aside from Zeph. My sister in every way that counted.
Neera started to pull me towards her, but before I had the chance to swing my leg over Zeph’s back, the sound of a deep, resonating horn split the night.
* * *
No…
No, no, no… I wasn’t ready. An entire year of waiting and I still wasn’t ready. That familiar horn sounded again and again, echoing off of the stone castle walls.
The ground began to shake, and the air crackled with thick magic. Several of the guardsmen had dropped to their knees, and others were looking around for the source of the noise.
I released Neera’s hand and dropped back to the ground, clutching my blade as I waited. Running from them wouldn’t do anything for me. Not again. Not this time. It would only put the ones I loved in danger and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice a hair on their heads just to buy me another hour of freedom.
“Surround the castle!” Ruarc shouted, and several of the guardsmen scattered, rushing through the tunnel and out towards the garden. Others left through archways that led farther into the grounds. He looked at me with wide eyes before he covered his ears, wincing. “What is that noise?”
I wondered if the horn was painful for human ears. To me, it sounded like music, like a summoning note filled with haunting, ancient magic.
Fear rolled through every part of my being as the ground shook harder. The sound of howling wolves and indistinct chatter grew louder by the second. The human men with us started to close in, making a tight circle, and Zephyr growled lowly. The men shrunk back from those sharp fangs of his, trying to decide what was the greater threat.
I looked at Ruarc and grinned, despite my terror. “You think I’m afraid of your weak, human queen?” I laughed bitterly. “There are things in this world that would make Reena look like a mouse in the shadow of a dragon. You have no idea what I’ve done to save you from her recklessness.” They never would either. None of these humans would ever know what I’d given up, but that didn’t matter now. It was done, and there was no running from it.
Raurc looked like he wanted to ask questions, but the cacophony of noises grew so loud that it drowned out anything else. Neera and I locked eyes, and hers were already brimming with silvery tears. She knew what was coming, and there wasn’t anything she could do. This was it—this was the moment I’d been dreading since leaving that cave a year ago. I’d put off thinking about it for so long, pretending like it had all been a fever dream, but now they were here for me, and there was no more running.
Creatures of nightmares crawled out of the shadows as if materializing from nothing. At least twenty erasu scaled the walls surrounding us, their spindly legs and claws clicking against the stone. Their white teeth shone in the torchlight as they grinned at me, and my stomach turned at the sight.
Dozens of faeries appeared on the backs of their steeds, which were ferocious, impossible beasts of legend. Some had skin like tree bark or scales or fur, with claws that gripped the reins. There was a certain beauty to them that humans were simply incapable of, and even the most grotesque were alluring in their own way. Their whispers filled the courtyard, and every single one of them stared straight at me, as if the rest of the humans here meant nothing. Their hunt was for me and only me.
The guardsmen were cursing, disregarding their fear of Zephyr as they closed ranks, holding their weapons out in front of them, as if those measly things would have any effect on an immortal.
The horn sounded again, only this time, it was much louder.
All at once, the wind stopped, as did the laughter, the chatter, and the rustling of the faeries. I felt them before I saw them—the princes of the Wild Hunt. They came through the darkened-stone tunnel atop their three elhorns, only this time, they each wore a golden crown adorned with antlers.
