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For the first time in her life, Raven had a small spot she could tentatively call home. Granted, it was a month-to-month lease, eviction a constant threat, but nevertheless it was hers. A place to hang her hat, if she had a hat, that was.
“They're stalking you.” The man who sat on the dirty pavement near her building cackled as she approached.
“Who is stalking me?” Raven crouched in front of the laughing man. “Come on, Buzz. You can't just be saying that and not give me more information. Who's stalking me?” Raven knew that Buzz largely lived in a sea of his own delusions. However, that didn't mean he didn't see what happened on the streets. Raven tried to make sure he was fed when she could, and warm in the winter. Just because he'd been dealt a bad hand didn't mean he deserved her indifference.
“Raven!” Buzz gripped her arm, his rheumy eyes lighting when he saw her. “There's a pretty girl.”
“Are you flirting with me again, Buzz?” Raven smiled, even though tension knotted her shoulders. “Come on, Buzz. Who’s stalking me? You see everything.”
“It's the silver men. They’re slippery.” Buzz made a whooshing sound, dancing his fingers through the air. “They get through the cracks in the street. Jump out of puddles. It’s mental, man. Just mental.”
“Have they spoken to you, Buzz?” Raven asked. But Buzz had drifted away, lost in his own mind once again, laughing and humming a jaunty tune to himself. Raven squeezed his shoulder and slipped past him, the notes of the song he hummed tumbling around in her head. Music came to her as easily as breathing, and it wasn't a lack of ideas that slowed her down from writing songs. If anything, it was the songs that kept her up most nights, relentlessly dancing through her head, which was why, more often than not, she took to the streets to sing for her supper. She’d made quite a name for herself among the Galway street buskers, and it was because of this that she could afford the little studio flat she now called home. Raven unlocked the outer door of the building, annoyed that the landlord still hadn't put a secure deadbolt on the door, and scampered down the ground-level hallway. Dimly lit, smelling faintly of piss and curry, the hallway was anything but inviting. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure she was alone before she tackled the locks on her door. Here, she’d spent some of her precious earnings to secure her flat.
It wasn’t even that she had much in the way of valuables that had caused Raven to add the extra protection to her door. Due to the necessity of being hypervigilant on the streets, Raven wanted one place she could let her guard down. It was exhausting to always be watching her back, and securing this studio apartment had given her some of the first peaceful nights, well, mornings, of sleep she’d had in her life.
A soft glow greeted her when she slid inside the apartment, carefully locking the door behind her, and Raven let out a sigh of relief. Despite the cost, Raven always left a small LED lamp on in her studio, because she didn’t like walking into a dark space. The flat was nothing more than a glorified storage closet, with a sliver of window, and just enough room to fit a daybed. A singular chest of drawers was next to the daybed with a stack of books on top. The kitchen, or what passed for a kitchen, held two cabinets, with a small counter for the kettle and a hot plate. Next to it was a curtain that hid the tiniest bathroom she'd ever seen in her life. Raven kept it scrupulously clean. It was hers, and that was all that mattered.
Taking the guitar off her back, Raven carefully placed it on the stand next to her bed and plopped down to work at the laces of her boots. Before she could take them off, she paused. She had been warned about danger. Would it make sense to take her shoes off if she needed to run? Indecision warred, and then she sighed. Best to be prepared. Leaving the boots on, Raven stood and lifted her mattress. Beneath it was a wood plank that was part of the mechanism that allowed the mattress to fold from flat to sitting, and Raven slid that piece of wood out. It wasn’t the most ingenious of hiding places, but it was what she had. Pulling out a wooden box, Raven opened it to reveal three switchblades of varying sizes, a pair of brass knuckles that had been dropped in a street fight, and the one item she’d had since birth. At least she thought it must be from birth, because it had always been with her. A necklace, but not just any necklace.Thisnecklace had an intricate pattern on the pendant with words in another language on the back. Despite all of Raven’s attempts to discover the meaning, the closest she could discover was that it was from the Fae. How it had come to be in her possession or why she still carried it, Raven couldn’t say. For some reason, the necklace was …attachedto her and even in the past when punks had beaten her up, stolen it from around her neck, the necklace hadalwaysfound its way back to her. It was a pattern that kept happening, until Raven was half convinced she was losing her mind. One time, in a fit of rebellious youth and fury at not knowing who her family was, Raven had tossed the necklace off a bridge. To her utter dismay, as well as a modicum of relief, the necklace had appeared in her pocket the next morning.
It was the first time Raven had considered that she herself might not also be fully of this world. That same night, she'd taken to the streets to sing. It was on those same streets where she’d then learned her deepest secret and what also might be her greatest power.
“Raven. The silver men are coming.” Raven jumped up as Buzz’s voice filtered through the thin pane of glass at the window. Raven’s blood ran cold. Grabbing everything from the safe, she tucked two blades in her boots, one at her waistband, and threw the necklace over her head. She’d be in trouble if the garda caught her with illegal weapons, but that hardly mattered to her in this moment. For a half second, she debated grabbing her guitar, but it would only slow her down. Instead, she grabbed a pack, tossing in the money she’d hidden under the toilet, alongside the brass knuckles, and hit the hallway at a dead run.
Raven made it two steps into the street before an arm closed around her neck.
3
Kellen
The raysof the early morning sun danced among the clouds, lighting upon the craggy cliffs where the Air Fae’s castle was lodged. High in the sky, the cliffs were unattached to land, and undetectable to humans. Their location made them the trickiest of the Elemental Fae to discover, as well as attack, which was why Kellen was particularly upset about what had just transpired. Not only had he lost Alistair, but they’d been ambushed unawares. It wasn’t a good look for him, as a ruler, particularly one whose ability to lead was already in question.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have the skills to be a leader. Kellen was a confident sort by nature, which was what was needed when flying Alicorns, and he had no issue with giving commands. Instead, a large part of his people’s distrust seemed to stem from how his father continued to question every decision Kellen made. If his own father couldn’t trust his choices, then how could his people?
Kellen dismounted with a whispered word of praise in his mount’s ear, before handing the Alicorn off to a royal guard to see to his care.
“Kellen! Where the hell have you been?” Devlin stormed through the front arches of the castle walls. “We’re under attack, and you’re out playing with your Alicorns? What kind of leader deserts his people in the middle of battle?”
His father sported a swollen eye and a split lip, and a ripple of pleasure went through Kellen at the sight. Maybe that was a sign of how far their relationship had deteriorated, or perhaps it was just the nature of men and their fathers, but Kellen fleetingly wished he’d been around to see his father take a punch. Naturally, he’d have fought for Devlin, but he’d be lying if he said there hadn’t been a time or two over the past year where he’d nearly come to blows with the man himself. It wasn’t like Devlin had ever been supportive of Kellen, instead choosing to pit himself as Kellen’s greatest critic, under the guise of pushing his son to be the best. He’d become a champion in biting his tongue, but Kellen’s patience had grown thin.
Fury bloomed.
“Where wasI?” Kellen went head-to-head with Devlin, standing a few inches taller than his father, and grabbed the front of his tunic. Devlin’s eyes widened, and for a moment, Kellen enjoyed the fear that flitted through his father’s eyes. “I was trying to save Alistair. My best friend. My brother. We…he’s gone. We’ve lost him.”
A wail went up from behind him, as the Air Fae had gathered to watch the spectacle, and Kellen hated that this was how the news would be delivered to Alistair’s family.
“Good riddance.” Devlin yanked himself from Kellen’s grasp and spat on the ground. Kellen froze. Had his father lost his mind? Alistair had been like a second son to him, as much as he’d been a brother to Kellen. A ripple of unease went through the gathering crowd, and Kellen lifted his chin.
“You dare to speak of our fallen brethren in such a manner? Alistair was family.” Kellen gritted his teeth, forcing down the sadness that threatened to overtake him.
“Hewasfamily. Now he’s a traitor,” Devlin hissed, and the crowd reacted.
“How dare you?” Alistair’s father stepped forward, the light of war in his eyes, his hand at the bow strung to his back. “My son is dead. You’ll not speak ill of him.” Grief was evident beneath the rage that clung to the man’s face.
“I intercepted him trying to steal our amulet. Our most precious possession. Alistair was working for the Domnua all along. How do you think I got hurt?” Devlin pointed to his face, derision in his voice. “Unfortunately, I was unable to stop him, and I fear the Domnua now have our amulet.”
A collective gasp went through the crowd, and one woman cried out in distress. Kellen kept his face a mask, his eyes darting among his people, as he tried to process this new information and decide how to proceed. His mind flashed back to Alistair, at the stables with him, moments before Kellen had jumped on his Alicorn and disappeared into the night.
“Kellen…you can’t fly right now. I have to talk to you.”
