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Or so we had thought.
Now, there would be no war.
We had been defeated before it even began.
A woman with a slim figure stood next to the hastily built fence. Her back was turned to me but I knew at once that she was not my sister. She was too short to be Fiona.
She seemed to be watching the horses, but her cloak was over her head and as I approached the woman, I could not make out who she was.
“You asked to see me?” I said once I was standing a few paces away from her.
She turned around. Her red hair was neatly tied up, but her green eyes widened as soon as she saw me.
“Casja!” I shouted in excitement, closing the distance between us quickly so that I could hug her. She was stiff for a second before she relaxed and hugged me back. “We thought you were dead.”
Excitement was a rare feeling these days, but the fact that she was alive was a spark of hope that I dearly wished would grow. As we parted, I could tell she was surprised by that warm welcome.
“I almost was,” Casja replied. “And I was worried about you too. Is everyone safe? What happened?”
“Dearen and Brigid are well. Jasmine... She...” I started to explain.
“I heard,” Casja interrupted me. “The monster folk are all over the realms, spreading the tales of the miracle. They call her the hero.”
“Yes,” I replied, feeling saddened and proud at once. “She healed all the monsters and made them transform back to fae, but it was too much. She sleeps now. We think she is in a dream realm. No one can reach her.”
Casja’s expression tightened. “And Fiona?”
“The Seelie Queen took her,” I replied.
“So it is true,” Casja said.
“What is?” I asked.
“Back when I was in the Unseelie lands, I heard news that the princess was to marry Lugh,” Casja said.
Even the thought of it was disgusting. Casja’s confirmation made my skin crawl.
But our suspicions were confirmed now.
Fiona was back at Winter Castle. Now that I knew where she was, I had to go and save her. I could go and save her, as well as father.
“Casja,” I said. “Do you know what happened? You were at the palace when the coup took place. Did you see anything before you...”
“Escaped...” Casja finished my sentence. Her face was full of sadness. “I am sorry to be the one to tell this to you Kieran,” she paused for a moment. “Your father was killed during the coup. It was Lord Merick, I watched him as he killed King Duncan.”
As the fear became a certainty, an emptiness settled in me.
His face flashed before my eyes. Father. Dead.
I stared at Casja’s saddened face and did not know what to do or say. Words spilled from my mouth on their own.
“I didn’t go to him.”
My body felt cold. Disbelief competed with grief.
Father was dead.
“You couldn’t have reached him,” Casja said. “It happened all so fast, Kieran. Lady Queill was in on it too. She is a mind magicker as well, a double. She’s been hiding her second power. She captured all of us, but it was Lord Merick who decided to kill your father. I think King Duncan wanted him to. He taunted the man.”
