by KJ Baker
I put down the plate, stuffing a few chocolates into my pockets, and then stood.
“We still have some time. Let’s go.”
Ffion nodded curtly, and together we left the royal apartments and began walking through the palace towards the northern courtyard. I fished a chocolate out of my pocket and held it out.
“Here.”
Ffion looked down at it suspiciously. “What’s that?”
“Just try it.”
She took the chocolate and bit off the tiniest corner. She chewed for a second before her face screwed up. “Ugh. That’s vile.”
I sighed. There was just no helping some people.
As we walked, I tried not to think of Raven. Right now, he was attending the muster of the Seelie army as it began its march to meet the Unseelie horde. Rillana, the new Spire, would be there as well as the leaders of the Seelie Courts. As queen-elect, I should have been there too, but I had argued that my presence would only serve to distract from the job at hand and with such a newly sealed alliance, they did not need any reminders about the division my presence caused.
Which was all true, of course. But I wasn’t sure whether the real reason I had begged off attending the ceremony was because I was scared. After my experiences at the hands of Simeon Ash, Taviel and the Eliana, I couldn’t help wondering if I would ever be accepted here.
“Your Highness!”
I turned at the shout. A woman came hurrying up behind us. Her pale blonde hair was tied back into a braid and she wore the uniform of a palace servant except for a curious black glove on one hand that reached all the way to her elbow.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Seneschal Carda sent me to find you,” the woman said. “He asks that you attend him immediately. Some problem with the refugee council.”
Carda had been in charge of the refugees who’d arrived from the Court of the Moon. Since I’d taken over their care, Carda, reluctant at first, had joined me, becoming something of an ally, along with the refugees themselves, and they often sought my advice on matters that arose. I smiled wryly. The refugees of the Moon Court had accepted me in ways that those of the Shadow Court had not. Perhaps I should be grateful for whatever support I could get.
“Fine,” I said to the servant. “I’ll go see him immediately.” I began to walk off in the direction of the east wing of the palace where the refugees where being housed, but the servant put out a hand to stop me.
“No, Highness,” she said. “He said to meet him in the rose garden.”
I shared a glance with Ffion. The rose garden lay on the other side of the palace.
I nodded to the servant. “Okay. Lead the way.”
We set off, retracing our steps and then taking a staircase that led to a lower section of the palace that I had rarely visited. This was an older part with thick stone walls and high, arched windows. It was also a rabbit warren of twisting passages and rooms that led off each other. I was glad to have Ffion and the servant with me or I would have ended up completely lost.
The servant stopped at a closed door. “He’s just through there.”
I nodded my thanks and walked past her. As I placed my hand on the door handle, I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me and then a dull thud. I turned to see Ffion lying on the floor, the servant standing over her.
“Ffion!” I ran over and knelt by her side.
She was breathing, but her eyes were closed and she did not respond when I shook her. I looked up at the servant.
“What happened?”
The woman cocked her head, studying me with a curious expression. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen you with my own eyes. What a silly boy Arion is. Still needing me to set him on the right path.”
I rocked back on my heels, suddenly wary. The subservient expression she’d worn earlier had disappeared, and now the look on her face was cold and calculating. My gaze strayed to the black glove covering her arm and then to Ffion.
“Did you do something to her?”
The woman smiled and the sight of it set my hair on end. It was the kind of smile a snake might give a mouse right before it eats it. “Only what she’s had coming to her for a long time. On your feet, human. Let’s go.”
I was suddenly very, very sure that this woman was no palace servant. Heart racing, I glanced from right to left. The woman blocked my escape in one direction, the closed door the other. But if I could get through that door, maybe I could find help. I rose slowly, holding my hands out to either side.
“Okay, I don’t want any trouble.”
I spun, grabbed the door handle, and heaved it open. She was on me in an instant. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone move so fast, not even Raven. She grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me savagely backwards. The hand with the glove fastened around my throat. I thrashed, trying to break free, but she had a grip like a steel vise. Her face came close to my own.
“That was a very stupid thing to do,” she hissed. “Why must you insist on making this harder?”
I heard a tiny grating noise and a needle shot out of the forefinger of the glove and pierced my neck. Dizziness flooded through me. My legs suddenly felt like they were made of jelly and my vision swam out of focus. I tried to open my mouth to scream for help, but no sound came out.
“It’s easier if you don’t fight it,” the woman said. “Are you ready? Shall we go?”
She released my throat and grabbed my arm instead, pulling it over her shoulder so she could half-drag, half-carry me towards the far wall. My legs wouldn’t work properly and I felt so woozy I struggled to think straight.
“Raven,” I croaked. “Raven.”
“His name is Arion,” the woman said, sounding oddly annoyed. “I hate it when people call him Raven. It’s so...vulgar. I won’t have it, you hear?”
What the hell? Who was this woman? She reached up with her free hand and ran the tips of her fingers along the mortar joining two large slabs of stone. I heard a click and the slab slid to one side, revealing a dark passage stretching into the distance.
“Ah! Here we go then!” The woman took a last look to right and left and then dragged me into the darkness.
RAVEN
There were no marks on the body. He might have been sleeping but for the line of congealed blood running from one nostril. There was a strange smell in the air too, something I couldn’t quite place.
I knelt by the guard and gently closed his eyes. Another son of the Shadow Court sent to the Twilight Lands. It was then that I noticed something on his neck. Leaning closer, I saw a tiny red mark just below the guard’s ear. I glanced up at Hawk, Bowen and Rillana.
“What do you make of this?”
They leaned down to take a closer look.
“It looks like a puncture wound,” Rillana said thoughtfully. “Made by a needle of some kind?”
And then I recognized the smell. “Nightshade,” I breathed. “This man has been poisoned.” I rose to my feet, my pulse suddenly racing. “Turn out the palace guard,” I instructed Bowen. “Search every inch of the palace and grounds. I want this intruder found.”
Bowen nodded and hurried off to carry out my instructions.
“Raven!”
I turned to see Ffion approaching. She was staggering from side to side, barely able to place one foot in front of the other. I ran over and caught her as she fell into my arms. I lowered her gently to the ground.
“Fi? What happened?”
“Bitch got me from behind,” Ffion gasped. “Spire-damned coward.” Her voice was hoarse, her eyelids flickering.
“Who did?”
She reached up to grab my tunic. “I’m sorry, brother. I failed you. Forgive me.”
“What do you mean?”
“The bitch took Asha. She knocked me out and when I woke, they were both gone.”
I went cold. I could still feel Asha through the bond. She was close, still in the palace or nearby, but her emotions were muted and fuzzy.
There is
an intruder in the palace.
The bitch took Asha.
Ice filled my veins and for a second I didn’t seem able to breathe.
No. Please, no.
A hand gripped my shoulder and Hawk growled, “We’ll find Asha, Raven.” He crouched in front of Ffion. “Who took her, Fi? Did you recognize the woman?”
Ffion nodded, her head wobbling on her neck. Whatever had been done to her was clearly still having an effect. She was fighting to stay conscious.
“Not at first. She’s dyed her hair and kept her face downcast, but when she jumped me, I saw her face.” Her eyes swiveled up to meet mine. “It was Felena Sand.”
A shiver slithered all the way down my spine. That was a name I’d never wanted to hear again. A name dredged from my past that I had hoped would remain buried there. Felena Sand. Oh, Spire. I pressed a shaky hand to my forehead.
Rillana looked between Ffion and me, a puzzled expression on her face. “Who is this Felena?”
Ffion and Hawk said nothing, although their expressions were grim. Both understood what this meant. I slowly lowered my hand and looked up at our new Spire.
“Felena Sand,” I said, the words tasting like ashes in my mouth. “Is the most dangerous assassin in the Summerlands.”
Chapter 3
ASHA
I had no idea how long we walked. The journey passed in a fog. I was aware of my legs moving, of the woman supporting my weight, of dank walls passing by on either side, but my thoughts were sluggish and scattered, and the passage of time held no meaning. Whatever she’d injected me with left me able to walk—barely—but that was about it. I couldn’t cry for help. I couldn’t run for it.
I couldn’t fight back.
Deep within the foggy haze, an ember began to burn. Anger. I stoked that anger, used it to anchor myself to the present during the interminable journey.
What might have been hours or only moments later, the woman brought us to a stop. She pressed her hand against the wall to our left and it slid aside, letting blessedly fresh air sweep into the dank tunnel.
The woman dragged me outside and I stood blinking, the light blinding after the darkness of the tunnel. I found myself standing on a hillside covered in pine trees. The tunnel mouth gaped open behind, but even as I watched, the stone slid closed again, giving it the appearance of nothing but a natural outcropping of rock. It would be easy to miss for anyone who didn’t know to look for it.
I spotted the palace below us, just a few miles distant. Raven was down there. Had he realized I was missing yet? Was he coming after me?
The woman pushed me to the ground and then seated herself cross-legged on a nearby rock, watching me steadily. She took out a water bottle and began sipping from it. She didn’t offer it to me.
I moved my jaw, trying to work up enough strength to speak. “Who are you?” I croaked. “Where are you taking me?”
She didn’t answer. I couldn’t determine her age—like all the Fae she seemed ageless—but the shrewd look in her eyes suggested a lifetime of experience. She had prominent cheekbones and high, arching eyebrows above large, brown eyes. Her hair was so pale a blonde as to be almost silver and tied back into a braid lazily slung over one shoulder. She still wore the servant’s uniform she had in the palace, but the casual way she sat, all loose-limbed and confident, suggested she was no servant.
And then there was that glove. It was more of a gauntlet really, made of some unknown black material, and I had already experienced what it could do.
“So, you’re the one who’s snared him,” she said after a long, heavy silence. “I have to say, I was expecting more.”
What? Was she referring to Raven?
“You won’t get away with this,” I said, that little ember of anger flaring to life. My thoughts were clearing, my words coming more easily. But my limbs remained weak.
“Really?” she said, arching an eyebrow. “It looks as though I’ve already ‘gotten away with it’. There’s nobody coming to rescue you, human. It’s just you and me out here. Isn’t that nice?”
“Raven will find me wherever I am.”
Her expression changed in an instant. The smile disappeared and fury swept across her doll-like features. She jumped to her feet, bristling like a cat. “I told you not to call him that! His name is Arion! It’s bad enough that you speak of him at all! You will not utter his name again, understand?”
I blinked at her, startled by her sudden vehemence.
She stalked over, grabbed me under the arms, and hauled me up.
“Come on. It’s a distance yet to the border and it wouldn’t do to keep him waiting.”
Who? I wanted to ask. Where are we going?
But she grabbed my arm with cold, hard fingers and propelled me forward. She set a grueling pace and my body was still weak. I struggled to keep up with her and I fell often, skinning my hands and knees on the rock-strewn ground. Each time the woman growled in exasperation, pulled me up, and pushed me onwards. Soon the palace was lost to view in the distance.
“Who are you?” I demanded of her for the umpteenth time. “At least tell me your name!”
She glanced contemptuously at me. “Felena. My name is Felena Sand.”
Finally. Now we were getting somewhere.
“Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see.”
I ground my teeth in frustration.
As we walked, I searched the ground for a weapon. A branch, a rock, anything that I might be able to use against her. If I was quick enough, if I caught her off guard, I might be able to disable her and make a run for it.
Yeah, right. Who was I kidding? My legs were still as wobbly as a newborn colt’s and I’d already seen how fast this woman could move.
Something suddenly flared through the bond, a surge of emotion so strong that it made me gasp. Fear. Raven was suddenly desperately afraid. Had he discovered I was missing? Was he looking for me?
I had to stall this woman. I had to give Raven time to find me. We couldn’t have traveled that far from the palace and he would be able to track me through the bond.
I pretended to stumble and crashed to my knees. “My ankle!” I cried. “I’ve twisted my ankle!”
Felena snarled a curse, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me savagely. “Get up!”
“I can’t! I think I’ve sprained it!”
In a flash, her gloved hand was around my throat, her face inches from mine. “Do you think I’m stupid?” she hissed. “Get up and walk or I’ll slit your throat and leave you for the crows, no matter what he says. Understood?”
I swallowed thickly and nodded. She released me and I climbed to my feet.
“Get moving.”
I made no more attempts to delay her. The look in her eyes was chilling. I sensed she wouldn’t hesitate to carry out her threat.
After several minutes of walking in silence, I worked up the courage to speak.
“How did you get into the palace? Nobody can teleport in or out through the shield.”
“I didn’t teleport. I got in through the tunnels beneath the palace.”
“I didn’t even realize there were tunnels beneath the palace.”
She gave me a mocking smile. “Does that surprise you? You know nothing, human. Nothing. You think you really understand what’s going on here? You think Arion has told you the truth? You are a blind fool, a worm grubbing in the dirt.”
Nothing is what it seems. Nothing.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to ignore the sliver of unease forming in my belly.
She grinned. “Not many remember those tunnels, but I do. As a child, they were my playground. Mine and Arion’s. We used to spend hours exploring them.”
I blinked in surprise. “You know Raven?”
“Of course I know Arion. I know him better than he knows himself. That’s why I’m saving him. That’s why I’m not going to let him make the biggest mistake of his life.”
I shook my head, struggling to follow her words
. This woman had grown up with Raven?
“How do you know him?”
Her rose-bud lips pulled into a pout but her eyes flashed wickedly. “Oh, didn’t he tell you? Naughty, naughty Arion. But I’m not surprised he didn’t want his latest dalliance discovering the truth. You see, little mortal, I am King Arion’s betrothed. We are engaged to be married.”
RAVEN
“This is where it happened?” I asked, looking up at Ffion from where I knelt on the floor of the corridor.
My sister nodded. “She said Carda wanted to see Asha, something about the refugees.”
I frowned at this. “Felena knew about the refugees from the Moon Court? And that Asha had been working with Seneschal Carda to manage them? Then she’s been watching us and we suspected nothing!” I slammed my fist into the floor hard enough to send a flare of pain through my knuckles. It did nothing to ease the rage boiling through my veins.
My mate had been taken. The protective urge to kill anyone who threatened her churned through my bloodstream like acid. I could barely control it. I could barely keep from flying into an uncontrollable rage. But I must. I could not help Asha if I didn’t remain calm.
“I’m sorry,” Ffion said. “I should have realized it was Felena. I should have stopped her from taking Asha.”
“Yes, you should!”
I forced myself to take a deep, calming breath. Snapping at Ffion was not going to help either.
“I’m sorry, Fi,” I breathed, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. “It’s not your fault. It’s just that I can’t seem to think straight.”
She laid a hand on my shoulder. “There’s no need to apologize.” Her grip on my shoulder tightened and she crouched next to me, her expression fierce. “But we will get Asha back. I give you my word on that.”
Footsteps echoed down the corridor and I rose just as Hawk and Rillana came hurrying towards us.
“Anything?” I asked desperately.
Hawk shook his head. “We’ve swept the entire palace. There’s no sign of either of them.”
“Then sweep it again! They can’t have just disappeared!”
