Nibbling on my nails, I turned to look at the guards escorting me and shuddered. The forest between the border of fae and lunas was treacherous at the best of times, but it was night, and no path was more dangerous than the one running through the Snowy Peaks.
“Please, can I have a coat?” I forced the words out between clenched teeth. My lips were turning blue, and I couldn’t feel my toes anymore.
“King’s orders.” A guard looked at me apologetically, then averted his gaze.
I don’t know why my father had chosen to send me off with a horde of faceless guards while the ones I knew stayed at the castle. I was terrified and without familiarity here. Blaise would surely send someone to fetch me. There was no way he would come himself, not with hunters living among the trees, assassins who wanted nothing more than to end the fae, especially the royals. Not to mention the wolves that stalked the area.
I gripped my staff with might, grateful to have it back in my hands as I voyaged on another treacherous journey from home. At least this one was purposeful.
“Your crown.” One guard handed it to me, crystalized white with blue diamonds.
The sound of wings fluttering pulled our attention upward. I couldn’t make out the faery’s face, but he looked dark and dangerous and was heading straight for us. It couldn’t have been Blaise; this faery was alone. The same thought shot through the guards too—an assassin, but for me.
An arrow soared through the sky, clipping the faery’s wing. He spiraled downward and landed in a flurry of snow. Blood splattered onto the blanket of white. The faery pulled himself into a sitting position. His eyes were focused on the guard who had shot him. His features came into view. Angular cheekbones, a sharp jaw, eyes the color of smoke, and hair as dark as midnight; Blaise had come for me after all, and alone. He stood, brushing snow off his loose silk shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves. He wiped the blood from his lip onto the back of his hand, then stepped forward, his fists balled at his sides.
I pushed my arm out between them. “Wait, this is Blaise Lazarus!” I shouted, realizing it was dark and they hadn’t met him in person. “The prince.”
The guard gasped. He bowed, and the others followed suit. When he looked back up, Blaise was staring him down with a clenched jaw.
“That’s right, so you better be really nice to me right now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be like that. He couldn’t have known it was you. Most people wouldn’t be so reckless to come alone at night! Especially when they’re the heir to the throne,” I said, berating him. “Are you insane?”
He smirked, rolled his eyes up, then looked at the guards. “You can go now. I’ll take her from here.”
They glanced at each other. One pushed his hair out of his face, another tugged at his ear. None of them moved. Blaise tapped his fingers against his side, then blew out a forceful breath. His wing had already grown back. That arrow had been nothing more than an inconvenience, but he was looking at my guard as if he had shot him through the heart.
I looked at the guards each in turn. “Thank you. I will be fine here. Please, be careful as you travel back.” My eyes flitted to the fir trees. Who knew what was watching us from the shadows?
“Your Highness.” They bowed, then left us alone.
“How could you be so stupid as to come alone?” My cheeks heated, stinging the cold from them. “You could have gotten yourself killed... us killed.”
His eyebrows were slightly raised, his lips fighting a smile. “Ah, my beautiful bride-to-be, already scolding me.”
“It’s not funny.”
He smirked, dimpling his cheeks. “I never said it was.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, unsure of what to do next. I wasn’t prepared to make the rest of the journey on foot. “I guess we should start walking.”
The gray in his irises sparkled, and a flash of white crossed his grin. “Oh, Princess, I plan on flying us there. You’re one of us now, remember?”
His statement choked my next words. One of us. I was betraying them all. I knew it, and my father knew it, but Blaise was blissfully unaware. The king’s plans had to become my own, and until now, I had been okay with it.
He pulled me into his arms and held me close. I placed my hands on his biceps and gripped them, looking into his eyes. They were beautiful, like tiny moons.
“You can’t carry us both over mountains.”
He chuckled. “If you’re planning on underestimating me this much when we’re married, then you’ll have a lot of surprises in store.”
His gaze reflected my frostbitten face. I gasped when my feet left the snowy ground and he carried us up to colder winds. I closed my eyes as gusts prickled every inch of my bare skin and cursed my father for not letting me bring a coat. He had wanted me to look as attractive as possible; his ambitions all fell on my shoulders. I was bringing him everything he wanted—the forest nymph and now Niferum.
***
Blaise must’ve been tired by the time we landed, but he never showed it. He blinked away the snowflakes that had rested in his dark eyelashes. “Welcome home, Princess.”
He didn’t let me go at first, and I hated to admit it, but I liked the way he held me. He was strong, and in his arms, swallowed by his gaze, I felt like the only girl in the world. I was certain, however, that every person he had laid eyes on felt the same way.
I stepped back, brushing the snow from my dress. Lepidus was a far cry from any other court. Fae loved indulging their senses; they smoked, they drank Blossomdew until they were dizzy, and they enjoyed seducing and relishing in the pleasures of the world. They also lied and manipulated, and there was nothing more exciting to a faery than a game. When I had visited before, I had found myself lured into dark games without realizing I was a player until it was too late. I stopped afterward, afraid of who I might become if I allowed myself the gratification and satisfaction that came with their dangerous pulls. I was also depressed when I visited, in a dark place, without much to lose.
“It’s so beautiful here,” I said quietly, seeing it this time with different eyes.
He placed his hand on the small of my back and led me into the main room. Everything sparkled blue and white, with splashes of black in between. Magic pulsated through the floor. Everything was alive. There was no shortage of sugary foods; they covered each table on clear platters. Fae danced with each other and in groups. Loud classical music carried them as a string quartet played in the corner. Laughs echoed, chatter heightened, and a delicate, floral scent, tinged by smoke, lingered around us.
“Welcome home.”
I turned my head around to look at him again. Painted images of a heartless boy with a reckless soul had tainted my memory of the bright, charismatic prince that walked beside me. He was different than he was when I’d visited. More ambitious, livelier.
We reached the stone steps. I turned my head, curtseying in the presence of the great King Azrael, who stared down at me somberly. His throne was made from the skulls of pixies. It was ancient, like him. Sadness laced his expression. His wings were tucked away, and his robe was thick and lined with fur. I cautiously took a step back. Time to time, I had wondered if the betrothal had been a joke. After all, it was King Azrael who had approved it, and everyone knew he and my father had a long history filled with malice and pettiness. The same man whose strength was talked about throughout the world, the king who had fought in the ancient fae wars, looked depleted, depressed, and hopeless. His eyes, the same color as his son’s, were sunken. His wife had died a long time ago, and since then, many said he’d lost his spark, but something else had changed since I last visited. I’d go as far to say he was dying, if it wasn’t for his immortality. His pale skin had a grayish tinge to it, and his lips were a faint shade of blue.
But fae never died.
Apart from Jasper.
“Is he okay?”
Blaise shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Azrael focused on me after his irises wandered br
iefly. I could sense the ticking behind them in his mind. When they finally clicked, I sighed.
“Princess.” He appeared confused.
Blaise stepped in front of me, his arms crossed. “Yes, Your Majesty.” His voice was filled with venom. “She is here for the wedding. The one you agreed to, remember?”
Helplessly, Azrael looked at me. I had no idea what to do. I parted my lips but didn’t speak. His gaze was pleading.
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I finally said, then sank into a deep bow.
Blaise turned his back toward his father and smiled at me. “No need for that. You’re family now. Come with me.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me away. Azrael watched after us.
Blaise strutted, smirking at the girls who passed us. They watched after us as we continued. Hurt laced their features; their hearts were lost to him. How could they help it? There was menace in him, filling him up—something dark, dangerous, but sweet.
But his heart belonged only to him.
He stopped in front of a large, arched black door. “Before I show you this…” He paused, running his fingers along the back of my hand, making my skin tingle. “I want you to know that I don’t allow many people in here. I want you to be happy here, Winter. I care deeply about our union and what we are hoping to achieve.”
My heart pounded. I recoiled my hand, then looked into his eyes. I wished he wouldn’t do that. “What’s inside?”
His lips tugged into a grin. Blaise pressed his hand against the silver lock, and it clicked open. The wood creaked as we entered. “The spells that lock certain rooms have magic memory, allowing only particular people inside,” he explained, answering my unasked question.
He gestured me inside. I gazed up at the ornate designs on the white ceiling, then drifted my eyes down the tall shelves. They reached the height of the room. Rolling wood ladders leaned against them. Webs hung loosely around the books left to collect dust toward the top. Titles with no order were crammed into tightly packed shelves. No alphabetical order, no organization. It was faery chaos in literal form.
He leaned lazily against the doorframe, his navy-blue wings against his back.
“I remember how you liked books.” He gestured around us at the towering archive of leather-bound books. “You always liked learning things…” He hesitated. “Unless that’s changed.”
“I still love reading.”
He inhaled deeply, then gave me a tight smile. “I hope you can find solace here. It’ll be easier for us both as we will be spending the next—” He counted his fingers, then grinned. “At least eighty years together.”
“Ah yes, the fate of us mortals. I’ll be a chapter in your life, you the entirety of mine.”
“We still age,” he replied.
“Slowly,” I said. “Incredibly so. Your father’s what, eight hundred and something.”
He nodded. “About that. We stopped counting.”
I laughed. “Well, he doesn’t look a day over seventy. That’s what…” I tapped my finger on my chin and looked up. “Like eleven years for every hundred or thereabouts.”
Blaise chuckled. “It doesn’t quite work like that.”
“How then?”
“We grow into adulthood at the same pace as you do. The only difference is we hover at our youth for a few hundred years.”
My eyebrows pulled into a frown. “Are there any thousands-of-years-old fae out there?”
Blaise narrowed his eyes. “If there are, we haven’t heard of them. Eventually, we all get tired of living and find a way to die.” His gaze darted to the corner, then snapped back to me.
“Your father hasn’t.”
His expression darkened. “Not yet.”
Something was off in his tone.
“Yet…”
“Even us immortals must die one day.”
I ran my finger across the spines of the books, delighting in the smell of leather and old paper. Some of them hadn’t been touched in decades, it seemed. Others looked worn, their spines creased.
“Yes. Lifetimes to do everything you desire.”
I wondered if that was why sorcerers were so success-driven. We only had a short time to achieve anything. The fae, however, were notoriously lazy, carefree, and filled with menace. Tomorrow was certain, and yesterday was forgettable. With centuries to become anyone, repeatedly, it was no wonder they cared so little for thrones and crowns—except for Blaise. He was eager. I presumed the younger ones always were at first. Eyeing Blaise, I wondered how long it would take for his spark to dull, and I hoped I’d never have to be around when that happened. I guessed I wouldn’t, not after my father invaded their land.
“Careful,” he warned when my fingertips reached the end of the case. Next to the shelf was a large glass dome suspended in midair. Light shone through it, shredding into hundreds of shades of blue. In the middle of the dome was a dagger. It couldn’t have been more than a foot long and four inches wide. The blade was coated in silver from what I could tell, and the metal was pristine; not a scratch marked the shiny surface. The handle had been carved from polished stone, knotting up into a point. Invisible fingers of magic held it up. Fairy dust hovered around the glass.
I was transfixed, aware of nothing but how much I wanted to touch it. I reach my fingers out, uncurling them as I reached the edge. When my skin touched the polished exterior, electricity buzzed into my arm, then throughout my body. My heart skipped a beat, and dizziness pulled me to the ground. I fell with a thud, then looked up at the dome with wide eyes.
Fingers snapped in front of my eyes. I blinked twice, then broke my connection to the dagger.
Blaise pressed his lips together. His eyes were more full than usual, his eyebrows furrowed. “I said, be careful.”
“I couldn’t help it,” I admitted, breathless.
He looked at the dagger’s glass prison and back at me. “You’re susceptible to the Objects of Kai. You’ve heard of them, right?”
My cheeks flushed with heat. “Of course I have.” My eyes flicked to the glint of the blade.
“Don’t stare at it too long...” He paused for a nanosecond. “You can go mad, and I happen to like my future wife sane.”
A smirk played on his lips. I chewed the inside of my cheek and forced myself to look away. It called to me like a mercreature from the waters, pulling me into an abyss where I could lose myself.
I had so many questions, but my pride and ego offered two words. “I know.”
A flicker of amusement crossed his face. “Well, in case you don’t, it’s called the dagger of ruin.”
“Catchy name.”
“It’s one of the ways fae have found a way to die. It can kill an immortal.” He looked at it. I could tell he was also captivated by its essence, to a lesser extent than me. “It’s only used when one of the crimes of three has been committed, or when a faery wishes to die.”
“I’ve heard of them, the only things you could do that would be punishable by death. Although, I have heard a lot about the fae villages on the outskirts of Lepidus and the cities. Deadly places to venture. How do you keep them in check?”
The corner of his mouth ticked. “We’re working on it.”
“You and your father?”
He breathed deeply, staring at me with unknown intention. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“You haven’t changed since you were little. You questioned everything then too. Why is the sky blue? How do birds fly?”
I shrugged. “I barely remember. I was five.”
“The kingdom is changing.” Warning laced his stare. “Soon all will be revealed. For now, place your faith in my leadership. The villages will not remain in ruin for much longer. Justice will be served to those who will not bend to my rule.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You mean your father’s?”
“I’m the crown prince,” he replied. “It won’t be long until I’m king.”
“Doubtful,” I mumbled under my
breath.
“What was that?”
“Hmm.” I tapped my finger against my chin. “Nothing.” I turned my attention back to the dagger. “What if someone tries to steal it? I mean, it’s valuable to anyone who wants an immortal dead or an immortal who wants eternal life, and it’s out in the open.”
He rolled his eyes. “Behind a door only I can open, in a cage only a king or crown prince can unlock.” His eyes flashed brightly. “Those with true royal blood.”
He strode toward it, then pressed his fingers against the dome. As he did, the glass melted away. I didn’t know why he had to show me. It was nice to see his ego was still in check.
“Who carries out the executions for the crimes?” I asked.
“For now, King Azrael, but one day, me.” He smirked. “For cold-blooded murder, treason, or act of terror.”
I fumbled my thumbs. “Do you think you could kill someone?” I didn’t know when he would rule, but inevitably, the responsibility would fall on his shoulders.
He laughed. “As easy as slicing through pig’s meat.”
My chest tightened. “Nice to know. Anyway, thanks for showing me this place.”
He straightened his shoulders. “Put everything back where you found it. This is my personal library.” He placed the dagger back, and the glass settled back over it, protecting it from wanting hands. “Now you can visit it too. I’ll have the spell locking the library adjusted so you can enter it.”
“Oh.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Great. Thank you!”
As he left, I wondered why the dagger was in Blaise’s possession and not Azrael’s. Who was ruling the court, him or his father?
Scanning the shelves, it was several minutes before I found it. A book titled The Objects of Kai. My eyebrows pinched downward. The spine was well-creased. My thirst for knowledge returned with ferocity. Skimming through ancient pages, I landed on one detailing each object, but the descriptions were faded. One was the dagger of ruin. My eyes flicked up to the flashing silver.
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