Everything had gone to hell. Dragoir’s horn sounded over the winds, which had picked up. The rest of the army with us turned their horses, racing back to their leader.
“What’s happening?” I asked an anxious Cedric.
“He must have needed help. There must be many of them.”
“Shouldn’t we help them?”
He gave me an incredulous look. “They are soldiers, trained for this. To protect us.”
“I can help!” I said again, determined not to let anyone else die for me.
“I won’t let you.”
I pointed my staff at him. “Don’t let it come to this.”
“If they capture you, they will kill you and Edgar will take your throne. You were willing to risk everything earlier to get those letters. Now you’re willing to give them and your crown up?”
I fumbled the reins. “No.”
Screaming rattled through the trees. Tears pinched my eyes. He moved forward on his horse. “It’s not easy for me to leave them either.”
Picking up our pace, we raced in the moonlight, determinedly fixed on the path ahead until it became too thick for us to go any farther. Cedric grew quiet as the screams became more distant.
Leaves larger than my face blocked the way ahead. “We can’t bring the horses through here.”
“Dragoir knew another way through, where we could ride. We must have taken a wrong turn…” He looked around us, but no obvious path showed itself.
I looked over my shoulder. “We don’t have long. We can go by foot. They won’t follow us far into the overgrowth, surely. They will think us to take a bigger path.” I pointed my staff at the leaves. On my command, they crumpled and died, making the way easier for us to maneuver. “Though here.”
“No.”
I flinched back. “Excuse me?”
“I said no. You’re not making the decisions this time. You’ll get us killed.” He pulled on his reins, veering us right. “Down here.”
“My plan would have worked.”
He turned his head to face me. “You want to do this right now?”
“I know you’re stressed.” My eyes widened. “But you’re acting awful.”
“Enough.” He let out a long exhale and trotted down the dark way ahead, pulling us down into a left turn. We reached a clearing, which led to a wide path at the forest’s edge. “This is it.”
I followed behind, not saying a word. I was grateful for him saving me, but he was acting like an ass and not taking my advice, which could have well saved us.
Moonlight spotlighted lizards gripping tree trunks and small monkeys that hung in the branches above. Stars speckled through the gaps in the canopy, the inky sky calming my nerves. At least it was quiet now. We’d either gone far enough out, or all screams had been silenced.
“We can gallop from here,” he said, seeing the road widen again, leading a clear, unbroken way downward.
Pulling on his reins, he raced forward. I pressed my feet into my horse’s sides. The wind pulled my hair back. My eyes were alight as we sped through the night, chasing morning. Freedom elated me, and the urgency to keep it spiked my adrenaline, coursing it through my veins and propelling me forward.
I passed Cedric as we curved a bend in the widening road. Trees became more sparse the farther we rode. Animals scuttered from the watching tree line as we galloped past.
After stopping briefly for water at a stream, we took off again, wasting no time.
I wondered about the army he’d brought to protect me. How many had died? How much more blood did I have on my hands? At this point, I’d lost count.
So many souls had been lost to have me fail.
Fear buzzed my mind into fearful scenarios of death, destruction, and hopelessness. I tried to push them away, but the more I ignored them, the more prominent they became.
I wished I had Morgana’s herbs to numb the fears in my mind. To slow my mind. In the blackness of night, with only the road ahead to distract me, I fell further into my thoughts.
My throat tightened when I remembered the cage and the pain that had come with it. My chest ached when I considered Kiros’s broken heart. Panic tightened a ball in my stomach as I thought of Berovia moving against me, punishing my people for my betrayal. Edgar would soon be removed from his rule. Berovia had dragons, and the letters poking into my breast was a reminder of the power Xenos held.
My fingers flexed against the reins. “Stop!” I yelled. I gasped for breath. My lungs felt like they were growing smaller by the second.
“Winter!” Cedric shouted, powering a shield of white light to catch me as I fell from the horse. It broke my fall as I landed on the bright barrier. Cedric slowed, using a blue magic to calm the horse, and jumped down.
As he dropped to his knees at my side, his eyes were wild. “What happened?”
I clutched my throat. “I can’t breathe.” I moved my hand to my chest. “My heart hurts. I think I’m dying.”
He placed his hands on me, closing his eyes. “I don’t sense anything.” His eyebrows furrowed; silence hung around us on the desolate, dark dirt road. “There is no blackness attached to you.”
My tears fell thick and fast. I choked on air as I tried to gulp in more. “I’m dying!” I screamed. I felt like I was moving out of my body.
Placing his hands on my shoulders, he rested his head against mine, muttering unintelligible words. Within seconds, a calm washed over me, bringing me back to reality. Looking around, suddenly able to breathe again, I flushed pink. “What did you do?”
“The same spell I placed on the horse.” His eyebrows pulled downward in concentration. Serenity continued to pulsate over me in waves. I closed my eyes, feeling so relaxed. Sleep lulled. Until it didn’t.
Jolting, I opened my eyes. Cedric patted my shoulder, his expression soft. He ran his finger along the hem of his shirt. “You were filled with panic and dread. Stress, worry, it can do the strangest of sensations to your body. Us fae learn about healing properties and the darkness that plagues people’s souls. Fear is the biggest killer of spirit.” He pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. “Your mind is full. Share your burdens with me.”
“We’re on the run,” I said on a sob.
He pulled me to my feet and brushed his lips against mine. Running the tip of his nose against mine before pulling away, he nodded. “We will work on this when we’re somewhere safe. I promise.”
The conviction in his tone brought me comfort as I grabbed my fallen staff and climbed on the horse’s back. Taking a minute to steady myself, I whispered a quick apology to my horse for startling her, then trotted into a canter and eventually galloped.
“We’re close!” Cedric shouted over the clonking. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” I called back. Veering away from pressing fears, I instead focused on the moment I was in. My attention took in the evergreens whipping past my head, from branches to their low-hanging leaves.
The moon moved down in the sky, and stars dulled as a wash of purple brightened the night. We had an hour until dawn, from what I could tell.
A stream babbled at the side of the road, which began to narrow. I moved behind Cedric. After several minutes, fences, small houses made of wood, and the stench of manure from a farm—markers of civilization—welcomed us into Woodbarrow.
Dawn brought light to the shadows of Woodbarrow, a small town in Woodbourne. Familiarity brought a smile to my lips when I looked around at the small houses, shops, and sandy walkways. I jumped off my horse and led her through the almost-empty streets.
Passing a newspaper stall, I gasped. I grabbed a paper with the headline:
MARRIED TODAY, PRINCE KIROS AND QUEEN WINTER MORTIS OF MAGAELOR. UNITING NATIONS. XENOS RESTORES PEACE TO THE KINGDOMS.
Cedric came up behind me and sighed. “They put out the message to newspapers before you ran. How embarrassing for them.”
He was right. They would feel humiliated. It would flame a war so personal. Hearts an
d prides were broken, and for that, I would pay. “This will mean deadly repercussions.”
He shrugged. “What can they do to you that they haven’t threatened to already?”
“Burn my people at stakes. It’s what they tried to do two centuries ago.”
“Berovia’s people would revolt over such violence.”
“Not if they don’t know.” I thought of the dragons. “Cedric, I need to find a news writer. A big one. Please.”
He tapped his chin. “I know where there is one. Come on.”
He pulled my hand as we walked into the center of town. My eyes flitted to the odd person who’d risen early. Soon the sun would be fully up, and many would be on high alert, even in Woodbarrow.
“Once done,” I said quickly as I matched his pace, “we must leave.”
“Where do we go? I want to take you to the fae court, but my father, he would not risk upsetting Xenos. I cannot trust your safety there. I could, perhaps, take you to one of my beach houses, but they will look there. They knew I was with you when we were first caught.”
“I understand.” I peered down a narrow, cobbled street, spotting a black metal sign sticking out: Woodbarrow Times. “I see it.”
We hurried down the street, and my eyes crinkled. A fishy odor hit my nose. I could see where the sea merged with the sky at the port beyond the shops and houses. Cedric tugged me toward the white stone building with a sign reading Woodbarrow Times.
The bell above the door tinkled as Cedric walked inside. I followed, looking behind me to ensure we weren’t being followed.
Behind a polished mahogany counter, a tall, bespectacled man was reading a parchment, not looking up. His fingers danced near a pot of ink. “Yes?”
“We have a story,” I said.
“We’re not taking any new stories today.”
“You’ll want this one.” I pulled the envelopes out of my dress.
His eyes flashed brightly. “The king’s seal.” He noticed. “Broken.”
“By the king,” I stated. “Not us. These are authentic.”
“Why wouldn’t I go to the royal family?”
“You can, but you’d be mistaken to do so.”
He pushed his spectacles up the bridge of his long nose. “What is in those letters?”
“My name is Winter Mortis, Princess of Magaelor, and I was a prisoner here, forced into marrying Prince Kiros. Kept in the pits, tortured at first, I saw them: two dragons, brought here to be tortured.”
I paused for a breath but continued, despite Cedric’s scrutinizing eyes.
“They are planning to siphon the dragons’ magic. I heard it from Xenos’s mouth, and the proof is in here.” I waved the letters in the air. “He wants to invade Magaelor and dethrone my cousin, Edgar—who doesn’t know I’m alive—and with dragons’ magic, he will. I can’t force you to print any of this, but I hope you do the right thing. He will be too busy with the firedrake warders, anti-monarchists, and angry subjects to do anything to your paper, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
The small man’s eyes rounded. He grabbed a spare piece of parchment. “Can I quote your words?”
“Yes.”
I slid the envelopes across the counter. He placed the pen down and took them. His eyes ran over each line.
Cedric grabbed my hand. “Winter.”
“Wait.”
“No.” He tugged my arm and pointed through the glass with his other hand. “Look.” He pointed at the small window. “There are guards searching the street. One is coming this way.”
I turned, gasping. “Please do the right thing!” I shouted before heading to the door.
Cedric followed, then placed a muscular arm in front of me as it opened. A shield burst out from Cedric, with beautiful golden magic. The guard was knocked onto his buttocks. Cedric smirked.
I pointed my staff at the man on the ground and uttered a banned spell I recalled from the books in Blaise’s library. Weaves of silver reached him and wrapped around his wrists, holding him on the ground.
Rushing past the guard’s convulsing body, Cedric looked back. “What did you do to him?”
“Not important.”
He edged on hesitation but relented. “Hold tight.” He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the sky. I didn’t get a chance to take a breath before my brain realized what was happening.
“We’re flying.” I looked out over the quaint shops that grew smaller and smaller.
The wind picked up the higher we got. His golden wings fluttered behind his back, whisking us over the town, to the port. “Why didn’t you fly us here from the castle?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled, his expression strained. “I can’t do this for long.”
Blaise jumped unwantedly into my thoughts. He had carried me for longer, I pondered, but then, dark fae enhanced their own magic. I refused to believe he was stronger than Cedric.
He veered us left, but we were wobbly, dancing down through the sky, layer by layer, the ground seeming to move closer with each beat of our breaths.
I felt lighter as we descended. When we reached the ground, he landed us with a thud. The air was ripped from my lungs.
Taking a moment to catch my breath, I looked around us. Rickety boards led out to ships.
“Where are we going?” he asked. “We can go by boat, or…” He pointed at a carriage with horses waiting on the road for another merchant. “Steal a ride on land.”
Searching the port, I noticed Hawk’s ship was gone, which I fully expected, but another I recognized stood glorious, its sails reaching high into the pastel-blue sky. “Aquarius and Bella.”
“So, where shall I tell my old friend he’s taking us?”
I inhaled sharply. There was only one safe place left for me now, and he wasn’t going to like it. “We’re going to Niferum.”
TWENTY-ONE
I wasted no time in updating Bella and Aquarius on our travels. “Then, we saw your ship,” I said.
Bella looked from me to Cedric, then back again. “That’s a lot to take in.”
The rocking motion swirled my stomach. I leaned forward in my chair, placing my hands on my knees.
Cedric chimed in. “Which is why we are so grateful you sailed us away, no questions asked.”
“Anything for old friends.”
I grinned on his plural. He thought of me as one too. “As you can see, our only real option is to go to Lepidus. Blaise wrote to me when I was in Berovia. He’s scared. Things are happening to him too. His kingdom. They’re being attacked. Attempts have been made to weaken him, perhaps even kill him with the Sword of Impervius.”
Cedric’s forehead wrinkled. “You left that part out.”
“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to mention it while we were running for our lives,” I said, chastising him in reply.
Aquarius tensed as the atmosphere darkened. Rain pattered overhead the cabin, followed by crashing thunder. “We’re crossing over.”
Bella stood, cautiously looking at the door. “We’ve been lucky to avoid the mer, but they always seem to be around when you’re on board.”
“There might be a reason for that,” I mentioned.
Cedric placed his hand on mine. “What?”
“The mer spared my life, twice. I don’t know why.”
Bella tossed her red, poker-straight hair over her shoulder. “I hear something.”
Silence befell the cabin, until a scream sent us all sprinting to the stairs. We climbed them, narrowly not falling out onto the deck. Catching myself on a wood rail, I sucked in a deep breath. Bella was behind me, and Cedric on Aquarius’s heels.
“NO!” Aquarius glowered across the deck as a member of his crew was dragged overboard by a mer with long talons and dark eyes. Aquarius’s sandy-brown hair blew in the wind. It now reached around his ears.
As I diverted my attention to the sea, my breath hitched. Scaly tails ripped through the surface, breaking the waves hurdling toward the ship. Steel-color scales
scattered the moonlight. It was prime hunting time.
I gripped my fingers into splintered wood, peering over the edge to see the faces of the mer. I wondered once again, as I had on many occasions, why I had been spared death twice. They were unforgiving, vicious predators, so mercy was out of the question.
“Get away from there! Are you crazy?” Cedric shouted over the rain. The mer had some influence over the tides and used them to attempt to discourse ships. “You’ll be killed.”
“I have to know the truth!” I shouted back, although he didn’t understand. I knew what we needed to do. Perhaps it would be my most dangerous task yet. I had to talk to one of them.
I braced myself, grabbing my staff with both hands and splintering the ash wood in places. I curled my fingers around the bone at the top, which made up the handle. This one was more powerful than my first. It still felt unfamiliar in my hands. I’d spent little time with it before it was taken from me by Xenos. Still, I was grateful for Morgana making me a replacement. Magic wielders were hard to come by, and from what I saw in the streets of Magaelor, not everyone was so lucky to have one.
Morgana. Her face, her smile, flashed across my memory before the ugly, twisted face of a merwoman forced the thought away.
Waves lapped around the creature’s arms and torso. It didn’t have any hair, like the others. She used her talons to climb up the bow of the ship. My heart pounded as loud as the rain droplets that hammered down creating crown-shaped splashes before becoming one with the briny, dark blue.
She snarled when she reached the top. Others were not far behind. The man who’d been snatched was already under the surface, probably nearing their underwater caves by now.
I moved away from the edge, brandishing my staff. I held my breath when she reached the wood rail. Her eyes focused on mine. Her pupils were slits, illuminated by a spray of pale light.
Her breaths rattled as she struggled to make the change to breathing above water.
Closing my eyes, I was ready this time. It would require all my energy, but I couldn’t revert to using sacrificial magic, which would make easy prey of her. I’d made too many mistakes and was nervous about what the last spell would have cost me if Morgana hadn’t helped.
The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset Page 42
