by Coco Ma
“Not anymore, no.” Harry ambled over to the fireplace, feeding firewood into the lively blaze and giving it a few pokes.
“Not anymore?” Luna asked, flopping down onto the paneled wood floor and warming her fingers. Despite the arrival of spring, a chill hung in the air, a lingering promise that winter would return.
“The woodland lifestyle isn’t for everyone,” Harry said with a shrug, propping the iron poker off to the side. “You all rest here, and I’ll go and bring the horses to the back.”
“There’s no need,” said Asterin. “We’ll handle it.” When Eadric started toward the door, she waved him away. “And by we I meant Quinlan,” she amended. “You keep Luna company.”
Eadric grinned. “That, I can accept.” He settled himself onto the floor beside Luna, slinging an arm around her shoulders. She rested her head on his chest and yawned.
Quinlan rolled his eyes but trailed after Asterin toward the front door without complaint.
Harry followed them into the foyer. “I’m going to grab some blankets from the closet,” he said, one hand resting on the banister of the staircase. To the others, he called, “Let me know if you need anything else!”
Orion propped his legs onto the coffee table. “Thanks, Harry!”
“Yes,” Eadric added. “Thank you.” Asterin didn’t miss her captain’s eyes tracking Harry’s retreat up the stairs, his expression darkening.
“Oh, actually, there’s just one thing …” Harry paused in his ascent, ducking down to address them. Eadric’s shoulders tensed as Harry caught sight of his expression, in place for just a second too long. Their host looked away, shifting and running an uncertain hand along the back of his neck. Eadric flushed. “There—there aren’t quite enough beds for everyone. Forgive me, but someone will probably have to sleep on the sofa.”
“No need to apologize,” Asterin assured him. “We’ll sort it out.”
Her mind whirled with plans as she coaxed Lux into the barn. The pens were smaller than the palace stalls, but they could let the horses out in the morning to graze in the clearing. She brushed down Lux while Quinlan unsaddled Eadric’s horse. They worked in comfortable silence, hanging up gear along the barn walls.
Asterin glanced up to find Quinlan smiling at her. “Stop that.” His smile only widened. “Why is it so hard for you to follow orders?”
He crossed his right ankle behind his left and tilted his head. The sky had darkened, but it only made him look softer, smoothed out his edges. “I can follow orders.” He smirked and lowered his voice to that lovely velvety whisper. “Just tell me what you want. Anything at all.”
It was exactly what she hoped he would say. “Oh?” Her grin of triumph caused his smirk to falter slightly. “In that case, I order you to accept the fate of sleeping on the sofa.”
Quinlan exhaled and trudged out of the barn. “Well played, Your Highness. Well played.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
The silence of the woods at night felt otherworldly to Eadric. Here, the sigh of pines and the whisper of wind along the eaves replaced the faraway shouts of patrol guards and the gurgle of pipes beneath the floors. The occasional wild howl rolled through the twilight, hungry and alone—so was it strange that a part of Eadric would rather surrender himself to the perils of the forest than confine himself within these walls?
Then Luna nestled closer to his chest and he told himself that everything would be all right so long as she was at his side. Almost everyone else had already gone to bed, but he was more than content to spend the rest of the night in front of the fire with her snug in his arms, although sitting on the hard oak floor had caused him to completely lose the feeling in his legs an hour or so ago.
He adjusted his position, wincing, and watched as Luna gazed into the fire. “This is nice, isn’t it?” At the palace, their duties constantly got in the way of seeing one another. She hummed distantly. He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “What’s on your mind, darling?”
She sighed and shot a glance at Quinlan, who had passed out cold on the sofa behind them. “I shouldn’t be here.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not powerful.”
“So? That didn’t stop you before.”
“I know, I just …” She laughed to herself. “Never mind, it’s silly.”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “No, tell me.”
She looked away. He waited patiently, until at last she spoke. “Magic comes to all of you so easily, but I’ve always felt like something is blocking it from me.” She bit her lip in frustration as she searched for the words. “Like a locked gate that I don’t have the key to. I hoped that leaving the palace for the first time in my life might have changed that somehow.”
Eadric frowned. “Like how?”
“Well, powerful parents usually make powerful children, don’t they? And since I never figured out who my parents were … I just—I just so badly wanted to be like all of you,” she admitted softly. “And there’s a part of me that keeps thinking that I could be, if only I had that key.” She stopped and shook her head with a rueful smile. “Listen to me. I sound crazy.”
“Not to me,” Rose said. Luna and Eadric jumped, neither of them having heard her reenter. She had a towel wrapped around her head and smelled of lemon soap. Folding her legs beneath her with all the grace befitting a queen, she sat across from them on the other side of the coffee table. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you.” She tilted her head at Luna. “But you should always trust your magic. Trust how you feel it should flow. If you think there’s something more, something to unlock, maybe you’re right. One of my professors at the Academia Principalis always said that magic is as much a part of you as any organ or bone. When something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the Academia like?” Eadric asked eagerly. The Eradorian school was the most prestigious magic academy in the world and internationally renowned for its contributions to the study of magic. Located within the inner city of Eradoris, admittance was nothing short of a miracle. It surprised him a little that Rose hadn’t just studied with tutors as Asterin had, but he supposed that if the kingdom’s future queen had wished to attend the academy, it probably hadn’t been too much of a struggle to dredge up an acceptance letter.
“Brutal.” And then, cheerfully, she added, “I got expelled.”
“Expelled?” Luna blurted. “You?”
Rose nodded and began tracing shapes into the floorboards with her index finger. “I helped my classmate pass his end-of-year exam. Twice, actually. I should have been expelled the first time around, but my mother gave them hell over it. And I was one of their best students, so I was given a second chance … which I botched the following year. But I didn’t care. Consequences be damned,” she growled, startling them with her ferocity. “The examination system is merciless—the less powerful are at a severe disadvantage, no matter their other skills.”
“Well, it is a school for magic …” Eadric couldn’t help but point out.
“Magic is much more than just strength,” Rose said. “It’s about patience, focus, and keeping an open mind to all the possibilities.” She snorted quietly. Fondly. “Not that he was great at any of that, either.”
“Who?” Luna asked.
Rose’s shoulders tensed. “My—my classmate.” Her nails dug into the floor. “He was expelled, but I managed to get him a place to stay in the inner city anyway.”
Luna’s eyebrow arched. “You did all of that for a classmate?”
Rose ducked her head. “That’s all I was to him, apparently, so … yes. In any case, I learned a lot from that experience, and to be honest, I think I ended up better off than I would have if I had stayed. Knowledge can be shared, but it is purest when sought.”
“Why couldn’t you
just let him fail, though?” Eadric asked.
“Failure is unacceptable at the Academia,” Rose replied, voice flat. “People who fail not only face automatic expulsion, but banishment from the city. That’s why I had to help him.” She flicked a bit of cinder off her boot. “And, unfortunately for me, I would do it all over again for him in a heartbeat.”
A sudden chill brushed against Eadric’s skin at the unforgiving ire in her expression.
Luna, Immortals bless her, yawned loudly, breaking the tension with her usual sweet smile. “Well, I’m beat. Shall we get ready for bed?”
Eadric smothered the fire with a few shovelfuls of ash, and the three of them trudged up the stairs, leaving Quinlan to his sleepy mutterings on the sofa—something about dueling with carrots. They kept the same sleeping arrangements as they had in Aldville, except Rose had the room at the end of the hall to herself. Eadric could hear Orion snoring softly from within their room. Luna tiptoed past him to the room she shared with Asterin, next to his—the door was ajar, but the lights were out. From Harry’s room across the hall came only silence.
Just as Rose reached for her doorknob, the question that had been burning on Eadric’s tongue since before they had even left the palace finally slipped out. “Why are you helping us, Your Majesty? You and Quinlan?”
Rose’s hand stilled on the knob, her back to them. She didn’t answer for a long while and Eadric wondered if he had overstepped.
At last, she released a heavy sigh. “As Queen of Eradore, it is my duty to protect my kingdom and its people at all costs. All I can tell you is that by being here, I am trying to fulfill that duty.” She turned to face him and Luna. “Nothing is certain. All we know is, as the only heir to the Axarian throne, Asterin must survive. She is fair and kind, and her people like her. That alone could make all the difference. In times of great difficulty, Asterin Faelenhart will be a star in the darkness for not only the people of her own kingdom, but for people everywhere. They will look to her as a leader—as their ruler.”
Eadric hadn’t the slightest idea how to respond to that—but Luna only smiled. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, we already knew that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Two teams,” Asterin declared the next morning, refreshed and ready to avenge her kingdom. “We’ll split up into two teams to hunt down the demon. That way everyone on duty will be as well-rested and alert as possible.”
Orion’s eyes followed the princess as she paced back and forth along the length of the living room. Except for Eadric, the rest of them, including Harry, lounged about on the sofa and the floor. The captain had chosen to lean against the wall beside the fireplace, gaze flicking to Harry every time the hunter so much as moved a muscle.
“Even though it might have relocated after attacking Corinthe,” Asterin went on, “chances are that it is still living somewhere nearby. So unless we receive reports indicating otherwise, we’ll search every inch of this damned forest if we have to.” She punctuated her statement by slamming her fist into her palm.
Orion picked at a loose thread on the hem of his shirt, gave up, and let his head fall back against the sofa. “So … what? Are we going to pick names out of a hat?”
Asterin shot him a withering glare. “I was thinking more by skill set. Quinlan will lead the first team, and you’ll lead the second.”
“What?” Orion blurted. “Me?”
Rose nodded her approval, tapping her fingernails on the coffee table. “And ideally, each team would have a strong healer, correct? As in, you and me?”
“Exactly,” Asterin said.
Rose went silent for a few seconds. And then she smiled innocently. “I’ll be on Orion’s team.”
Luna stood from her perch on the sofa arm at Orion’s left. “Asterin, I want to be on your team,” she said. “I mean, Quinlan’s team. And you. Eadric can be on Orion’s team.”
“Hold on,” said Eadric, pushing off the mantel. “That makes no sense.”
Asterin’s brow raised while Luna sat back down. “What do you mean?”
“Well …” Eadric trailed off. “Orion and I are supposed to guard you.”
“No, you’re supposed to help me slay the demon,” Asterin replied. “I’ll be perfectly fine on my own.”
With Quinlan, Orion couldn’t help but think. He looked up to find the Eradorian staring at him expectantly, jaw taut with tension, as if he could read Orion’s bitter thoughts.
You … you still don’t trust me. At all.
Since Aldville, Orion hadn’t been able to shake off those words. And the truth was that he still didn’t trust Quinlan completely—but he did know, without a doubt, that Quinlan would do anything to protect Asterin. And that between the two of them … the Eradorian could protect Asterin better. Orion died a little on the inside at the self-admission, but Aldville had proved that. Not everything is about you, Orion, Rose’s voice reminded him. And she was right—because in the end, it was always Asterin that mattered most, not his pride.
So when Eadric opened his mouth to argue, Orion cut him off while keeping his eyes firmly on Quinlan. “All right, then. I guess you’re with me, Captain Covington.”
Surprise flickered across Quinlan’s features, along with a little bit of suspicion, but Orion couldn’t blame him for that.
Eadric whipped toward him. “Orion, what are you—”
“It’s like our princess said,” Orion interrupted. “She’ll be perfectly fine on her own.” He exhaled and turned to Quinlan with the most threatening glare he could muster. “Hey, fireface. As team captains, it’s our responsibility to protect our charges. If anything happens to either Asterin or Luna, I’ll rip out your innards and string them up on Harry’s porch for decoration.”
The corner of Quinlan’s mouth twitched. “I could say the same to you about my cousin.”
Harry raised a tentative hand. Even the small movement caused his shirt to strain against that broad chest. “Excuse me, but I’d rather not have any bodily organs hanging from my porch.”
“No offense, Harry, but it really isn’t your decision,” Orion said. “You do get to decide between my team and Quinlan’s team, however.”
“That is,” Asterin cut in, “if Harry would like to be a part of this at all, which he may absolutely opt against.”
“Nonsense,” Harry said. Orion couldn’t help but admire the confident puff of his chest. “I know these woods better than anyone.”
Orion bit his lip, failing to restrain a grin. “Well, that’s convenient. I have no sense of direction.”
“I can be of use to you, then,” Harry said a little too quickly. His face flushed a delectable shade of pink.
Orion’s grin widened to a mile. “Oh, yes. I’m sure your knowledge of the woods will be very useful.”
“Immortals have mercy,” Eadric mumbled. Rose stifled a snort of laughter.
“Then we’re done here,” Asterin concluded, oblivious, and clapped her hands. “Our team goes out first. We’ll rotate every day so the other team can rest as well as keep an eye on the immediate vicinity. Notify the other team if you find a lead, but ultimately assess the situation and make your own decisions. The moment one of us sets eyes on it, there is no chance in hell we let that demon escape.” Orion shivered at the ice that crept into her tone. “We either slay it or die trying. Is that understood?”
Collective nods around the room.
Asterin smiled, but the light in her eyes had gone dark. “Excellent. Luna, Quinlan, come along. We’ve got a demon to hunt down.”
Rain had fallen overnight, soaking the grass and setting the trees aglisten. Asterin tramped outside, Amoux strapped to her side, her eyes roving the trees hungrily. Luna came next, followed by Quinlan.
“Should we get saddled up?” Luna asked.
“We won’t be taking the horses,” Quinlan answered as he shut the front
door behind him, a half-eaten scone in his hand. “The trees are too dense. They’ll only slow us down.” He popped the last of the scone into his mouth. “Let’s get going. I’d like to be back before evening falls.”
Asterin snorted. “You mean you’d like to be back in time for dinner.” Still, he was right—it was too dangerous to search for the demon after dark. They hadn’t the faintest idea as to the demon’s whereabouts, how powerful it was, or even its size. All they knew was that it had managed to destroy Corinthe and all of its people in a matter of hours … so even now, in broad daylight, they would need to be constantly on their guard.
The three of them set off east, using Garringsford’s map to mark their path. While Asterin knew that the chances of finding the demon were slim, especially on their first day, she still clung to the hope. She imagined it all in her mind—the hard-fought battle, the final strike. Bringing the body back to her mother with their heads held high. The queen would praise her for an excellent job, would be happy and proud—
She’s never been proud of you, a voice in her head reminded her. But perhaps, once you slay the demon … all of that will change. Wouldn’t it?
Asterin shook the thought from her head. They would kill the demon—not because she wanted to please her mother, but because her people deserved vengeance and a future ruler who was worth more than a smile and a pretty tiara.
Before she knew it, the sun was slipping inch by inch from its peak. Hours had passed, but they hadn’t glimpsed so much as a hint of the demon’s whereabouts—no abnormal prints, no territorial markings. Not even a rabbit carcass. They had found absolutely nothing. Still, she forged on until the sky wept streaks of crimson across the horizon.
Finally, when Luna kept clearing her throat and looking at the darkening sky, Asterin slumped against a tree in defeat.
Quinlan squeezed her shoulder. “We should head back,” he said. “Harry said he was baking a cake. If it’ll cheer you up, I promise to give you my slice.”
