Prince of Shadow and Ash

by Selina R. Gonzalez

  LIGHT WOKE REGULUS. He felt Adelaide next to him before he opened his eyes. He had rolled onto his side in the night, and lay pressed against her, her back curled against his chest. His right arm wrapped around her over his cloak. He blinked away the sleepiness and eased himself up on his left elbow. Mist swirled in the ethereal pale glow of early morning, and dew clung to every surface—including her dark hair. Sunlight caught in the droplets, making her hair sparkle.

  The first night Regulus saw Adelaide, he had thought she looked angelic. Now, with dew drops glittering in her hair like diamonds, the peaceful, untroubled look on her face as she slept, and the sunlight highlighting her brown skin, she took his breath away.

  He moved to stand, but she wrapped her hands around his arm. She grunted in her sleep and pulled his arm closer to her chest. So Regulus did the only thing that made sense. He settled back down in the grass next to her until Adelaide finally stirred. She shifted, rolling over onto her back with a stifled groan. He propped up his elbow and rested his cheek on his fist.

  “What are you smiling at?”

  “Has anyone ever told you,” he stroked her damp hair, “that you’re pretty?”

  “That’s the best you’ve got?”

  “No.” He gazed into her eyes. “You’re spectacular. Kind. Strong. Brave. Unrelenting. You’re a tigress. My tigress. My shiraa.”

  “And you’re my ekaleh hadya.” Her eyes shone with playfulness. “My lone wolf.”

  A pang stabbed at his chest. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

  Regulus leaned over her and planted his right hand on the damp grass near her head. Adelaide gazed up at him, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Her hand drifted up to his chest and her fingers spread across his sternum. Her touch felt like the warmth of a fire on a cold night, igniting him from the inside out. He shouldn’t be this close. He wanted to be closer. Her breath brushed across his face. A sudden stinging attacked his forearm. She winced, and he knew she felt it, too. He hung his head, his hair brushing the grass next to her face.

  “You’re not alone.” Adelaide turned his face toward her. “And if we make it out of this, I’m never leaving you again.” A grin broke over her face. “Marry me, Regulus.”

  He laughed, his elation and surprise erupting out of him. “I’d be a fool not to.” He leaned down and kissed her, the pinch from the mark forgotten in the ferocity of her kiss. But the mark sent a shock up his arm, and he pulled away with an agitated sigh. He stood and offered her his hand. Her stomach growled as he helped her to her feet.

  “How much food did you bring?”

  “Harold packed enough for a couple days for us both.” He crossed to Sieger and pulled a leather pouch of venison jerky out of the saddlebag. He took a large piece and tossed the bag to Adelaide.

  “We’d better get going.” Regulus grinned. “Help me with my armor?”

  Chapter 45

  THE HIGHER THEY RODE up into the mountains, the denser the forest became. Pines and firs overtook deciduous trees. Adelaide scanned the forest while Regulus consulted the map and the scribbled directions written on the back. She listened to the rustling of pine needles and creak of branches. The irregular chitter of squirrels and chirping of birds.

  Regulus looked at the map, at the trees, back at the map. “All I see are trees. I think we’re still headed in the right direction, but...these notes aren’t particularly helpful.”

  “I say we keep going straight.”

  “You sound awfully confident.” He cocked a brow. “How do you know?”

  She shrugged. “The mark. It doesn’t hurt. That means we’re going the right way, right?”

  “Not necessarily.” He dragged his hand over his face. “It just means we’re trying to obey.”

  “Hm.” She looked around again. “You have a better idea?”

  “Fair point.”

  They rode until her stomach twisted with hunger. Regulus pulled some jerky from his saddlebag, but they didn’t stop. The dry, chewy jerky mostly tasted like salt, but it quelled the rumbling in her stomach. They rode out of the trees into a wide path, overgrown with grass. It stretched out to the right and curved up further into the mountains to their left.

  “I think this is it,” he said, consulting the map.

  The winding trail upward narrowed the higher it progressed into the mountains until the encroaching brush forced them to ride single file. It was midafternoon and long shadows stretched across the path when they reached a fork. A dilapidated wooden sign pointed to the left branch and said only “Craigailte.” The branch to the right was little more than a steep footpath over tangled roots and exposed bedrock.

  “Well,” she looked at the path to the right, “we’re not going to Craigailte.”

  “No.” Regulus dismounted. He pulled up the sprawling branches of a juniper bush, revealing a cairn covered in blue-green juniper berries. “We’ll have to leave the horses. We’ll tie them off the path, out of sight.”

  He made her wear his cloak. She didn’t argue. The air already held a chill. She was glad she’d worn one of her riding dresses with sleeves. Regulus pulled his helm out of the saddlebag and put it on. He tied the saddlebag over his shoulder, and they set out up the footpath.

  Trees and bushes caught on her dress and cloak and gravel shifted under her feet. The scent of pine and falling leaves filled the air. Regulus walked ahead of her, scanning the trees and warning her of loose and slippery rocks.

  “I don’t know what we’ll find at the top,” Regulus said as he picked his way around a sapling growing out of the middle of the path. “There are many dangerous creatures in these mountains, and the sorcerer mentioned there might be something guarding the opal. If we’re attacked, I want you to run. Get to safety.”

  Adelaide stopped short, offended that he would expect her to leave him behind—or that she couldn’t help. “You’re joking, right?”

  “About your safety? Never.” He glanced over his bulky pauldron, but she couldn’t see his eyes under the black, horned helm. “I can’t die. I’ll catch up.”

  “I can’t either, remember?” She held up her right arm, even though her sleeve covered the sorcerer’s mark.

  Regulus turned around and took off his helm. His gaze dragged across the ground before meeting her eyes. “I’ve been brought back from the brink of death more times than I care to count.” His voice strained. “It hurts, Adelaide. It still feels like dying. And the sorcerer’s magic isn’t like yours. There’s no comfort or relief. Just pain that slowly fades.”

  That sounded horrible, but she wouldn’t back down. “I won’t abandon you.” She met his gaze, challenging him. “I have my dagger and my knives. I have my magic. You know I can help.”

  “I don’t want you to suffer if you don’t have to. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “And I don’t want you to get hurt!” Emotion she hadn’t even realized she had been holding in rushed out and tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. “I don’t want to be here! I don’t want to help this sorcerer, I don’t want to have this mark on my arm, I don’t want to think about my sister not knowing if I’m all right, I don’t want to wonder if Nolan is threatening my family trying to find me! We don’t always get what we want!” She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes.

  “But I want to help you.” She looked up and whispered, “Let me help you.”

  “Okay,” he murmured.

  The tenderness and guilt written all over Regulus’ face nearly broke her. She wiped her face with her sleeve as he put his helm on and started back up the path.

  Regulus froze, his hand out to the side. Adelaide listened intently and leaned sideways, trying to see around him. She heard it first. A rumbling low breath that sounded more like a growl. A loud snort. Its head reared up, appearing high above Regulus. Bear. Its black nose twitched as it sniffed the air; beady eyes gleaming in the dim sunlight. Thick brown fur rippled in the slight breeze. Its front paws, held in front of its
chest as it stretched up on its hind legs, were as big as Regulus’ helm.

  Her breath hitched as her heart thudded. Regulus eased the saddlebag from his shoulder to the ground. His hand crept toward his sword. The blade scraped against the scabbard and the bear’s round ears twitched. He drew the sword faster. The bear roared. The sound vibrated through her, from her skull down into the ground, and shook the trees. Her eyes widened as she stared at the bits of bloodied fur stuck between its huge yellowed teeth. Regulus drew back his massive sword and swung. The bear swiped a paw at him, hitting him in the shoulder and knocking him to the side before he could land his swing. He fell on top of a tangle of mountain sage and juniper. The bear fell onto all fours, landing on top of Regulus. One paw landed on his chest, the other on his sword arm. He grunted and struggled against the bear’s weight. She swallowed and snapped out of her momentary paralysis.

  “Hey!” Adelaide pulled out her throwing knives as the bear turned its head toward her. Regulus pushed on the paw on his chest with his left arm. She threw the first knife, aiming for its shoulder. If she killed it and it collapsed on Regulus, she’d never be able to move it off him. The knife disappeared deep in the bear’s fur. The beast roared and stepped off Regulus’ sword arm, but that put more pressure on the paw on his chest and he groaned. The paw came down on the other side of Regulus’ head as the bear turned toward her. She stepped back and threw her next knife at the bear’s chest. It sank in, glinting in the mass of fur. The bear charged.

  Adelaide gasped and stepped back, throwing the last knife at its head. It moved as if it saw the knife, and the blade sunk into the bear’s neck where it met its shoulders. She threw up a magic shield and crouched down just before the bear slammed headfirst into the shield. She struggled to keep the shield in place as she slid on the gravelly path.

  Regulus shouted from behind the bear, loud, low and guttural. The bear ignored the sound, clawing at her shield of transparent blue light. She looked up at its snarling lips, only a barrier of light between her face and its teeth. She saw the dull sheen of light on black armor as Regulus jumped on the bear’s back. He brought his sword straight down, the hilt clasped in both hands above his head. The sword sunk behind the bear’s head and emerged from its neck in a fountain of blood that sizzled against her shield. She dropped the shield and scrambled back as the bear fell. Its weight shook the ground as it hit the earth. She held her hands out, steadying herself and breathing hard.

  Regulus stood on the bear’s back as he pulled on his sword. The blade freed with the scrape of metal on bone and a sucking sound. He looked terrifying, the waning sunlight glinting off the hulking black armor and curving horns rising above his helm. Blood soaked the oversized sword in his hands and ran off the tip in a glittering stream of crimson. Now she understood why he hadn’t wanted to tell her the truth.

  Because in that moment he didn’t look like the man she loved. The man before her was the Black Knight of whispered terrors. He didn’t look kind or good. He looked dangerous. Cruel.

  He looked like a monster.

  Chapter 46

  REGULUS DROPPED THE sword and yanked his helm off, but it was too late. He saw the look in Adelaide’s eyes. The fear. Not fear of the sorcerer. Fear of him. The helm slipped from his hands and clattered to the ground. Please, no. Her right foot inched back and his soul crumbled. He slid down the bear’s side and reached toward her. “Adelaide...”

  She blinked, and the fear vanished. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Why do you wear that?” Her gaze ran over his armor and her mouth twisted down. “It’s not you.”

  “Requirement of the sorcerer’s.”

  “When this is over, I want to burn it. Melt it down and destroy it.”

  Regulus laughed as the energy of the fight and tension of seeing her afraid of him wore off. “Agreed.” He held out his hand and Adelaide took it. “We need to keep moving. Every creature on the mountain will have heard that. And it’s getting dark.”

  He led her around the bear’s corpse and retrieved his sword. He left the helm lying next to the body. Adelaide left her knives buried under the bear’s bulk, the time required to retrieve them not worth the trouble.

  Dusk plunged into night. Adelaide conjured a light to hover along the ground ahead of them, and another that hovered above their heads. Gnarled roots twisted over the rocky, narrow trail as it curved ever up the mountain. The higher they went, the steeper the trail became, but at least their exertion helped combat the increasing cold.

  They walked for hours, snacking on the dwindling supply of jerky to keep their energy up. They would have to hunt on their way back.

  The trees creaked and rustled and sounds of animals whispered from the forbidding darkness between trees. A few times he caught sight of a pair of reflective yellow eyes, but nothing attacked them. He kept alert, even as his attention split between the surrounding forest and listening to Adelaide’s footsteps and breathing behind him. A small part of him took comfort in the mark on her arm. If something attacked—wolves, chimera, goblins, dragon for all he knew—at least she would live.

  Regulus walked out of the trees onto a ledge overlooking a steep precipice. A narrow ledge curved around a sheer rock face. Had they taken a wrong turn in the dark? He scanned the ground in the illumination from Adelaide’s orbs. There. A cairn sat by the rock face at the beginning of the ledge, a rock on the top shaped like a rough arrow pointing along the exposed rock. He stepped to the side. “You go first.”

  She peered at the ledge and her jaw slackened. “Why?”

  “So I can catch you if you fall.”

  Adelaide swallowed, then headed out onto the ledge. The rock face seemed to stretch on forever. To their left were the shadowy tops of pines. Freezing wind blew into their faces, making his cheeks burn and his nose sting. Rock crumbled beneath Adelaide’s foot and she stumbled. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pinned her to the rock face.

  Her chest heaved as she caught her breath. “Thank you.”

  He nodded, and they continued.

  Finally, the ledge widened, and the rock face curved away. They walked into an open meadow. Patches of half-melted snow littered the grass. A cairn pointed across the meadow. Tall grasses rustled around them, accompanied by the crunch of icy snow beneath their feet.

  He heard a snap of branches. Heavy foot falls. He drew his sword. Adelaide froze, watching him. He scanned the trees, desperate to see whatever stalked them. A crack of snapping wood echoed as thudding moved closer. Whatever it was, it was big. Pines to their right parted and something emerged from the shadows. Cold moonlight illuminated leathery skin and reflected in huge white eyes.

  Adelaide gasped. “Is that a...”

  “Mountain troll.”

  The troll looked at them, foggy breaths puffing from its flat, wide nostrils. Regulus heard Adelaide mutter a prayer under her breath. The troll’s legs were short under its colossal torso and massive shoulders. It leaned forward, black-clawed hands dragging on the ground at the end of long, hulking arms. It grunted and ran toward them, using its fisted hands to make up for its short legs. Regulus raised his sword and moved into a defensive stance, his feet planted under his shoulders as his pulse quickened in anticipation of the fight.

  Adelaide gave a defiant yell and threw her hands forward. A dozen blue shards of light flew from her hands. A few whipped past the lumbering troll, but most hit. They lodged in the monster’s thick hide. Regulus readied himself, waiting for the perfect moment to charge. Next to him, Adelaide punched her right hand forward. An arc of aqua light exploded from her fist and slammed into the troll. It roared and stumbled. Regulus ran forward and sliced at the troll’s short, fat neck. It lurched back and blocked with its arm. His sword bit through thick hide into flesh and cracked against bone. He yanked back, slicing through more flesh as he freed his blade.

  The troll screeched and lurched. Its hand hung from a strip of throbbing, blood-covered muscle and leathery skin. A spear of blue light slammed into its
left shoulder and it reeled to the side. Regulus darted forward and slid under the troll, dragging his sword deep across its torso. He stood, but the troll didn’t fall. It stumbled toward him, roaring. He stabbed his sword into its chest, and it leaned into the sword, clawing at him with its good hand. Its weight pressed him back, and he fell to his knees as the troll reached for him. The blade sunk deeper into the troll’s chest. Its claws raked over his breastplate with a jarring screech of rending metal.

  Then Adelaide was there, a sword of light wreathed in flames in her hands. Her teeth showed as her lips curled back in a yell. The flames reflected in her ferocious eyes. She swung at the troll’s throat. The smell of burning leather and flesh joined the stench of blood and troll as the blade of light sliced through the trolls’ neck. The head rolled over its shoulder and fell. Blood splattered over Regulus. Its body fell to the side, wrenching his sword out of his grasp.

  For a second, Adelaide stood over him, his cloak and her skirt swaying around her. Shoulders squared, spine straight and tall, outlined from behind by the moon and bathed in the flickering light of orange flames and the soft blue-white glow of the sword in her hands. Her eyes shone with golden light. Fierce. Powerful. Intimidating. Beautiful.

  The sword vanished from her hands and the meadow fell into darkness. She created a new orb of light and knelt next to him. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes... How did you do that?”

  She blushed. “Honestly, I don’t know. I just...did. I saw you fall and I... I stopped thinking so hard about it and did it.”

  “You’re amazing.” Regulus leaned toward Adelaide, reaching for her waist. She grimaced and leaned away from him.

  “You’re covered in troll blood.” Her mouth curved down. “And the troll smells. I’ll throw up if I kiss you right now.”