Chapter 5

We’d been riding for hours, long enough that the sun had risen and traveled well across the sky. My butt was sore, and we were riding in the thickest part of the woods, off the main road. I was getting the distinct impression that Zander was running from trouble. Those fae in our room were after him specifically. Why, I didn’t know, but wanted to. Any time I asked him about it again, he just said it was none of my business and reminded me that I was still his prisoner.

“How do you feel about camping?” Zander asked.

I physically revolted, my entire body flinching against him. Camping. Lying on the ground outside. I was a princess. Was he insane?

“I think it’s for the destitute and vagrants.” I tipped my chin up high. “I will pay for our room at the next inn if money is a prob—”

He scoffed. “I have coin. But I think we would be safer to stay off the beaten path.”

I sighed. “Because those fae are after you?”

He growled. “Obviously. You saw it.”

“But why?” I shot back for the tenth time. “And who are they?”

He yanked the reins on the horse, and I nearly fell off the back when the stallion skidded to a sudden stop. Twisting, Zander looked down at me from beneath his long dark eyelashes.

“I am the commander of the entire Northern Army. My enemies are many. Which is why you are still wearing those cuffs. Someone is always trying to kill me,” he huffed.

“I’m sorry,” I started, knowing I had to keep this little partnership going in order to reach my goal. “I grew up kind of sheltered in the Midlands. Yes, I traveled to sell my goods but never this far from my home, and my mother was always with me. She no longer is, and so I’m not used to being on my own and …” My voice trailed off because he reached out and grasped a tendril of my golden blonde hair, tucking it behind my cheek and stealing the words from my mind.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mother,” he said.

I hadn’t meant it to sound like she was dead, but she might as well be. She was in another world, and she would die if I didn’t find an Ethereum lord and kill him.

“Thank you. I would rather not camp outside in the cold where our fire would attract bandits. Can we pay someone local to take us in for the night?”

He swallowed hard, hand still poised at my cheek. Of the many scenarios to getting myself in front of an Ethereum lord, seduction did come up. It was my mother who’d given me counsel on it.

Use whatever you have to get that heart, including your looks, she’d told me.

I knew Zander found me pretty, he’d already said so. The problem was, I found him attractive as well, and if he didn’t drop his hand soon I felt like I was going to light on fire. My heart hammered in my chest as I dreamed of what it would feel like to kiss him.

Zander blinked rapidly, as if coming out of a daze, and pulled his hand back. “I know of a place nearby,” was all he said as he spun back around and kicked the horse.

I was thankful he’d pulled away. If he hadn’t I might have given in to my temptations and where would that get me? No, I needed to keep this quick and clean. Keep him alive through any future attacks so that he could get me before his lord. And also so I didn’t get stuck with these blasted cuffs for the rest of my life. That would be highly inconvenient.

It dawned on me then that I might have to eventually kill Zander to get to the Northern lord. It was sad when an innocent bystander had to die for a cause, but it was two men or my entire realm of Faerie, which held millions of men, women, and children.

If Zander protected his lord, I would have to take him out, no matter how attractive he was. End of story.

The cuffs tightened at that thought, and I cursed myself.

Great. Now these things were never going to fall off.

Three hours later, I was dirty, famished, and exhausted from travel. Zander had veered off the road and ridden us past a stream, where we’d gotten water, and now into an open field. The temperature had dropped so much that my breath was coming out in a fog and my cheeks were numb. I was just about to ask where he was taking us for the night when I saw the pale-yellow farmhouse up ahead.

Oh thank goodness!

A bath and rest were in my future.

Zander kicked the horse into a trot and got us to the front gates of the property. Turning to face me, he looked me dead in the eyes. “I still don’t trust you.” He glanced down to see the cuffs no longer biting my wrist but still securely attached. “So if you even so much as threaten any of these people here, I will gut you and hang your intestines out for the bears to eat.”

My mouth dropped open at the gruesome threat. “Why would I hurt some random farmers?” I asked him in shock.

He shrugged. “Why does a powerful sunlight fae live in the Midlands with a fat coin purse?”

Damn. I shouldn’t have shown my power today.

I rolled my eyes. “My coin makes you feel inferior, doesn’t it?” I reached in and pulled out a handful. “Here, have some.”

He shoved my hand away with a growl and I felt the cuffs tighten. What a buffoon! I wanted to strangle him. Putting the coins back in my purse, I looked up just in time to see two identical boys running full-speed toward us. They were about eight years old, both wearing blue trousers and a long white tunic under their fur-lined coats, and their walnut-colored hair flopped as they ran with wooden practice swords aloft.

Twins.

“Uncle!” one of the boys screamed, and my stomach tightened.

Zander glanced back at me, and I understood why he’d threatened me. He’d brought me to see his family.

Zander jumped off the horse and reached down, grabbing a large stick.

“Have you been practicing?” he asked the boys just as they reached him.

“En garde!” one of them screamed in a battle voice that made the hairs on my arms stand up.

Clack clack clack. The twin boys attacked their uncle with a precision of movements that had my eyebrows hitting my hairline. They were seriously impressive little warriors in the making. One of the boys crashed his sword into the back of Zander’s knee and the commander mock screamed and fell forward. The other boy stuck his wooden sword right in Zander’s chest and he fell backward with a groan, lying still as if dead.

I couldn’t help but grin. It was adorable.

The boys hovered over Zander, looking at each other and no doubt wondering when he would get up, then he burst from the ground screaming, causing them to erupt into laughter as he pulled them in for a hug.

Well, what do you know … the guy was a decent uncle, I would give him that. But that didn’t make him a good person overall. I wasn’t forgetting these cuffs or his little trick with the bath.

“Are we good enough to be in your army yet?” one of the boys asked.

“Almost.” Zander stood and ruffled his hair.

A woman with long, white-blonde hair waved and walked out to greet us, and I found my thoughts going dark.

Did the boys bleed black too? They were related to Zander, and male, which meant they were of the royal line. Could this woman’s husband be the Ethereum lord I sought? Was he inside? Would I kill him in front of his children?

A wave of nervousness overwhelmed me, causing my stomach to turn sour. I jumped down from the horse, unable to sit any longer. The worst part about the Ethereum lords was that you never knew what age they would be, or what they looked like when you were coming in. Four lords held the magic I needed in their hearts at any given time. If one died at the end of a blade, or in a battle, or from something minor like falling off a horse, his magic transferred to the next eldest in his lineage. That meant I could be looking for a ninety-year-old or a ten-year-old, I had no idea. I shook my head to get my thinking in order. Lord Roan would probably be sitting on his throne in Noreum, not in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. And his family would be with him. These people were likely distant descendants.

I sighed in relief at the realization that these boys, or their father, were likely not my target. But it reminded me of one of the previous champions who had portaled right before a small ten-year-old boy. He was one of the Ethereum lords at the time. She was so horrified that she ran off, spent precious days tracking down an older lord, and took his heart instead. It occurred to me that if I wanted to save face going home, I could say that the mirror had led me to a small child and so I’d searched until I found an older lord. It was better than admitting I’d lost my train of thought and portaled to a pig.

With effort, I brushed all of these possibilities aside.

While my thoughts churned in darkness, Zander had pulled the young blonde woman—probably in her late twenties—off to the side, and so I stood there awkwardly as the boys ran up to me.

“Are you my uncle’s betrothed?” one of them asked me, and I nearly choked on my spit.

“You shouldn’t be sharing a horse if you’re not married,” the other said.

I nodded my agreement. “Yes, that is the proper way.” My cheeks heated in embarrassment.

“She’s my prisoner,” Zander said as he approached, and both boys took a giant step backward, their gazes falling to the cuffs circling my wrists.

“Thanks for that,” I growled at him. Now the children were scared of me.

Should they be?

This was so far beyond what I was trained for. What would Master Duncan counsel?

“She’s a prisoner who saved his life earlier this morning.” The beautiful blonde stepped up to the gate and I met her friendly, brown-eyed gaze.

Zander rolled his eyes. “I said barely saved my life.”

I grinned at the woman. “That’s right.”

“Are you hungry, Dawn?” she asked me kindly.

He told her my name, and what had happened to us? I guess since she had children to protect she would want to know everything about me.

“Starved,” I said.

She nodded and swung the gate open. “Well, I’ve roasted a lemon chicken and you’re welcome for dinner and to stay the night. I’m Brienne, by the way,” she added.

“She will stay in the guest room over the barn with me,” Zander said, putting me in my place.

We would not be staying in the main home. To think that he didn’t trust me enough to not murder two eight-year-olds and their mother hurt my feelings, but I supposed you couldn’t be too careful.

After pulling his horse into the barn, Zander showed me the room above the stalls. It was quite clean and homely. Pale yellow walls to match the house, a large four-poster bed and an attached bathroom with …

“You have running water!” I gasped when I saw the spigot.

He nodded. “Windmill.”

I had noticed the windmill outside but hadn’t put it together that it would mean this. My eyes flew wide. “It is heated?”

He crouched down to the bottom of the tub and showed me a place to light the gas burner. It was very rudimentary but miles above the Houndstooth Inn.

“I beg you let me bathe before dinner.” I clasped my hands and dropped to my knees before him on the bathroom tile. Even though I’d bathed the night before, after riding all day I smelled like a horse and was speckled with our attackers’ blood. As a princess I’d never begged a soul for anything, but at this point a bath was worth the small piece of my pride.

He looked down at me with a half-lidded gaze. “I could get used to this.”

I lightly punched him in the stomach. He caught my hand, grinning, and didn’t release it.

“Need help undressing?” he asked.

“Out!” I pointed to the door and stood, yanking my hand from his.

What a flirt he was. My mother would be horrified, but to be honest I rather liked it. I was used to male attention back home. Every male seelie of good pedigree was vying to be my husband and someday rule by my side over Summer Court, but they were all so … plain and proper. Zander was crass and dangerous and everything I should avoid yet wanted.

Shutting the door, I turned on the faucet, squealing as the water came out, and then lit the burner at the base of the tub. A small, steady flame roared to life, and I waited until the metal tub was half full before turning off the water. I didn’t want to take more than I needed when Brienne had a family with children to raise. I adjusted the burner to low, not totally comfortable with taking a bath in a giant flaming pot. It reminded me of being boiled alive. But the second I dipped my bare toe inside I moaned in delight.

It was hot, not too hot but hotter than could be sustained by buckets of water being hauled from the kitchen.

“You okay in there? Need my help with anything?” Zander’s voice came close to the door.

I chuckled. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’ve been called worse,” he said, but then I heard his footsteps retreat.

As I quickly bathed and washed my hair and face, I found myself wondering how many women Zander had been with. He seemed to know his way around the flirting situation, so probably many. A commander of the Northern Army? And as handsome as he was? He probably had a dozen women back home waiting for him to marry them.

After rinsing out my hair, I drained the bath and dried off with a towel that was hanging on the bar on the wall. I was about to put my two-day-old smelly clothes back on when a soft knock came at the door.

“I have some clothes out here for you, Dawn.” Brienne’s voice came from behind the door. “You looked to be packing light.”

I cracked the door open, holding the towel over myself to keep covered, and she handed me a stack of clothes.

“Thank you.” My heart pinched at the gesture. “I have coin,” I told her.

She waved me off. “They’re over ten years old. Before I had the boys and had a smaller figure like you.” She winked and then walked away. Zander was sprawled on the bed reading a book and looked up at me then, eyes heating.

I slammed the door shut and locked it.

“You know you’re sleeping on the floor, right?” I yelled as I took stock of the clothing Brienne had brought me.

“We’ll see about that,” he called back with a deep chuckle that rolled over me like a caress. I chose to ignore my body’s reaction and focus on the clothes instead.

There were two outfits, one a beautiful slightly worn pink sundress with yellow flowers, the other a pair of black leather trousers and cream, thick long-sleeved wool shirt with a blue corset that pulled over the top to cinch at the waist. The corset had ruffles at the bottom, which my inner princess approved of. She’d also kindly given me two clean pairs of undergarments. They were both very lovely and feminine outfits.

I decided the dress would be a welcome break from trousers for the night, but I would wear the black leather pants tomorrow as it was better for riding horses. I loved dresses, and this one was light, yet when I put it on I realized it was lined with a thick felt for warmth. I was sure to stow my sunstone dagger safely in my pack. After braiding my hair over one shoulder, I came out of the bathroom and was met with two searing blue eyes. Zander swallowed hard, as if he had a lump in his throat.

“No well-timed quip?” I put one hand on my hip and stared him down. “You’re losing your edge, Commander.”

He graced me with a full-blown grin then and my knees literally went weak. It was as if all of the oxygen had been sucked from the room when he smiled like that.

“I was going to say you cleaned up nice, but those words didn’t really do justice to how beautiful you look,” he said honestly, and the breath was knocked from my lungs.

He stood, setting his book on the bed and crossed the room in three long strides, eyes going to my wrists and the cuffs that still held there. There was disappointment in his gaze. “Come on, little bird. We shouldn’t keep Brienne waiting.”

I swallowed hard and followed him out of the room, wondering how my life had gotten to this point.

I was ashamed to admit I was having less-bloodthirsty feelings toward my captor and more warm, steamy thoughts my mother would not approve of. That couldn’t be good.

* * *

“Have you ever met an ogre?”

“In the Midlands, do pixies’ wings really change colors with their moods?”

“How often do selkies shed their scales?”

“Do children have to do lessons in the Midlands, or do they run wild?”

“Have you ever seen a three-headed unicorn?”

The twins, whose names I learned were Kegan and Kipp, had gotten over their initial shyness at me being Zander’s captive and were rapid-firing questions at me throughout dinner. I shot a glare in Zander’s direction more than once, a silent plea for him to step in, but he only grinned wider, enjoying my discomfort.

Generally speaking, I liked children. I was an only child, so I didn’t have any nieces or nephews, but at home I’d spent some of my free time to helping the castle orphans. As the Summer Court crown princess, next in line to inherit the throne, it was difficult to carve out moments that weren’t devoted directly to my training, but I made the orphans a priority. They might be the most vulnerable in the kingdom, but that didn’t make them the least important. So it wasn’t that the twins were annoying me, but rather that I didn’t know how to answer their questions. I worried that one wrong answer would blow my cover. From some of the confused looks I’d received from Brienne and Zander, I’d wager I’d already slipped up more than once.

Time for a subject change.

I turned to Brienne, pointedly ignoring the last round of questions. “So, will your husband be back soon?” I asked, motioning with my spoon toward the empty chair at the end of the table where there was a clean place setting neatly arranged.

The twins’ voices immediately cut off and Brienne’s face leached of color.

Oh no, what did I say?

I looked at Zander, whose face now appeared set in stone, revealing that I’d made a mistake.

“I’m sorry,” I started. “I didn’t mean—”

“No no,” Brienne said, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand reassuringly. “Please don’t apologize. My husband and Zander’s brother, Cal, is no longer with the living.”

My heartstrings pulled taut. Brienne was older than me, but only by a decade at most. So young to lose a husband and partner. I might have just met her and her boys, but I could tell they were good people, and I instantly felt for them. Not for the first time I prayed Lord Roan was a very distant relative and a giant jerk whose soul was as black as his heart. It pained me to think of hurting them again after they’d already lost someone so important in their lives.

“I’m so sorry,” I said again, ignoring Brienne’s request not to apologize.

“We set a place for him at every meal to remind ourselves that although he’s no longer with us in the physical sense, his spirit lives on in our hearts and minds,” she said with a wobbly smile.

Zander cleared his throat, and when I glanced at him there was a telltale shine to his eyes, showing me just how close he was to his brother. I couldn’t help but wonder how long ago he died or how, but I knew it wasn’t the time to pry.

“Cal lives on in all of us who loved him,” Zander agreed, turning to the now-somber twins and forcing a grin. “Especially these two little ruffians. They’re just as high-spirited and mischievous as their father was at their age.” He leaned forward, his voice becoming serious. “Did I ever tell you two about the time your father and I got lost in the Blood Forest for a night?”

Their eyes widened at the mention of the Blood Forest. They shared a look before shaking their heads.

“No one can survive a night in the Blood Forest,” Kipp said. Or maybe it was Kegan?

I’d never heard of or read anything in the previous champions’ journals about the Blood Forest, but from the twins’ reaction it was a place I never wanted to visit. Zander’s story included wolf shifters, ghosts, spellcasters who wielded black magic, and monsters whose favorite food was fae intestines. I wouldn’t be sad at all if I made it out of Ethereum without visiting the vile place.

Zander distracted the boys for the rest of the meal with tales about escaping certain death with Cal in the Blood Forest and other adventures throughout their childhood. Every story seemed more unbelievable than the next and made their father sound like a valiant hero. I had suspicions about how much of the tales were fact versus fiction, but who really cared? The twins ate up each and every morsel of Zander’s stories, and I could tell everyone’s hearts were lighter by the meal’s conclusion.

Standing, I grabbed my plate and thanked Brienne for the dinner, telling her how delicious it was before insisting on helping with the cleanup. I smiled ruefully when I imagined my mother’s face if she saw me clearing plates and wiping down the table. She’d be horrified to see me doing such menial tasks. She considered chores like this beneath a princess, but it was a way I could show Brienne my appreciation for the meal and lodging, and I never minded a little honest work.

As I was drying plates with Kegan in the kitchen, I overheard Brienne from the dining table.

“How are things with the rebel invasion?” she whispered to Zander, but not quietly enough. Zander cast a wary glance in my direction before pulling Brienne into the other room to answer her.

Rebel invasion. What was that all about?

Later that night, I was still mulling over the evening’s revelations as I washed my face in the bathroom, and then slipped into one of Brienne’s nightgowns that she’d also given me. The woman was beyond kind. The soft white cotton covered me from neck to ankle and draped halfway down each arm, but it was slightly see-through and thin. I paused before opening the door to the bedroom, feeling funny about standing in front of Zander in the somewhat sheer nightwear. That was until I remembered he’d watched me undress on the other side of the blanket barrier the night before. He’d already seen it all. My awkward embarrassment morphed into irritation then, giving me the courage to exit the bathroom.

I was relieved to see Zander already laid out on the floor beside the bed, a single pillow under his head and a thin blanket beneath him. I’d honestly expected an argument about the sleeping arrangements.

The lights were snuffed out, but the moon shone brightly enough through the windows. I could see Zander’s gaze flick toward me and heat before he trained his eyes on the ceiling. I scurried past Zander to the other side of the four-poster bed, sliding between the cool sheets without a word. The air felt charged as I shifted under the comforter, trying to find a comfortable sleeping position.

Zander was silent from his place on the floor. It wasn’t until I’d been wiggling around for several minutes that he finally spoke up: “Does the bed not fit your standards? If not, I’m happy to switch places with you.”

I froze, not knowing why I couldn’t seem to get settled. My body was exhausted from riding all day, but my mind was fluttering like a hummingbird’s wings. Turning on my side, facing the direction Zander lay but not able to see him over the edge of the bed, I forced myself to still.

“No, the bed’s fine,” I said, choosing to ignore his obvious sarcasm.

Silence blanketed the air once again, suffocating me and compounding my restlessness.

“What happened to your brother?” I asked, knowing I was overstepping, but not able to hold back my curiosity anymore.

Zander was quiet for so long his voice gave me a start when he finally answered. “He was murdered.”

Murdered. A ball of lead formed in my gut.

“Do you know why?” I pressed, fully aware my questions were invasive.

“Someone wanted his power,” Zander sighed heavily, but didn’t elaborate. I could tell it was a subject he didn’t want to discuss, and rather than press him I changed the subject.

“The twins seem to really love you,” I offered, knowing this conversation probably pained Zander, but not able to hold back the deep and unnerving desire to know more about my captor.

“They’re good boys,” he agreed, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

“And Brienne is very kind and beautiful,” I added, poking for information. It was a custom in our land for any unwed males to have first right to marry their brother’s widow. I didn’t know if it was the same here, but as far as I could tell Zander was unattached and he loved his nephews and held Brienne in high esteem, so why hadn’t they wed? Or was he intending to marry her eventually? She was older, but not by much.

At the thought, a pang of discomfort shot through my chest, and I had to swallow a small gasp. I rubbed at the spot on my chest just above my left breast where the sensation had come from.

Weird.

“Yes, she is both those things,” Zander said neutrally, and I no longer had the desire to dig for information.

I flopped onto my back, staring up at the gauze draped over the bedposts. “I’m sorry about your brother,” I offered. “It sounds like you two were very close.”

“We were.”

I wished I had more to offer him than hollow platitudes, but I didn’t have siblings and my father passed when I was too young to remember him, so I didn’t know what it was like to lose someone close to you. What could I possibly say that would offer him comfort? So I let our conversation lapse into silence once more, with thoughts of Zander’s murdered brother and lovely sister-in-law swirling inside my mind.

I lay in bed for what felt like hours before I finally felt myself drifting off. The fuzzy edges of sleep were just starting to coat my consciousness when the bed dipped next to me, pulling me awake.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I asked with a squawk, my eyes widening as I watched Zander pull back the blankets and climb under the covers next to me.

“I think it’s fairly obvious,” he said, and even though I couldn’t see his expression in the low light, I still heard the smile in his voice.

“You can’t sleep with me,” I protested. “We’re not married.”

Granted, the bed was large enough for us to lie next to each other without touching, but it just wasn’t proper.

“Then you’re welcome to take my place on the floor. But I should warn you the wood flooring is even less comfortable than the frozen ground outside. I already have a crick in my neck that is going to cause riding tomorrow to be very uncomfortable.” He moved his head back and forth and his neck cracked twice, proving his point.

“What? I can’t—I’m a pr—” I sputtered, cutting myself off just before admitting my identity to him. But I was more worried that my heart was speeding from an emotion other than outrage than I was about my almost confession. Zander’s nearness was causing a visceral reaction in me, and if I was honest with myself, which I didn’t intend to be at that moment, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation.

“Calm down, little bird. Come morning, your virtue will still be fully intact.”

I felt my cheeks heat and was glad the light was too low for him to see.

“That’s not the point,” I snapped. “I mean, yes, it is the point, but … but … it’s just not proper.”

Grumbling, Zander grabbed the pillow behind his head and then wedged it between us.

“There,” he said. “An impenetrable barrier, sure to keep you chaste despite my advances.”

The idea that a simple pillow would be a sufficient barrier between us was so ridiculous that a giggle slipped out, breaking the bubble of tension that had blossomed in my gut.

Zander looked over at me, a crease between his brows as if I’d lost my mind. And maybe I had. Nothing about this mission had gone to plan. From portaling to the wrong part of the realm, to getting myself arrested, and now sharing a bed with an almost-stranger who made me feel things I had no right feeling.

His features smoothed out after a few moments when he determined I wasn’t losing it … at least not completely.

“In all seriousness,” Zander started, “the floor is killing my back and we have at least another day, if not two, on horseback. We’re most likely going to have to camp somewhere along the way tomorrow. If you are truly bothered, I’ll go back to the floor. But I really don’t want to, and I never met a Midlands woman so bothered with formality. Aren’t your sleeping quarters usually communal?”

I chewed my bottom lip. He sounded sincere and tired, and it was bad I wasn’t acting like a true Midlander.

Would one night really matter? The bed was quite large, and it’s not like I would tell anyone back home that we’d slept next to each other, so no one—no one being my mother—would ever find out.

“Do you swear to keep your hands to yourself?” I asked.

“I will try.”

“Zander,” I growled, and the cuffs on my wrists tightened slightly.

He chuckled and the sound settled over my skin like warm honey.

You’re playing with fire, Dawn. Even light-wielding fae can still get burned.

“I swear it,” he finally said. “But the real question is, will you be able to keep your hands off me?”

“Pfft,” I scoffed. “I would only willingly touch you to deliver a killing blow.” Interestingly, my cuffs didn’t tighten at that. In fact, they loosened as if I’d just lied.

He made a humming sound in the back of his throat, one that said he didn’t believe me. I almost reached over and punched him, but that would technically be considered breaching the pillow barrier and that was one thing I was determined not to do.

“Just go to sleep,” I grumped, turning again so my back was to Zander.

That dang chuckle sounded again in the darkness, sliding way past my defenses and warming my insides.

“Good night,” Zander murmured.

I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep with Zander less than an arm’s length away, but the day finally caught up to me and I was out in minutes.