Chapter 8

When I came to my head was pounding like I’d drunk too much fae wine the night before, and brightness behind my closed lids seared my eyeballs. With a groan, I flopped over onto my stomach and buried my face in my arms, only then realizing I was sprawled out on a bed of frost-covered grass. A fire crackled beside me, lending me its warmth.

With effort, I cracked my eyelids, seeing first a patch of perfectly preserved white hellebore flowers encased in a transparent layer of frost. They were lovely, but as I lifted my gaze I spotted something far more appealing.

Seated only a few feet away, Zander regarded me with a deceptively blank expression.

“You’re awake,” he breathed, the relief in his voice at odds with his expression. “That was an impressive show of magic last night,” he added.

My mind was muddled, so I took a moment to collect myself before answering him, making a show of slowly coming to a seated position and stretching out my sore muscles.

It was never my intention to let Zander, or anyone else in Ethereum for that matter, see the full extent of my sunlight magic. In Faerie, my powers would immediately identify myself as a royal, and I assumed the same was true for Ethereum, but there was nothing to be done about it now. When Zander’s life was in the balance I hadn’t even considered the consequences. The die had been cast, and now I had to play the hand I had left.

“How long have I been out for?” I asked, stalling. My voice came out like a croaking frog.

Just then I remembered my dagger and my heart jumped into my throat. My hand went to my waist to find it safely sheathed there even though I knew I hadn’t returned it before I blacked out.

Zander’s gaze tracked my movements. He didn’t say anything about it, but his mouth downturned and he looked away.

“The rest of the night and well into the afternoon,” he answered, and then dug into a bag at his side and brought out something wrapped in cheesecloth, handing it to me. Our fingers touched when he passed me the items. It might have just been my imagination, but I thought his hand lingered on mine before he relinquished the small bounty.

Inside the cheesecloth was a mulberry muffin and a small handful of fresh berries. I took a bite of the muffin and the sweet flavors exploded on my tongue. “Mmm,” I moaned, closing my eyes to savor the taste. “This might be the best pastry I’ve ever had.” If the palace chefs heard me saying that they’d be heartbroken, but it was true.

When I opened my eyes it was to find Zander staring at me, a hungry look on his face and his gaze focused on my lips. I stopped chewing and swallowed, suddenly feeling warm despite the chill in the air.

“Thank you for the food,” I said, and Zander inclined his head. He was being uncharacteristically quiet this morning, and I was fearful it was because he was working out the truth about me.

I cleared my throat, and a knot formed in my stomach, keeping me from finishing the muffin. “Why are we here?” I asked, looking around the small clearing.

Surrounded by forest, the sunlight still shone down on us, but this wasn’t the same spot I’d found him the night before. There were no bodies, no tree that he was tied to. We were utterly alone, and I had conflicting feelings about that right now.

“Your powers are connected to the sun, so I figured you’d gain energy from the light.” A shadow fell over his face and my stomach dropped. The last thing I wanted to do right now was talk about my magic. But he was right. Putting me in the direct sun had probably saved my magic and my life.

“You were in bad shape last night. Luckily, it seems my guess was correct, and the sunlight has done you some good. For a while there I wasn’t sure you’d ever wake.”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. “I’m pretty tough.”

“You expelled a massive amount of energy last night, Dawn. Too much,” he said pointedly. “You shouldn’t have done that.” His face was hard, his disapproval clear, and that pissed me off. I’d done what I’d done to save his life. Who was he to judge me for it?

“I’ll keep your opinions in mind the next time your life is at stake, Commander,” I said mockingly as I shoved to my feet. “And where are the rest of your men?” I asked to change the subject, but Zander wasn’t having it.

He stood as well, reaching me in two long strides and stopping directly in front of me. “I’m sorry,” he said on a sigh, surprising me. “That came out too harsh. I don’t mean to say I’m not appreciative of what you did for me, because I am. If it wasn’t for you, my troops might not have found me before it was too late.” As I watched, a visible shudder went through Zander, and I remembered that he’d been tortured for hours before he was rescued. I only got a taste of what he went through, and it was horrific. My heart ached for him at that moment.

“And it was amazing how you took down that voidspawn,” he went on, cutting the already diminished space between us in half. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Despite myself, I felt my cheeks heat under his regard. Reaching for my hand, he took it in his own and flipped it over. He brushed his thumb over my palm, causing a shiver that had nothing to do with the chilly air to run the length of my spine. I should have pulled away, but I was frozen, as enthralled as if he’d put a spell on me.

He leaned close enough that the warmth coming off his body brushed up against me, but not so close that we were touching anywhere but our hands. His voice deepened, and at the same time softened, his words becoming a velvet caress. “But I need to know that if something like that happens again, you won’t put yourself in danger by depleting yourself. It would take a lot to put me down for good. I’m tougher than I look.”

Says the guy who keeps getting hit with runes.

“So am I,” I said. I meant for the words to come out teasingly, but they emerged breathless instead.

Zander’s thumb, which had been making lazy circles on my palm, inched up toward my wrist, and goose bumps broke out on my arms.

How does one small touch feel almost criminally good?

I had to clench my free hand against the urge to reach up and trace Zander’s full lower lip. Feeling like I wasn’t getting enough air, I pulled in a deep breath and Zander’s sandalwood scent invaded my nostrils, making me think things I shouldn’t and feel things I had no right feeling.

To escape the intensity of his ocean blue gaze, I glanced down at our joined hands, and caught a flash of metal.

The cuffs!

The warmth that had permeated my body instantly cooled. “What? Why are these blasted things still on?” I wondered, pulling away from Zander. I held my wrists up in front of my face. I literally just saved the fae’s life. Why hadn’t they fallen off yet? “These things are defective,” I grumbled, and then looked to Zander for an explanation.

Sadness lurked in Zander’s bright blue eyes. “The cuffs aren’t defective,” was all he said by way of explanation before he turned and walked toward the tree line.

I watched him retreat for a moment before following, feeling like I was missing something but not knowing what.

“Come on,” he called over his shoulder.

“Where are we going?” I asked, but he ignored me.

Jogging to catch up to him, I noticed two horses grazing just inside the tree line, Omen and a white mare with a pearlescent coat and a braided tale. She was a beautiful contrast to Omen and almost as large. She was a magnificent horse, but I’d gotten somewhat attached to the proud stallion in the last couple of days.

Omen lifted his head when we approached, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air, and then bypassing Zander he crossed directly to me, dipping his head to ask for rubs.

Zander’s face showed so much surprise that I couldn’t help a laugh from escaping me, which broke a little of the strange tension that hung in the air between us.

Zander shook his head as he snagged the mare’s reins and led her over to me. “This is Luna,” he said. “Your horse.”

Luna. As in moon. That name was fitting because she shone like the moonlight.

Zander tried to grab Omen’s reins to swing atop him, but the stallion whined and side-stepped him. Zander attempted to mount Omen two more times without success before giving up.

“What’s going on here?” he growled at me.

I held out my hand and Omen came to me, nuzzling my palm.

I shrugged. “We bonded while you were gone.”

“Traitor,” he muttered to his horse before handing me Omen’s reins.

I tried to hide my smile as Omen easily let me swing up into the saddle. I expected Zander to look sour when I turned toward him, but instead I saw respect shining in his eyes.

“I’d be more upset, but I don’t blame Omen. If I were a horse, I’d want you to ride me as well.”

My jaw dropped. “Zander!” I gasped, utterly scandalized.

Zander’s deep laugh bounced off the trees as he swung atop of the white mare, settling in easily.

I dipped my head. My cheeks burning up. “Where are we going?” I finally asked. He never did answer the question.

Zander looked back at me from his position on Luna. I felt a twinge of sadness that we weren’t sharing a horse anymore, but quickly swatted it away. Two horses were definitely better. “I’m taking you where you’ve been asking to go since the moment I met you. Noreum.”

This was it. This was my chance to save my kingdom.

* * *

Zander was right, I’d been trying to get to Noreum since I arrived in Ethereum, but now that we stood on an outcropping overlooking the tall city walls and the expansive city that it protected, I suddenly felt overwhelmed.

The castle jutted up proudly from the center of the city like a master lording over its slaves. Made of black stones and soaring hundreds of feet into the air, I imagined it reflected the arrogance of its lord.

“We’ll wait until nightfall to enter the city,” Zander said grimly from beside me.

“Why?” I asked.

Zander had said we would travel without any of his troops because he had business to conduct that he didn’t want to bring attention to, but surely as the commander of the Northern Army he could enter Noreum whenever he pleased. There would likely be a welcome party ready to roll out the red carpet as well.

“Because it’s safer that way.”

Safer?

I let out a low growl. He’d been maddeningly close-lipped over the course of our journey here. Whenever I tried to pry information out of him about the war or rebellion that I overheard his men talking about, he said nothing. I might not be up to date on the politics of Ethereum, but I was becoming increasingly aware that some sort of unrest was brewing, or rather had been brewing, in the Northern Kingdom. I didn’t necessarily need to know all the details to complete my mission, but some basic information wouldn’t hurt.

A drop of guilt seared my chest, but I ignored it. Once I carved out the Northern lord’s heart I was sure I’d bring more turmoil to the land and its citizens. Based on what I’d learned from my mother, I was convinced that evil was hidden in the heart of their lord. But from what I could tell so far, the fae of Ethereum were peaceful beings and didn’t deserve to be punished by the instability their lord’s assassination would bring.

But punished they would be.

It wasn’t lost on me that since Zander had black blood he might be the next one to inherit the magic of the Northern lord after I assassinated him, but I pushed that from my mind. It didn’t matter. If that happened, I would already be back in Faerie, and I’d never see Zander again. I ignored the way my heart pinched at the thought, and instead hardened my resolve. There was nothing to be done about that. If I didn’t return to the Summer Court with the black heart of an Ethereum lord soon, all of Faerie would suffer, and that was something as a princess I couldn’t allow.

Zander dismounted Luna and I followed suit, patting Omen on the nose and thanking him for the smooth ride. We tied them both to a nearby tree, giving them plenty of lead so they could still graze on the grass beneath them. Zander and I settled on a flat rock close by, our gazes not on each other but on Noreum in the distance. Small columns of smoke drifted toward the sky as the inhabitants tended their fires. The silence that hung in the air between us was thick, and as it lingered I started to feel like I was choking on it.

“Zander, tell me why we are waiting for the cover of night to enter the city like a pair of thieves,” I asked, as much to break silence as to know the answer.

Zander heaved a sigh. “Things are not as they should be in Noreum,” he finally confessed. “They haven’t been for a year now.”

“What do you mean?” I pulled my thick cloak around my shoulders to stave off the cold, knowing that we couldn’t light a fire, or we would be seen. And for some reason we weren’t supposed to be.

“Do you remember when I told you that my brother was murdered?”

I nodded.

“What I didn’t tell you is that my brother was the commander of the Northern Army before me and he wasn’t just murdered, he was assassinated by an evil being who wanted to take control of the entire Northern Kingdom.”

I pressed my lips together, hatred for this unknown creature rising up inside me. The being who killed Cal left Brienne widowed and Kipp and Kegan fatherless. If he were in front of me now I would cut the creature down with ease.

“Cal’s death set off a series of events that the Northern Kingdom still hasn’t recovered from.”

“What kind of series of events?” I asked, not understanding exactly what that meant.

He wouldn’t look at me, and from the hard set of his jaw as I stared at his profile, I could tell even talking about this upset him.

“You’ll understand when we enter Noreum. Things are not as they should be.” He sealed his lips shut, and I knew I wouldn’t get any more information out of him. But dusk was falling, so I’d have my answers soon.

* * *

As night fell on the city, so did the temperature. White puffs of condensation swirled in front of my face with every exhale, and seeing me shiver, Zander reached out and rubbed my arms. “This must be especially uncomfortable for a fae that wields sunlight magic.”

Again, he was probing about my powers, and I didn’t want to talk about them.

“Night has fallen. Can we go inside and stay at an inn?” I asked.

He shook his head. “We can’t stay. We need to be out before first light.”

He walked over to Omen and Luna, refilling their apples and oats from the saddlebag before throwing a thick blanket over their backs to keep them warm, and then we were off, scrambling down the rocks and toward the giant looming black stone wall that covered the city. Zander hunched as we ran across the open field and I did the same, mimicking his movements as my boots sank into patches of slush.

Nervousness started to claw at my gut. Why does it feel like we are breaking into a city Zander is the commander of?

When we finally reached the high wall, Zander ran the length of it, away from the main gate.

“Zander,” I whisper-screamed. “The gate is that way.” I pointed back to the lit-up entrance.

Something wasn’t right here.

Zander looked back at me, holding a finger to his lips.

With a light growl of frustration, I followed him farther away from the entrance until he slowed, running his fingers along the wall as if probing for cracks. I watched in fascination as he stopped before the large black stone and pulled a key from his pocket. Upon further inspection, there was a tiny hole where a key could be inserted into one of the stone bricks, and I realized we were at a secret entrance.

My heart fluttered wildly in my chest as Zander inserted the key, and then part of the wall popped open to reveal a hidden passage. Reaching out, he grasped my hand and pulled me inside.

I held my breath as we passed through a dark and damp tunnel only to reach another door. This one didn’t require a key, and it creaked open under Zander’s touch. His fingers were still wrapped around mine as he poked his head out to check his surroundings. He waited an agonizing full minute before completely opening the door and passing through, dragging me behind him.

I was thrust into a bustling marketplace. Shop owners were closing up their stalls, mothers calling for their children to return home. A few people glanced our way, but Zander kept his fingers interlocked in mine and gave a cheery wave to onlookers, his hood pulled firmly around his face. We looked like a couple walking home after a long day of work. The thought made butterflies dance in my stomach until I heard the crack of a whip and flinched as Zander’s hand clamped down on mine.

“Curfew in effect in one hour,” a man growled. “Pack up your cart and get on home, you vermin.” I craned my neck to see a guard had just whipped a lady who was still trying to sell some of her handmade bowls and cups.

Zander stopped walking and seethed as he looked at the guard. I scanned the man’s chest for any royal insignia but there was none.

Surely if Zander were the commander of the Northern Army then he was in charge of this fellow. And surely beating a woman an hour before curfew was not allowed.

“Do something,” I whispered to him.

He swallowed hard, pulling his hood back slightly so that I could see the pain swimming in his eyes. “That’s the thing, Dawn, I can’t do anything here anymore. The city has fallen into enemy hands.”

I gasped and he yanked my hand, tugging me down an alley as my mind raced.

Enemy hands? Was that the war that his captain spoke of? A war with Noreum? Did that mean that the Northern lord wasn’t even here?

Zander lead me past a series of small rowhouses, all sharing a side wall until we reached one with a robin-egg-blue door. Releasing me, he knocked twice rapidly before drumming his fingers across the door and then knocking three times slowly. Clearly a password of some kind. I was so confused at this point I just went along with it. The truth was I trusted that Zander wouldn’t bring me into danger, so I stood there as the door opened, revealing a small-framed woman with bright red hair.

She waved us in, and Zander waited to pull back his hood until the door shut behind us. Seeing his face, the woman’s eyes went wide, and she dropped to her knee. “Lord Roan.”

I yanked my hand from his as chills ran the length of my arms and I froze, waiting for Zander to correct her.

He didn’t. Instead he looked at me, watching for my reaction.

He tipped his head to her. “Hello, Maegan.”

I was too overcome by shock to do anything, say anything. Disbelief warred with the truth that was right in front of me.

It was him the entire time. Zander was the Northern lord.

“I expected Captain Regis, not you,” the woman said.

“Things changed,” he answered, his gaze never leaving me, but I still hadn’t moved.

My mind was racing a mile a minute. My hand twitched toward my dagger, and Zander’s sharp gaze didn’t miss the movement. He frowned but didn’t make a move to stop me.

“I have the maps and the guard change schedule.” The woman ran over to where a fire was roaring in the living room, and I quickly took note of our surroundings. The home was bare of any furniture. Only a warm fur blanket and a cup of steaming tea lay before the fire. Clearly no one lived here. She’d just been waiting for us.

When she got back to Zander, she handed him a bundle of papers. “It’s all there. Hopefully enough to help you defeat the rondak and get the city back.”

Zander finally looked away from me to give her a pained smile. “Hopefully.”

I put my hand on the dagger that would cleave the heart from Zander’s chest, and the cuffs tightened but didn’t break the skin.

“We miss you, Lord Roan.” The woman’s voice broke. “The people are getting weary with the daily beatings and weekly hangings.”

Zander’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry for failing you. Hold strong, I plan to take the city back within a moon’s time.”

She nodded, bowing deeply one more time. Then she left out the front door, latching it shut behind her and leaving Zander and me alone.

I swallowed hard. Pulling my dagger free, I pointed it at him, chest heaving. “You are the Northern lord!” I declared, and the cuffs bit into my skin, causing blood to flow and wet my sleeves.

Now it made sense why these blasted things never fell off. I’d always intended to kill the Ethereum lord of the Northern Kingdom, and that’s who he’d been all along.

He nodded, took off his cloak and hung it on a hook. He then walked toward me slowly until the tip of my dagger bit into the cloth of his shirt. “And you are the Summer Court princess of Faerie, here to take my heart, my magic, my kingdom. All so you can power your own.”

I gasped. He knew.

Had he known this whole time? Or maybe it was my power last night that gave me away.

My hand shook as I held the blade against his chest.

Do it, Dawn.

Press the blade in hard, then carve downward, then to the right, then up and over. Just like you practiced.

But my hands shook, and I didn’t move. Could I kill him? The man who had brought me all this way, introduced me to his sister-in-law, his nephews. The man who called me little bird and constantly watched my lips like he wanted to kiss them. A man who clearly loved his people and only wanted to do right by them.

Zander wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t the beast my mother described. Oh, I’d broken all the rules. I’d let him speak. And when he’d told me he was the commander of the Northern Army and would bring me to his lord, I’d believed his lies.

Gritting my teeth, I grabbed the dagger with both hands and attempted to plunge it into Zander’s chest. My muscles shook with effort, but the blade didn’t move an inch. I knew in that moment it wasn’t the cuffs that prevented me from digging my blade straight through and carving his black heart from his lifeless body. No, it was my own heart that stood in the way.

My chest heaved as I stared into those endless blue eyes. I dropped the sunstone dagger and it clattered to the floor. There, I had my answer. I couldn’t kill him.

Immediately the cuffs popped open and fell away, hitting the ground next to my weapon.

I was a failure. I couldn’t carve out the heart of the Northern lord, and the proof was lying on the floor in front of me. I should’ve been disappointed and shamed by my failure, yet all I felt in that moment was immense relief that I hadn’t killed Zander. I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had.

I looked up at him. “But the Ethereum lords are evil. You’re … supposed to be evil.”

My mother spun me a tale of an evil line of males who were cruel and wicked, fae who didn’t look monstrous but on the inside were twisted and brutal, more beastly in nature than even the unseelie. That was not the man before me. I knew in that instant I could never hurt a hair on Zander’s head.

“And you, little bird …” He stepped closer to me so that our bodies were practically pressed together. “… were supposed to be a ruthless assassin who would come in the night and carve my heart from my chest before I could utter a single word.”

So he’d heard stories of my kind too. Stories that were one hundred percent true.

“I am a ruthless assassin,” I admitted as I reached out, placing my hand over the area where his heart was. It beat wildly against my palm as Zander eyed my lips for the hundredth time since I met him. “But I could never hurt you,” I confessed, and then his lips crashed onto mine.

I moaned, and he inhaled the sound, grasping my hips with his fingers and pressing into my skin. My lips opened to allow his tongue to caress against mine, and an icy fire spread throughout my chest, like frigid water slipping into my veins and pouring throughout my body.

I gasped as he kissed me deeper and it felt like in that moment my entire life was complete. Like I’d spent every day since I was born searching for this. For him.

Something bright flashed behind my closed eyelids, and I popped them open, pulling away from Zander to see that we were covered in a golden glow. It kissed our skin like a mist clinging to the air for several moments before fading away.

Panting, and with wide eyes, I looked up at him for an explanation, but he seemed just as surprised as I was.

“The one whom my soul seeks,” he breathed.

“What?”

He gave me a look, like he didn’t want to scare me. “Just a favorite poem of mine.”

I wanted to ask what that light was, what the feeling in my chest was, but I was also frightened of the answer.

“You lied to me about who you were,” I said, but my breathless words had no sting.

“Not true. I am Roan Zander Warrick. Brother to the Ethereum lords of the Western, Southern, and Eastern Kingdoms—commander of the Northern Army,” he stated boldly. “I just also happen to be the lord of the Northern Kingdom. If you were from Ethereum you would have known that the commander of the Northern Army and the Northern lord are one in the same.”

All of his important titles gave me chills. “You knew who I was from the beginning?”

He shrugged. “I suspected. We expect your assassins every hundred years. It’s been about that long. You clearly weren’t from around here and the cuffs wouldn’t fall off.”

I nodded because he was right. “We have no choice. Your ancestors stole the magic of Faerie and cursed us, and ever since our world starts to die every hundred years without retrieving it back.”

He tapped his chest, right where his heart was. “And I should be punished for something my crazy ancestors did a few thousand years ago?”

That shut me up. Because I had no argument there. No, he shouldn’t suffer for what his forefathers did.

Everything I was taught was now put into question, and it caused panic to rise up in my chest. I couldn’t think straight, so I pushed it away by focusing on something else.

“Who took the city from you? As an Ethereum lord your power is next to none.” I thought about the black glass shards he’d used against the bandits and shook my head. I’d been so blind not to see him for what he truly was earlier. Still, from what I’d been taught, that was just a small sample of his capabilities.

He motioned that I come sit on the furs by the fire with him and I did, not complaining when he took me into his arms. I leaned against his chest as he held me. That kiss had changed everything. It scared me, and yet it felt so right.

“The rondak,” he said, and I waited, not knowing who or what that was. “A creature from the darkness that spelled me so that my powers as an Ethereum lord are muted. He also cursed me so that I can’t kill him, or a blistering plague will fall upon my people. My brother Cal was the previous Northern lord. When the rondak infiltrated his castle, he took half the Northern Army with him. So over the past year I’ve been rebuilding my troops, and I’m hoping they can take him down.”

I frowned. A spell that muted his powers and a plague that fell on his people if he killed the rondak? Sounded like advanced dark magic.

“What other powers does the rondak wield?” I asked.

“He’s able to cloak himself in darkness, similar to the voidspawn that you just killed, but on top of that he’s able to breathe fire hot enough to incinerate a man. Guarding his bedroom door is a three-headed dog that will remove a man’s limbs with one bite. The rondak is said to feast on man’s flesh and doesn’t let any of his men get close enough to him for fear of being killed by his own ranks.”

I frowned.

Zander yawned, the day’s journey clearly catching up with him. “But we’ll get him. I have to, for my people.”

He lay back on the rug and I snuggled closer to him, feeling like I was at home in his arms and yet also feeling like a traitor to my people at the same time.

“We have to leave the city before dawn. It’s too dangerous to be here for long because the rondak can sense me when I’m near,” he said, his voice slow and weighed down with exhaustion. “But it’s been a couple days since I last slept, so we can rest for a few hours.”

My heart pinched. He didn’t sleep the night before because he was up watching over me while I recovered from expending too much power. He made himself vulnerable, for me.

Zander’s breathing evened out and I found my mind racing.

I thought of my mother, my people who were suffering from the curse the ancestors of the man who held me enacted. I thought of the woman outside being whipped and how Zander could do nothing about it. I thought of the screams of my people as the water level got too high for them to survive, of the acid rains and black clouds and wilting crops. I thought of the other three Ethereum lords, Zander’s brothers, just sitting on their thrones throughout the realm, their black hearts beating with the magic I needed. I thought about it all until tears flowed down my cheeks and onto the fur rug.

I might not be able to kill Zander, but I couldn’t allow the genocide of my people.

Lightly squirming out of Zander’s hold, I sat up and looked down at his peaceful face. The mound of maps and guard schedules was right beside him, and I couldn’t help but think that I had the perfect set of skills for his problem. I was a trained assassin. I had three different types of poison on me right now. I could make this rondak breathe his last breath tonight and give Zander his kingdom back. It was the least I could do before I left to hunt down one of his brothers. A consolation prize.

I took one last look at his plump lips and a small ache formed in my chest that I wouldn’t be kissing them again. Something had shifted inside of me with that one kiss, something profound that I couldn’t explain.

But my people were counting on me, and with Zander unable to kill the rondak himself, he was counting on me too, in a way. He just didn’t know it yet.

I sprang into action, soundlessly digging through my bag until I found what I was looking for, a small vial, unmarked save for a drawing of round purple berries. Not a poison but a tincture of soporberries, known in Faerie for their ability to deepen sleep.

I unscrewed the top and pulled the dropper out, letting a single sweet drop fall onto Zander’s lips. I was careful in my measurement. Only one drop wouldn’t cause Zander harm, but it would deepen his sleep for a few hours, giving me precious time to make and execute my plans. For this scheme to work, I needed to be out of the city and well on my way before Zander woke.

Zander stirred in his sleep then, and I brushed my fingers over his brow to settle him. My muscles locked as I waited to see if he would fully wake, but as the minutes ticked by, his breaths evened out and I knew it was my time to act.

Capping the vial, I stashed it back in my bag next to the other, more deadly tinctures, and then with deft fingers I untangled the bundle of papers and went over all of the information.

After about an hour, I had learned that the rondak slept in the east wing of the castle. His three-headed dog guarded the door while he slumbered. His guard changed shift at sunset and sunrise, but often were caught sleeping in the middle of the night on duty. There was a map of a tunnel system that led from the basement of the castle all the way out to the fields beyond the wall. My escape. Whoever had collected this intel for Zander had been working months undercover as a low-level officer, and they’d done a great job compiling everything I would need to get to the rondak unnoticed.

I started to stack the papers once again, and my gaze snagged on the corner of a hand-painted map. Curiously, I pulled the parchment from the pile, my eyes going wide when I recognized what I was staring at, a military map of Ethereum. I had a rough idea of the boundaries of the kingdoms from the previous champions’ journals, but this one was much more detailed, even more so than the one the couple at the farm had given me. My copy was a hundred years old, and I could tell right away some smaller villages had sprung up over the years. But what was truly valuable about this map was that it showed the locations of military encampments throughout all four Ethereum kingdoms. When Zander woke, he was going to realize right away that I’d gone after one of his brothers and would probably warn them I was coming. There was a chance they’d be on the lookout for me. Having this map would help me avoid running into any of the other kingdoms’ military as I traveled into their territory to search for another Ethereum lord.

Tearing my gaze away from all the interesting points on the map, I focused on the Northern Kingdom, deciding which would be the fastest route to one of the neighboring kingdoms. As I was searching through the Northern Kingdom, I spotted several of the places Zander and I had passed through over the past week: Houndstooth Village, Harpy Bay, the village where we first met, and also—

I bit back a gasp of surprise. Zander had led me on a wild goose chase around his kingdom, zigzagging us back and forth rather than taking a direct route to Noreum.

My irritation spiked, but when I glanced over at the unconscious Northern lord, looking as devastatingly handsome and innocent as a lamb, I couldn’t hold on to my indignation. In fact, a puddle of warmth started to spread in my gut. I was annoyed by the time we’d wasted, but he’d purposefully kept me with him longer than he needed. I had an idea why, but I’d have loved to hear his explanation.

I sighed. I wasn’t ever going to know for sure why Zander did it, but I assumed it was because he knew who I was and was biding his time while he figured out what to do with me. If everything went to plan, this would be the last time I ever saw Zander.

My chest ached at the thought of saying goodbye forever. I wasn’t so stubborn that I couldn’t admit the handsome lord now owned a piece of my heart, but there was no reality where we could be together.

My eyes stayed on Zander, getting their last fill as I folded the military map of Ethereum and shoved it into my bag. It would come in handy later.

Leaning forward, I brushed my lips softly to Zander’s and he moaned lightly. “Goodbye, Zander.” Or maybe it was Roan. I didn’t know anymore.

Grabbing my cloak and the sunstone dagger, I made sure I had my poisons on me, then I slipped out the front door, twisting the lock before I left so that Zander would be secure inside. It was dangerous enough for Zander to be in the city, I couldn’t leave him too exposed. When I was satisfied he was safe, I took one last look at the door to our hideaway and then turned and walked away from the man I was pretty sure I was falling in love with, and toward the duty I had to my people. By my count, I still had over three weeks left to get the heart of an Ethereum lord before I wouldn’t be able to use the dagger to portal back to Faerie anymore, and I wasn’t going to let anyone down.

I relied on all of the skills I had learned and clung to the shadows as I passed building after building inside the city. It was well after midnight and the guards patrolled the streets with their whips, but I was under the cloak of darkness, walking on tiptoes and crawling in some cases as I made my way to the castle like a ghost. When I reached it, I prayed the guards on watch would be asleep. I hated to kill an innocent bystander, but if they agreed with whipping these people, then were they really innocent?

I clung to the walls and risked a peek around the corner to see two guards pacing the front of the castle.

Damn.

I didn’t want the alarm raised before I even got inside. I could kill them no doubt, but before they could scream? Before someone found their bodies while I was inside?

Always have three plans. Master Duncan’s advice came to me, and I shrank back into the darkness and began to scale the wall.

I was an expert climber; my fingers and the tips of my boots barely held on to anything as I climbed up to the cracked-open second-story window. I was shrouded in shadows, my black cloak blending with the dark stones, but I still had to move quickly lest I be seen by a guard below. Reaching the window, I hoped it didn’t lead to a room where anyone was awake. The curtains were drawn shut, so I quickly popped open the pane even wider and was immediately hit with the warmth from the inside. Whoever opened this had done so because the fire got too warm. Just my luck.

Slipping inside as quietly as possible, I held my breath as I stepped onto a tile floor and shut the window, concealed behind the curtain. No one had said anything, so I peered from behind the curtain, my dagger in hand, and sighed in relief.

I was in a library of sorts, stacked high with books. The fire that I’m sure was once roaring was now dying out.

As a well-trained assassin, I had already committed the map of the castle to memory. I needed to get to the tower in the east wing of the castle, but first, a stop at the kitchens. Padding across the room, I took off my boots and strung the laces together, placing them around my shoulders. I was basically a ghost as my thick-socked feet tiptoed across the tile floors, not even making a creak. I got to the kitchen in record time. It was closed down, not a person in sight, but the giant stainless-steel countertop was set for breakfast. Eggs, a block of cheese, and a basket of bread with a linen draped over it sat atop the cool steel.

I pulled out the block of cheese and then used my dagger to cut off three huge chunks. Reaching into my cloak, I grabbed my small poison vials that the potions master had made me and retrieved three liquid-filled capsules.

Shoving them inside the cheese, I then made my way to the east wing and up the seemingly never-ending spiral stairs toward the rondak’s bedchambers. It was time to right a wrong here in the Northern Kingdom. This kingdom had been taken from Zander, and I was going to put it right before I murdered his brother.