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When Evie and her friends had first laid eyes on the sprawling settlement, they’d hoped to leave with a bevy of supplies. After surviving that first harrowing night they’d set their sights a bit lower, hoping merely to escape with their lives. That was the extent of it.
Never would they have imagined they’d acquire a new member of the team.
“—higher than average rainfall, so you can imagine what that did to those salmon fishermen coming down the river. They launched a rescue party, but only ever found a few of the boats—”
And a talkative one at that.
For the last few miles Seth had kept up a steady stream of dialogue, halting it with occasional questions and introductions as he tried to figure out who everyone was. The friends didn’t make it easy. It had only taken a few basic questions for them to realize what should have been immediately obvious: the shifter was going to recognize their names.
There wasn’t a child in the realm who didn’t know how the royal children had been abducted from an royal caravan just ten years before. A single catalyzing event, but the world would never be the same. Seth would have been about six or seven at the time. He was going to remember.
Aside from that, there was just the simple conundrum of whether they should share with a virtual stranger the secret of the prophecy, or their nightmarish destination, or their fledgling plan to save the realm before it plunged so far into darkness it was unable to return.
Little things like that.
“—at any rate, my cousin Charlie saw the things with his own eyes, and to this day he swears the puma didn’t actually...why did you keep the rope?”
Cosette glanced up in surprise to see him stopped a few feet in front of her. Since leaving the encampment she’d been hiking out in front, but sometime in the midst of one of his endless stories the handsome shifter had slipped into the lead.
“Excuse me?”
“The rope,” he repeated intently, staring right at her. “Why did you keep it?”
The fae froze a moment before shaking her head with a puzzled frown. “It was an enchanted rope—able to hold any prisoner until the terms of their capture are met. We’re travelling alone through the forest, with limited supplies and no idea when we’ll be coming back. We have no idea what might be waiting out here for us.” She paused ever so slightly. “Did you really think I was going to leave the rope?”
When you put it like that...
The others bit back smiles and Ellanden rolled his eyes, but the shifter had never been so serious. He took a step closer, unconcerned that the rest of them were watching every move.
“So you really don’t intend to use it?” he asked quietly, studying her face for even the slightest reaction. “Your business in the arena...it’s done?”
Evie’s smile faded as the question he wasn’t asking hung heavy in the air.
Am I still a slave?
The gang immediately sobered as Cosette stared him right in the eyes.
“It’s done.”
His body tensed as he waited for the rest of it, waited for the other shoe to fall. When nothing happened he was simply bewildered, shaking his head slightly as he tried to understand. “Why would you do that?”
Cosette pulled in a silent breath, trying to think of a suitable response. A child of the castle, she’d been raised to deal with tough situations through either open violence or a passive-aggressive cold war. Simple, direct questions threw her off guard.
Fortunately, this one seemed to have a built-in answer.
“You saved our lives. This makes us square.”
There wasn’t a person in the forest who didn’t think there was more to it. Lucky for the princess, they’d all been raised the same way. All except one.
“Why did you give her back the necklace in the first place?” Freya interjected, ignoring the quiet tension as she stepped up to join them, leaning obliviously against her friend’s arm. “And, you know...the other thing.”
Cosette’s eyes snapped shut a split second as Seth fought back a genuine smile.
“I’ve always had a weakness for blondes.”
...awkward.
“Well, since that’s all cleared up, I suggest we keep moving.” Ellanden swept in between them, deliberately separating everyone at the same time. “Not that your sexual preferences aren’t a vital part of whatever happens next.”
Cosette blanched in utter mortification, but the shifter only grinned.
“Right you are.” He clapped the prince on the shoulder, gazing out over the woods. “Do you want to take the lead, or should I?”
The arm lowered slowly in the silence that followed, but the brazen grin remained.
“My apologies... I mistook that for an invitation.”
* * *
BY THE TIME THE FRIENDS set up camp just a few hours later, a subtle shift in dynamic had taken over the group. None of them noticed it at first. The change was so subtle, they didn’t realize what was happening until it was already done. But there was a kind of lightness to the way things were progressing. A sense of positivity that hadn’t been there before.
“Heads up!”
There was a flash of silver as a missing tent peg went flying across the campsite, flipping in deadly circles as it whirled through the air. Ellanden glanced up and caught it a second before it could embed itself in the left half of his face.
“Nice reflexes.” Seth folded his arms with a grin, watching from the other side of the little clearing. “You know what, there’s a chance you might have done okay in the arena after all.”
Ellanden straightened up slowly, gripping the peg like he was considering hurling it right back. A look from Asher was enough to stop him. If only for a time.
“Remind me again why we’ve been graced with your company?” he asked instead, pounding the stake into the ground with unnecessary force. “Is this some kind of penance?”
Seth plopped down beside him, willfully ignoring the fae’s blade. “Well, I am a sparkling conversationalist,” he said practically. “There’s also the fact that I’ve been an invaluable guide.”
“An invaluable guide?” the fae repeated, cratering the peg into the ground. “Down this straight trail we’ve been walking? You think that’s something I couldn’t have done myself?”
“...didn’t you lead everyone straight into a pack of undead leopards?”
At this point, Asher excused himself (probably to avoid seeing inevitable bloodshed) as the prince straightened up with a scathing glare.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about. How were we supposed to know such things roamed the mountain pass? We’ve only just—”
He caught himself suddenly as Seth lifted his eyebrows, cupping a hand to his ear.
“What’s that?” he prompted cheerfully. “You’ve only just...what?”
The rest of the campsite froze as the fae remained stoically silent, debating what course to take next. There had been no opportunity to discuss what to tell him. Without knowing how long he might be with them, the risk seemed too much to take. But the shifter was turning out to be inconveniently clever. And those sharp eyes of his saw better than most.
“Let’s play out a hypothetical,” Seth said suddenly, stretching out his long legs. “Here’s how I think you were going to finish that sentence. ‘We’ve only just...returned to the realm ourselves’.”
Evie’s eyes flashed to the others as Ellanden reached discreetly for his blade.
“There’s no need to kill me, Your Highness,” Seth said quietly, keeping his gaze on the campfire. “After all, we’re only playing a little game.”
There was a moment of silence. The fae’s hand lowered back to his side.
“You travel well, but there are subtle differences about you—things it would be impossible to hide. You get surprised when you shouldn’t. The two girls didn’t think twice when the Red Hand entered the tavern, but the three of you looked as though you’d never heard of us before. Your clothes are fine, but slightly outdated. Your shoes are old, but hardly used. You still talk about the realm in terms of the five kingdoms, and while I’m all for an abundance of caution it’s been hard not to notice how none of you have told me your names. Then, of course, there’s always those things you can’t hide at all. A vampire, a fae, and a fire-haired shifter. All travelling together.”
In the ringing silence that followed, he pushed slowly to his feet.
“You’re them, aren’t you? The members of the royal family who went missing so long ago.”
Evie’s every instinct was to deny it. Her every instinct was simply to run. Only a few hours they’d been travelling together, but the man had figured them out so quickly. With echoes of his quiet words ringing in her ears, it seemed to be just a matter of time.
No one would answer. No one would even look at him. But the shifter wasn’t the kind to give up. Instead of backing down he walked calmly across the clearing, stopping in front of Cosette.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
Her face paled, but she gave nothing away—breaking his gaze only once to glance over his shoulder at the princess. Evie stared back, rigid with tension, then decided to nod.
“It’s true.”
The moment shattered as the shifter stepped back with a little gasp, staring at his new companions as if seeing them for the first time. His eyes lingered a moment on each one, trying to connect faces with the stories he’d been told as a child before flying straight back to Cosette.
“So he’s your cousin!” he exclaimed in a burst of enlightenment. “The other fae—he’s not your boyfriend, he’s your cousin!”
Both fae went blank as Evie quickly turned away to hide her smile.
The guy just discovered the missing royal family...and that’s all he has to say?
“In that case, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” He swept back across the clearing, shaking the prince’s hand with a winning smile. “I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time earlier. If it’s any consolation, I really wasn’t looking forward to beating you senseless in that ring.”
The fae was simply stunned, pulling back his hand a moment later. “You don’t...” He trailed off, glancing uncertainly at the others. “You don’t have any questions about—”
“Oh, I have plenty of questions,” the shifter said cheerfully. “What happened, where have you been, why are you back now? Not the least of which is where the hell we might be going. But I figure those will be answered in due course. For now, I’m far more concerned with what we might be having for dinner. I vote venison—who’s with me?”
With that, he picked up his sword and headed briskly into the trees—assumedly to slaughter some poor deer the rest of them would eat for dinner. The friends stared after him in a moment of stunned silence before Asher clapped Ellanden’s shoulder with a cheerful smile.
“I like him.”
“You would,” the fae replied.
But in spite of his best efforts, it looked like he was starting to agree.
* * *
AS PROMISED, THE FRIENDS feasted on venison that night.
It was more than they’d had in one sitting for a long while, roasted with great care over the fire and seasoned with a number of herbs the shifter had found in the forest. Somewhere in his past, there had been manners involved. The man served everyone a helping before sitting down himself.
“I say you enslave him after all,” Ellanden whispered to Cosette, helping himself to another piece. “You still have that rope, and we could use a cook.”
“...I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
The conversations flowed easier and easier as the night went on. Seth turned out to be delightful company, and while the friends weren’t exactly forthcoming about their past they had plenty of stories to share from the present. The skeletal leopards were just the latest in a series of misadventures that, when told through the benefit of hindsight, took on a decidedly comical flair.
“—at which point, the giant decided the cousins were married, Ellanden would be allowed to keep his hand after all, and declared Evie was his favorite before taking her out of the cage.”
Freya promptly concluded the story, but Seth was on the edge of his seat.
“...and?”
The witch glanced up from her food. “Oh—and he forced her to read a book.”
The others burst out laughing, while the princess pelted each of them with pinecones.
“Laugh all you want,” she chided, “but that was a lot harder than it looked.” She returned Seth’s questioning stare with a dainty sniff. “There was a great deal of running involved...”
The shifter laughed quietly, throwing another log onto the fire. “You guys have been through it, I’ll give you that.”
So have you...
Throughout the night, the shifter had listened more than he’d spoken—quietly reveling in the simple companionship he’d been denied for so long. He laughed at all the appropriate times. He contributed some random bit of trivia whenever the conversation circled back to him. But there was a lot more going on beneath the surface. A world of mystery hiding behind those sparkling eyes.
“So your uncle,” Ellanden said abruptly, halting the conversation in its tracks, “he gave you over to the settlement right after we fled town?”
Evie stiffened automatically, praying the fae would be kind. But for once, there was no open animosity between them. As he stared across the fire, there was nothing but quiet concern.
The shifter nodded briskly, stoking the embers with the heel of his boot. “We set out for Tarnaq the next morning,” he fidgeted involuntarily, wincing at some painful memory, “after he let the rest of the pack have their fun...”
Asher’s eyes softened as they found the fading marks on the boy’s hands. “Is that where you got those?”
Seth stared at him a moment, then nodded quickly.
The night at the tavern had been the first time he’d actually seen a vampire. When Asher had fed on the deer a few hours earlier, he hadn’t been able to tear his eyes away.
“My uncle’s idea of a joke.” He tried to smile, but for once the skill failed him. “You have the right to defend yourself, but there’s only one rule. You’re not allowed to shift.”
Evie caught her breath, staring across the flames.
She’d seen enough pack exhibitions with her father to imagine what must have happened next. The way the teenager would have been surrounded by a clan of people who were supposed to have been his friends. The way they’d transform, one by one, until the only person left standing was the man in the middle. Then the madness would begin.
From one ring to another.
“Did you try to escape?” she asked softly. “Once they left you in the settlement. Didn’t you ever try to get away?”
The shifter was impossibly resourceful for one his age. She couldn’t imagine the possibility of such a venture hadn’t at least crossed his mind.
He flashed a tight smile, eager to move on to other things. “It’s impossible to escape a salcor, and my new guardians kept close tabs on me.” His eyes drifted a little farther, resting on Cosette. “If it weren’t for this one’s addiction to fine jewelry, I’d still be in that arena. They brought out all the worst creatures at night.”
A sudden silence fell over the campfire, leaving the others to imagine what that might mean.
“But enough about me,” he continued abruptly. “I’m far more interested in what happened to you. Having now met in person, I can’t imagine the three of you being dragged away from that caravan by force...”
The princess blushed ever so slightly, exchanging a quick glance with the boys. They’d put it off longer than was reasonable, but there was no delaying the moment any further.
“I received a prophecy,” she answered, draping her arms loosely across her knees. “A few nights before we left, there was a festival in the High Kingdom. A feast to celebrate—”
“—the anniversary of the Great War,” Seth finished, eyes twinkling with curiosity in the light of the fire. “Every child in the realm was told the story.”
She smiled faintly, thinking back to that fateful night. “They only know part of it. They think it started the moment Abel Bishop was poisoned, but in truth the actual story started a ways before...”
For the next half hour, she took their new friend through everything that had happened from the moment the old witch summoned her into the tent. From the words of the prophecy, to her daring gambit to convince the others, to their eventual decision to run away.
At this point, all five of them began watching his reaction very closely.
They say the worst of things are done with the best of intentions. And if there was ever a moment for blame—they wanted to be prepared.
But there was no accusation in Seth’s eyes. There was nothing but thoughtful consideration as she took him from place to place. The country to the mine. The witch to the library. Recounting each extraordinary moment, until they’d entered the sorcerer’s cave in the middle of a storm.
“At which point, we were put under an enchantment that lasted until Cosette slayed the wizard and freed us from the spell. We’ve been travelling together ever since.”
The forest went quiet. The only sound was the crackling of the logs.
“So this all happened ten years ago,” Seth said slowly, trying to piece it together. “Everything you’ve just said. Except...” He tilted his head curiously, staring at each one. “In your minds, it must feel so much closer.”
Freya flashed a quick look at Ellanden, but held her tongue. The prince nodded slowly, reaching down without thinking to take his cousin’s hand.
“When Cosette told us how much time had passed, when she told us what had happened in those ten years, I couldn’t believe...” His eyes flashed up suddenly, resting on the shifter. “You must know that we never intended—”
Seth held up his hands, shaking his head without judgement. “You did nothing more than was required. I may not know much about prophecies—they don’t give them out as freely in the village where I’m from—but I do know your parents saved the realm after reading a few words scribbled out by some kind of prophet. I guess it isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine their children might one day be asked to do the same.”
From that moment forward, the shifter was part of the group.
To have such a thing absolved by Cosette and Freya was one thing. Both had already pledged themselves to the cause long before they knew what it was. But to hear the words from a total stranger, to have it spoken so plainly...was an invaluable gift.
“The wizard was a piece of bad luck,” he admitted. The others laughed quietly, staring into the fire. “So was the basilisk. Although, I don’t understand—”
“Actually, we’re all waiting for a bit of explanation on that one,” Cosette interrupted, eyes flashing between the men as she remembered the vampire’s spontaneous apology. “I take it things didn’t go well in the tunnel?”
There was a weighted pause, then Asher looked pointedly at his hands.
“Ellanden was helpless and bleeding...and I saved his life.”
Seven hells.
Evie let loose another volley of pinecones but the fae only laughed, staring back at his friend with an affectionate smile. “Is that the story we’re telling?”
“I think that version of the story would be best.”
Freya shook her head with a grin, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like men, but Seth had gone suddenly still. Realizing the implications of their story for the first time.
“So this prophecy...that’s what you’re doing?” he asked quietly, looking from one person to the next. “You’re taking the western trail, to get to the...the Dunes?”
Even so long after the battle, he had trouble saying the word. They all did. It was one of those things you learned as children to say in a whispered sort of hush.
Cosette shared a quick glance with the others. “We don’t expect you to come,” she said softly. Despite having single-handedly ensured the shifter’s freedom, the two had yet to really speak. “There’s nothing else in the realm that could be so dangerous. The prophecy itself says that not everyone is to return.”
He considered this a moment before looking up with a little smile. “But you’re going.”
Their eyes met tentatively across the flames.
Then Ellanden leaned sharply in between them. “Yes, we’re all going.”
The pair looked away quickly, while Asher pulled the fae back with a smile.
“You know,” he whispered conspiratorially, “when the guy said he had a thing for blondes, I don’t think he meant you—”
“Hold your tongue, vampire. Or, rest assured, I’ll be telling my version of that story after all.”
“So it’s decided?” Evie interjected, looking at the shifter curiously. “You’ll come?”
He stared a second longer at Cosette, leaning back with a careless grin. “Of course I’ll come. Like so many others in my generation, I’ve been dying to see the Dunes for myself. Between that and the promise that some of us won’t return?” He gave the woodland princess a roguish wink. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
Evie stared between them, smothering a secret smile.
This should be interesting...
“Of course,” he continued suddenly, “that begs the question of how we’re going to get there. I assume you have some kind of plan?”
Ellanden nodded curtly, his former acceptance of the shifter vanishing on a dime. “We’re following the river down to the low country. From there, we’ll book passage on a ship.”
Seth stared back in silence. “...seriously?”
The fae’s eyes flashed as he turned to the vampire. “All right, just let me kill him—”
“What’s the problem?” Asher interrupted, staring with a frown.
The shifter glanced between them, shaking his head. “Ten years. I keep forgetting—you’ve been asleep for ten years.”
Ellanden ground his teeth together. “Enlighten me.”
“Let me put it this way.” Seth leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You guys said you ran into a Carpathian? Where do you think he came from?”
A chill ran up Evie’s spine. “You don’t mean—”
“They’ve settled in the low country, took over years ago. The guy you met probably works on one of the ships. They go to Tarnaq often, stocking up on supplies. The only way you’re getting across that sea is by their permission, and I guarantee that’s not something you’re going to get.”
Evie’s lips parted in dismay, then she turned to Ellanden.
“Is there another way?”
He shook his head, staring with troubled eyes into the fire. “It would take weeks, maybe months. Time we don’t have.”
The shifter grimaced apologetically and the friends fell silent—each wracking their brains for some kind of solution. After a few minutes, the vampire finally lifted his head.
“Then we’ll just have to take one for ourselves.”
The others turned to him slowly, and Seth shook his head.
“Take what?” There was a beat of silence. “Wait—take a ship?!”
His eyes leapt frantically between them but the friends were already nodding, eyes lighting up with the same reckless smile. Ellanden in particular seemed to think it was a brilliant idea, clapping Asher on the shoulder before turning to Evie with a grin.
“I think we’re starting to rub off on him...”
The plan was set, but not everyone was on board.
“You can’t be serious,” Seth said with a hint of desperation. “You want to steal a ship from the Carpathians? I’m as up for adventure as the next guy, but...really? You get this would be the part of the story where somebody dies, right?”
Ellanden flashed a bright smile. “My vote is for the new guy.”
The shifter stared incredulously for a moment, then shook his head with a slow smile. “I’d have been better off taking my chances in the ring...”
