We flew low over the Nightfall border, hiding within a dense bed of fog. I’d never been to this part of the realm before, and although I was on a mission I was also sightseeing in a way. Once we reached their main gate, we flew higher into the sky to avoid their detection.
The Nightfall realm had more glass and metal than I had seen in my entire life. Mechanical horseless carriages with lamps in front of them rolled down the streets. And even though it was nighttime, everything was lit up. But there was no flame or fire, it was… a different type of light. A soft, constant glow. The buildings were expertly made. Glass, brick, and metal. All the lines were straight, nothing looked jagged or pieced-together hastily. I regretted to admit it was beautiful, a sight to behold.
Soldiers were stationed everywhere, two on every corner, and they all held different killing contraptions. Metal weapons with projectiles loaded into them. Arrow throwers, spear throwers, and one even had a flame burning from the tip. Fire thrower?
What was this place? A place of invention and technology the likes of which I couldn’t imagine in my wildest dreams… or nightmares. It was as if the queen wanted to expunge the realm of magic and then use her machines and metal to become magical humans.
‘The queen’s beloved eldest son lives outside Nightfall Castle in his own fort.’ Drae’s voice pierced my mind, pulling me from my thoughts.
‘How do you know?’ I asked as we veered left, away from the bright lights of a far-off castle and towards a smaller village.
‘Spies,’ was all he said.
The kiss we’d shared lingered between us. I didn’t know how to act in front of him now. He’d saved my life by heating me up when I’d been freezing, but I didn’t feel thankful. I felt angry that he told Cal and all of the other guards not to date me. He casually accepted Regina’s referral to me as his backup, and then just so casually mentioned that he wanted me within minutes of Joslyn’s death. Did he refer to me as a backup with Regina and not a member of his Royal Guard, not a friend? Because that’s what hurt the most.
I was an insurance policy.
Smoke began to leak from my nostrils and the king’s black head swiveled in my direction. I snuffed out the fire and faced forward, ready to just focus on the task at hand.
Avenge Joslyn.
It still didn’t feel real, that she was gone, that her soul had left her body.
‘I should have protected her. What a lousy Royal Guard I make,’ I muttered to Drae.
He peered over at me. ‘Lousy Royal Guard? What about the dozen guards the Nightfall soldiers passed when they broke into my palace? Regina is beside herself that she didn’t do her job. You did more than anyone. You killed them.’
I hadn’t thought of how Regina might be taking this. How upset she would be that as the leader of the Drayken she allowed two outsiders to break in and kill the king’s betrothed. Not to mention the fact that she’d had a spy within her ranks and never knew.
I kept quiet after that, realizing that this affected more than just me. Though I was confident that out of everyone, I knew Joslyn the best and cared for her the most.
‘Go low, into that mist,’ the king said suddenly, and dropped. I lowered myself with him and then we were flying in a damp white haze.
“That outcrop of trees…” Regina said.
I peered to the left to see that just inside the fort’s gates was a small orchard. We stayed in the mist, passing over the fence, and then when we were directly over the trees Drae dropped suddenly, as if his wings had broken.
‘Drop quickly so that you aren’t seen, and then pump your wings last minute to lessen the impact,’ the king said.
Fear gripped me at such a fall. It reminded me of the time the wind had tumbled me to the ground and I’d been severely injured.
I circled the orchard, still hidden in the mist, terror consuming me. What if I didn’t fall fast enough and the guards saw us? Or what if I fell too fast and then I killed Regina, who was attached to a basket on my back? I circled for a good minute, tearing myself in two with anxiety, when Regina reached out and stroked my head. “You got this. I’ll be okay. I’ve tumbled and dove from King Valdren’s back many times.”
With that assurance, I dropped, collapsing my wings so that we were in a dead freefall. Instinct had me wanting to flap my wings to stay airborne, but Drae’s voice boomed in my mind:
‘Hold.’
The second I cleared the top of the trees, my wings burst from my back in panic.
‘Now!’ Drae cried, and I flapped like crazy to slow my descent. I did slow, but it was still a fast fall, and my feet and chest crashed into the earth as I stumbled forward like a drunken buffoon at a midsummer festival. I felt Regina teeter on top of me, then I was able to regain my balance.
Regina made quick work of unhooking my saddle, and then held out my brown leather hunting suit. The king had already changed and was waiting for me with three men, Cal included. Nox and Falcon were the other two. Falcon was an old timer with so many scars I didn’t know how his skin moved at all. He’d been burned in a fire, that’s all I knew. I’d learned that he’d also had a pet falcon which gave him the name, but it had since died. He was a good man, and the king’s very loyal friend who served under his father.
“Regina,” Drae whispered, “we will break up into two teams.” He spoke while I changed and the men gave me their backs for privacy. “Falcon, Nox, and I will go in first. You and Arwen and Cal will bring up the rear and be the extraction team.”
I knew from my training that meant I might have to prepare a way to get them out after they carried out the assassination. It was the easier of the two jobs, but he’d let me come, so I wasn’t going to complain. I finished dressing, and walked up beside him.
“Killing this guy will hurt the queen?” I whispered to Drae. I wanted to make sure that witch paid for what she’d done to my friend.
Drae nodded. “Not only that, he’s her lead commander. No mission goes through without his planning and approval.”
I grit my jaw, feeling my teeth creak at the pressure. This guy was directly responsible for Joslyn’s death?
I looked over at Drae. “Promise me you’ll take him out.”
He peered over at me and nodded. “You have my word, Arwen.”
Arwen. The way he said my name made my stomach twist into knots.
We snuck into a side alleyway and let the king lead. He was holding a paper map and consulting it often. Whoever his spy was had given us a diagram that led right to the sleeping chambers of the Nightfall queen’s eldest son.
Her heir.
The gravity of what we were about to do settled into me. Killing a man while he slept, no matter how evil he was, was hard to stomach. I knew now why Drae put me on the extraction team. I wouldn’t be there to see it, and after witnessing Joslyn’s death only hours ago I was grateful.
We reached the side of a large estate, hiding in the alley, and immediately shrank into the shadows as a guard passed by ahead. The guard was bathed in lantern light, and I was relieved to see that he didn’t have the metal wings attached to him.
There was a small window on the side of the house just ahead. Drae made a signal with his fingers to Regina and she nodded. I peered closer to see that it was cracked open! He was going in that window, and then I wouldn’t see him until it was over.
What if Drae died…? What if the queen’s son slept with a sword under his pillow and a guard at his door?
Reaching for Drae’s hand before he could walk away, I squeezed it.
‘Be safe,’ I sent mentally, unsure if it would work in human form.
He nodded to me, squeezing my hand back, and then left, Falcon and Nox following him.
I was pissed at the bastard right now, but I didn’t want him to die. I couldn’t handle another death.
Without speaking, Regina made a hand signal for Cal and me to follow her to the end of the alleyway. By the time we passed the open window, Drae and the others had already slipped inside.
When we got to the end of the alley, Regina pointed across the street to the stables, and Cal and I nodded. That was where we needed to get to. There was a good chance Drae would end up injured and then we’d have to horse and carriage our way home somehow. Either way, we needed two exits at all times, one by sky and one by land. Just in case.
Regina peeked her head out into the alleyway and looked left and right quickly. She sucked her body back into the shadows and then gave the go signal.
The three of us walked briskly out from the alleyway and towards the stables. Not a full sprint, which would be suspicious to an observer, but not slow enough to be unusual either. It was the perfect walk of three friends trying to hurry home in the late hour after a night of drinking at the tavern.
The second we entered the stables, a guard was there. He’d been relieving himself inside, and at the sight of us he yanked his pants upward. Fumbling, he tried to reach for his sword, but Regina was faster. She lunged, and with the butt of her dagger cracked him on the side of the head. He crumpled into a puddle of his own urine.
“That’s unfortunate,” Regina said softly. We then made quick work with the horses. I hadn’t yet taken proper riding lessons, but part of my pup training meant I’d had to muck out the stalls and tie the saddles, so I knew how to do that now. Within minutes we had two large mares hooked up to a medium-sized wagon that should hold all of us. We couldn’t find a closed-top carriage; they were all mechanical here, horseless, and we didn’t know how to work them. But the wagon, which looked like it hadn’t been used in years, would do. Regina had laid some blankets inside that we could use to take cover if needed. My heart raced as I thought of the king inside the estate right now, carrying out an assassination attempt on the Nightfall queen’s son. It was brazen and dangerous—but necessary.
For Joslyn.
If the queen thought she could just waltz into Embergate and take out the king’s chance at having an heir, she was sorely mistaken.
We kept the horses just inside the stable, waiting for a signal from Drae that he needed extraction.
Instead of a signal, the front door of the house blew off its hinges and Drae was tossed out onto the street in a puff of black smoke.
What the…?
Regina kicked the horse with her heels as chaos erupted into the once silent night. Nox and Falcon burst from the home next, each bleeding from their arms. Half a dozen guards followed them with swords drawn.
I barely had time to process the scene when Regina whisked the wagon beside them and whistled.
The king, Falcon, and Nox launched themselves inside and then we took off.
“Mission accomplished,” was all Drae said and a triumphant feeling spread throughout my limbs. They did it. The person responsible for Joslyn’s death was dead.
A loud and deep horn blew throughout the fort and I knew they’d be shutting the gates and preparing for an attack. An arrow whizzed past my head and I ducked before popping up again, wide-eyed. This must be what war felt like, I thought. By the time you processed what was going on, another situation entirely had unfolded.
“Hold the reins,” Regina told me.
I scrambled onto the horse as Regina switched places with me and grabbed her bow, shooting arrows at the approaching army of angry Nightfall soldiers running after us.
“Arwen, let’s fly!” Drae cried out.
My heart hammered in my chest as the horses barreled for the fort’s closed gates. Shift into a dragon and fly out of here while riding on a moving horse! Is he insane?
I spun to find him already ripping off his shirt.
Hades, he is serious. Here we go…
Abandoning the reins, I jumped into the small wagon with him, yanking off my leathers without a care for nakedness. Who could worry about exposing oneself when you were about to die?
The king was the first to strip down, but only halfway, still wearing trousers, and within seconds he sprouted wings from his back with a growl of pain. He’d transformed into a partial dragon, wings only, and then used his arms to grab Nox and Falcon by the waist.
“Can you take Cal and Regina? It’s easier to take two if you partial shift and hold them like this,” he said.
Umm. No. Hades no. I couldn’t.
Something terrifying crossed his gaze and I frowned. There was something he wasn’t telling me.
‘I can’t fully shift. Not enough magic,’ he said, and fear flooded my entire system.
Already? With each shift he was losing his power, which meant the people of Embergate were in grave danger.
I nodded, then with one jump he leapt into the air, away from the cart. Nox and Falcon hung from his arms as he flew them over the fort.
What. The. Hades?
“I don’t think I can do that,” I mumbled to Regina.
She looked behind me, at what I knew was the approaching gate and probably an army of more men. “You have to,” was all she said, and then she and Cal reached out and grasped one of my arms each.
My leathers were hanging snugly off my waist, my breasts covered by my small bralette, and I decided that was enough clothing to remove if the goal was just to erupt wings from my back.
Pulling forth the fire within me, I pushed it into my transformation and felt a pop of pain as the wings burst from my back.
“Now!” Regina yelled and the cart jerked to a stop. I jumped into the air, flapping my wings. We went airborne, and for a few seconds I actually thought this would be easy. Then the weight of two people dragged me downward.
“Flap them harder!” Regina yelled as she held on to my left arm with two hands, and Cal held on to my right.
My wings buckled under the strain as I flapped them like a madwoman, gaining a few feet. The army was under us now, aiming up at us with arrows.
We’re all dead!
I couldn’t get us high enough, I was too slow, I—
An arrow whizzed right past my face and I screamed.
Regina let go of me with one of her hands, aiming at the approaching men with bows.
“No!” she yelled, an unholy look of ferocity coming across her face. Raising her hand, a stream of beautiful deadly orange fire burst from her palm and saturated the men below.
Screams filled the night, then the thwip of arrows cut into the sky. Pain suddenly laced into my right arm and I cried out, losing my grip on Cal for a half second. He slipped down but scrambled to hold on at the last second. I twisted to look at the source of my pain to find an arrow lodged in my right shoulder. Blood trickled down my arm and onto Cal’s hands. I flapped my wings madly but we were still barely fifteen feet off the ground.
My shoulder burned like Hades but I kept going, ignoring the numbness in my fingers. I just needed to get over the wall. It was twice as high as I was flying so I pumped my wings with everything I had.
But it was too difficult. We lost altitude, falling a few feet, and I started to whimper.
‘Help me. I can’t get over the wall,’ I called to Drae as panic flooded my system. I was going to drop Cal any second.
“I’m trying!” I said and then looked down into Cal’s and Regina’s panicked expressions.
Regina looked over at Cal then, watching him slip down my arm, and then glanced up at me. “Get the king home and have an heir. Save our people, Arwen. That’s an order!”
Have an heir? Why was she talking about that at a time like th—?
“NO!” The blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat as she let go of my left hand and dropped down into the fray. Cal frantically reached over and grabbed my other arm, shifting his weight to relieve my injured shoulder.
I peered down in shock as Regina pulled out her blade and then spit a stream of fire, trying to fight her way through the twenty men attacking her.
No! Not like this. It couldn’t end like this.
“Regina!” A stone sank in my gut as I immediately started to lower myself and help my beloved commander, but before I could do anything she was gored by half a dozen arrows in seconds. As if that weren’t enough, a Nightfall soldier walked up and took her head clean off. Unbridled rage and wild grief filled me with equal measure, one not making enough room for the other as they smashed about within my body.
Cal squeezed my arm. “No! It will all be in vain. Get us over that wall. The king hasn’t come back to help, which means he’s hurt.”
Cal’s urging shook me from my grief. The king was hurt? Why hadn’t he come back to help us, or responded to me?
I watched Regina fall forward, and my entire body flinched and went numb. It was all I needed to see to know that if I didn’t get us out of here right now, we were both dead. I flapped my wings wildly, holding Cal mostly with my good arm, and soared up and over the fence now that my load was lighter. I made for the outcrop of trees that held our saddles, and hoped the king was there as well.
Regina… my idol, my mentor, the leader of the King’s Drayken…
Dead.
I couldn’t process it, it didn’t feel real. I prayed that I would wake up any moment and find out that Joslyn’s and Regina’s death were some sick nightmare.
The moment we got to the trees, I knew something was wrong. Drae was on his hands and knees, heaving up the contents of his dinner.
I landed awkwardly, tripping over my dangling feet but relieved to finally let go of Cal’s weight on my injured arm.
“What’s wro—?” Nausea washed over me as a cold sweat broke out over my body.
Drae stood, and I noticed that he too had been hit by an arrow. Grazed was more like it. His arm had a slight line of blood on the side.
“Regina’s… dead,” I said, blinking rapidly as everything blurred.
What is happening? Was losing Regina and Joslyn in the same night too much grief for my heart to bear? I felt like I was dying.
The king stomped forward, grasped the tip of the arrow in my shoulder, and yanked. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth so that I merely wailed into his salty fingers.
“Arrows are poisoned,” he breathed, eyes wide as he looked over me. “Did we bring another antidote?” he called to Nox.
Nox stepped forward. “No, sir, only the one you just took.”
The wild panic that consumed his face made my knees go weak.
“I’m going to die,” I whimpered.
Maybe that was best. Maybe tonight would be known as the Night of Sorrows. The night when the king’s betrothed, backup, and commander were all taken from him. I didn’t care anymore, I just wanted to be out of pain.
“No!” He shook my shoulders and then glanced up at Cal. “Can you and the others make it back to Embergate on foot?”
Cal nodded.
“My lord, she will not survive the flight home. Dr. Elsie is too far,” Falcon said.
Drae dipped his head. “I know. But we’re only a few miles away from the Archmere border.”
Cal’s eyes widened. “You’re going to the elves?”
Drae sighed. “I have no choice.”
A horrible cramping seized my stomach then and I fell backwards. Drae reached out to catch me.
“Just let me go. I want to be with Joslyn and Regina,” I whimpered.
He pulled me to his chest and muttered in my ear, “I can’t. I need you.”
I need you. It was something I’d wanted him to say for so long, and yet… somehow I didn’t think he meant it in the way I wanted.
He needed my womb. Not me.
Everything got hazy then and life began to pass by in snippets.
Flying.
Drae running into an elven couples’ humble home with me in his arms as he screamed in panic.
The elven woman of the household scanning me with her healing wand.
Her shaking her head to Drae that I would not make it.
More flying.
It all finally ended with an ominous-looking male towering over me. He had bright white hair and a thin silver crown on his head. I was lying on some type of crystal bed. Hard, and yet… it was not uncomfortable. It seemed to be carved out of a giant rose quartz with indentations that fit my body like a glove.
“This matter does not concern me,” the male said as he stared down at me.
I rolled on my side and moaned as the cramping in my muscles became so painful I wanted to die. My heartbeat felt like it was in my ears.
“Raife,” Drae growled. “She is important to me. I know you can save her. If you do… I’ll give you whatever you want. Coal, boats, jade. Name your price!”
Raife? Raife Lightstone. The elven king? Rumor had it that he lost his entire family in one night at the hand of the Nightfall queen. His parents and seven siblings. Now he was a broken man hadesbent on revenge.
“My price?” King Raife cocked his head to the side. “Brother, my price has always been the same, and yet you deny me at every turn. You know what I want, what I require.”
I moaned, a burning sensation rising up in my throat. Drae reached up and yanked on the sides of his face. “Fine, I’ll help you kill the Nightfall queen if you save Arwen, but you have to get Lucien and Axil to agree to help us. She’s too powerful unless we unite.”
Lucien Thorne the fae king and Axil Moon the wolf king? Did Drae just agree to take down the Nightfall kingdom to save my life?
Raife reached up and rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, and Drae rushed forward. “Save her, dammit!”
The elven king rolled his eyes. “Alright, we have a deal. It may take time for me to get the other kings on board, but you will hold up to your promise.”
I grabbed my throat, no longer able to breathe. I gasped for air.
Drae crossed a fist over his chest. “I swear it, Raife! I will help you avenge your family. Just save her!”
Raife kneeled, looming over me, bringing with him the scent of lilies. I hated lilies. They were too fragrant and always made me sneeze. Leaning forward, the elven king placed his nose an inch from my injured shoulder and inhaled.
“Death wood sap,” he stated.
Drae rushed to the other side of me. “Can you reverse it?”
Raife looked up at Drae and I wondered how these two knew each other. Raife had called him brother.
“Is she the one you have chosen to have your heir?” Raife asked.
I steeled myself for his answer.
Backup.
Drae stared into my eyes, and then nodded. “If she will have me.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest; blackness danced at the edges of my vision. If I were going to die, that was a pretty sweet thing to hear before I went.
Raife nodded. “Very well, then.”
He laid a hand on my injured shoulder and I gasped when his skin touched mine. A flare of purple light exploded out from his palm, momentarily blinding me. Then the blackness around my vision receded and my throat stopped burning. I could finally breathe. I sucked in huge lungfuls of air. Then one by one my muscles stopped cramping and my nausea fled.
I looked up in shock at the elven king and he peered back at me with a cold and unforgiving gaze. He winced, and I wondered if healing me was causing him pain somehow. Releasing his hand from my shoulder, he held it to his chest as if it were injured.
I sat up, suddenly feeling better. “Thank you,” I breathed.
He ignored me, glancing up at Drae. “Be gone by morning, I cannot have my council knowing I helped you until I get them on board with taking out Zaphira.”
Drae dipped his head, and then gave King Raife a little smile. “Are they still pestering you to get married?”
Raife groaned, shaking out his fingers as if trying to expel whatever healing the poison had done to him. “I must take a wife by winter or they say they will overthrow me.”
Drae smiled again, nodding, and then stepped forward, pulling the elven king into a hug. “Thank you, brother.”
Raife didn’t hug him back. He froze as if he had never hugged anyone in his entire life, but Drae didn’t seem to care. The dragon king pulled back, squeezed Raife’s shoulders, and then turned away and headed for me.
Raife walked to the door on the far wall, and for the first time I took in the room around me: white stone floors, light purple wallpaper with flecks of gold. It was tranquil, healing.
“Drae?” Raife called from the open doorway.
Drae turned to look at the elven king.
“I will come for you, and we will end Queen Zaphira’s reign.” It was a command and a promise.
“You have my word,” Drae said, and then Raife left the room and closed the door.
My tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of my mouth. Almost dying two times in one day was too much of a shock to my system.
“Tell me you’re okay.” Drae kneeled before me, placing his hands on my waist and staring deeply into my eyes.
I frowned, feeling my lip quiver as tears lined my eyes. “I…” A whimper left my throat. “Joslyn… Regina,” I said.
He sighed, looking down at the cold white tile. “We’ve let the queen go on for far too long. She has to be stopped.”
“With her flight gadgets and fire throwers, I don’t see how. Even with the elves. Did you see the horseless carts?”
He nodded. “Raife’s parents wanted to curb her technology, knowing her plans to one day wipe out the magical races. My father denied their request for help.”
I gasped. “And they tried and she killed them?”
He dipped his head. “Raife’s parents blew up one of her machine factories, and in turn the queen killed Raife’s entire family, leaving him alive as a mercy.”
Leaving him alive after killing his entire family was a mercy?
“Why didn’t you help him get revenge after she did that? It sounds like you two were close friends.”
Shame colored his cheeks. “I was a young prince. My father was afraid of the Nightfall queen and counseled against helping Raife.”
I nodded. “But winters later, when you became king, why did you still deny him?”
Drae looked pained at my question. “Because I’d just lost my own father, was getting married, and trying to have an heir. I didn’t know the first thing about invading a territory and starting a war. To be honest, the Nightfall queen scared me. What she did to the Lightstone family frightened me.”
It killed me to hear him sound so weak and vulnerable. “Does Raife know? That without an heir your magic is dead?”
He shook his head.
I sighed. I might be the backup but I was all he had, and I wasn’t going to leave him when he needed me.
“Fine, you can have my royal womb,” I quipped.
He stilled, going completely stiff. “Don’t joke like that. I want you with or without an heir.”
Now it was my turn to go completely still. “Drae, I know that you told the entire Royal Guard to stay away from me because I was your backup.”
He growled. “Who told you that?”
“Cal… when I kissed him,” I admitted.
His eyes flew wide. “You kissed Calston!”
“I was trying to get over you!” I punched him lightly in the chest. “But he wouldn’t have me. Said he couldn’t.”
He leaned closer to me and looked me right in the eyes. “I ordered the other men to stay away from you because the thought of you being with another man drove me insane.”
“Oh.” I sucked in a breath and he reached out, tracing his finger over my bottom lip. Shivers ran down my entire body and my eyes fluttered. “Ever since Amelia died, I’ve felt like I was drowning. Then you walked into my life… and now for the first time I feel like I can breathe.”
I gasped at the declaration. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me.
“You’ve never been my backup, Arwen. You were always my first choice, ever since I saw you walking into town with that giant cougarin draped over your shoulders. I was fascinated with the beautiful and strong female hunter.”
Shock ran through me. He watched me bring my kill in?
He stepped closer. “I peeked into the kissing tent and saw you walking towards some other guy, your lips pursed and ready. Without thinking, I jumped in front of him and took what I wanted.”
I knew it was him! And the realization that he’d knowingly kissed me because he’d liked me even then, it made every brick I’d stacked around my heart crumble.
“Marry me, Arwen. Not because I need an heir but because somehow I’ve fallen in love with you and now I’m not sure that I can live without you.”
I sucked in a breath, and in response I reached out and grasped the back of his neck, pulling his lips to mine. The second his tongue entered my mouth, there was almost a painful release within my chest. Sometimes it ached to love someone, and that was true with Drae.
He pulled back, looking down at me with uncertainty. “Is that a yes?”
I grinned. “Yes. Does this mean you’re not going to kill me like my mother feared?”
He frowned. “Don’t even say such a thing.” He pulled up my hand and kissed each knuckle.
“Dr. Elsie said it wasn’t advisable for us to have children as there was no telling what our mixed magic would create,” I told him, trying to find something wrong with our union because it seemed too good to be true.
He peered down at me skeptically, no doubt wondering how I knew she’d said that, but I said nothing.
“Whatever we create will be a blessing upon the entirety of Embergate. That, I am sure of. Now, let’s get home and bury our dead. Then we will tell everyone that I have chosen you as my queen.”
I slipped my hand into his, and although the guilt of promising myself to the king so soon after Joslyn died weighed on me, I took comfort in the fact that it was him in the kissing tent all this time. I had him first.
After we gave Joslyn and Regina a respectful burial, I wanted to have him forever.
