Maintaining a blank expression, Ever is silent.
I step closer. “I can’t be her. Can I? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I do not know for sure.” He winces slightly. He’s not quite telling the truth.
“But you don’t think I’m her, do you? Surely, you don’t believe it just because I’ve got a dragonfly tattoo. Millions of girls have them.”
He shakes his head as he frowns past my shoulder, but it doesn’t look like he’s answering no.
“Ever. Look at me. Do you think I’m the girl you’ve been looking for?”
He covers his eyes, takes three slow breaths, then lets his hand drop.
“Ever…”
Our eyes meet and clash. “Yes. I believe you’re her. You’re the girl I’ve been searching for.”
“I can’t be,” I repeat, in complete denial. “I’m not a faery. You didn’t find me under that crystal tree thing you visit every month.”
“That doesn’t matter. A long time ago, a human, the first Black Blood prince’s queen sat on our throne.”
“What? Does that mean you’re part human, too? Is that why you hated me so much at first?”
Above the howling wind, my heart pounds hard. I try to swallow, but my mouth is dirt-dry.
“No. My line is descended from a later king whose queen was fae.” He takes my shaking hands in his. “And I know you are the one because I could never feel this way about another. You are she.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know. How does rain fall or magic work? Why does one soul seek another, or love exist amid war and famine? I propose that anything is possible. Who are we to say something isn’t?”
Three luminous sylphs appear on the balcony outside my room, their bodies shimmering, and mouths open in distress. “Look, your spooky friends are here, and they don’t seem very happy.”
Flicking them a glance, he swears under his breath. “This isn’t a good sign. They only come when danger threatens.”
“What kind of danger are you in?”
“Not me. You’re the one who’s—”
Three hard knocks, then the door bangs open and Raff enters with the mire fox swinging from his leather spaulders. Spark wears fetching leather armor, too, and has salamander-shaped amber jewels hanging from her long, furry ears. She shrieks at Balor like he’s the devil’s own hound, and I remember that he kind of is.
“Settle down, you rascal,” Raff tells her, gaze fixing on Ever. “There you are, brother. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I have troubling news. Mother has sent Lord Stavros to the Merits. He left at dawn. She plans to strike a bargain and release Lara to them to do with as they will.”
“Seven hells, did I not tell you she’d do this?” Ever glares at me as I drag boots from under my bed, shove them on, and lace them quickly. “Raff, go now to Ether and tell her to meet us as at the Moonstone Caves. Take Taibsear with you, then find Aer. You must keep her distracted by any means and for as long as possible. Then send my falcon back to me when Ether is on her way.”
Raff nods and bolts from the room without another word.
Ever stuffs me into a cloak, then guides me into the hall. He produces a whirling ball of light from his fingers to illuminate our path, and then with Balor taking the lead, we disappear through a doorway hidden behind a tapestry.
After some time spent picking our way down narrow passages, we come to a cobweb-covered hatch in the ceiling which we climb through, emerging in the stables right next to Jinn's stall.
The combined smells of horse sweat, manure, and hay tickle my nose as Jinn whickers softly. Ever strokes the horse’s neck, handing him a carrot to chomp on. Then he hikes me up into the saddle and tightens various straps and buckles.
“It looks like you’ve prepared for a fast exit,” I say as I point at the bulging saddlebags.
“Yes. When I learned you’d been locked in your rooms, I wasted no time. I need you to be safe, Lara. It is the only thing that matters now.” He vaults into the saddle in front of me. “Hold on tightly.”
I wrap my arm around his waist, metal armor cool against my cheek. “Where are we going exactly?”
Feeding off our fear, Jinn dances sideways anticipating trouble and getting ready to gallop away from it.
“Behind the ruins of the Black Castle, there’s a cave that was once a portal to the human realm. Ether will be able to open it. She won’t want you to be taken by the Merits and killed.”
“Killed?” My spine snaps straight. “Who said anything about being killed?”
“You’ve been living with my people for almost a month now. It amazes me how little you know of us.” He adjusts the reins and clicks his tongue. “Go, Jinn!” And we fly out the stable doors and through the empty courtyard, heading for a line of distant trees. The Black Forest.
Ominous dark clouds hang overhead, strange indigo bolts of not-quite lightning sheeting the sky. The wild wind whips my burgundy cloak behind us like a sail, and my pulse hammers as I try my best not to fall off Jinn’s back. But given the punishing speed at which we’re traveling and the bone-numbing cold that’s frozen my fingers into weak, useless claws, I think it’s inevitable I’ll soon be bouncing along the ground on my butt.
“Please don’t let it rain, Ever. I’ll definitely slide off!”
“I’m trying my best,” he yells over his shoulder, voice distorted by the icy breeze.
Dark shadows race over the grass alongside Balor as Jinn gallops through a gently undulating green landscape, the forest getting closer with every hoofbeat. A final fast canter down a craggy gully and then up the other side of the bank before we’re entering a thick copse, our pace slowing. Leaves fall from the tree canopy above, tangling with tiny red berries in our hair, and twigs crunch and snap below us.
Even though branches tear at my clothes, spiderwebs stick to my face, and I’m in apparent mortal danger, I still find the forest magical and beautiful. Memories swirl of the last time I was here, dancing with Ever in a starlit clearing, my heart full to bursting as electricity sparked between us with every look, every touch.
It felt as if we were at the beginning of something rare and fragile. Something special. Now I cling to him as I flee for my life, wondering if I’ll ever see him again after today. Funny how your whole world can tear apart in an instant. Three times in my life so far, it’s happened to me. The day Mom died. The night I walked into that alleyway to help a bachelorette with a cut. And here in this very forest when I danced with a faery prince and fell for his silver words and golden smile.
Our breath puffs out in clouds of white as we trot upward, taking short cuts instead of the main paths, then burst through the trees into another meadow, the cliffs of the Emerald Sea and the castle ruins visible in the distance.
A loud screech splits the air. I look up and see the three sylphs traveling like purple-winged sentries just ahead of us and above them, the seven órga falcons fly.
Laughing, Ever points to the birds. “Taibsear is with them. That means the High Mage is on her way.”
Jinn’s hoofbeats echo over the sound of crashing waves as we pass through the castle’s old stone courtyard, then follow the boundary of crumbling walls to the entrance of a cave set into the black hillside. From its wide mouth comes a musky, briny smell. A shiver runs down my spine as Ever dismounts, then pulls me to the ground beside him.