Chapter 18
MERAK
We reach the Winter Court army on a cold, snowy afternoon. I keep Gwen bundled in her cloak, secure in my arms, as I head straight for King Theron’s tent. Soldiers stare at me as I walk by, but I pay them little mind. Instead, I notice the unusual stillness blanketing the camp.
Usually, the air carries darker sounds. The distant screams of tribute-cursed slaves being mishandled, the cries of prisoners enduring interrogation or punishment. But today, there is none of it. Only the crunch of boots in snow and the occasional murmur of voices. Unexpected peace.
Relief spreads through me, easing the tightness in my chest. I did not want Gwen witnessing such things. I did not want her exposed to more darkness, more reminders of the brutality of war and the uglier truths of camp life.
A guard tries to block my entrance when I reach the king’s tent.
I growl. “Move aside before I cut your throat with the tip of my wing,” I say, as I haven’t yet vanished my wings. “I have business with the king that cannot wait.”
The guard pales and exchanges a look with one of his comrades, another guard who stands nearby but isn’t foolish enough to step into my path.
Just as I prepare to growl again, King Theron emerges from his tent, a dark-haired human female at his side. Helena, I surmise. His mate.
The king glances between me and the pale-faced guard, a glimmer of dark amusement entering his eyes. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to barge past his guards. Usually, it means I’ve returned from a scouting mission with urgent news.
This time is different.
I have come to demand an official decree of freedom for my mate. A request the Winter King will no doubt find baffling, considering that I would never permit Gwen to leave me regardless.
King Theron’s gaze shifts past me, toward my mate.
His brows rise, then a slow smile spreads across his face as he meets my eyes again. “Welcome back to the Winter Court army, Lord Blackthorne. I am pleased by your return. I received your letter just two days ago, and my mate was heartened to learn you’d found Gwen.”
I stare at the king in silence for a moment. Normally, I might make a comment about how I am pleased to be back in the war camp, whether it’s true or not. But I find I can’t summon the polite reply the king probably expects.
“Yes, I found Gwen,” I finally say, drawing her closer and even wrapping one of my wings around her, a sign of protection among my people that causes the king’s eyes to flicker with surprise.
It’s a sign that I am claiming her as mine.
I glance down to find Gwen peeking out from beneath her cloak. Her cheeks pinken when Helena smiles at her.
The human queen steps forward first.
“Gwen?” Helena asks gently.
Gwen blinks. “Helena?”
For a moment, both females simply stare at one another.
Then Helena lets out a delighted gasp. “Oh my goodness.” She presses a hand to her chest. “You’re actually here.
I am so relieved to see you. King Theron read Lord Blackthorn’s letter aloud, and I was shocked to learn you were put on an auction platform in a distant village.
Oh, how dreadful. Truly, I am delighted to see you looking so well. ”
“Thank you,” Gwen murmurs. “I-I am grateful that Lord Blackthorne found me when he did. I am also grateful that it was because of you—because you asked your mate to look into what happened to me.”
Gwen takes a small step forward. When I sense her shyness in front of Helena, I send her a wave of encouragement through the bond. I understand where her reluctance comes from.
In the preceding days, she’s revealed much more of herself to me, confessing that as a child, her peers used to tease her relentlessly for wearing threadbare clothing and for her obsession with maps, trade routes, and strange trinkets from faraway lands.
Helena was always kind to her, but Gwen was too afraid of getting hurt, so she always pushed the other female away.
But now, I know Gwen wants to see if she might cultivate a real friendship with the only person who was kind to her as a child outside her own family.
Helena glances toward me, then toward King Theron. Her eyes narrow ever so slightly. “Well,” she says brightly, stepping toward Gwen, “it’s freezing out here, and I was just about to make some hot tea.” She smiles. “Would you keep me company?”
Gwen immediately turns her gaze toward me, seeking permission, though fully prepared to argue with me if I deny her.
A possessive instinct rises within me at once, but I know she will be perfectly safe with Helena in the Winter King’s tent. Besides, I would very much like to speak with the king alone.
“Go,” I murmur. “I will not be long.”
Her eyes search mine for a moment. Then she rises onto her toes and presses a soft kiss to my jaw. My entire body stills. This gesture, this public kiss, is as bold as me wrapping a wing around her. A thrill courses through me.
She slips from my arms, and I send her a wave of affection as she steps away.
Helena loops an arm through Gwen’s and leads her into the tent. I watch until the tent flap closes behind them, and only then do I turn toward Theron.
The dark amusement glimmers brighter in his eyes. “Well,” he says. “Either you have decided to claim Gwen as a treasured concubine… or she is your mate.”
I stare at him. “She is my mate.” I don’t bother clarifying that we haven’t physically consummated our union yet. It’s none of his business.
“Ah. Well, I must congratulate you on finally finding your mate.”
“I require two things from you,” I suddenly say.
His brows lift. “Do you now?”
“Yes.”
Snow drifts between us as I flare my wings briefly, then I vanish them in a quick flash of light.
“The first concerns Gwen. She was a tribute-cursed slave first, and then she was a slave I purchased from an auction platform. By the laws of the realm, even though she is my mate, technically she is still my slave.”
“Technically,” he says, and that damnable gleam of amusement remains in his eyes.
I almost growl. “I would like you to issue a decree for her freedom, stating that she is no longer considered a tribute-cursed slave or even… my slave. A decree that states she is a free woman.”
Theron’s expression sharpens. “That is a bold request.”
“Will you grant it?” I step closer to him. Not to intimidate him, but so he can see how serious I am.
He draws a slow breath, tilting his head as he considers me. “Consider it done. I will draft the decree, seal it with magic, and have it ready within the hour.”
“Thank you. I-I intend to keep Gwen,” I say, suddenly feeling the need to explain myself. “She is my mate, and I will never let her go. But…”
“I sense she is a headstrong human female, just like my Helena,” the king says, surprising me. “And so, I can understand why being considered a slave, even though she is your mate, might bother her.”
I nod, appreciative of his support.
“What is the second thing you must ask of me?” he says, then he tenses. “Gods. You are planning to do the same thing Commander Ashvale just did, aren’t you? You are about to resign from the Winter Court army. Fucking fires. I am losing all my best soldiers to the fates.”
Surprise courses through me. I didn’t know about Commander Ashvale’s resignation.
His last letter didn’t mention it, though I suppose it was likely a recent development, one that I can understand perfectly.
He probably wants to keep his human mate away from the darkness of the war camp.
He wants to make her happy, just as I want to make Gwen happy.
“Yes,” I finally say. “I am resigning from the Winter Court army. Effective immediately.” I take a deep breath and briefly glance toward the mountains. “We will not even spend the night here. I want to get Gwen away from the war camp as soon as possible.”
“Where will you go?”
“I am not certain yet, but my mate has an adventurous heart. I believe I will take her to visit her family in Braemar first, then I will show her all the sights the realm has to offer. After that, we will see where the fates take us.”
A peal of laughter cuts through the air, and I glance toward the tent.
I sense Gwen’s joy through the bond, though I am not certain what she is talking about with Helena.
My heart warms to feel her genuine happiness, to know she is making a connection with Helena and healing old wounds in the process.
King Theron glances toward the tent once more as another peal of laughter drifts through the air.
“It would seem our mates are becoming better acquainted,” he says. “Perhaps once the fighting dies down, Helena and Gwen might visit one another from time to time.”
“Yes,” I say. “I believe my mate would enjoy that.” Though part of me would like to keep her to myself, always, Gwen deserves the chance to cultivate friendships and a life beyond that of our mating bond.
I will keep her close and forever at my side, but at the same time I will give her the space and even the freedom she desires.
Theron gestures toward the cluster of tents near the center of camp. “Come. We keep parchment and seals in the strategy tent.” His mouth curves. “Let us make your human female officially free.”
Less than an hour later, the decree rests safely inside my rucksack, a second copy tucked into Gwen’s dress pocket at my insistence.
As I hold her in my arms and launch into the sky, leaving the Winter Court army behind, I feel her curiosity through the bond. Her happiness. Her excitement.
Braemar.
We are flying toward her home.
Toward her family.
The tips of my ears burn when I recall the way she threw her arms around me and pressed a kiss to my cheek when I revealed our destination. If that is how she reacts when I indulge her wishes, I may find myself compelled to grant her every desire.
As I beat my wings faster and head for the mountains beyond the war camp, I keep sending her waves of warmth.
There is a large fae settlement only a few hours’ flight from here, I tell her through the bond. We can spend the night in another lavish inn.
Will it have hot, running water? she asks with a laugh that tickles my mind in the most pleasant way.
Yes. I promise. I tighten my hold on her and fly faster, eager to reach the settlement in question, a town called Yellona that I’ve visited before during scouting missions.
But before the town even comes into sight, something happens.
The land beneath us suddenly changes.
The ussha-blessed greenery, the meadows and the forests below, vanish beneath a layer of black frost that swallows everything in its path.
Gods.
No.
I pause in the sky, beating my wings as I hover above the spreading darkness.
My breath catches.
Black frost stretches below in every direction, creeping over the landscape like a living thing. It devours the vibrant ussha-blessed vegetation, leaving only death in its wake. Trees blacken and crystallize, and the snow itself darkens. Even the distant mountains are touched by it.
No. No, no, no. Not here.
Not beyond the fading Winter Court.
My pulse pounds. Panic seizes me.
Below us, the frost continues spreading across the land, flowing over hills and forests and frozen streams and lakes as far as the eye can see.
Too far. Gods... it stretches too far.
Fear slams into me with such force that Gwen gasps in my arms.
Merak? she asks through the bond, alarm making her thoughts feel cold and frantic.
But I barely hear her… and I don’t have time to respond.
Because suddenly, I sense it.
A cold presence that is wrong… something that doesn’t belong here among the living. Something older and unnatural. My body goes rigid when I become aware of a shadow at the corner of my vision.
Slowly, I turn my head.
And for the first time in my life, I finally see it.
The shadow figure from my dreams hovers only a short distance away, with wisps of black clinging to its wraithlike body.
My blood turns to ice.
Darkness continues writhing around its body. No wings hold it aloft, yet it hangs effortlessly in the air. Its form almost appears human or fae... almost.
But its eyes…
Gods.
The creature’s eyes are white, deathly pale and gleaming against the shadows of its form.
It’s watching me.
For a moment, neither of us moves.
Then the shadow figure tilts its head and smiles, revealing a gaping hole for its mouth with white points that could be teeth yet aren’t quite solid.
“At last, Merak,” it says softly, as though we are old friends. “At last, we finally meet outside the realm of your dreams.”