Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Farron
M y paws pound against the wet earth, each step sending me bounding through the briars. How long have I been running? Days? Weeks? I don’t remember. But I know I haven’t stopped. Freed from the Enchantress’s curse, the wolf barely needs to sleep. I’ve survived with only the adrenaline rushing through my body and the odd goblin that dares to show its face to the Autumn wolf.
I’ve never spent this long out in the Briar, but without my token to magically transport me to Castletree, traveling by cover of bush and darkness is safest. I’d rather face the goblins here than Kairyn’s soldiers, who now block the pass from Summer to Autumn.
Briars tear at my fur, but I ignore them and sunlight sneaks through gaps in the huge, twisted thorns all around me. Through the breaks, I spot the glimmer of a rolling hill dotted with heather. I’m almost home.
But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to call a place home if she’s not there.
It’s been three months since I last set eyes on my mate. My last image of her—screaming and crying in pain as Ezryn was marched through the streets of Florendel—is etched into my mind. After that, I’d lost my wits to one of Kairyn’s corrupted plants. Dayton had found me. Saved me, as he’s always done. But he’d had the help of …
My fangs gnash together, and a growl rumbles through my chest unconsciously. I don’t want to think about Wrenley right now. Every fraction of energy I have has to be focused on the power of my legs, the strength of my paws. The will of my heart.
I burst out of the Briar, suddenly bathed in orange light. The smell of an apple grove wafts in the breeze, and I inhale deeply. For the first time in days, I pause and take in the Autumn realmlands. With the purple briars at my back and my realm before me, I allow myself a sense of hope.
Rosalina is alive. I know this in my heart. Even though I can’t feel our bond the way I should, it hasn’t slackened, only numbed. Wherever she is, the Nightingale must be keeping her magic at bay. But we’ll find her. I know we will.
I take off running again. The wolf’s instincts are sharp. Even so deep in the wilds, I know exactly the direction of my home city.
The last few months have been nothing short of torture. Dayton and I traveled to Summer hoping to find Rosalina and warn the steward, Dayton’s younger sister, Delphia, of the oncoming invasion. We were too late. By the time we arrived in Hadria, Delphia had fled to the sea and Kairyn sat upon her throne. My own sister, Eleanor, is a ward of Summer. A pain shoots up my chest. I can only hope she’s still with Delphia, safely in hiding.
Dayton, Wrenley, and I found a small apartment in the slums to shelter in while we tried to find any information. Where are the Princesses of Summer and Autumn? What is Kairyn’s next move?
Where is Rosalina?
I’ll find you , I say through my numb bond. I won’t ever stop. Your love is my guiding light through the darkness. No force in the Vale can keep us apart.
She can’t hear me, but I hope my love is strong enough to make it to her somehow. There can be no magic in all the world stronger than that of a mate bond.
I stumble, paws sliding against the slick grass as I run downhill.
I’m not the only one with a mate bond.
The image flashes through my mind: Wrenley, holding the will-o’-wisp to her chest. The beam of light shooting straight at Dayton.
Logically, I knew this was bound to happen. I always knew I couldn’t keep him. That he didn’t belong to me.
So why does it feel like my heart will rip out of my chest every time I think of the acolyte’s hand on his? Of how she always flutters right in his shadow, watching him with that focused gaze of hers?
Staying with Dayton and Wrenley in our Summer slum had to be a unique brand of torture, devised just for me. Sometimes I wish he’d just do it—just accept his bond and mate with her already. At least then he’d break his curse. But as always with Dayton, no force in all the realms can compel him to do something he doesn’t want to do.
Or maybe he wants to be with her. Maybe I was just in the way. Stars, they could be mated already, for all I know. He might have decided it was time the minute I left.
I hadn’t wanted to leave, but we’d exhausted every option in Hadria and were no closer to finding Rosalina. Even Wrenley, who had secured her position once again as one of Kairyn’s acolytes, heard no useful information. I couldn’t take another moment in that little apartment, wondering when Dayton would finally say yes to Wrenley and accept his bond with her.
The two of us certainly hadn’t been intimate since Rosalina’s disappearance. Though there were many dark days I craved his comfort, when the loneliness and fear for my mate seemed too strong. I imagined going to Dayton and falling into his arms as I’ve done so many times before.
But how could I when his true mate was right there?
Faster, I need to run faster before my thoughts eat me alive. The hill gives way to a familiar forest. The Emberwood, the place where I broke my curse and made love to my mate for the first time. We’ll come back here again, you and me. I will take you in my arms and kiss you a hundred times, no, a thousand times, because I will never have my fill of you. Then we’ll fall among the leaves and make love like it’s the first time again. The first time of infinity.
Coppershire isn’t far now. That’s why I left Dayton. I told him there was nothing I could do here and, with no word from Keldarion or Ezryn, we had to seek help elsewhere. The people of Autumn will come to Summer’s aid.
Silence fills my mind as I run the rest of the way. Every patch of heather, every stone and tree, seems familiar now. My powerful legs send me bounding up the final hill that overlooks the city.
I stop. Down below, Coppershire glimmers bronze in the dying light. Outside the city walls, fighting on the same field that I fought upon nearly half a year ago, are Autumn soldiers barely holding their own against a goblin horde.
My heart thunders in my chest. What is this? I search the battlefield, but I see no commander, no denizen of the Below shouting orders. These are goblins straight from the Briar.
My father leads the soldiers, cutting down three goblins with a single giant swing of his sword. His familiar voice booms over the chaos, shouting orders and motivating his troops. Anger swells in me. I lost my mother on this field. I won’t lose anyone else.
Fire licks at my paws as I sprint down the hill. The flames spread, engulfing my entire body until I’m more fire than wolf. Every day that passes since I broke my curse, I become more and more reacquainted with the full breadth of my power. But what good does it do me if I can’t get Rosalina back?
A soldier spots me, eyes wide with awe. He raises his spear and lets loose a triumphant cry.
A few goblins turn to stare at me, terrified looks flashing across their faces. But it’s too late for them to escape. I swing my flaming paw, knocking them aside. My maw is a torrent of heat, snapping necks and tearing heads from spines.
My father’s face lights up as he sees me making my way to him. “Hail the High Prince of Autumn!” he cries. “Hail!”
The rest of the soldiers take up the cheer, lauding me as I cut through the enemy ranks. One by one, the goblins fall to flame and teeth. A few try to retreat, stumbling back up the hill, but my father’s soldiers cut them down. Within the hour, what once was a great horde is now ash beneath my paws.
I walk through the smoking field, suddenly abashed at the look of adoration from the soldiers. There’s only one person I want to speak to right now.
“My boy!” His booming voice carries over the din. I peer through the smoke to see my father’s giant body hurtling toward me. He wraps his arms around my snout, and I nuzzle against him.
“You came in the nick of time, didn’t you?” He pulls back and puts a spark out on his bushy, red beard. I shift, body shimmering back into that of a fae. My father shrugs out of his hooded cape and hands it to me.
I hug the cape around my shoulders. “What was that, Father? I’ve never seen a force of goblins so brazen on their own.”
Father leads me toward the city gates. “That’s the third attack this month, boy.”
Third attack this month? How can that be? “I don’t understand. Who’s commanding them?”
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head. “Maybe no one. They’re pouring out of the Briar faster than ever. Don’t you worry, boy, we’ve kept our gates standing.” He stops before the wall surrounding the city and looks at me with a sad smile. “I’m just so happy to see you, son. Been a quarter since anyone’s heard word of you. I feared the worst.”
“My Queen’s token was stolen by the enemy. I’ve had no way to travel to Castletree.”
“Where’s Rosalina?”
“Gone,” I whisper. “The enemy has her. I’ve been in Summer trying to—”
“They say Hadria’s fallen and the Golden Rose has been kidnapped. Is it true, then?” my father interrupts. His eyes shine, and I realize he’s holding back tears. “What’s happened to our Nori?”
I take a deep breath. “There are still fae resisting Kairyn’s rule. Word is Delphia escaped on a ship. No doubt she’ll have taken Eleanor with her, too.”
Father squeezes his eyes shut. “Your mother’s essence is with her, watching over her. I know it.”
“I do, too,” I whisper.
I follow my father inside the city walls, every step heavy. He tells me of the past goblin attacks, of how they’re running out of good steel without trade with Spring, of how the farms closest to the Briar are too dangerous to harvest now and must be abandoned. I see the look of hope in the people’s gazes as I pass, as if I’ve come to fix everything.
How can I ask my own people to come to Summer’s aid when they’re barely surviving as they are?
As we approach Keep Oakheart, my heart sinks further. Is there truly no way to fight this? Are the realms doomed?
My gaze drifts across the way, to the Alder Tree. Inside lies a hidden treasure, one only I know about. A crown of Green Flame plucked from my mother’s murderer. Perth Quellos had wielded the Green Flame with evil purpose, but what if someone could control it for good? Could such magic be used to protect those I love so I wouldn’t have to lose anyone again the way I lost my mother? What if I could—
I force my thoughts away. There’s no time for experiments. Not when my mate is missing, and my realm is falling. More than ever, I wish there was someone I could turn to for advice.
“Have you heard from Keldarion or Ezryn?” I ask Father.
“Ezryn, no. I heard he was banished from Spring for killing a bunch of holy acolytes in Queen’s Reach Monastery.”
“No, that’s not true.”
“What is true is there hasn’t been sight of hide nor hair of him. Keldarion was here about three months ago. He’s since returned to Frostfang.”
“What? Kel went back to Winter?”
“Aye,” my father says, and a mischievous twinkle appears in his eye. “Word is, the High Prince of Winter is pissed .”