The Princess
My head hurt like hell. I could only remember short snippets of the morning. Merriment, drinking, dancing… It was all a blur.
But one thing was certain: there was an aching, burning need throbbing between my legs that hadn’t been there before.
And, regardless of how frustrated I was with him, the timbre of Theron’s low growl only made that ache worsen.
After our awkward incident in the cave, Theron and I quickly packed our things to continue our journey through the mountains.
We rejoined Frisk, Mauro, and Kendra and bade the pixies farewell.
Theron begrudgingly thanked them for healing him, and I promised I would be in touch with Nyra regarding relations between our people.
Assuming I survived long enough to do so.
The weight of Calista’s mirror hung heavily in my bag, and I was itching to pull it out and see the truth.
But I couldn’t. Not with Theron watching my every move.
The steep, slippery slope was too treacherous for us to ride Mauro, so we continued on foot.
Thankfully, we were so focused on trying not to slip and fall to our deaths that there was little time for chitchat.
My face was still on fire from what had happened with Theron, and I felt his dark eyes drilling holes into me, despite how I avoided his gaze.
I was hopeful we would continue our journey in silence, but half an hour after we left the pixies, Theron disappointed me.
“I, uh, owe you thanks,” he said gruffly. “For bargaining for me.”
I blinked, frowning. I hadn’t expected that. When I turned to glance at him, his eyes were fixed on the ice beneath him. A wrinkle formed between his brows.
Then, I understood. He was feeling awkward, too. Perhaps this was an olive branch, of sorts. An opportunity for conversation that wasn’t awkward.
I could handle that.
“Yes, well, I can’t fulfill my terms with you if you’re dead, now, can I?” I asked, breathless from the climb.
“If I die, our bargain is nullified.” There was a note of confusion in his voice.
“I still need you to get me into the palace.”
“Ah, yes. This palace you grew up in and likely know all the passages leading into. And you need the help of me, the assassin everyone at the palace recognizes, to sneak you in without notice.”
I shot him a glare. “What’s your point?”
“I don’t think you need me at all. I think you can get in yourself.” He paused to take a breath as we maneuvered around a snowcapped boulder. “I think there’s something else you need me for. Something you’re not telling me.”
I snorted, though my heart rate quickened at how much he had inferred. “Keep speculating, hunter. It doesn’t matter why I need you. Just do your part so we can be finished with this.”
Kendra shifted on my shoulder, her cold snout tickling my ear. “What do you think he means?” she whispered.
I gently flicked her. “Shh.” I had no doubt Theron heard her question, which was more telling than she realized.
It meant I was keeping secrets from my friends. And judging by the spark in Theron’s eye, he realized this, too.
“You all are so slow,” Frisk grumbled. He lithely hopped from boulder to boulder without missing a beat.
“Not all of us have nimble paws,” Mauro huffed. He was having the most difficult time, trailing behind me and Theron, his hooves sliding constantly over the slick ice. The poor stag didn’t do too well on steep slopes. He was incredibly fast on flat land, but throw in a sharp incline and icy ground…
“Frisk, why don’t you and Kendra scout ahead for us?” I asked, eager to distract them with a task.
Kendra huddled closer to my shoulder. “I don’t want to.”
“You’re the only one who can fly,” I argued.
“My wings are thin.”
I sighed. “Fine. Stay curled up in my cloak and do nothing.”
She exhaled, and a puff of icy air brushed against my cheek, making me shiver. After a moment, she eased out of my cloak and shook out her wings. They were thin and membranous—practically translucent. But I knew for a fact they could hold her weight in the air. She just didn’t like flying.
“Ready, little one?” Frisk asked, his whiskers twitching.
“Don’t call me that,” Kendra said before taking off. She became a white blur in the air, and Frisk quickly vanished in the snow. I kept Kendra in my sights until she blended in with the white mountain, my heart lifting with relief.
“You worry about her,” Theron observed.
My relief faded, and irritation rose up in its place. “Stop trying to figure me out, Theron. It’s annoying.”
“I think it annoys you more that you’re giving yourself away so easily.” Now he sounded amused.
I gritted my teeth and made no response. He couldn’t argue with a silent opponent. Plus, with Frisk and Kendra scouting for us, hopefully the journey would be a bit more silent.
To my relief, Theron said nothing else. An hour passed as we climbed around icy rocks.
My thighs burned from the constant strain of pivoting and trying to avoid slipping on ice.
The wind picked up, stinging my nose and cheeks.
I pulled my scarf tighter around myself, but the chilled air was relentless.
When Mauro’s labored breathing turned into sharp wheezes, we stopped to rest. I pulled out a waterskin and poured some into Mauro’s mouth. He greedily gulped it down, and I ensured he had a healthy amount before I drank from my own.
“How did you escape the blood bargain?” Theron asked suddenly. He had already drunk from his waterskin and was staring at me with accusation in his eyes.
I blinked innocently at him while leaning against a boulder to give my legs some relief. “I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t play games with me, princess. How did you do it?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Play games with you? I saved your life, you ass. So stop interrogating me for answers you haven’t earned.”
He gaped at me, stunned. Good. He deserved to be thrown off his high horse every now and then. I took another sip of water.
“If we are to travel together,” he said, speaking slowly, “then I need to know how you are able to defend yourself.”
“Do you?” I challenged. “Do you need to know? Because as far as I’m concerned, making your job difficult is far more appealing than disclosing all my secrets to you.”
Fury burned in his gaze. “You can’t—”
“I don’t owe you anything, hunter,” I spat, pushing off the boulder to stride toward him.
I’d prepared for this interrogation and refused to let him win.
“You came into a human village—my village—intent on killing me. The only reason I’m not dead is because I tricked you, so don’t pretend like you’re looking out for my safety out of the goodness of your heart. ”
“And who can blame me?” Theron spread his hands, his expression darkening.
“You’re exiled for a reason, princess. You’re trying to cause a civil war.
I heard you declare your intention to steal the throne from the queen.
If I killed you, all this would stop. There would be peace in this court at last.”
“Peace?” I cried out. “You talk to me of peace? The only ones at peace are those under Calista’s thumb, the privileged fae she deems more elite than others.
Fae like you. But what about everyone else?
What about the half fae, like me? What about the humans?
The unseelie? Like those pixies. They aren’t savages.
They deserve a free life, just like you. Would you take that away from them?”
Theron shook his head, baring his teeth in anger. “And you think throwing a fit will get you what you want? Riots and thievery aren’t doing your court any good, either.”
My head reared back. “Riots? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. You’ve been wreaking havoc since you left Taerin, leaving carnage in your wake.”
“I have not!” I was prepared to rip his throat out, then faltered. If he was saying these things, it meant he believed them to be true. He couldn’t lie. My anger ebbed slightly. “What has Calista been saying about me?”
His mouth opened and closed. My abrupt shift had no doubt disoriented him. “What?”
“She told you all that, did she? Or rather, she implied it.” I hissed out a breath and rubbed my forehead.
Blood and ice, I should have guessed this would happen.
Calista would never allow the court to think I was simply a poor, shunned princess.
Of course not. She would vilify me, do all she could to paint a picture that I was the enemy she was protecting everyone from.
“I’ve stolen, yes, but only from her coffers. Nowhere else. I…”
I deflated, my ire vanishing and leaving exhaustion and despair in its place. How was I supposed to win the court back when they believed I was a rogue, a criminal causing pain and suffering wherever I went?
“What did Calista say, exactly?” I asked in a tired voice.
“She said your latest exploits left the village of Raya burned to the ground.”
My blood chilled. “She—She burned Raya to the ground?” My voice was a hushed whisper.
Theron stared at me, his brows furrowing. “Eira, what are you saying? Are you telling me you didn’t do this?”
“Of course not!” Tears pricked my eyes, and I struggled to catch my next breath.
“Raya… was where the human nobles and I last congregated. Calista’s men found us, and we fought our way out.
But I swear to the gods, when we left, the village was still intact.
Calista—she must’ve… Blood and ice.” A tear trickled down my cheek, and I impatiently wiped it away.
A roar of rage built up in my throat, and I clenched my fingers into tight fists, my nails carving small crescents into my palms.
I needed to hit something or I would explode. I whirled on the hunter, who stared at me with a stricken expression.
He would make a nice target for my wrath.
“And who are you to fling accusations at me?” I snapped. “You’re Calista’s right-hand man! You do all her dirty work. Tell me, how many have you killed in her name? Does it bring you joy, to do such bloody work for a false queen?”
His fury returned, and he took a threatening step toward me. “You don’t know anything.”
“Neither do you, apparently, if you’re swallowing the lies she’s spewing about me.”
“You aren’t a fool, princess, so don’t pretend to be. What is your dear stepmother’s brand of magic?”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “What, are you quizzing me?”
“Answer the damn question.”
“Blood magic,” I growled.
“And how does she wield it?”
“All she needs is a person’s blood and she can control them.”
Theron lifted his eyebrows and fixed a flat stare at me.
Only then did the pieces click into place.
My heart dropped to my stomach. “She has your blood.”
He huffed a dry laugh. “No shit, princess.” He turned and draped his leather jacket over his arm. “Looks like we’re both victims of Calista’s scheming.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. It certainly didn’t make Theron innocent; he was still a cold-blooded killer.
But he was under her control. Were his actions, his words, even his own? Was he reporting everything back to her?
My mind turned to the contents of my pack… and one item in particular that no one, not even my friends, knew about. What if Theron had seen it? What if he’d told Calista?
What if he found out about my condition? Did that mean Calista knew, too? Did she know I would die soon?
“Wipe that panicked look off your face,” Theron grumbled. “I am perfectly lucid right now. She can only control me when she summons me.”
“So, why hasn’t she summoned you?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.
“She won’t waste precious blood droplets unless she absolutely has to. It’s the same reason she doesn’t use my blood to force me to fulfill my assignments.”
I scoffed at that. “No, you’re just a killer by choice.”
His lethal gaze shot to me, ire burning in his expression.
“I didn’t choose this, princess.” And there was something so haunting about his voice that I had no reply to that.
“At any rate, I’m still required to strike fae bargains with every assignment.
It’s how she keeps me in check. But she wouldn’t dare use my blood to spy on me night and day.
Of course, with every passing hour, she’ll be wondering where I am, so there’s no telling what she’ll do. ”
I turned to glance at Mauro, who had been watching the exchange silently, his dark eyes alert. “We should keep moving,” he said slowly. “Especially if the false queen is bound to call on you if you’re delayed.”
He was right, but I found I couldn’t move. I felt like there was more to say to Theron, but I wasn’t sure what. An apology? Condolences for his situation? How long had he been in Calista’s employ? How long had he been forced to work for her with no way out?
“I don’t want your pity,” Theron snapped without looking at me.
My irritation returned. “It’s not pity. Besides, I don’t give a damn what you want, hunter.”
“Obviously,” he muttered.
His grumbling only incensed me further. “Gods, you are such a child.”
He snorted. “I’m a child? You’re like a toddler, with no reason or concept of danger. I’ve met goats with more sense than you.”
In spite of the situation, I laughed. He whirled to look at me in incredulity. His expression was so bewildered that I only laughed harder. Something sparked in his eyes, an emotion I hadn’t seen before, and it melted some of the tension between us.
“You’re insane,” he said slowly.
“I’m just picturing a goat… tricking you with… a fae bargain,” I said between laughs, tears streaming from my eyes.
His brows knitted together, but that new emotion brightened his eyes. Something very close to amusement. “It would be far more preferable to our current arrangement.”
“I doubt that. A goat can’t possibly be as nice to look at as I am.”
Theron rolled his eyes. “Far less of a torment, though.”
“Ah, but tormenting you is such fun,” I said brightly.
He groaned, but that same amusement lit up his face, making him almost unrecognizable.
He looked so much… younger. Less burdened.
His eyes seemed lighter instead of their usual coal-black.
His brow was smooth and untroubled. “I’ve never encountered a target as thoroughly irritating as you, princess. ”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s not.”
“Have you two been like this the whole time?” asked a voice.
I glanced up to find Frisk standing in our path. Kendra was perched beside him, her gleaming blue eyes the only thing distinguishing her from the snow.
“Partially,” Mauro grumbled in response.
“We have bad news,” Kendra said, her wings twitching. “There’s another blizzard approaching. A big one.”
My heart sank. “Shit.” I should have known from the way the wind intensified. The clouds were now a murky gray, darkening with each passing minute. I had been so distracted by my bickering with Theron that I hadn’t noticed.
“How soon?” Theron’s voice was sharp.
“Within the hour,” said Frisk. “We need to find shelter. And fast.”