4. Caught
Killian stood beside Phineas at the evening ball, sipping his drink and watching the other dancers. Phineas stared at him, his mouth flat with concern etched into every feature.
Killian glanced up at him. “What?”
“Don’t you what me. You came back less angry, but now you’re not even mentally here. You’re distracted, aimless. You aren’t even danc—”
“Your Highness.” A lady of the court curtsied low before them, tipping slightly too deeply and showing off her lowered neckline. “You are looking well.”
Killian bowed his head, keeping his eyes on the crowd. “Thank you. The night is a fine one.”
She blinked twice before she spoke again, moving closer than was strictly acceptable. “This song is a favorite of mine.”
Killian reached for a bite of something from a passing tray. “The musicians are particularly skillful today, I agree. This song is lyrical.” But not as lyrical as the one he’d heard in the forest’s clearing.
The lady shifted, then picked at her sleeve before glancing desperately around the room. “Well, if you would excuse me, Lord Byron is calling.” She curtsied shallowly before she stomped off, her cheeks slightly flushed.
Phineas laughed low and under his breath. “Exactly. Thank you, Lady Bethel.”
Killian fought to stop the roll of his eyes. “What is it?”
“You’ve always seen dancing as a princely duty.” He leaned closer. “But you hardly looked twice at that lady, and she was doing her very best to get your attention. What has you so distracted that you didn’t even notice her fawning?”
“Phin, everything is fine.” Setting his glass on a nearby table, Killian stepped out onto the balcony, Phineas hot on his heels.
“You’re good at many things but not lying.”
“I’m not a liar.”
Phineas tilted his head thoughtfully. “Not as a character trait, no. Unless you consider charm deceitful, which I do.”
“Make your point.” Killian leaned back against the balcony, the cool air a refreshing contrast to the stuffy room.
“All I know is you went into the forest one way and now your head is in the clouds.” Phineas stepped directly in front of him. “What happened today?” He tapped Killian’s forehead. “What is happening in there?”
Killian crossed his arms and drummed his fingers against his elbow. “Nothing.” Everything. Phineas tilted his lips in something like disbelief. Killian sighed. Phineas was never going to drop it. “It’s possible that Jax and I opened the gate.” Killian glanced up at Phineas.
It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did, his friend’s face paled. “Killian. You had better be talking about a different gate than the southern gate.” Killian shook his head. Phineas continued, “The gate to the Forbidden Forest, the supposed shield from evil for all of Norwood. The gate that we once tried to open as kids and had to spend six months cleaning up pig muck as punishment. I still smell like manure. Please tell me it’s not that gate, Killian.”
Every child had heard the story of the goblin army, the fairy riders on giant animals, and the gate that sealed to hold back the horde of evil. Killian grinned, pleased to disprove another childhood tale. The only giant animal was Jax—well, and now an elk and a bear. But everyone knew his family had ties to the wolf just like his father and father’s father before him. Jax was as much a part of the castle as the very stones. “Yes. That gate.”
Phineas let out a breath. “You’re more of an idiot than I realized.”
“You said to go ride.”
“Yeah, around. Your lands are enormous. I didn’t say, ‘Go try to kill yourself and then drag me down with you.’ Your father will kill me. Why in the seven stars didn’t Jax stop you?”
“He came with me.”
Phineas was pacing now, gesturing broadly with his massive hands. “I should have known. I should have gone too. You’ve grown increasingly ridiculous and thickheaded this year. Talking nonsense about your marriage, somehow forgetting sparring techniques you’ve known for years, and now, flouncing historical, national, and very solidly laid rules and boundaries. You must prioritize your role as king!”
Killian’s smile dropped, and a flame lit in his chest. “Phin, watch your tongue.”
“I will not! You are a good man with good ideas for the kingdom, but lately you’ve been acting like, like … a ninny! A cotton-brained, pig-headed, single-minded, whiny little idiot.”
Killian surged away from the balcony railing. “You forget your place. You forget who you are talking to.”
Phineas’s expression darkened, and his shoulders shuddered under the restraint. “I am talking to my friend. Who I love. Who I don’t want to see acting like a blazing moron or ending up dead or accidentally releasing an ancient evil. You could be a great king. You’re a good man, but you’re losing your way. You’re … quitting …” He shook his head slowly. “I don’t want to watch you become someone I can’t trust.”
Killian’s anger lessened a fraction, and he sucked in a slow breath. Exhaling his frustration, he said quietly, “I don’t know why, Phin, but I needed to go in there. I saw a magical light, and it didn’t kill me. And then I saw someone.” Phineas’s brows furrowed as Killian spoke. “The most beautiful woman.”
Phineas rolled his eyes. “Another beautiful woman?” He gestured to the ballroom. “You’re surrounded by beautiful women.”
“That’s how I know this one was different! She didn’t recognize me or speak Common. She looked at me and ran!” Killian laughed at the absurdity. He’d never known such freeing anonymity. “Everyone here is a replica of all the others, pining for my attention, drooling over the metal circle on my head. She was different. You should have seen her. She was surrounded by forest animals … and she was singing, just like in a children’s tale!”
Phineas took a deep breath, as a spark of his normal good humor glinted in his eye. “And, just to be clear, you didn’t eat any funny mushrooms, right? Didn’t fall into any fairy circles and transport yourself somewhere cursed? You’re not a changeling? Haven’t licked any warty, dream-inducing frogs?”
“No, Phin. I really saw her. I wasn’t hallucinating.” He held Phineas’s gaze, hoping his friend would see his sincerity.
Shaking his head, Phineas asked, “So, what’s your plan?”
“Go to the forest. Get to know her. Teach her Common. Figure out who she is.”
“Your betrothal, Killian.” Phineas shot him a sideways glance, his voice carrying an unwanted warning.
Killian huffed under his breath as he turned to face Phineas. “I’m not marrying the girl, just getting to know her. Maybe the forest has water and resources that would benefit our people. Maybe there are others like her and someone can help us end the drought. The grass was so green in that meadow.”
Phineas placed his hand on the prince’s shoulder. “Killian, it’s against the law.”
Killian shrugged off his hand and stepped back a pace. “Phineas, I’m doing this. I have to do this.”
Phineas shook his head slowly, his brow etched with concern. “But why?”
Killian had been asking himself the same question all night. The woman had fixed herself before him, and he couldn’t look away. A slow breath seeped through his teeth. “It was like all this”—he gestured toward the ball—“was black and white, and when I saw her, I saw color for the first time. It was like I had a heart of stone, but simply looking at her, I felt…” He shrugged and turned toward the distant forest line, which was black despite the bright moon above them. “She made me feel like I could be more, not ladened with expectations, preconceived notions, or … or failure.”
Phineas paused and looked at Killian’s face. Killian wasn’t sure what he was searching for, but he felt exposed. He shifted his shoulders.
“I’m coming with you,” Phineas declared finally.
Killian gaped. “You can’t! Jax said if the beam of magical light doesn’t approve you, you’ll burn up!”
Phineas blinked twice but continued, “Well, that would certainly be awful, but I can’t let you frolic around in the magic forest without a chaperone.”
“Jax will be there.”
“Jax doesn’t understand human morals, betrothals, or policies. Nor can he speak with your father.”
It’s more that he will not speak with me.The two men looked down over the edge of the balcony where two green eyes gleamed from the shadows of the trees. Jax paced forward. I have tried, but he cannot yet hear me. Killian nodded. His father had stopped listening to Jax after his wife died. The grief, Jax thought, made him deaf.
Phineas gestured toward the wolf. “Even more reason, then. I’m coming. You could use a witness to back you up.”
Killian turned and set his hand on his friend’s forearm. “I cannot let you. I cannot be the cause of your death. You are a brother to me.”
I do not think the light will burn Phineas.
Looking back to the garden Killian asked, “Why not? You said it would kill me.”
Phineas has a pure heart.
“And I don’t?”
It is enough, apparently, as demonstrated today, but lately …
Killian threw up his arms. “Ugh. Okay, I get it. I’ll be better. No more wallowing.”
Yes. The pathetic wallowing is like scat. Stinky and undesirable.
“Your point has been made, Jax.”
Discardable, disgusting pile of excrement.
Phineas snorted. “An excellent assessment.”
“My dearest friends …” Killian shook his head slowly, but a grin was growing. “So … tomorrow?”
Phineas and Jax spoke in unison. “Tomorrow.”
Killian slowly faced the music of the ball, rallying his best vapid conversation skills and charming prince persona. Shake hands, dance with whoever he was expected to dance with, and then plan his escape to the forest. Tomorrow, he would look for clues to help his people. Tomorrow, he would see her again.
His face broke into a genuine grin.
Before dawn the next morning, Killian, Phineas, and Jax made their way to the gate. Jax eyed the bouquet of flowers that Killian held with an expression somewhere between disdain and disbelief. So … you’re planning on giving her flowers?
Killian dropped his gaze to the large collection of long-stemmed, odiferous, spriggy blooms he had cut himself from the hot house. It had been hard to see perfectly in the dim candlelight this morning, but he was certain they’d be beautiful when the sun rose. “Of course! What girl doesn’t like flowers?”
Jax landed hard on his haunches, looking from the forest to Killian and back. Perhaps a girl who lives in the forest, surrounded by plants?
“Bah—have faith.” Killian waved the flowers at his friend’s sensitive nose. “These will be great. They’re beautiful and rare. They’re impressive.”
Phineas snorted even as he shook his head at the two of them. His suspicious glare remained focused on the dark gate. “Please don’t say this is how you plan to charm your betrothed?”
“Come on, now.” He looked between his two friends, who had seen him give flowers to various dignitaries’ daughters or court ladies on walks or as a corsage for a ball. Hadn’t they seen it work? “I’ve given women flowers before. They’re always delighted.”
Jax rolled his eyes in a way that was uncomfortably human. It wasprobably the crown more than the sprigs that got their attention.
Killian frowned. Phineas laughed out loud as he patted Killian’s shoulder. Killian glared at them both. The main reason he was here—why he wanted to visit this woman—was that she didn’t seem to know anything about his crown. Balling his fingers tightly around the stems, he muttered, “I’m going to leave you two behind.”
Throwing both of his hands up, Phineas didn’t stop smiling. “Sorry. Sorry. We’ll behave.”
Jax huffed. Phineas will behave.
“Jax!” Killian stared down at the wolf, waiting for his agreement.
Licking his paw, Jax paused for just a moment. I will … not deliberately sabotage you.
Killian set a hand on the handle of the gate which seemed to hum in a buzzing vibration. “Ever a source of comfort, Jax.” Killian stopped and turned back to Phineas as a frisson of dread slipped up his spine. “I can’t convince you to stay? To not do this? Jax will keep me safe.”
Phineas shrugged casually. “You survived it. I can’t let you beat me, can I?”
The prince set his right hand on Phineas’s left shoulder, a tightness forming at his throat. “I’m serious. I don’t want you to die.”
Phineas’s grin sobered, and he mimicked Killian in the soldier’s way, setting his right hand on Killian’s left shoulder, while his left hand rested on the hilt of his sword. “You are more than a prince who deserves my loyalty, Killian. You are my brother. And I’m not letting you go alone.”
Killian clenched his jaw a couple times before turning back to the gate. “Well. Let’s go see what the light makes of you.” With an easy click, the gate swung open, sending the rushing icy wind past them as they stepped onto the pine needles beyond the gate.
The forest was darker than the meadow behind them; starlight was blocked by the boughs, but this time, early morning songs from unseen songbirds greeted the day. The air was warm and humid, the sweet vanilla scent of the ponderosas wrapping around them. As the sun crept into the sky, the shadows of the forest lifted, and by degrees, they could see their path more clearly.
Phineas led them all forward, but each step felt like a drumbeat moving them closer to the gallows. Acrid dread laced Killian’s heart until the beam of light appeared and struck Phineas directly.
And nothing happened.
Phineas walked on with Jax keeping pace beside him, unfazed and unaware that anything unusual had occurred.
Killian’s jaw dropped as he gestured wildly. “Are you kidding me? It paralyzed me! Trapped me with visions of my past. But you … you didn’t even flinch!”
Phineas glanced back at the beam behind him that trickled peacefully to the earth. “It’s just light, Killian.”
“Magic. Light.”
I had already told you it would be so. Ancient and wise, remember?
“And humble,” Killian grumbled.
And handsome.Jax’s tongue lolled out of his wide grin.
“Well,” said Phineas, rubbing his chin. “The good news is that I didn’t burn up—”
Like parchment.
“Exactly. So where is she?” Phineas asked as he looked around the pine forest.
The birds chirped loudly, alerting everyone that the sun had risen. Killian moved toward the meadow, listening for a song that wasn’t there. “Where indeed?”