2. Chapter 2
2
Casimiro
“ C urse the stars,” I grumbled as I stared at the door of a grand mausoleum in the center of a human cemetery. This wasn’t where I’d hoped to find the next mortal on my father’s list. With a flick of my wrist, the heavy stone door responded to my magic and swung open with a grinding sound, releasing a wave of cold air and the stench of embalming fluid. I cringed. The way mortals preserved their dead remains prickled my skin.
Even through a sealed box, my nose could detect the awful smell.
The coffin I sought sat on a shelf above another cobwebbed box. This one was studded with gems. I propped my hands on my hips and shook my head. Stealing dead people was never as fun. They didn’t fight or scream.
I took out my knife and popped off six of the rubies lining the edge of the smooth wooden coffin. Humans were so wasteful—especially the rich ones—thinking jewels would do any bit of good against the nightmares facing them after they left the mortal world. I tucked the small stones into my pocket as my mind flashed with images of crooked little waist-high duendes , with their pseudo-magic and their annoying way of always smelling like rotting garbage, who would likely tunnel into this mausoleum later this very night in search of gems. These lesser fae, often serving in the homes of the high fae, hoarded jewels like dragons, even though the long-nosed creatures couldn’t access the magic inside the stones like a high fae. A duende could use a ruby or an emerald as a nice little bargaining chip, though, anytime they happened upon a desperate fae or the occasional unsuspecting human. Better that I use the valuable stones.
I shrugged and extracted one of the tiny rubies. Humans knew very little about the magic in their world, and more times than not, their attempts to ward off the shadows only succeeded in bringing us closer. This man had bargained with the Shadow King—a fool’s plea—and assumed a handful of rubies would keep my father from taking his dead body. Well, not my father. Me.
While Father was away visiting other courts, his errand of collecting mortals fell to his heir. As of one year ago, I was his oldest heir.
The last time my father had been away, it had been my older brother, Augustín, who’d collected the mortals bound to the Shadow King. A stab of anger pierced my chest as I rolled the faceted stone between my fingertips. The ruby thrummed with a pinprick of welcoming heat—just enough magic to fuel a spell for five minutes, six depending on the spell. A waste in most cases. But when dropped into an elixir, a ruby or amethyst or sapphire of this size would increase the potency threefold, a far more useful application of the stone’s magic.
Even though Father would be angry that this mortal was dead, I was grateful for the gemstones as I slipped them in my pocket. As if hearing Augustín’s voice, the words don’t waste what we’ve given you echoed in my mind.
With a huff, I shoved the painful memories aside and placed my hand on the coffin and envisioned the place in the woods where I’d agreed to meet Felipe, who’d agreed to help me on my second night of collecting mortals. When I opened my eyes again, I stood in a dark forest beneath thick pines. The coffin rested beside me on the ground.
Crashing footsteps—a mortal’s by the sound of them—preceded Felipe as he strolled into view between the tall trees, pushing a middle-aged man whose hands were bound.
“Getting cold, princess?” he called over the man’s loud footsteps.
I rolled my eyes at his epithet. “Did you enjoy harassing the mortal with your brute strength?” I asked.
Felipe shoved the man to the ground. He grunted and didn’t attempt to get up. After spitting on the forest floor beside the mortal—also unnecessary—Felipe propped one foot on the man’s back.
I pursed my lips. “My father wants them whole, not broken.”
After a small kick, Felipe removed his foot. “There. Happy?”
“Not usually. But that’s not your fault.” I turned and stared at the coffin. “Father doesn’t appreciate the dead ones. He’ll blame me for this when he returns.” I flexed my fingers as the ghost of pain lanced up my arm from my father’s last display of anger.
“Do you think one of ours killed him?” Felipe muttered, his eyes flicking to my hands and back to my face.
My mouth turned down as I studied the coffin. Mortals died if they broke a bargain with a fae, but a fae only suffered a temporary loss of magic, unless the deal had been specifically crafted to end in death. High fae from every court, including ours, frequently killed mortals bound to my father in an attempt to weaken the Shadow King, a man whose reign had stood unbroken for three thousand years, ever since he’d forged a fifth court when there were only ever meant to be four. But in three millennia, no one had succeeded in dethroning my father.
I shrugged. “I’ve no doubt there will be another coup attempt, as usual, while Father is away, but I doubt this”—I indicated the coffin—“was one of ours. Wouldn’t give anyone in our court much advantage to weaken him while he’s on the other side of Rivenmark.”
Felipe half-smiled as he kicked a pinecone toward the mortal who was awkwardly trying to get up with his hands bound. “No, indeed.”
As my father’s current heir, my errand was to bring to the Shadow Court all the mortals my father had bargained for, and that meant collecting bodies—living or dead.
That’s why we were out here in the mortal world, fishing for humans he’d bargained with, while he proved to the Star Queen— again —that his court was a powerful ally, and they couldn’t afford to turn on us, should another court attempt to attack our own.
Felipe chuckled and pulled a tiny bottle from the inside of his waistcoat. “We could always try this.”
“It’s a coffin. Not a sickbed,” I said, flicking my wrist at the box.
Felipe frowned, clearly disappointed that I wasn’t in the mood to joke with him. Since I was placed in the role of acting sovereign in my father’s absence, nothing really seemed funny anymore.
Felipe, however, persisted. “If this could imbue that corpse with enough strength to walk into your father’s throne room, it might be worth it. Just to see the look on his face.”
“Even if we put a dozen rubies in that vial and made the corpse dance for a fortnight, Father would not be impressed. And besides, he’s not returning for an entire year. By then, this corpse will smell too foul to dance for us.”
Felipe offered a dry chuckle and tapped his chin. “So we bring back one living captive?”
“One?” I arched my brows at Felipe. “Oh, there’s more than one. What, did you think my father was modest in making these bargains?” I cracked my knuckles. “That’s why I brought you with me, to save time.”
Felipe snorted. “Efficiency. Who needs that when you’re immortal?”
His joke fell flat as I stared back at him with a look of mild horror.
He coughed. “Sorry.”
The ghost of Augustín might as well have been standing in the moonlit forest with us, so vibrant were the memories of him playing in my head. Of the last time I’d spoken to him, taking from his hand a worn journal. Of the way his arms had turned a solid black as pain racked his body. Not all of us were immortal.
The bound mortal stared between us, his rasping breaths loud as a saw in my ear, grating on my nerves.
Felipe’s smile returned and he filled the silence. “Let me guess, rich, stupid noble makes bargain for a child? Doesn’t think to add any specification clauses?”
I nodded crisply, thankful for the reminder of why we were here. “Yes. Should be easy enough.”
With a simple spell, Felipe lengthened the bound man’s chains to wrap around the coffin. It wasn’t very nice of us, considering how much humans feared death, but we couldn’t have him running off like a rabbit while we collected the last mortal from this region.
The forest was a lovely place at night, dark as any place under the moon could be, save the underground halls of Nightsong, where my court made its home. The shadows danced for us as we walked between the trees, down a little road with wagon ruts, toward a large manor house on the outskirts of a city called Leor. Little faces peered at us from the darkness, and I heard the hushed exclamations of both fear and wonder. The night-dwelling creatures in these lands worshiped the Shadows, ignorant of the existence of our oldest enemy, the Night Sovereign, whose court had never fully recovered its strength after the war that granted my father his throne.
One such creature padded out onto the road on soft paws—a dip , his furry back as high as my waist, his pointed ears flattened, and his tail tucked in submission. I’d never even met this particular animal, but he knew his place. The hound likely smelled Diego on my clothes and knew he could trust me. I knelt to rub its belly as it rolled over on its back, tongue lolling out, gleaming red eyes glowing. This one smelled atrocious and its fur was matted.
“Don’t tell me you want to keep it,” Felipe drawled, rolling his eyes.
I cleared my throat. “Not at all.” I stared down at the dog—or hellhound, as the humans often called them—and scratched at a tick lodged behind one of his ears. With a quick spell, I dislodged the blood-bloated bug. The dog hopped up and flopped his ears back and forth.
Felipe cringed away. “It’ll fling fleas onto us.”
I stood and brushed away the black fur clinging to my white shirt. “You do realize these animals work for us? You could treat them with a little less disdain.”
Felipe sniffed.
The massive dogs didn’t have much magic, but they could be excellent spies. Few fae possessed the magic to speak directly to an animal’s mind, so the dogs were most often employed as trackers or fearmongers, but the dogs could reveal much, if they were trained.
“Come on, if you pet every hellhound, we’re never going to get there before sunrise.”
I shot my companion a pointed glare. “I’m coming. And there’s no need to rush. This is a nobleman’s daughter we’re talking about. She’s likely never lifted more than a paintbrush in her life, and I bet you these rubies in my pocket that we’ll have her walking out after us willingly, like a good little puppy.”
Felipe grinned. “Deal.”
The words had no sooner left my mouth than an arrow whooshed out of the night and stuck straight into my shoulder.
“Ah,” I groaned as the arrow shook my frame. I frowned and shot Felipe a pointed glare that dared him to say a word. But instead of teasing me, Felipe tensed, shifting his stare from me to the forest.
I rubbed the muscle around the puncture wound, more concerned with finding my attacker than dealing with the wound.
My eyes spotted a figure, deep in shadow but not invisible to me. The shot had been impressive, considering the range, the dim lighting, and the tree branches hanging across the road. The person must have noticed me staring, because it nocked another arrow and let it loose. I tipped sideways and let it fly straight past me.
Then, with a small yank, I ripped the arrow from my shoulder and tossed it aside. The skin instantly began to knit back together, leaving me with little more than an ugly bloodstain on my loose white shirt.
At that, the human—for I detected no glamour or traces of magic—darted out from its hiding place and bolted for the distant manor house.
I stormed toward the attacker.
Her. I stormed toward her . As she ran, I saw an enormous swath of dark hair swish out behind her and the distinct outline of a ruffled dress. I’d been shot by a mortal woman. She moved with the speed of youth.
Rage seethed in my blood as I stalked my attacker. Despite the fact that most Avencians stayed up to midnight—a result of my court’s influence on their lands—it was an odd hour for a mortal woman to be out shooting arrows, alone. I had time enough to handle this mortal and still collect on my father’s bargain. Lucky for me, this attacker lived in the same house as the last mortal on our list.
The last female mortal. Who, as of today, was twenty years old.
But a nobleman’s daughter wouldn’t be out at the edge of her estate at night. Would she?
Nostrils flaring, I decided to end this chase. In the blink of an eye, I slipped into the darkness itself, becoming one with the night in my Shadow form, and placed myself directly in the woman’s path.
As was customary, she screamed bloody murder when I appeared in front of her. However, contrary to all my other encounters with human females, this one didn’t melt with fear or swoon at my glamour.
She shoved an iron dagger into my stomach.