CHAPTER ONE #2
“If the prince would stop tormenting Bloodstorm with his wolves and the court would take care of the poorer villages, then maybe my mother wouldn’t have died. Maybe she could’ve found decent work.” With supplies harder to come by in her village, most of the shops hadn’t been able to hire anyone.
He studied her for a long moment, his smile fading.
“Go home. Unless you’re looking for trouble.
” The boy turned to walk away, and she froze, a pit forming in her stomach as her gaze locked on the royal crest tattooed between his shoulder blades—the tip of a black spear, banded in red ink, piercing upward through a circle.
This wasn’t any wolf shifter—this was the Prince of Carnage. Prince Winter.
Her heart pounded as uncertainty warred within her. She couldn’t release the arrow because she would probably miss and then he would kill her.
Once he vanished from her sight, she collected her things, holding her brother’s basket close, and tugged on the goat’s rope to find her grandmother’s home.
Every so often, Sterling glanced over her shoulder to see if Prince Winter was following her, but no one was there.
The castle was well on the other side of the forest, so what had he been doing there?
It was common knowledge in Bloodstorm that he’d lost his mother five years ago from an arrow to the heart.
That grief didn’t excuse his actions, however.
Picking fights with humans begging for food, stealing and murdering other’s livestock, sometimes eating it in front of them while nothing could be done since he was their prince.
And there were the traitors he collected for his father, those he unleashed his wolves on.
Sterling knew the truth about him—he was born a wicked prince.
After crossing through the second river’s shallow depths, she neared a cluster of willow trees before spotting a cozy cottage, plumes of gray smoke curling from its chimney.
Brown and green paint coated the front, berry bushes bloomed in a small garden, and chickens squawked in metal cages.
Chimes clinked, and a wooden rocking chair creaked on the porch as the wind blew.
Sterling dropped the goat’s rope, then ran toward the door. “Grandmother!” she shouted. “Grandmother, it’s me—Sterling.” She reached the door and pounded her fist against the wood. “Let me in.”
Footsteps thumped behind her. “Sterling?”
She recognized that raspy female voice, and relief filled her.
“What are you doing here?”
Sterling spun around to find her grandmother, an axe hanging loosely from her hand. Her dark braid curled over her shoulder, highlighted by a handful of grays, and a few fine lines decorated the skin circling her mouth and eyes.
“Grandmother,” Sterling sobbed, setting down the basket and running to wrap her arms around her. The scent of peaches caressed her nose, the comforting smell her grandmother always carried with her. The axe dropped to the ground as she hugged her back. “Mother’s dead. She died during childbirth.”
Her grandmother pulled back, her lower lip wobbling. “Merri’s gone? And you came here?” She took Sterling’s face between both hands, her eyes wide, brows raised in what looked like fear. “Get inside. Now.”
Sterling hesitated for a moment but did as her grandmother asked, collecting her brother on the way inside. The cottage smelled earthy, mixed with smoke from the fireplace. Shelves of books lined the sitting room, and two settees mirrored one another with a table between them.
Her grandmother closed the door and bolted the lock. “Well,” she said, blinking away tears, “let’s get this sorted over tea. We’ll have to get you both back home, and I’ll take care of you two there. This part of the forest has always been safe from wolves, but we can’t risk it.”
Sterling knew that the journey to her grandmother’s would have dangers, but she’d had no choice.
She couldn’t raise her brother when she was still a child herself.
While her mother had taught her to be self-sufficient, she didn’t know how she could earn coin just yet.
Besides that, she knew nothing about babies.
She’d thought once she arrived here that they would be safe.
Her grandmother riffled through her cupboards, and Sterling’s body trembled as the adrenaline of the journey faded. She practically fell onto the settee.
“I-I saw the prince. He spoke to me,” Sterling stuttered and set Cyan’s basket on the table in front of her.
“And you’re only telling me this now?” she hissed, whipping around. “Did you tell him where you were going?”
“No. He warned me to leave the forest. Him and his wolves are scouting for a prize.”
Her grandmother inhaled a deep breath, her palm clutching her skirt. “It’s fine. We’ll wait a week before leaving. Stay in the cottage until then.”
Sterling nodded, and her grandmother peeked inside the basket, then lifted Cyan into her arms.
“Mama named him Cyan,” Sterling said.
“He has your mother’s eyes.” She smiled as she brushed a hand down his cheek.
“I take it you don’t know who his father is?
” A disapproving look crossed her face. There were times when Sterling would hear arguments between her mother and grandmother over how she was being raised.
How her grandmother said she could take care of them, but her mother always refused.
“No.”
Her grandmother heaved a sigh. “Your mother and I didn’t agree on a lot of things, but I loved her. Just as I love you.”
The door cracked open, and Sterling jolted forward.
“Go back to sleep,” her grandmother whispered. “I’m just retrieving milk from the goat and then I can make you breakfast. We can’t hunt at the moment, but I’m going to teach you how to properly use that bow.”
“I’d like that.” Sterling yawned, then closed her eyes. She lay back on the settee, the basket still beside her on the table. There was only one bed and she’d refused to take that from her grandmother.
She slowly drifted back into darkness when a scream pierced the air.
Sterling bolted upward and tossed off the blankets just as wolves howled outside.
She glanced down at her sleeping brother and a fierce protectiveness washed over her.
He needed to be hidden—to be kept safe. She carried the basket into the kitchen and placed him into one of the cabinets that only held a line of glass jars.
Grabbing her bow and quiver, she went outside into the morning light. Chickens shuffled frantically within their cages, but nothing else moved. She listened closely and stepped forward, reaching back to grab an arrow from her quiver.
Something heavy slammed into her from behind.
Her body struck the ground, ripping the breath from her.
She flipped over to lift her bow when a large auburn-furred wolf knocked the weapon from her with a massive paw.
Another shout tore through the forest from her grandmother.
Sterling shook, her pulse hammering. She had to do something, but she felt frozen.
Another howl sounded and her body reacted on its own.
She pushed upward just as the wolf’s claws soared toward her.
An agonizing scream echoed around her, and it took Sterling a moment to realize it was coming from her while hot blood poured from a wound over her left eye. Her vision went black before pain exploded from the slashes across her eye and chest.
Sterling stumbled in the direction of where her grandmother’s cries had come from, but the wolf’s teeth clamped around her ankle.
She cried out as the beast dragged her onto the ground while she clawed at the dirt.
The wolf released her, but before she could escape, it pinned her down by the shoulders where she could do nothing but writhe.
It growled in her ear, and she stilled, its hot breath creeping up her neck.
Sterling’s gaze landed on her slaughtered goat and a large pack of various colored wolves.
Then on the body beside them. Her grandmother’s arm and leg were torn clean off, her eyes rolling back into her head.
Sterling panicked, knowing her brother was inside and would easily be sniffed out by these vicious beasts.
A familiar face slipped into view between two trees, his deep blue eyes settling on hers. Prince Winter.
“We meet again,” he drawled as he stopped in front of Sterling, his expression neutral. “I didn’t realize you were acquainted with this traitor.”
“Let her go,” Sterling’s grandmother pleaded. “She’s innocent. She doesn’t know anything.”
Prince Winter narrowed his eyes at her grandmother. “I don’t particularly care what she knows, only that she associates with the likes of you.”
“Don’t hurt her.” Sterling sobbed. “My grandmother is all my brother and I have left. Do what you wish to me. I don’t care.”
He looked at Sterling, a furrow settling between his brows. “Your grandmother’s life is forfeited. And you? You had the chance to escape once already, and you chose not to listen.”
“My brother and I … we had nowhere else to go,” she whispered.
Prince Winter crouched in front of her and tilted his head thoughtfully. “I’m not interested in killing a newborn child, and no shifter here will want to take in an orphaned human. If I let you go, you’ll take the child and disappear.”
Sterling hated herself for nodding, but there was nothing left she could do. Not in the position she was in.
Claws seeped out from Prince Winter’s flesh, a wet snout protruding from his face, fangs sharper than razorblades appearing as he howled toward the sky.
Black fur spread across his skin, and his clothing ripped when his body altered.
The pack howled in return and tore into her grandmother while Sterling watched in horror.
Blood splashed as her two remaining limbs were thrown in opposite directions.
The prince did nothing but watch the sight before him, his flat expression akin to one of boredom.
And then the wolf pinning Sterling down released her to give the one final killing blow to the gruesome scene. Prince Winter’s lupine gaze sharpened, warning her if she did anything, she would end up like her grandmother. She couldn’t risk the only thing she truly now had left—her brother.
Sprinting inside, while sharp pain shot through her wounds, she took her brother from the cabinet as he opened his eyes and wailed. She gathered food and her grandmother’s satchel that held a bag of coins before returning outside.
Sterling placed the bow at her back while the wolves waited to see if she would make a move against them. But she wouldn’t now. Instead, she turned her back on them and ran. She wouldn’t stop to rest until she made it out of the forest.
As she fled through the trees, Sterling vowed that she would kill every single wolf that took part in her grandmother’s murder. Including the prince.