Chapter 3
AURORA
Fiora doesn’t yell. She never has to. Her disapproval rolls off her in waves, heavy enough to feel in the air between us as we walk the dirt path toward home.
I bite my lip, trailing behind her just slightly. I’m sorry that Thalric got in trouble because of me, and the knowledge that I’ve disappointed Fiora yet again stings more than any harsh words ever could.
“You were reckless, Aurora.” Shaking her head, she runs a hand through her shoulder-length, silver-white hair. “You put yourself in danger.”
I stop short of rolling my eyes. “It was just a festival, Fiora.”
Her sharp emerald gaze snaps to mine. “A festival filled with strangers from across the kingdom. Do you honestly think every visitor arrives with good intentions?”
“I’m an adult.” Frustration bubbles to the surface. “Gods, Fiora, I’m twenty-two years old, nearly twenty-three. I went to a dance, not to war.”
“Twenty-three is nothing,” she counters. “Once you’ve lived as long as I have, you’ll understand my concern.”
Fiora says it the way she always does—like someone who’s lived a hundred years longer than me. Sometimes I have to remind her I’m human, not Fae, and I won’t look twenty-something forever the way she does.
“Gods forbid, what if someone had snatched you?” she asks, wings buzzing furiously. “Then, what?”
“Snatched me?” I scoff in disbelief. “What… like a band of marauding Goblins or Ogres?”
Fiora freezes, and so do I.
Our eyes lock, and a chill creeps down my spine at the look on her face. That’s exactly what she fears.
Before I can say another word, she moves forward again. “Hurry. We need to get home.”
With a flick of her wrist, she uses her fire magic to create a flaming orb that hovers before us, illuminating the path.
Our cottage glows warm and inviting against the darkness, nestled at the edge of the woods, ivy climbing up the stone walls, and candlelight spilling from the windows. The gentle murmur of the nearby stream echoes through the forest.
The door is barely open before Lyria rushes forward, her green dragonfly wings fluttering anxiously as she envelops me in a fierce hug. “Oh, gods, Aurora! We were terrified!”
“I’m sorry, Lyria. But I was only gone for an hour.”
“An hour of worry,” Maribel murmurs, stepping forward, midnight-blue wings glinting in the low firelight.
She cradles my face tenderly, her cool touch soothing despite my irritation.
Her violet eyes travel over me as if searching for any signs of injury.
“You could have been hurt, my darling child.”
“You’re all overreacting,” I insist, though the knot of guilt twists tighter inside me.
“Are we?” Fiora crosses her arms. “You must trust us, Aurora. We only want to keep you safe. There are dangers in this world that you do not yet understand… dark things that would love nothing more than to steal you away.”
I groan again, exasperated. “Why is everyone acting like I wandered off to the capital alone? It was one night in the village. Besides, Thalric was with me.”
“And I don’t doubt he’d do all he could to protect you, Aurora, but he’s only one person,” Lyria says.
Maribel nods solemnly. “Even the strongest warrior can fall if outnumbered.”
I give them an incredulous look. “Do you actually think someone was out there waiting to snatch me?”
No one speaks. Their silence says everything.
“You’re all being ridiculous,” I insist.
“You have no idea what dangers lurk beyond our doorstep,” Fiora huffs.
“Exactly,” I snap, frustration burning through me. “I have no idea because you never let me see anything. Never let me do anything! I want to go places. I want to see the capital, the markets, the great castle of Briarwyn—where the king and queen live.”
“We understand,” Lyria says. “We only want you to be safe.”
“She’s right.” Maribel offers me a tender, knowing look, her silver-white hair tumbling over her shoulders in graceful waves. “We love you too much to risk losing you, dear.”
My irritation crumbles beneath the weight of their concern. They love me. I know they do. They took me in when I was just a babe, an orphan abandoned to fate. But this is my life, and I feel like I’m suffocating.
“And I love you all, too. But… I just want more.” I sigh heavily. “I want to see things, experience things. I’ve never been anywhere, never done anything. One night at a village festival shouldn’t cause this much worry. I’m twenty-two years old. You cannot shelter me from the world forever.”
The sisters exchange a glance with each other before Fiora looks back at me. “I know you don’t understand it now but trust me… there is a reason.”
“What reason?” I give her an exasperated look. “Tell me.”
Lyria steps forward and takes my hand. “Please, Aurora. You must trust that we know what’s best for you.”
She’s always been the peacemaker in the family, and she knows just what to say to disarm me. Sighing heavily, I nod. Lyria hugs me tightly and then I go to my room, closing the door behind me.
Sleep doesn’t come easily tonight. When it does, I slip into a dream.
I’m falling, tumbling through a void. Darkness surrounds me, thick and suffocating, pressing down until it’s hard to breathe.
I’m trapped. I try to move, but my limbs refuse to obey. My eyelids are sealed shut, heavy as stone. Panic claws at my chest as I fight to open them. Distant voices echo all around me… soft, indistinct murmurs that I can’t quite understand.
When I finally open my eyes, shapes flicker at the edge of my vision.
Shadows twist and shift, forming the outline of something turning slowly in the dark—a strange, wooden wheel with a gleaming spike at its center.
Thread spills from it, dark as spilled ink, coiling and uncoiling like a living thing.
Dread fills my veins. I don’t know what I’m seeing, but every instinct screams that I should run. But I can’t.
My pulse pounds in my ears as the wheel turns faster. Black silk threads stretch from it, tangling around my wrists and ankles. They tighten and bite into my skin, holding me fast.
Fear tightens my chest as the shadows crowd closer. The threads pull, forcing my hand toward the sharpened spike.
“Thalric!” I cry out, but no sound leaves my lips. Only the relentless turning of the wheel and the hiss of thread tightening in the dark.
My eyes snap open and I jerk up to sitting. Leaning forward, I press a trembling hand to my chest, my breathing ragged as my heart hammers in my chest.
I shiver as an echo of remembered fear moves through me. My nightmare felt so real.
I can’t stay here. I can’t bear to be alone in the dark. Not tonight.
Glancing at my bedroom window, I notice the faint glow of Fiora’s red magic around the opening. She placed a ward to prevent me from leaving, but I will not be deterred.
Quietly, I slip into the hallway and then out the back door, pulling my cloak around my shoulders.
The path to our secret place is familiar even in the darkness, my feet guiding me effortlessly toward the small cave hidden near the waterfall. Thalric and I used to play there when we were children. It’s the place he always goes whenever we’ve gotten in trouble in the past.
The waterfall roars nearby, mist drifting across my skin. When I reach the tree near our cavern, I carefully climb up. The entrance is hidden by hanging ivy that I carefully push aside as I slip into the cave. I immediately spot Thalric’s familiar silhouette, curled against a makeshift bed of furs.
His head snaps up, golden eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight. “Auri?”
My throat tightens, but I don’t bother answering. I cross the cave in a few quick steps and sink into the furs beside him, tucking myself against his warm, solid chest like I’ve done so many times before. “I had a nightmare,” I murmur, clutching his arm.
His expression softens instantly, wings curling protectively around me. “Then stay.”