Chapter 31
We rode hard for an hour before the mist began to overtake us. Aurelia stiffened in alarm, her back pressing into my chest, but she said nothing as we slowed to a trot to give the stallion a bit of a rest.
The mist would protect us. I knew that much.
When the fog was so thick we could barely see the path in front of us, I pulled on the reins, and the horse stopped. A sheen of sweat coated his flanks, and he was panting.
I slid off the saddle and helped Aurelia down. She looked around, her eyes wide with fear. “Are you sure we should be stopping?”
“The soldiers won’t follow us in the mist,” I said, stroking the horse’s nose. “There’s a stream close by where we can rest and drink.”
“Why won’t they follow us?” Her tone was sharp. When I said nothing, she grabbed my arm, forcing me to face her. Her expression was hard, her eyes glinting like shards of ice. “Answer the damn question, Fenn.”
I looked at her, my expression stoic and blank. “Because the mist is poisoned.”
Her face slackened in surprise, the blood draining from her cheeks until she was as pale as a corpse. “ Poisoned ?”
“Yes. It’s from a spell cast by my ancestors, meant to protect our kingdom from invaders. It went awry, and spread across the hills.”
“I—But we—How are we supposed to cross if it’s poisoned ?” she sputtered .
“Anyone who possesses the blood of the Night Fae are immune to it.”
Her eyebrows lowered. “ I do not possess such blood, Fenn.”
My gaze cut to her. “You’re with me. You’ll be fine.”
Her cheeks flushed, her eyes darkening with rage. “Fenn, you’d better?—”
With a sigh, I silenced her by placing my hands on her shoulders. She glared up at me. “The spell has loopholes. If someone in a traveling party possesses blood of the Night Fae, the entire party will be protected. And even if that weren’t the case, I have a strong suspicion that you would be protected anyway. You aren’t fully fae. At least, not seelie.”
She blinked, but before she could reply, I turned back to the horse, grabbing the reins and guiding him forward into a slow walk.
After a few moments, Aurelia caught up to me. “What do you mean, I’m not fully fae?”
“When I cast that rune on you, I saw your unseelie form.”
She shook her head. “You’re wrong. I’m not unseelie.”
I turned to shoot her a dubious look. “Are you sure about that?”
She opened and closed her mouth, clearly unwilling to assert her certainty on the matter. Because that would be a lie. After a moment, she stammered, “I—I thought I was part witch! Couldn’t that be it?”
“I’ve never seen witch magic like that before.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not true,” she said hotly. “Isn’t there some realm of possibility that there is magic out there you haven’t seen before?”
“Of course there is,” I snapped, stopping to face her. The rage and unease bubbled up inside me until it boiled over, and I couldn’t stop it. “But witches don’t have unseelie forms, Aurelia. You do. I saw your green eyes. I saw your godsdamned forked tongue. The only explanation is that you have unseelie blood in you. And if you weren’t such a stubborn fool, you would see it, too.”
Her head reared back, shock, hurt, and anger mingling in her expression. “What the hell do you know? You’ve known me all of four days, and suddenly you’re an expert on my magic? What about your monstrous powers? You controlled the mind of that stable hand like it was nothing! Maybe you’re the one who’s unseelie.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. That’s just my fae power.”
“Oh, so you don’t deny it? You can control people. You’ve probably been controlling me this entire time. That’s why I agreed to this wretched bargain with you, it’s why I let you kiss me, it’s why I let you put your hands all over me?—”
I was in her face in seconds, baring my teeth, the fury overflowing within me. How dare she cast judgments on my magic? How dare she look at me with such disgust and horror? “I haven’t used my powers once on you, princess,” I spat. “This is exactly why I didn’t tell you—because I knew you would judge me for it. You would think me callous and unfeeling, a vicious savage who forces everyone to do his bidding.”
“That’s not—” She broke off, her mouth clamping shut, stopping herself before she uttered the lie.
Because it was true. Of course it was.
I gave her a cold smile. “It is true.” I turned away from her, but she grabbed my shoulder, spinning me to face her.
“If you had just told me, I would have believed you. If you had opened up about your powers and told me the truth, instead of letting me find out like that, then I would have trusted you!”
“Oh?” I arched a doubtful eyebrow. “Just like you were forthcoming about your magic? About what happened to the witch clans?”
Her face paled once more, and she took a step back.
I smirked. “I thought so. You can’t expect me to bare all my secrets to you, princess, if you don’t do the same.”
“And you can’t expect me to share absolutely everything with you after only knowing you a few days!” she cried. “Trust comes one step at a time, and I made that first step. I did open up to you, Fenn. I told you about—about Tyrone.” Her voice quivered, but she pushed onward, in spite of the tears shining in her eyes. “I haven’t told anyone about that, not even my own sister. But I trusted you with it.”
“Only because you had to! Only because our bargain was at stake! If we hadn’t stopped in the Autumn Court, you never would have told me about it, would you? ”
Her silence was answer enough.
My smirk vanished, and my eyebrows lowered as I glared at her, taking a step closer so I could loom over her. My nostrils flared as I said in a low voice, “So we’re agreed then. You keep your secrets, and I’ll keep mine. We only have to pretend for a few more days, and then this miserable bargain will be fulfilled. Then we can finally be rid of each other.”
I turned away from her again, and this time she didn’t stop me. She said nothing as I guided the horse forward.
It was just as well. I couldn’t face her any longer or she would see the devastation in my expression.
Because as much as I had tried not to, I was starting to fall for her.
I needed this reminder. I needed to remember that she saw me as nothing more than a monster. Someone she could never love.
So, this was for the best.
It didn’t take long for us to find the small stream nestled in the Mistwood Hills. The path was consumed by fog, but my feet knew the way. The blood within me guided my steps, and with Aurelia following behind me, our journey was unimpeded. After half an hour of walking, the air was starting to thicken, and it was getting harder to breathe.
Just because I was immune to the poison didn’t mean it did nothing to me. Sweat formed on my brow, and my lungs strained with every breath.
The trickling of the stream reached our ears before we saw it. Even through the fog, it was almost impossible to make out the sparkling waters in the moonlight. I sank onto a boulder nearby and wiped sweat from my brow. Aurelia collapsed on the ground, leaning back on her elbows and tilting her head toward the sky as she gasped for breath.
The horse made his way to the stream, unperturbed by the mist. I vaguely wondered if ordinary animals were completely immune. Did they feel nothing at all? How blissful that must be. I stared as the horse greedily lapped up the water.
From across the stream, movement caught my eye. Were it not for my Night Fae blood, I might have missed it. My eyes narrowed as I tried to see through the mist.
There it was again. A figure appeared across the stream before the mist swallowed it up again.
I slowly slid off the boulder, making my way to Aurelia, who still sat in the dirt. I squeezed her arm, and she stiffened.
“What?” she hissed.
I hastily brought my finger to my lips in warning, my gaze still fixed on that spot across the stream.
She stilled, her breath hitching, her arm going tense in my grip. I crouched down low, positioning myself in front of her to shield her from whoever watched across the stream.
If they were here, they had Night Fae blood. They could likely see us, too.
Snap. The sound split through the air. Instinct drove me to shove Aurelia to the ground, my body atop hers.
Thunk . The bolt sank into the earth just inches from my face.
“ You don’t want to hurt us !” I shouted, pouring all my energy into those words. “ Put the crossbow down. ” The air quivered from the force of my magic. Dizziness clouded my mind. I was already weak from the mist. I wasn’t sure I had any magic left in me.
From beneath me, Aurelia stared up at me with wide eyes, her body trembling. I held my breath, praying to the gods that my magic worked on the assassin, that he would turn and walk away.
I heard a splash, and I froze, holding perfectly still. A rhythmic sloshing sound followed as the attacker waded through the stream.
He was coming toward us.
Shit.
I jumped to my feet, hauling Aurelia behind me. She had her dagger drawn, and I followed suit, wielding my short sword as the figure drew closer.
When the sloshing stopped, he stood right before us, a tall, hulking figure. Gradually, the mist parted to reveal a man with brown hair and a short beard, his dark eyes like steel as he glared at us.
But he wasn’t holding his crossbow. Had my magic worked? Had he set the weapon down?
“How did you do that?” he demanded, his voice gruff .
I said nothing, one arm brandishing my sword with the other splayed protectively over Aurelia.
“Tell me,” the man growled.
I licked my lips. “Swear you won’t harm us, and I’ll tell you.”
He huffed a dry laugh. “I already can’t hurt you because of whatever witchcraft you pulled on me.”
I shook my head. “My magic doesn’t work that way. I can only influence you if the idea is already there. Which means… you don’t want to hurt us. If you did, even my magic couldn’t stop you.”
I felt Aurelia shift behind me, and I knew she was staring at me in confusion. Yes, there were loopholes to my magic. If she’d stopped judging me for one second, I could have told her that.
The man straightened, his eyes narrowing. “I swear I mean you no harm. My assignment has already been fulfilled.”
Slowly, I lowered my arms, but I kept my grip on my sword. Just in case. “You’re the Winter Queen’s assassin.” It wasn’t a question. I’d heard stories of the unstoppable hunter who slaughtered at the queen’s whim. Thankfully, he hadn’t struck our kingdom. Yet. But he was known throughout the Realm of Valora as a bloodthirsty killer who never missed his mark. We likely only crossed paths because he had to pass through the Mistwood Hills to return to his court.
“Yes,” he said tightly.
“You killed the Autumn King.”
“That was my assignment.”
“Why?”
He said nothing. I hadn’t really expected him to answer.
“Were we part of your plan?” Aurelia asked. Though I felt her trembling behind me, her voice was sure and steady. Ever the firebird.
The man cocked his head at her, assessing. “No. That was just a happy accident. I had been waiting for the king to put himself in a compromising position, and, thanks to you, he did.”
Anger boiled within me. “Do you want the courts to be at war? Is that what your queen wants? Because thanks to you, Autumn and the Star Court will be enemies, and the alliance between Summer and Autumn has been shattered.”
“It was already shattered,” the man snapped. “The Autumn Court dissolved their alliance with my kingdom as well. They’ve aligned themselves with the Dream Mage instead.”
My blood ran cold, and Aurelia sucked in a sharp breath. “What do you know of the Dream Mage?” she asked. The force in her voice made it sound more like a demand, and I inwardly winced. The last thing we wanted to do was anger the assassin.
“I have never met her,” the hunter said evenly. “But my queen fears her. The Dream Mage has already taken the Lunar Court. It’s only a matter of time before she reaches Winter and Star.”