Chapter 23 Hazelwood Village
Hazelwood Village
Another day of riding passed, and it felt like they’d been travelling for months when they finally arrived at a village unlike any Luna had ever seen or imagined.
Buildings and paths had been constructed around thick blue-barked trees, encompassing them in a way that made Hazelwood seem like it was a part of the forest itself.
There were no stones leading from each dwelling to another, only a dirt trail showing where people often walked.
Luna followed Damien as he led their horses to what looked like stables.
It could barely be described as a proper building, with four crooked tree posts that had notches in them to hold up a patchy roof.
Rather than pony walls, wooden fences made from logs separated each horse into its own stall.
“I don’t like this,” Damien said, walking past the empty stables with the two horses still in tow. “It’s too quiet.”
Luna looked about, considering the dimming light from the nearly-set sun. “Maybe this place has an early bedtime?”
“Mmm,” Damien mused, “I—” Whatever he saw as he stepped from behind a thick trunk stopped him dead in his tracks.
In a blink, he transformed; shadow magic swarmed her, forming a shield.
Only this time, the shadows were much darker .
. . Almost like he’d drawn a curtain around her, and to see out, she had to angle her head.
His magic continued to pool around him, stretching out to cover the ground like a blanket. What’s going on? She had been about to ask Damien, but a subtle shake of his equine head stopped her.
In a voice so quiet, she could barely hear, he warned, “Not a word.”
“Hello, Damien.” A sinister voice rang out before a rather lanky-looking white unicorn with three horns trailing down his forehead appeared.
His snow-white features made him look angelic, but with the way Damien visibly stiffened, Luna knew there was nothing holy about him.
“I didn’t expect to see you lurking about these parts.
Did you decide to give up on your mission and have some fun instead? ”
“No, Harlow. I have better things to do than rampage through villages like a bunch of rabid dogs.”
Luna stiffened; his chuckle sent a shiver down her spine. There was a reason there were no villagers insight . . . and it wasn’t because of an early bedtime. Her throat bobbed.
The fact that Damien and Harlow seemed to know each meant they had a history—and considering how Damien had hidden her in shadows, chances were whatever history they shared wasn’t good. Were Damien and her about to meet the same fate the rest of the village had?
Harlow gasped at the insult, taking a step backwards as if he had been physically wounded. “There’s no need to go hurting my feelings. I certainly wouldn’t blame you for abandoning—”
“You shut your mouth,” Damien snapped.
Luna flinched from the intensity in his voice as she watched his shadows respond with his words, pooling around him. They swirled and darkened, threatening to swallow the other unicorn whole.
Yet . . . Harlow seemed unbothered. He tossed his head in the air with zero cares in the world, his mane whipping around him from the movement.
“Oh, lighten up a bit,” Harlow taunted, chuckling like he found it all too funny to see Damien unsettled.
“There’s no need for your shadows to get all riled up. ”
“Who’s getting all riled up?” A second unicorn appeared from behind a tree, joining the small gathering. His fur was the colour of fire: A bright, beautiful orange-red that took Luna’s breath away. He, too, had three horns trailing down his forehead, except his were much shorter than his friend’s.
“The Prince of Shadows,” Harlow answered with a sneer.
Luna gasped, quick and sharp. “The—what—of shadows?”
Harlow’s ears twitched towards her. Luna froze. Gods. She’d said it out loud. A hand flew to her mouth, but no amount of praying to the skies would erase the words from existence.
“And a friend,” he added, a humanlike grin dancing across his lips like he’d just been handed a treat.
“I didn’t know we were playing hide and seek,” the red unicorn mused. “It’s not very fair that they got a head start.”
Harlow dipped his head in a slow, deliberate nod. “I agree, Knox. Game’s over, time to come out little friend—no need to be shy.” His lips pulled up in something eerily close to a smirk; the expression almost beautiful in its wickedness—a taunting contrast to the holy glow of his pristine coat.
Luna stayed where she was, every instinct warning her that he was dangerous in ways she couldn’t comprehend.
“Mind your own business,” Damien snapped, his voice practically a growl.
Harlow tipped his head to the sky and laughed. A low, chilling sound that seemed to slither from his throat. “Ooo—so testy! Now, I really want to know who’s behind your shadows, Prince.”
“It has to be someone special,” Knox added, tilting his head . . . as if the tip of his horn could pull back Damien’s magic. “Perhaps a lady?”
“I swear to the skies above,” Damien said, each word deliberate and razor-edged. “I will kill you both.”
His voice didn’t rise, didn’t waver; it didn’t need to. The weight of his promise settled over the space between them, heavy as a blade pressed to a throat. His eyes narrowed, dark and glinting, not with rage but with certainty.
“Oh, come now,” Knox said, “it’s not like we’d hunt her down or something.”
A statement that made Luna think they would, in fact, hunt her down and have the time of their lives doing so.
A laugh followed from the pair, erupting as large as the forest . . . so sinister in nature that it cut through the air like a knife, making Luna’s very bones rattle.
Damien stood perfectly still, his attention unwavering, like a lion in the brush before it pounced its prey.
The laughter stopped, but the taunting continued. “Aw. Don’t tell me you’ve developed a soft spot for some human,” Harlow said, “I didn’t think you were the type.”
“You’re disgusting,” Damien said.
Harlow flicked an ear, dismissive. “Maybe—but I’m not the one using magic to hide all these dead bodies. Whoever you’ve put behind your shadows must be extra special to shield from such splendor.”
The shadows blanketing the ground grew darker, swirling like mist, confirming Harlow’s words.
Luna’s stomach twisted into knots. How many people had Knox and Harlow killed?
She didn’t want to know. All she wanted was to get out of here.
Now. But if she ran, surely the unicorns would hear her and chase her.
She was safer with Damien, right? She looked towards him, silently pleading for an answer of what to do, but he didn’t spare a glance her way; his gaze remained solely focused on Harlow and Knox.
“I don’t answer to lowlifes like you.” He let the silence stretch, just long enough for the tension to settle in.
Then, softer—almost like he was bored . . . “Now leave before I grow tired of this conversation and decide to pull your spine out through your horn.”
“Damien. Damien. Damien,” Knox replied, cool, calm, collected. Not a trace of fear in his eyes. “This is a judgment-free zone—I don’t care if you’ve decided to frolic with a human.”
“I haven’t.”
Something close to a grin practically curled his lips as Harlow said, “Then what’s with the secrecy—worried mommy and daddy won’t approve?”
“Enough. I’m done playing.”
And that was all the warning Damien gave.
He charged. A blur of power and fury, his horn a spear aimed to kill.
Harlow sidestepped with effortless ease, leaving Knox to take the opening. Knox met Damien’s charge head-on, a wall of muscle and brute force. Damien’s horn struck, but instead of piercing through, it skidded off Knox’s hide in a shower of sparks, the impact jarring through both of them.
And then Knox drove forward.
With a violent heave, he twisted his weight and rammed into Damien’s exposed side, and a sickening crack like thunder echoed as Damien’s hooves left the ground. Thrown sideways, his body slammed into the dirt with a force that sent dust and debris flying; the air knocked from his lungs.
Luna’s breath hitched. No.
She bolted from the shadows, but he was already rising. He shook off the impact and a growl rumbled . . . deep and guttural—a sound no unicorn should make.
Dark shadows spun around him, swirling with such force that the wind howled and branches snapped away from trees. With a sharp flick of his head, he let them loose.
The tornadoes snatched Harlow and Knox off their splintered hooves, wrenching them into the air. They slammed against the nearest tree, their bodies pinned against it. Damien’s shadows curled around their throats, squeezing . . . hungry.
Dangling, choking, Harlow only grinned, lips parting in something too smug for a man held by the throat. “You take all the fun out of messing with you.”
Both Harlow and Knox shifted to something more human, but not entirely.
Both had a shorter version of their horns protruding from their foreheads, equine ears near the crown of their heads, and a pair of devilish horns and tails.
Never before had Luna heard of or seen a partial shift.
In her studies, unicorns were always depicted in either human or horse form.
She supposed it made sense to transform only halfway; thumbs were certainly more useful than hooves.
Damien’s shadows retreated, allowing the pair to fall to the ground.
Grumbling, they rose and brushed the dirt from their skin. Luna quickly averted her gaze, but not before catching far too much.
They were obnoxiously handsome.
Harlow stood tall, his features chiselled and sharp, every angle sculpted to draw attention while Knox, in contrast, was all solid power—broad shoulders, thick with muscle, built like something meant to break things.
Why were all unicorns so devastatingly good-looking? It simply wasn’t right.