Chapter 11
MAE
I wake in my own bed, the soft touch of the pillow far different than the warmth of Asmo’s chest. The distant sounds of rustling in the kitchen and the smell of eggs have me throwing back the covers.
I stop at Asmo’s door and peek my head in.
Cally still lies on the bed, face pale and limbs sprawled.
Sweat dampens her forehead, despite the lack of blankets covering her.
Holly hovers a skillet of eggs over dark flames in the kitchen while Luca gathers plates from the cabinet.
She offers me a smile, then dips her head toward the living room, where Ivan and Asmo are whispering furiously to one another.
They glance up as I enter. Asmo’s eyes soften as they land on me, and I resist the urge to smooth my hair.
Ivan clears his throat and forces a smile, but it’s weak. “Morning, Your Highness.”
I skip the pleasantries. “What’s wrong?”
Sure enough, Ivan’s smile falls, a frown now in its place. “Cally is not responding to the medicinal herbs as I had hoped. That wound appears to have been repeatedly infected.” He rubs the gray scruff along his jaw. “The infection has spread and entered her bloodstream.”
“What does that mean?”
Ivan’s inhale is shaky, and I prepare myself for whatever he’s about to say. “The resources we have here are not enough to save her.”
I freeze, a tingling spreading from my chest to my arms as panic begins to take hold. “So, we need to get her to a healer.”
“There is another, less risky option. An extract imbued with Fae magic, but it is only available in specialized apothecaries in hybrid towns.”
The tingling abates. Thank the Mother. “Great. I’ll go.”
Ivan shakes his head. “Luca and I have already discussed it. He’s prepared to leave soon.”
If they think I’m not about to help fix the mess that I’ve created, they’re wrong. And if they think I’m about to sit here by myself and not help save my best friend’s life, they’re insane. “I wasn’t joking. I’m going.”
Luca’s face twists into a scowl. “Your Highness—”
“I’ll use the dark magic sigil and I’ll be fine.”
Asmo stiffens. “There is a cost to using dark magic,” he says gravely. “You can’t just use it whenever you want. It chips away at you.”
Luca storms from the kitchen. “Might I remind you, Your Highness, that the last time you ventured somewhere, a group of witches found us?”
I understand the risk I’m taking, but if I can’t provide this one small thing for the only person who has been beside me for years, who was captured, thrown in a dungeon, and is now literally on the edge of death, because of me, then what good am I?
All I’ve managed to do is endanger everyone around me.
At least this way, I’m only endangering myself.
“I need to do this,” I admit.
Asmo watches me, dark eyes unblinking, jaw working. “Okay,” he says. “We change our appearance and go get the extract. Princess, which House was friendliest to the High Crown?”
I can feel Luca’s gaze burning a hole in my profile.
“Canis,” I answer.
“You’re sure?”
I nod. Canis will be the safest. August is a good male.
You thought Marik was, too, I chide myself. Look how that turned out.
“Okay then. Let’s go.” He stands abruptly and holds his hand out to me.
“You can’t be serious,” Luca says as he pushes himself from his chair. “We have to plan this. We have no idea where we’re going.”
“You don’t need to have a plan. Mae and I are going. You’re staying here,” Asmo says, his hand still outstretched, eyes still on mine.
“Absolutely not,” Luca says, nostrils flaring and voice turning shrill. “Your Highness, need I remind you that not even twenty-four hours ago, we were considering the fact that he might have betrayed us?” he asks, gesturing to Asmo.
“Your choice,” Asmo whispers to me. His eyes are doing that thing again where they turn soft, like he’s afraid I’ll say no. Like it would hurt him if I did.
My body reacts before my brain does, and my hand reaches for his.
“Let’s go,” I say as I stand. Luca mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like stupid.
Asmo leads me to the kitchen and hands me a knife. “Do you remember the spell? Do you know who you’re going to transform into?”
I nod, the female deer hybrid etched into my memory. From guilt or necessity, I don’t want to think about which. The blade is light in my palm. I lift my shirt and carve the mark into my stomach, whispering the words. As are you, as am I.
My blood turns black as it evaporates into the air.
Beside me, Asmo repeats the spell. But he’s not the girl from before. He looks similar to his usual self, but his features are different. Gone is the defined jawline, the strong cheekbones, the fern-green slivers in pools of night. He just looks like an average male with black hair and dark eyes.
“Did you make yourself shorter, too?” I ask.
“I made myself average height.”
“Are you not already average height?”
He clasps a hand to his chest. “You wound me.”
Back in the living room, Ivan hands Asmo a slip of paper. “The name of the extract. You should be able to find it at any apothecary that specializes in Fae healing magic.”
Luca glares at us as we walk toward the front door. “Mae, think about this. You could be walking into a trap.”
“I’ll have her back before sundown, Dad,” Asmo says sarcastically before taking my hand and pulling me out the door.
When we’re outside, Asmo stops and faces me. “We don’t have to do this, Mae. We can walk right back inside and tell Ivan it was all one big joke.”
I shake my head. “No. I’m tired of sitting around and doing nothing. Let’s go.”
He grins. “That’s my girl.”
“We should’ve thought about this more,” I groan.
The wind whips around us, snow falling slowly but steadily as we descend into the capital of House Canis.
Bouldercrest is situated in the valley of the Wolven Peaks, known for its packs of wolves that roam the slopes.
Unfortunately, Bouldercrest is also the coldest town I’ve ever been to.
“I didn’t know it got this cold,” I complain as we stomp through a blanket of snow that’s at least a foot deep. Stubborn goosebumps pepper my skin, still lingering even after I rub my arms through my thin coat.
“My fault. I forgot you’ve never been here,” Asmo says. “Would you like me to carry you, Your Highness?”
I shoot him a look. “How would that help?”
“You’d be against my chest. Nice and toasty,” he says with a dazzling grin. Even in his average disguise, he still manages to have the same disarming smile.
I roll my eyes. “How close are we?”
He grabs my arm and stops walking. He looks around slowly, pointed ears perked. Panic and magic flares in my veins. I know better than to ask what’s wrong. But even with my sharp senses, I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Only the silence of the forest cloaked in snow.
“Probably just a wolf,” I say, but even I’m not so sure.
“Just be careful with what you say,” Asmo mutters, lacing his fingers into mine and resuming down the path.
I refrain from asking why. My brain doesn’t work anymore, anyway, with his hand in mine. Something so normal, like holding hands, isn’t for us. His grip tightens, like he’s thinking about the way our fingers are intertwined, too.
Silence falls between us for the rest of the walk, both of us on high alert. A pack of midnight-black wolves passes, watching us carefully before continuing up the mountain. The only sound is the crunch of our boots as they stomp through the thin layer of ice covering the snow.
The town comes into view, stone buildings built into the steep mountainside and descending into the valley. The roofs are capped with snow, smoke billowing from the chimneys. The scent of burning wood drifts toward me, reminding me of freezing nights beside the fire. And Willa—no, Cora.
A sharp wind cuts between the trees, and I lean closer to Asmo. We are miserably under-dressed and woefully out of place. We step into the first clothing store we find, my fingers and toes tingling as they start to defrost.
“‘lo there!” a slim wolf hybrid calls from the counter at the back of the store. “Help you with anything?” The icy blue of his eyes reminds me of August.
Asmo clears his throat. “My wife and I are from out of town. Can you believe that we forgot our coats?” He chuckles as if the thought is just absurd. “Poor thing was shivering all the way from the portal!” He grabs my shoulders and rubs them.
I play along and throw a sheepish smile at the store clerk, but wife clangs around my head, making me buzz.
The wolf hybrid eyes us. For a moment, I think he’s going to whip my shirt up and expose my mark.
“Forgive me for saying this, but that wasn’t very smart of you.
You’re lucky it’s a warm day here. If you had portaled in during one of our snowstorms, you would have needed to portal right back.
The weather conditions can be brutal up here. Where did you say you’re from?”
A warm day? I was practically frozen solid the moment we stepped from the portal. I make a mental note to never come back during the peak of winter.
“My wife is from the Deer Court,” Asmo says with a smile, as if that explains it.
“Ah,” the male says.
I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something. Thankfully, Asmo breaks the silence before it can drag on too long. “Can you point us in the direction of the coats?”
“Right back there,” he says, gesturing toward the righthand side of the store. “Let me know if I can help.”
Asmo throws his arm around me and tugs me toward the wall of coats. I grab a black one that goes to my ankles. Asmo chooses a plain black wool coat and a charcoal scarf from a stand near the register. We place our items on the counter and wait for the clerk to give us our total.
“Deer Court, huh?” he asks as he surveys our selections.
“Uh-huh,” I confirm, unwilling to give any more information than that.
“What brings you two here?”
“We thought we’d do some traveling for our honeymoon,” Asmo says, a warm smile on his face.