Chapter 2
Fawn stood on a stool, methodically brushing Ivy, the fae Shire horse her grandfather had gifted her when she arrived at the ranch a month ago.
The brush’s bristles rasped against Ivy’s thick coat, each stroke grounding Fawn in the simple rhythm of work, away from whispers and stares.
The large beast had a light coat with reddish spots sprinkled all over like freckles.
Her calm demeanor soothed Fawn more than anything else.
She’d always been comfortable taking care of the horses but climbing onto their backs was another story entirely.
The height alone made her stomach pitch.
Working on her grandparents’ ranch hadn’t been terrible. Aside from the cold climate and snow, she enjoyed it.
School was a different story. The word itself had become heavy; school wasn’t learning, it was misery.
Being the only half-human in her class made her a target, as did her teeth.
She loved her mother, but why hadn’t she inherited her father’s looks and ears?
If she had the slightly pointed ears of the fae, the other kids would have no way of knowing about her human side.
A single curve of cartilage could erase her difference, could let her fade into the crowd instead of putting a target on her back.
Stupidly, she didn’t think to cover her ears on her first day, and a girl with an ugly look on her face laughed outright, drawing attention to what her classmates considered a fault.
Most adult fae she’d encountered hadn’t cared, though a handful looked down on her with disdain.
She sighed, gave Ivy a pat, and jumped down. The horses were too tall for her to reach their backs from the ground.
She put away the brush and stool and stepped into the cold air, glancing at the imposing palace walls. Being the main supplier of horses for the crown, her grandparents’ ranch bordered the palace and while the walls were impossibly high, the palace towers rose even higher.
Fawn often wondered what the inside looked like. She’d never seen the palace in the Human Kingdom—or any other fae kingdom for that matter—and wondered if the rooms inside were as massive as the outside suggested.
“Are you done for the day?” her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
Turning toward him, she planted her hands on her hips. “Depends on why you’re asking.”
He chuckled. “How about we go for dinner in the village?”
Fawn perked up. They never went out for dinner. “Mom said we could?”
He leaned down conspiratorially and whispered, “I haven’t asked her yet, but if we double team her, she’ll give in.”
Disappointment weighed on Fawn’s shoulders. “She’ll say no. She always does.”
Sighing, her father squeezed her shoulder. “Your mother feels out of place here.”
Being human, her mother sometimes faced the same scorn as Fawn, but whereas Fawn’s hair could cover her ears, her mother's hair was too short to do the same.
Fawn’s father glanced down, noticing her disappointment. “I’ll tell you what. You and I will go. Your mother will be okay here with Grandma and Grandpa for the evening.” He lowered his voice again. “If she tries to say no, I’ll hold her down and you tickle her until she gives in.”
Fawn rolled her eyes with a smile. “You really think she’ll say yes?”
He nodded. “I know so. Let’s get cleaned up, and we’ll go.”
Fawn tried not to run toward the house, but she couldn’t help it.
They were going to eat in the village! She skidded to a stop, remembering she’d left Ivy’s halter hanging on the back fence.
They’d been walking the perimeter, but Ivy grew restless, so Fawn removed the halter and let her wander for a bit.
Mares could be testy, something Fawn learned quickly.
It had been easier to let the girl roam than to deal with her in her ornery state.
“One second,” she called over her shoulder as she jogged to the fence closest to the palace walls.
Lifting the halter and lead rope from the fence, she turned and froze.
A large group of people strapped with weapons quietly stalked across her grandparents’ pasture, gesturing toward the palace walls.
Fawn’s lungs seized, refusing to pull in air.
The gleam of steel caught the fading sun, a glint that froze her lungs harder than the mountain air ever had.
What if they are rebels? Her father warned her the fae kingdoms had them, but she never thought she’d see them.
“What’s taking so long?” her father’s voice shouted from near the barn. Fawn drew in a sharp breath, eyes wide, as the rebels froze and turned toward her father. A man from the group looked around the pasture, spotting her still form.
Making a split-second decision, she took off running toward her father, shouting at the top of her lungs. “Dad! Help!”
Moments later, he appeared over the small rolling hill with a bow and quiver of arrows, moving faster than she’d ever seen him run.
He must have grabbed it from the barn. They kept weapons there in case they needed to fend off wild animals.
Noticing the group of men, his eyes widened, and he sped up. “Get back to the house, now!”
Her legs stumbled at first, heavy with terror, before instinct took over. Run .
Pushing hard, she ran, cursing her lack of fae speed. Someone in the group barked out orders Fawn couldn’t make out, and she looked back with horror as her father met them head-on.
Fawn screamed for her grandfather, praying he heard her in time to help. Forcing her legs faster, she begged the gods to keep them safe. Her voice cracked, raw with desperation, the sound tearing at the stillness of the ranch.
Her mother burst out of their front door as her grandfather ran around the side of the house. His eyes looked past her and widened. Grandpa disappeared into the house, emerging with a bow and quiver and a sword strapped to his waist.
Her mother ducked inside, returned with her sword, and jumped off the porch. “Get inside with your grandmother,” she commanded Fawn and ran toward the open field.
Fawn’s foot caught in the end of her skirts, sending her tumbling to the ground. Being summer, the ground lacked its usual blanket of snow, leaving nothing to cushion her fall. She hit the ground with a sickening crack, and black dots clouded her vision before everything faded away.
“You missed two questions on your exam today,” Dean’s father informed him. “ Two .”
Dean’s mother sat quietly, eating her dinner as if her husband hadn’t just spoken to her son like he’d murdered an angel.
“I had the highest grade in the class,” Dean pointed out, hoping his father might congratulate him for once.
“No one will follow an uneducated king,” his father said with disgust. “Our family has protected Eden for centuries, and I will not allow you to put our people at risk because you’d rather gallivant around with your friends instead of study.”
Dean’s hand tightened around his fork. “Has Fate shown you my demise?” he asked coolly.
He knew his indifferent attitude only angered his father more, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself.
The daily private ‘training’ sessions with General Craven had changed Dean.
He no longer cowered in his father’s presence.
He kept the peace when he could, but he no longer bothered to feign respect for his father.
The king’s icy eyes pinned Dean in place. “You will be the king our people deserve. If I have to chain you to a table until you can recite every tomb in their ancient library, so be it.”
Dean shoveled more potatoes into his mouth to keep from telling his father off.
Every night, Dean wished he was anyone other than the future Garden King.
Maybe it was best they hadn't found Fawn yet.
If his parents treated her the way they treated him, he would kill them, and he had no desire to be king yet.
“Yes, father,” Dean relented, too tired to fight.
Optimistic excitement broke his morose thoughts, and he fought the urge to smile. Fawn .
He felt her growing excitement, and he wanted to enjoy it. Not taint it with his parents’ nagging. “May I be excused?” he asked politely.
The king sighed and waved his hand. “Go.”
Dean stood and quickly pushed his chair under the table.
Fawn’s joy faded, and Dean’s heart pounded against his chest as her anxiety speared through him.
Her terror climbed, and he gripped the chair next to him.
“What’s wrong?” his mother asked, frantic, as she stood and rounded the table toward him. “Dean?” He might have laughed at her uncharacteristic display of concern if not for the panic clawing at his insides.
“Fawn,” Dean managed to say. The fear disappeared as fast as it’d come. His own fear gripped him tightly, and he closed his eyes to focus on the bond.
“ Dean ,” his father barked from beside him.
Dean faintly registered his mother calling for a healer and his father demanding he calm down.
“Something’s wrong,” he choked out. “She’s hurt.” He clutched at his chest and closed his eyes, reaching for the bond. “I can’t feel the bond.” Opening his eyes, he met his father’s piercing gaze. “We have to find her.”
Dean’s mother awkwardly rubbed circles on his back, and his father remained quiet, scrutinizing his son like an annoying problem to be solved.
Dean straightened, helplessness engulfing him like a too-tight blanket.
Still, his father said nothing.
Fawn blinked awake, groaning at the throbbing in her head. Her bedroom slowly came into focus, and she glanced out the window into the night.
What time is it? I don’t remember getting in bed.
A sob penetrated the silence, followed by a teary voice. “Fawn? Honey, are you awake?”
Pain shot through Fawn’s skull when she turned toward her grandmother, taking in her disheveled state. “Grandma? Why are you crying? What’s going on?”
Her grandmother sniffled and grabbed Fawn’s hand. “Rebels attacked the ranch and palace yesterday,” she began, her voice strangled.
Memories clouded Fawn’s vision, and she sucked in a sharp breath as her mind replayed her father aiming his bow at the group of men. She tried to push herself into a sitting position, but her grandmother laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Your parents…” she began with tears streaming down her face.
“Honey, your parents are gone.” Sobs wracked the old woman’s body.
“Your grandfather managed to save you, but when he went back to help…” She hiccupped.
“He was too late, and the rebels were gone.” The older woman took a deep breath to calm herself.
“They managed to get into the palace garden and kill the queen.”
Something inside Fawn cracked, splintering her chest down the middle with a soul-crushing pain. Her grandmother whispered soothing words, crying with Fawn over their loss.
Her shoulders heaved as she sobbed in her grandmother’s arms. Drawn by the sound, her grandfather joined them and wrapped his arms around them both.
“I’m sorry, squirt. I tried to get to them.
” One of the strongest men she knew took a shuddering breath and released a quiet sob of his own. “I tried.”
Later that evening as she laid in bed, a deep self-loathing filled every crack her parents’ death made.
Had she not lost her temper with Robert, forcing her family to flee to the fae lands, her father would be making her laugh at the dinner table. Instead, she’d let her emotions rule her behavior, and it aided in her parents’ death.
Her lip started to tremble, and her emotions threatened to take over once again.
No.
She shoved her grief down, locking away her pain in a tight box. Never again would she allow her emotions to destroy anything else. It wouldn’t be hard because losing the two most important people in her life had already killed something inside her.
Three people died yesterday, but only two stopped breathing.
Dean bolted upright in bed, clutching at his chest. He’d been staring at the large canopy above him, unable to sleep, his thoughts fixed on the silent bond.
Fawn’s confusion hit first, followed by a grief so sharp it knifed through him and stole his breath. Though his mate was in distress, relief flared—she was alive—but it died quickly when, moments later, the bond faded to nothing.
Panic set in again, much like it had a few days ago when the bond went quiet. Those silent days had been hell, and he didn’t know if he could survive them again. He’d stopped praying to the gods long ago—they had done nothing but allow his father to hurt him—but he prayed now.
Don’t take her from me, he begged. Please.
Two weeks later, his father returned from the one kingdom they hadn’t checked–the Human Kingdom.
Humans couldn’t be a royal fae’s mate, and fae children had to be in the fae lands for their magic to manifest. There had been no reason to look there, but after the bond faded, the council advised a search just in case.
The grim look on the king’s face made Dean’s stomach plummet.
“We found her,” his father said, voice softer than Dean had ever heard. “According to the birth records, Fawn was a half-human, half-fae girl living in the garden region of the Human Kingdom with her parents.”
Dean absorbed the words; his mind snagged on one. “Was?” No.
“It was reported recently that the girl and her parents died in a carriage accident.”
His mother made a sound between a cry and a gasp. “That can’t be.”
The king’s eyes cut to the queen. “I assure you, it can. This is precisely why the mates of royals are brought to the palace when they’re revealed; it’s too risky to leave them unprotected.” His father ranted on, calling the loss of Dean’s mate disastrous—an omen that could mean Eden’s downfall.
Everything around Dean faded to background noise. Nothing his parents said mattered after his entire world imploded. Dean stared out of the window at the palace gardens and let the darkness consume him.