When Ashes Fall (Beneath the Briars #2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Briar

Knox kept his hand on my elbow as he led me through the hallways, past the tree of unity with its multicolored leaves, and on toward the front door where Pierce and Lyra waited for him. Dromon’s boots tapped against the floor as he followed us.

Knox moved so fast that I had to jog to keep up with him or risk faceplanting. “Aren’t you going to dress before going out there?” I asked breathlessly.

He glanced down at himself as if just realizing he was still nude, but his steps didn’t slow. Gizzi remained perched on my shoulder, his tail around my neck and his tiny claws digging into my skin as he hung on. His claws were sharp but not painful, and I was glad for his reassuring presence.

Zephyr bobbed up and down as he flew beside me, his blue and gold dragonfly wings buzzing as he went. Paler than normal, his gray eyes kept darting to the side like he was contemplating fleeing, but he remained by my side.

Taking pity on the sprite, I handed my basket out to him and stumbled as the motion caused me to trip over my feet. I managed not to fall when I staggered behind Knox; I was pretty sure if I fell, he’d keep dragging me along.

“Here, take this,” I said to Zephyr.

Zephyr grasped the basket and pulled it away from me to clutch it against his chest.

“Take it to the healer’s room,” I told him. “I’ll see you there in a bit.”

Maybe.

I had no idea how any of this would go, but from what I’d learned in life, it probably wouldn’t work out in my favor. Still, I couldn’t drag Zephyr along for this; there was no reason for us all to suffer.

“You should go with him,” I told Gizzi through my mind.

“I’m staying with you.”

I wasn’t going to argue with the tiny lowleeto. He was small, but he could kill someone with one bite. Zephyr wasn’t quite as lethal, and I worried he’d get hurt if he continued with us.

“Are you sure?” Zephyr asked me, his voice containing the beautiful, lilting accent of the sprites.

“Yes, go on,” I assured him.

He fell back and hovered a few feet behind us. His wings fluttered lazily before he surged forward to fly beside me again.

“I’ll stay with you… for now,” he said, his chin set stubbornly.

I decided not to fight with him. “Knox, you need clothes.”

“The fuck I do,” he snarled.

My eyes widened at this as Bertie and some of the other sprites fluttered down from the rafters to float beside the door. He shouldn’t be out there with my mother while looking like this.

After everything she did to him, does it matter if she sees him naked now?

No, it didn’t, but I’d still prefer that it didn’t happen. Unfortunately, he didn’t agree with me as he continued heedlessly onward.

Lyra opened the door before we reached it, and Knox stormed through. Our feet thudded down the stairs, and I continued jogging to keep pace with him as we crossed the bailey.

“Open the gates!” Knox called as we got closer to them.

I couldn’t see the sprites gathered on top of the castle walls; they’d chosen to be invisible to hide themselves from these new arrivals, but the handles on the pulleys that maneuvered the gates started spinning. The massive doors creaked open to reveal the road and town beyond.

On my shoulder, Gizzi’s claws bit deeper into my skin before he relaxed. Zephyr stayed beside me while Lyra, Dromon, and Pierce flanked Knox.

Through the open gates, an entourage of riders trotted down the road, past the empty houses and rosebushes. The horses’ hooves, and those of the creatures carrying the cyclops, clip-clopped against the red bricks.

The giant beasts the cyclops rode were at the back of the pack. Those creatures stood at least twelve feet tall at the shoulders, had tusks over six feet long, and were the color of the sun that didn’t shine in this kingdom.

I’d never seen a cadern before, but I’d heard tales of the great beasts, their size and strength. They came from Volcania, the cyclops’s kingdom.

The couple of dozen men and women of the riding party were only fifty feet away and closing the distance far faster than I would have liked.

The white flags they waved flapped in the breeze and stood out against the slate-colored sky.

My mother rode the big, black stallion on the right side of the procession.

I gulped and resisted the impulse to wipe my sweaty palms on my pants. I’d hoped never to see her again, but here she came, and they might force me to leave with her.

The tribunal can’t make you go if you don’t want to.

But I suspected they could and would.

In the distance, the shadow dragon roared. The riders struggled to keep the horses calm as they pranced nervously; some turned to the side as their ears flicked and their nostrils flared.

When they managed to restrain their mounts, the riders glanced up warily, but the flat, gray sky revealed no hint of the beast. “Will it kill them?” I whispered, afraid to speak any louder.

“It won’t expose itself unless it’s necessary,” Knox replied.

While I wouldn’t mind if the shadow dragon killed some of those coming toward us, like my mother, I didn’t want it to kill all of them. If the representatives of the other kingdoms failed to return, they’d blame the shifters, and war would erupt.

The last war the kingdoms endured had destroyed the demigods and turned their kingdom into the desert wasteland of No Man’s Land. With only four shifters remaining, the kingdom of Wildwood wouldn’t stand a chance against the others.

I’d also prefer it if the four remaining shifters didn’t die. Not to mention, I currently resided here too and far preferred life… even if it did enjoy kicking me in the ass.

“Stay here,” Knox commanded.

I didn’t know who he was talking to, but if it was me, I had no intention of obeying him. As much as the idea of seeing my mother again made me want to spew my breakfast all over the bailey, I wouldn’t let him face this contingent alone. They’d come here for me, and I would be involved.

Fifty feet away from the gates, the riders stopped. Other than my mother and sister—I almost groaned aloud at the realization that perfect Rosalie was here too—I recognized none of them. As far as I knew, Knox had no allies out there, and I wouldn’t let him walk into a nest of vipers.

Then my gaze settled on a tall, regal figure sitting atop another horse. A small breath escaped when I recognized Devnair, the elf Knox and I freed from the harem. With him here, Knox might have one ally, but he still couldn’t go out there alone.

Knox walked away from me, confident and undeterred by his nudity. When I started after him, he turned, and the look on his face froze me.

“I told you to stay here,” he growled.

The hair on my arms stood up as his eyes burned into mine, but his words aggravated me. “Stop ordering me around.”

“You’re in my kingdom; you’ll do as I say.”

I ground my teeth together as my hands fisted. “But they’re here because of me.”

“Which is why you’ll stay here.” His gaze went past me to the other shifters. “Don’t let her leave these gates.”

“We won’t,” Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon vowed together.

And they would keep me here, but that didn’t mean they all had to stay. “One of you should go with him,” I suggested.

The three shifters ignored me as their stony gazes remained focused on the riders outside the gates while Knox turned and walked away. His long legs ate up the ground as he strode confidently toward the gates, still completely heedless of his nudity.

All the riders eyed him with interest as he approached… especially the women. Despite my concern for him, jealousy twisted my stomach into knots.

“It’s official,” Gizzi whispered in my head.

“What is?” I inquired.

“He’s crazier than you.”

I had to agree with that assessment. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get him imprisoned or killed.”