Rae of Hope

by W.J. May

  It wasn’t until a full minute had passed that Cassiel looked up with a glare.

  “So where’s the flippin’ drink?”

  Dylan jumped in surprise, as if he’d been thinking about something else, before pulling a handful of bronze coins out of his pocket and laying them quickly upon the table. “Right. Get yourself whatever you want.”

  Three pairs of eyes shot down to the coins, each more baffled than the last, then back up to Dylan. Tanya kicked him under the table for good measure.

  “Are you serious?” Cassiel asked in disgust. “This is your grand gesture?”

  “What do you expect?” Dylan shot back. “It looks like a carriage ran over my face.”

  The two men shared an indecipherable look, but unless Katerina was mistaken she could have sworn there was a hint of a grin beneath it. A second later, Cassiel pushed to his feet with a frustrated sigh, leaving the money behind as he headed off to the bar. The trio stared after him for a moment before Tanya leapt up as well, hurrying after him.

  “I’m going to help.”

  The second it was just Katerina and Dylan, the mood at the table relaxed significantly. It relaxed to the point where she smacked him in the chest before pelting him with peanuts.

  “What the heck is going on?!” she demanded, lobbing one after another. “You bring us to a festival of lusty nymphs, just to get your butt kicked by the one person in the world you call a friend?!”

  “Hey!” He grabbed her wrists with a bloody grin, putting an end to the attack. “I have a plan, all right? It’s not like we’re going into this blind.”

  She yanked herself free, shaking her head with a reluctant smile. “And that plan is to let the one person you think can help us beat you to a pulp?”

  “Yeah, that’s the way it starts.”

  There was a beat of silence.

  “And how does it end?”

  He wiped his face clean with the hem of his shirt, helping himself to a peanut in the process.

  “It ends different than that.”

  Seven hells! This man is exasperating.

  Resigned that it was the only answer she was going to get Katerina leaned back against the cracked leather, staring curiously towards the bar. As much as he seemed to hate Dylan, Cassiel didn’t seemed to have any problem with the rest of them. He and Tanya were talking quietly as they waited for drinks, lighting up with the occasional smile whenever something amusing was said.

  “So, who is he, anyway?” Katerina asked. “This friend of yours?”

  Dylan followed her gaze with a thoughtful expression on his face. Despite having taken a brutal beating, there wasn’t an ounce of malice as he stared at the fae. Just a kind of brotherly affection and nostalgia Katerina didn’t completely understand. “Cassiel is one of the High Born.”

  The surprises just kept coming.

  The fae didn’t have royalty, but if they did Cassiel would have been in their inner circle. It was even more shocking because, of the thousands of fae that had died in the rebellions, none of the High Born were said to have survived. That being said, the princess was quickly coming to discover that news of the royal army’s stunning victories had been greatly exaggerated.

  That’s all well and good, but why in the world would he ever help me?

  Dylan read her thoughts as easily as if she’d spoken them aloud.

  “Believe it or not, he actually has a strong moral compass—buried beneath all the bitterness and resentment. A sense of honor.” Dylan gave his friend another fond look. “A frightened girl on the run? The legitimate heir to the throne being hunted down by assassins? He won’t be able to walk away from something like that.”

  Katerina’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “So we’re going to tell him the truth? That I’m the princess?”

  “We’re going to have to,” Dylan replied practically. “You can’t lie to a fae. They’ll always know.” He glanced towards the bar again before kicking back in his chair. “Besides, Cass is just like every other High Born exiled by your father’s rule. He’s drunk, and bored, and restless like you wouldn’t believe. We can use that.”

  As if on cue Tanya and Cassiel returned, their arms laden down with drinks. They doled them out around the table before sliding into the booth, smelling of whiskey and looking significantly more relaxed than when they’d left.

  “Looks like you started without us,” Dylan said with a smile.

  Cassiel’s eyes flashed up and Katerina braced for another punch but, much to her surprise, the smile was returned. “You’ve made some charming friends since the last time we met. Do they simply not know you yet, or have you paid them off?”

  Dylan took the insult in stride, downing a shot of whisky with a grin. “You’ll soon learn that Cass has a delightful sense of humor—just one of his endearing qualities. Second only to that inflated sense of self.”

  The two girls stiffened but the fae lifted his drink to Dylan’s, clinking the glass.

  “Cheers.”

  It was the strangest reconciliation Katerina had ever seen, but it couldn’t have been more welcome all around. Together, the four of them downed their whiskey and reached for another. It went down as smoothly as the first, and before long they were starting on their third.

  The liquor did the trick. Loosening their tongues and lowering their defenses all at once. It didn’t take long for the ice to break and the conversations to begin. It wasn’t easy at first, but it did get considerably easier the more they drank. Katerina suspected this was why Dylan suggested a bar.

  “So it looked like you were enjoying the festival,” Tanya began slyly, shooting the fae a sideways grin as she downed her fourth drink. “I’m sorry if we interrupted…”

  “This year wasn’t half bad.” Cassiel leaned back in his chair, stretching his long legs beneath the table. “It was nothing compared to the summer of forty-two, but—”

  “Wait. The summer of forty-two?” Katerina frowned in confusion before glancing at Dylan for help. “But that was almost half a century ago.”

  Dylan tipped back his drink with a grin. “The fae don’t age the way the rest of us do. Cass is about a hundred years old.”

  Katerina’s mouth fell open in shock. He didn’t look more than twenty. It could have been an awkward moment, but Cassiel simply offered her a lovely smile. “Eighty of those years were good…then I met Dylan.”

  The ranger leaned forward with a hopeful smile.

  “…and they got great?”

  Even Cassiel had to laugh at that one. Albeit, rather reluctantly. The mood at the table lightened even more as the conversation and drinks continued flowing, and it wasn’t that long before the better part of an hour had passed. They ordered food, ordered more drinks, and another hour passed by after that. Not long after, they finally came around to the inevitable question.

  “So what are you doing here, Dylan?” Cassiel’s dark eyes landed on him curiously, taking in every detail. “What kind of trouble have you landed yourself in this time?”

  Dylan’s eyes flashed instinctively to Katerina before he set his drink down with a deliberate smile. “Believe it or not, it isn’t me this time. It’s her.”

  Cassiel followed his gaze, landing on Katerina with a touch of surprise.

  Despite the lively conversation, the fae and the princess hadn’t talked directly much. Katerina couldn’t look at him without feeling incredibly intimidated and shy, and Cassiel wasn’t one to force his company. But all that seemed to fall away as they studied each other for the first time.

  “You look familiar,” he murmured, almost to himself. His dark eyes took on a faraway look as he tried to place it. “I feel like we’ve met before.”

  Katerina shifted nervously in her chair, glancing again at Dylan. She was fairly certain that if this beautiful man had stepped anywhere near the castle, she would have remembered. But his age made that another matter entirely. He could have very easily visited the castle when she was only a child, and she would never have k
nown.

  “You haven’t met her,” Dylan said softly. “But I believe you met her mother. Adelaide.”

  It was hard to tell who was more surprised—the princess or the fae. Both stared at Dylan in complete shock before turning back to each other. Pale as a ghost. At a loss for words. It was quiet for only a fleeting moment, then Cassiel pushed to his feet in a single, fluid movement.

  “You’ve brought me here to help put a Damaris on the throne?” As frightening as they’d seen him, it was nothing compared to how he was now. “You must be out of your bloody mind.”

  Without another word, he stormed out of the tavern. Leaving them all behind.

  They stared after him for a moment, still frozen with shock, before Katerina folded her arms across her chest and shot Dylan a withering glare.

  “And was that part of the plan?”

  A cluster of coins rained down on the table as the three of them bolted outside and into the busy street. The festival was still in full swing, but it only took a second to spot Cassiel striding swiftly through the crowd. Try as he might to blend in, the guy was hard to miss.

  “Hey!” Dylan sprinted after him, Katerina and Tanya hot on his tail. “Come on, man, don’t just walk away!” Still nothing. The three of them ran faster. “Will you hold on for one da—”

  His voice choked off with a sudden gasp as Cassiel spun around at the last second and yanked him into an alley. The girls skidded to a stop on the slick cobblestones a moment later, panting, and watching with wide eyes as the two men faced off.

  “A Damaris, Dylan?” Cassiel was the first to speak, shoving his friend hard in the chest to make his point. “Katerina Damaris—that’s who this is?”

  The princess shrank back against the wall, suddenly jealous of Tanya’s ability to change shape at will. Right now, she’d give anything to have a different face. To have a different name.

  Dylan held up his hands, purposely slowing down the building momentum. “She’s not what you think. Trust me, I thought the same thing when she first sought me out, but I was wrong—”

  “And why exactly did she seek you out?” Cassiel’s voice took on a strange tone, layered with a context Katerina didn’t understand. “Did you ever stop to think about that?”

  For a split second, Dylan actually paused. Then he shook his head firmly, refusing to acknowledge whatever implication had been silently made. “The fairies sent her.”

  That got Cassiel’s attention.

  He stopped pacing at once, turning to Dylan with honest surprise. His dark eyes dilated with impossible intensity as they took in every inch of the ranger’s face, before he slowly turned to the pale-faced, fire-haired girl standing by his side.

  “The fairies,” he repeated softly, still breathing hard but calming down. “Marigold and—”

  “—and Nixie and Beck,” Katerina finished quickly, anxious to prove the validity of her claim. “They found me passed out in the woods after… well… it’s kind of a long story.”

  Cassiel’s face hardened to beautiful stone. “Summarize.”

  The word sent chills down her back, and she glanced at Dylan for confirmation. He nodded his head a fraction of an inch and she took a deep breath, bracing once again to tell her story.

  “My brother Kailas killed the king.” She didn’t know why she was calling him the king instead of her father. “He tried to kill me, too, as I’m the next in line for the throne, but I was snuck out of the castle by those I trust. They chased me through the woods, but I managed to make it to the edge of the kingdom before passing out. When I woke up, I met Marigold and the others. They nursed me back to health for a day, then gave me Dylan’s name. We’ve been running ever since.”

  It was certainly the quick version—missing several key details. But he asked for a summary.

  The little alley fell silent as all those gathered absorbed the enormity of those words. Here they were, just four people standing in the middle of a woodland festival, but they happened to be the only four people alive who knew the crown prince had committed high treason.

  Unfortunately, that didn’t prove enough of a selling point for the fae.

  “And why should I care?” He didn’t ask the question of Katerina, but of Dylan. Angry as he was, he wouldn’t antagonize a young woman about the death of her kin. “Tell me, Dylan, why should I, or any of those like me, care about the death of the king? The man was a monster.”

  “Cass,” Dylan chided him with soft reproach, but it didn’t sound like his heart was really in it. Standing just a few feet away, Tanya looked as though she agreed with the fae.

  “His arrogance, his bloodlust, his intolerance of those who weren’t his kind?” Cassiel was preaching to the choir, but it didn’t seem to matter. There was a fire in his eyes that set Katerina’s teeth on edge. A deep-seated hatred she was only beginning to understand. “It wouldn’t have been long before he rounded up all the rest of us and had his soldiers finish what they started.” His face tightened with rage and he stormed back towards the main street, only to whirl back around again—incensed beyond reason. “And don’t even get me started on the prince—”

  “The prince who’s about to become the king?” Dylan interrupted fiercely.

  For the second time, the alley went quiet. But while the others fumed and worried in silence, the princess was just starting to realize the key to her survival.

  Cassiel didn’t want to see her brother on the throne. Neither did Tanya. Neither did Dylan. Neither did the rest of the supernatural community, for that matter. The weight of her family blood may have hung like a curse over her head, but this one crucial fact could prove her only salvation.

  The silence stretched on for longer than was bearable before breaking with a quiet question.

  “You have the rightful claim?”

  Katerina’s head snapped up to see Cassiel’s eyes burning into hers. She hated the way he was looking at her. Like he was trying to decide between the lesser of two evils. But on this point, at least, she was perfectly clear.

  “Yes. I am.”

  There was something different about the way she said the words. A ringing sort of authority that echoed off the stones. The others lifted their heads, stared at her for a moment, then turned to the fae. Waiting for whatever came next.

  But Cassiel had eyes only for Katerina. Staring so hard, it was like he was looking into her very soul. For a moment, he was unconvinced. Then his shoulders fell with an almost inaudible sigh. “What’s your plan?”

  Dylan let out a quick breath, unaware he’d been holding it in. His face cleared with a deep kind of relief before his lips curved up into a smile. “My plan was to find you.”

  There was a beat of silence.

  “…and?”

  Another beat.

  “And hope you could come up with something better than ‘try not to panic.’”

  Katerina closed her eyes, resisting the urge to wrap her fingers around Dylan’s neck. I knew it. I knew he didn’t have a plan.

  Cassiel shot him a look of sheer exasperation, running his hands back through his blond hair. His eyes lifted towards the horizon, lost in thought, before lightening with a sudden idea. “Brookfield Hall.”

  Just two simple words, but Katerina got the feeling they were going to change her life forever. At any rate, Dylan grabbed onto them like a life raft.

  “You think that could work?” he asked quietly, not daring to hope.

  Cassiel looked uncertain, then worried, then resigned. “It’s the only chance we have. At least until we figure out the next step.”

  The four of them fell quiet for a moment before Tanya stomped her foot, her cinnamon hair quivering with impatience. “Does someone want to clue the rest of us in? Like now?”

  Cassiel glanced over with a faint grin, while Dylan rolled his eyes.

  “Brookfield Hall is a safe house we used to have in the mountains. It’s a long way from here, but it’s completely off the grid. No matter how many people might be hunti
ng you, they’ll never make it all the way to Brookfield. You’ll be safe.”

  “For a while,” Cassiel clarified. Katerina got the feeling the guy wasn’t exactly the ‘glass half-full’ type. “You’ll be safe for a while, until we figure out what the heck we’re going to do next.”

  The others shared a quick glance, more worried than they were letting on, then Tanya flipped back her hair and set off towards the street with a confident smile.

  “To Brookfield, then. We’ll get there in one piece, or die trying.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Cassiel echoed, following along behind. “One day at a time.”

  Katerina stared after them with wide eyes, shaking her head in disbelief. “You guys have got to learn to give a better pep talk—”

  She took a step to follow them but a hand shot out of nowhere, pulling her back. She glanced back in surprise to see Dylan standing right behind her, staring down into her eyes.

  “Is this all right?” he asked softly. “The four of us. Is this something you want?”

  She pulled back a few inches in surprise. “Do I have a choice?”

  His face tightened with concern, and he slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

  She absorbed this silently, trying not to look as frightened as she felt. “Is the fae going to kill me in my sleep?”

  He shook his head much faster this time. “No, he’d make sure you were awake.”

  “Oh, well, that’s comforting.” Katerina glanced up again, forcing a smile. A trick she’d learned from him. “Then it’s the four of us. Four of us against the world.”

  There was a heavy pause. One that got even heavier by the second.

  “…don’t say it like that.”

  Katerina stifled a shudder, hurrying after him towards the street.

  “Yeah, it sounded better in my head.”

  Chapter 12

  They spent the night in Lakewood, moving to a different inn on the other side of the village. The last thing they wanted was to explain to the proprietor of the first one why it was covered in blood, and according to the two men the four of them were going to need all the rest they could get before starting out on the long journey to Brookfield the following morning.