by Tara Brown
“What are you, Max?”
He licked his lips and watched the shop. “Complicated.” His dark-blue eyes sparkled, and I knew he was so much more than that.
“You aren’t a man though, are you?”
“What? What does that even mean?” He tilted his head and gave me an unimpressed look. “I am most definitely a man. Bloody hell, what kind of question is that? If you want, I can show you I am a man, but it will compromise your virtue, Princess, and I think we both know how I feel about that.” He was angry or insulted or both.
I blushed. “I didn’t mean it like that, not like that.” The heat crept down into me. I realized the answer he had given me made me feel sick. He was a man. Though I had been talking about something completely different, his answer actually stuck me hard. He had become a man. At some point in his life, all the while I was in love with him, he had become a man. I looked down and tried to stop myself from reacting to the comment and its meaning. “Why are you here?”
He looked at me suddenly. “What? Where is the man? Did we lose him?”
I looked up at the store and pointed at the door to the shop. The woman was holding his arm as they left and walked lazily up the street. I jumped down off the pallets and walked into the crowd, following from a safe distance.
He grabbed my arm. “What—what was that? What made your heart beat so suddenly?”
“You heard that? You heard my heart beating?”
He swallowed like his words were a lump he was forcing down. “I would know the sound of your heart from across the forest.”
“It was nothing.” I couldn’t fight the disgusted look I gave him. He was a man. Images of the women his age in our village flashed, face by face. Which one made him the man who stood before me? His face fell, seeing mine. I turned into the crowd and followed the man. Keeping my face down I watched as he finally left the market and turned up a quiet street.
I could hear Maddox's quiet steps behind me. He was almost silent. I didn’t even try to be quiet.
The young woman giggled and slapped the old man in jest as he ascended a step and rapped with the knocker.
“Good day, sir. Madam!” a man's voice came from the doorway as they walked inside. I continued on, strolling around the entire block until I reached the back of the house.
I took a breath and wished I had my necklace, for more than just the fact I was going to kill this stranger for no reason whatsoever. I pulled my lacy masque from my pocket and slipped it over my face, peeking back at Maddox from the eyeholes. He looked like he wanted to say something. I didn't wait for him to do it. I turned the handle and slipped inside the back door, closing it and leaving him outside.
The house was filled with fineries and smelled of old people.
I heard water pouring in the back of the home as I slipped through the house and hoped it was the servant so I didn’t have to kill him.
I knew the man would be expecting some sex. He didn’t spend all that money for nothing. I could only hope the lady was freshening up, and I wasn't going to bust in on them in an intimate moment. It had become something of a theme with the other men I’d killed, apart from the ones on the breezeway.
I tiptoed up the stairs and looked over the landing, passing doors and corridors. The townhouse was huge, larger than I had expected.
I walked to the door I was hoping they were in, and took a breath. I opened the door a crack and saw the lady dusting her throat. Quickly and silently, I closed the door, turning and walking to the next door. It was empty of people but full of fine furnishings.
The next door was the jackpot. I opened it and snuck a peek. The old man was straightening his hair in front of a huge oval mirror. I slipped into the room and smiled at him as I turned the lock on the door.
“My lord, before I end you, would you like to confess anything to me?” I asked softly, pressing my back into the door.
He looked at me and scowled. “Who the bloody hell are you? What are you doing in here? Who let you in? Giles!”
I put a hand up. “Sir. I mean to ask you only the one question.”
He looked impatiently at me. “Giles!” he called again.
“What part did you play in the death of my father?”
He sighed. “GILES!”
“King Henry Morgentstein.”
His mouth opened to shout again, but he looked at me and stopped. His face drained of color, making his wrinkles look more pronounced. “No.” He put his hands up.
I took a step forward. “What part, sir?”
He took a step back and shook his old face. “No, my dear, I had no part in it. I told them it was a mistake. I tried to warn him. I tried to help him get his family out.”
My nostrils flared. “WHAT PART?” I spat at him.
He cowered and shook his head, closing his eyes, no doubt wishing me gone.
“What part, sir?”
He opened his eyes. “I never had any part in that.” He slumped.
I pulled my daggers and slid one backhanded across his chest. Through the shirt I could see the white meat split and his crimson blood pouring from his skin.
He stepped back and covered his chest with his shaky hands. “Spare me, please. I swear I tried to save them.”
I stabbed the other dagger into his throat and opened his vein. “Not hard enough,” I whispered.
He fell to the ground. His blood made a puddle beneath him. I took his greasy blood on my fingers and wrote on the white wall of the house, slowly. It was something I had been doing more and more.
I wrote I am coming for you, false King Roland and fished the dead man’s pockets with my bloody hands, taking the notes and coins from them. I glanced up at the window, stopping the moment I saw it—him.
The window was open, and in it stood Maddox—only Maddox as I had never seen him. His dark-blue eyes were black as night and fangs hung where his straight white teeth had been. Surprisingly, he was the one with the horrified look.
I jumped back, startled and confused. “Maddox?”
“Amillia, what have you done?”
“The better question is what have you become?” I looked back at the door, knowing I couldn't very well go that way. I was trapped in a room with a dead man, a cryptic message, a man with fangs, and a girl about to walk in on it all.
I refused to look at his face as I walked to the window and climbed out onto the ledge.
“No, the better question is what have you become?” he asked through the fangs.
I whispered, shocked and horrified, “What I had to. Max, you have fangs. And your eyes are so black I can see my soul in them.”
“It’ll take a minute to wear off. I have to relax. When I saw what you did, it just happened. Sometimes it just happens.”
“You can explain it all to me elsewhere. We have to go before the girl comes and finds him.” I turned and hurried along the roof, jumping to the next house. “Let's go, Max. We can't stay here.”
“Amillia, wait.” He waved his hands at me in a panic.
I pushed my legs harder, leaving him there. “We have to go, now!”
“Don't run.” His voice changed. I looked back as his skin burst, and from the chaos came a massive black wolf. I screamed, running harder. I nearly tripped in a panicked attempt to outrun the massive beast.
I leapt to the next roof and pushed my legs. A window several houses over with drapes billowing from it caught my eye. I jumped from roof to roof, diving through the window and slamming it shut, just as the huge black wolf crept up to it.
My lips and nose pressed against the cold glass, making a steamy breath mark on the windowpane. The black wolf's nose did the same. His eyes almost looked sad. Like Artan's mother’s had when she locked eyes with me.
“What are you?” I whispered, holding a hand up to the cold glass.
Chapter Sixteen
I didn’t have answers.
He had changed into a wolf. I didn’t have anything I could say that would make my brain understand or co
mprehend. Legends and lore flew through my mind at a ridiculous pace. Something about a man turning into a wolf was strikingly familiar in my mind. It didn’t scare me. I just didn’t know how to accept and understand it.
I opened the window and peeked my head out. He was gone. The wolf and the boy, both were gone.
I jumped back out the window and stood on the roof, looking around and whistling.
The bright-blue sky had turned to clouds as the fog from the sea overtook the city. I stood up completely when I saw the wings of my friend.
He came. Even though I'd been cruel to him, he came.
I ran and jumped onto his back. I hugged him tightly. “I'm so sorry, Artan.” He turned and flew to the tree.
I hugged him again as I slid off his back. I patted him and walked down the gravel to the tree. As I neared it, a hand grabbed me and pulled me in.
Mani held me to her, hugging me savagely.
I hugged back. I didn’t know why she was so worked up. Granted, I had left under rotten terms, but I had sorted them out in my head, all but my brother.
I pulled back. “What's going on?”
Mani looked back at Katy who spoke softly, “Herrick is still in the city. He's not leaving till he finds you.”
I looked at them both, expecting more to the story but that was all they said. “I'm not worried about him. He can come any time. I will deal with him.”
Mani gave me a look. “You look strange. Are you all right?”
I shook my head slowly, staring off into space. “I don't know. Something very strange has happened. Stranger than witches and magical lockets and dragons.” I paused. “No, about as strange as dragons.”
Katy took a step forward. “What?”
“The boy that I loved my whole life turning into a wolf in front of me. That was different.” I sat on the stool and looked up at them. “I'm not killing another person without some serious answers. I killed a man today who was innocent.”
“We can answer some questions now I suppose.” Katy nodded. “But back to Maddox—he shifted in front of you?”
“I—I—I don't know. I followed a man and killed him because the locket said to. He was an old guy who swore he tried to save my parents. Said he warned my father. Anyway, I was done killing him and just getting to the robbing him part, when I looked up to the window and Maddox was there. Only he had fangs and no color in his eyes, and he was breathing most intensely.” I stopped talking and listened to what I was saying. It made no sense.
“Then what?” Mani asked.
“I climbed out onto the roof and ran from the murder scene. Only when he tried to come with me, instead he turned into a wolf, and I suspect tried to kill me.”
“You ran from him? You fool! No bloody wonder he tried to kill you! Of course he did!”
I looked at Mani like she was crazy. “What? Of course I did! HE HAD FANGS, MANI! FANGS!” I held my hands so my fingers draped in front of my teeth like fangs.
Katy hugged me and rubbed my back. I didn’t cry. I didn’t have any tears. I felt like I was going crazy, only they were already there.
“Nothing is ever going to be normal again. I'm never going to forget that moment; he just burst into wolf.” Anger rose up in me. “And your locket made a mistake. That man was an innocent. I’m starting to see I’m never going home. The list of people is just never ending. I just want to kill Herrick and let it be done. I'm done. What did that man even do? Why did I kill him?”
Katy bit her plump lip and nodded sympathetically like she understood my ranting. “There is a story we have to tell you—”
Mani interrupted her. “Edward should tell her. She needs to see for herself.”
Mani drew a door and opened it, revealing a small village. She offered a hand. “Your answers are in here.”
I slumped, taking it and letting her pull me through the door and into a quaint little town. Peaked, shingled roofs on cottages and small buildings lined the streets that weren’t really streets. They were more like the forest floor, and the small houses were scattered in amongst the largest trees I'd ever seen. The trunks were thick enough for a whole cottage to be carved from one tree.
The people were all dressed like peasants.
I fit right in, and yet the first woman we saw looked at me with a frown that got worse as she noticed the witches. Her pace quickened then, and she refused to make eye contact with me as she hustled into a house. She seemed afraid of us.
I never noticed the grip I had on Mani's hand until I felt my fingers tingling. I let go, letting my fingers brush my sheaths as I received glimpses of scared or worried faces.
It was uncomfortable, but I stopped noticing them anymore when I saw Edward. Then I broke into a run. “ED!”
He lifted his face, instantly panicked. He waved a hand. “DON’T RUN, AMILLIA!”
I slowed, remembering what the witches had said, and looked around.
A gray wolf stalked up, looking like he was hunting me. Fear got the best of me as I broke into a sprint. The creature was hot on my heels. I looked behind me as it leapt. I ducked and pulled both my daggers, facing off against the animal as it skidded and turned around.
“RUN, ED!” I shouted at him. I held the blades and rounded off against the wolf. It leapt and snarled at me. I slashed at it, making contact. But it acted like no wolf I’d ever seen. The moment I sliced even a little, it whimpered and shook its head, as if suddenly it wasn't interested in eating me.
I watched the face of the wolf change. It went from ferocious to cowering and backing up. Defeat, or maybe fear, filled its eyes as it turned and ran.
I held my blades out and turned in a circle. People had gathered. They were looking at me like I was the monster. I didn’t understand.
I looked up suddenly as a cloud moved overhead. I looked, realizing it was Artan. He landed and snorted at me. He was giving me a frustrated look. I took a step toward him and let him guard my back.
The people’s expressions looked considerably worse.
I turned back to the witches. “What in the seven hells is going on? Why are we here?”
Ed grabbed my arm, dragging me from the dragon he clearly feared. “Never run. No matter what, never run. It sparks the animal side of them. They can't control it.”
I pulled back and shook my head. “What? Who?”
He put an angry hand out. “Me. Max. Everyone. We can't fight it.” I got glimpses of fangs and dark eyes on every face as I looked around. My eyes widened. I clutched my brother and dragged him to me.
I whispered harshly, “They're wolves, Ed. Maddox is a wolf. We need to get out of here. Just walk slowly to Artan. He'll let you ride on his back.” I glanced at Artan. He looked like he might roll his dragon eyes at me.
Ed whispered back, “They can hear you whispering, Amillia. They can hear your heart beating rapidly because you're afraid.” He looked defeated. “I can too.”
I stepped back, glancing between my brother and the nearly shifted wolves. “What? Am I dreaming?”
He sighed. “I wish that you were.”
“What are you?”
“Vulkodlak.”
“I don’t know what that means, Edward. Use words I understand.” My tone was sharp as I glanced about the street.
“It means I'm a shape shifter. We all become wolves here.”
“PUT AWAY THE DAGGERS, AMILLIA!” I glanced over to see Maddox storming from a house, pulling on a shirt. The doorway was filled with a pretty lady leaning against the door. She held a child in her hands. Maddox looked fierce, but I looked past him at the pretty lady and the small dark-haired child.
He gave me a savage look as he approached. I glanced at the child once more and sheathed my daggers but still squared off to meet his ferocity.
“Stay here, Ed,” he commanded, and my brother, the rightful heir to the throne, listened. Maddox grabbed my hand, dragging me down the street. He snarled at the witches as we passed them. “Time you two left. I'll bring her back. They don't li
ke your kind here.”
Both curtseyed at him and vanished immediately. I gasped; I hadn’t seen that trick before.
He pulled me into the woods—deep into the woods away from the village. When it was just the two of us, I jerked my hand from his grip. There was no denying my fear of him was still very real. I backed up to a tree, putting my hands on my hilts. “Stay there. Don't come closer.”
He paced back and forth. “You shouldn’t be here. They are not forgiving of strangers with daggers or swords.”
I looked around. “Great. Fine. Take me home. I don’t want to be here. You're”—my voice broke—“a monster.”
His eyes flinched at the word. “No worse a monster than you have become.”
A sickening grin crossed my lips as the reality of us both hit hard. “I suppose.” Behind me logs and stumps broke. I backed up toward the sound, knowing it was Artan. I reached my fingers slowly toward him but kept my gaze on Maddox.
Anger welled in Maddox's eyes, and for a moment I thought he might cry. “I am your guardian, Amillia. It is my job. I look after you. That is all I do. That is why your grandmother brought you to me. You are mine to protect.” His voice strained on the word “mine.”
“Why?”
He shook his head like he was exhausted with me. “I don’t know. It's just always been that way. Your family are royalty and my family are guardians. Some ancient bargain our families made a long time ago. Before the words could even be written.”
Artan lay behind me, shaking the ground a little. I shook my head, sitting down on one of his huge talons. His warmth seeped into me as the words tried to.
“Your blood is different. You're the one they've waited for all this time to unite the seven kingdoms again.”
“No.” I shook my head. “What? Why?”
He leaned against a tree and sighed, locking our eyes. “I shouldn’t be telling you this. But I know you're done with the secrecy. I can tell you are on the last string. And I’m tired of the lies. You're a smart girl. Surely you've guessed Edward and Michael are not your full brothers?”
I felt my stomach drop, but I held my breath and nodded like I already knew. I clearly wasn't as smart as he was giving me credit for.