She grabbed at her chest, and at first, I couldn’t make sense of what had happened. The world seemed to be spinning, and everything was blurry. My body was weak, and it was becoming hard to take each breath.
Something black bubbled from her chest. The hunter let out half a scream and then fell to the stones at the top of the steps, part of her robes covering my feet and legs.
I looked up and blinked through the haze. A woman with dark hair knelt at my side and placed her cool hands on my face.
“Oh, my sweet girl,” she said, tears in her voice. “Hang in there. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Angela? I opened my mouth to try to say my sister’s name, but I could no longer speak.
“Help me lay her down,” she said.
A young girl with white-blonde hair came around to my other side, and I tried to smile at her. Zara.
They lifted my body and laid me down on the top of the steps near where the hunter had fallen. Angela ripped open the neck of my shirt and placed both her palms over my heart. She closed her eyes and leaned down so close I could smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo.
l gasped for breath as the poison began to leave my system. When I opened my eyes again, my vision had cleared slightly, and I regained some of my ability to move. I lifted my hand to Zara’s and squeezed her wrist, letting my head fall against her arm.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Zara and my sister had arrived just in time. They had saved my life.
But the battle wasn’t over.
When I could manage it, I sat up and stared at the group of guards still fighting two hunters. Most of the shades had been destroyed, but much of my army was either dead or injured.
“Jackson,” I said, trying to stand.
Zara and Angela rushed to hold me up.
“He’s fine,” Angela said. “We have to get you inside to safety. You’re in no condition to keep fighting.”
“No, I need to find him. They should be down here fighting,” I said. “Where are they?”
But then, as my vision cleared a little more, I caught sight of him. He pushed his way through the guards and fell to his knees at my feet, wrapping his arms around my legs and placing his face against my stomach. His shoulders shook, and when he looked up at me, tears glistened in his eyes.
“Thank God you’re okay,” he said as he stood. “I was in the trees and saw the hunter. I thought I’d lost you.”
I threw my arms around him and kissed the side of his neck. “I’m okay,” I whispered. “We have to finish this.”
“There are only two left here in the city, but Lea’s also fighting one out there in the woods,” he said, pulling away and looking around.
“All by herself?” I asked.
His eyes met mine and he nodded. I understood from his gaze that he had left her there.
“I’m fine, Jackson,” I said. “Find Aerden. Get back out there and help her.”
“There she is,” Zara said, pointing to the crack in the dome.
Lea stood on the edge of the hole at the top of the shield, her bow raised. She drew back the string and sent a glimmering arrow straight into the heart of one of the two remaining hunters. They had been fighting in a group of guards and citizens, but her aim was remarkable. The hunter screeched and grasped at the arrow, greenish-black blood pulsing down the front of her robes as she fell to the street.
Lea’s eyes scanned the street, but she must not have had a good angle on the last hunter, because she shifted and flew down to join the guards on the street level. She disappeared into the crowd.
There was only one hunter left, and she had managed to fight her way through the guards to the castle steps. She was only a few feet away from us when her last remaining ally fell.
She raised her arms, palms up, and took in a deep breath. Guards tried to attack her, but she had conjured a temporary shield around herself. Jackson, Zara, and I all ran toward her, our weapons ready. Jackson began casting, his hands encased in ice. He conjured a sharp spear of pure blue light, but when he threw it toward her, it merely shattered and fell to the ground like shards of glass.
None of our attacks could penetrate her shield. She had given everything she had to casting it, and my heart beat faster, wondering what she was summoning her power to do. If she set off some kind of high-level spell here, in the center of the city, with nearly all that remained of my royal guard surrounding her, she could kill them all.
“Back away,” I shouted, furiously waving my hands for the guards to move back. If we couldn’t get through her shield, we needed to run. “Get to safety.”
A few of the guards tried one last attack, but when it failed, they obeyed me, following Gregory and the rest of the guards to safety behind a stone building farther down the street.
The hunter circled her hands around and around, drawing power from the world surrounding her. A furious wind began to blow, throwing debris all around us.
Jackson took my arm. “Come on,” he said. “You need to stay safe, too.”
I shook my head, but I knew he was right. Tears stung my eyes. This night had been disastrous. The front half of the castle was destroyed. Many of my guards were dead or injured. I had almost died, and even though Angela’s healing was powerful, I still felt weak.
“I don’t think I have the power to shift,” I told him.
I leaned against him, allowing him to hold me up as we ran back toward the castle. Angela followed, but Zara didn’t move. She seemed mesmerized.
“Zara, let’s go,” I shouted, turning back.
Through the rush of guards running away, I saw Lea standing in the street, attempting to raise her bow, but wincing and dropping it back down. I noticed a strip of her shirt had been torn away and wrapped around her arm, blood flowing freely from the wound despite her attempt to stop it.
Panic surged through me. Were we all going to die? Just like this? It could not end like this. I wouldn’t allow it.
“Angela, Lea’s hurt,” I said, grabbing my sister’s hand.
She turned toward Lea and nodded, shifting to white smoke and soaring toward her. She reappeared at Lea’s side and Lea flinched as my sister put her hands on the wound.
I attempted to run back to pull Zara away if I had to, but I stumbled and fell. Jackson rushed to lift me up, but as I stood, I saw the hunter pause. Her head snapped toward Zara and something flashed in her eyes. She stopped casting and stood there for a moment, breathing in and out, a slow smile spreading across her decaying features.
The hunter walked forward, her shimmering shield catching the light of a nearby torch as she moved. She lifted a hand toward Zara and ran the bony remains of her fingers down her white-blonde hair. When she moved away, a thick black streak had formed in Zara’s hair.
Then, without a word, she bent her knees and propelled herself upward, flying through the cracked dome and disappearing into the darkness.
Lea raised her bow, but it was too late.
I ran to Zara, taking her arm and turning her toward me. “What happened?” I said, not understanding what had just passed between them.
She had tears in her eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her sleeve. “I don’t know,” she said. “I was going to run up to her and see if my dagger would pierce through her shield, but when I got closer…”
Her voice cracked and she stepped toward me, pressing her face against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry for a moment. I stroked her hair and looked around at the city, wanting to shed tears of my own.
We had survived, and the children and most of the citizens were safe inside the castle, but the dome was ruined and the blood of at least fifty soldiers ran through the cobblestone streets.
Jackson’s vision had come true sooner than any of us could have imagined.
Lea and Angela walked slowly back toward us, Lea’s lips pressed together in anger.
“I should have had her,” she said as she reached us. “I could have pierce
d through her shield, I think, but I didn’t have the strength. I’m so sorry.”
I reached for her hand, and to my surprise, she took it. I looked into her eyes so I knew she could see that I was genuine.
“If it wasn’t for you, we’d probably all be dead,” I said. “Jackson told me you found another hunter in the woods. Is she dead?”
Lea nodded and pulled her hand away, turning her head to the side for a moment and taking a deep breath. “She’s dead. I think she was the one attacking the dome and casting the most powerful shields, which is why no one could get through to those hunters.”
I hugged Zara close and gradually, her tears subsided. She pulled away and wiped her face.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. “If there’s anything you saw that can help us figure out who organized this attack, maybe it will help us defend ourselves.”
She sniffed and nodded. “That last hunter? When I got close to her, I recognized her,” she said. “I haven’t seen her for several years, but Harper, that thing used to be my Aunt Mindy. My mother’s sister. Or at least I thought it was her sister. Now I know she was more like her great-great-granddaughter or something, but either way, I knew Mindy as my favorite aunt. Another third before me. She had been the one to train me as a little girl, and all the magic I learned growing up was because of her. We’d been very close, but I didn’t want to contact her after my mother died. I had no idea what had happened to her.”
She dissolved into tears again, and I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. This poor girl had been through so much already, and to see a beloved aunt turned into such a horrible thing must have been shocking and heartbreaking.
“I’m so sorry, Zara.”
“I should have at least tried to kill her with my dagger,” she said. “It had belonged to my mother. What if it could have pierced through her shield?”
I shook my head and looked around at the group gathering around us. All my demon friends. The guards and the citizens who had stayed outside the castle to fight.
I realized they were all looking to me to say something, or to tell them what to do or how to begin picking up the pieces of our city.
“This is not a time to doubt or second-guess our actions,” I said, struggling to speak loud enough for all to hear. “Everyone here fought with bravery and courage. You gave everything you had to save our city and our people, and while we will honor those who fell today, we will be thankful that we are still here. Still alive.”
I reached for Jackson’s hand and he moved to my side to steady me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d even be able to stand.
“Willow, do you think you can patch up the primary shield of the dome for the night? At least enough to block a smaller attack, just in case the hunter who left comes back with reinforcements?”
The young girl stepped forward and nodded. “I’ll do what I can,” she said. “But I’m weak. It may be some time before I’m able to cast again.”
“Angela,” I said, turning to my sister. “Take a few of the guards and have them clear the entrance to the castle. Go down and get Courtney. She should be able to recharge Willow’s power enough for her to rebuild the dome.”
Angela nodded and Gregory motioned for two guards to begin clearing the main entrance to the castle.
“Anyone else who has important information about what happened can meet with Gregory tonight, if you have the strength,” I said. “If you saw any clue as to which priestess these hunters were working for, like an emerald pendant or bracelet—any gemstone at all—let him know. Gregory, are you up for taking some notes tonight?”
He straightened his shoulders and bowed his head. “Of course, Your Highness.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I can help,” Jackson said into my ear. “I’ll help get you settled inside so you can rest, and then I’ll join him out here.”
I nodded, wanting to seem stronger, but knowing I was still incredibly weak from the hunter’s poison.
Gregory must have seen the exhaustion in my eyes. He stepped forward and leaned in so no one else could hear. “Get some rest, Princess. I’ll take over from here.”
I started to protest, but a wave of dizziness made me unsteady on my feet and Jackson tightened his hold on me.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll be in my father’s chambers. Promise you’ll come get me if anything happens.”
He bowed and turned to direct the people to begin cleaning up the debris and stone in the streets.
Jackson led me up the castle steps, Zara coming around to my other side to help steady me. The front entrance had been cleared, and the two of them walked with me through the throne room and up to the second floor.
I had my own suite of rooms here in the castle, but for some reason, I just wanted to feel close to my father right now. Maybe a part of me hoped that while I slept, he would come to me in my dreams, just as the cloaked woman had, and tell me what to do.
Zara kissed me on the cheek and then left us alone in my father’s old bedroom. Jackson lifted me up and carefully lay me down in the soft bed. He covered me with a feathered blanket and stroked my hair, the warmth of his body comforting me as he lay at my side.
“We almost lost the city,” I said, the tears I’d been holding back for hours finally falling down my cheeks and sliding back into my hair and on the pillow. “I thought everyone would be safe here, and that nothing would be able to break through those layers of shields so easily. Jackson, I—”
“Shhhh,” he whispered, his mouth so close to my ear, I could feel the warmth of his breath against my neck. “Rest, my love. Just rest, and everything is going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. We’re survivors, remember?”
He ran a fingertip down my cheek, wiping away some of the tears. I reached out and brought his hand to my lips, and then held it close to my chest.
“There’s more coming, isn’t there?” I asked, my voice almost nothing in this huge, opulent room. I felt so incredibly small.
“Yes, Harper, there is more coming,” he said. He placed his palm against my face and waited until I lifted my eyes to his. “But we will face it all together. And we will win.”
I smiled and swiped at my eyes. What would I do without this beautiful demon in my life? I never knew I could love someone so completely.
“Get your rest,” he said. “I’ll come check on you when I’m done helping Gregory.”
I nodded, my eyes so heavy now, I could hardly keep them open. He stood and then leaned over to kiss my forehead.
By the time he had left the room, I was already asleep.
The Key
After several hours of cleaning and dealing with the aftermath of the attack, the rest of the group took a break and sat down to dinner, but I had no appetite.
I still felt so unsettled after my close run-in with that hunter. God, she had almost killed me.
I pressed a hand to the key I still wore around my neck. I’d placed it back inside my shirt where no one else could see it, but the burns on my chest reminded me that it was there.
If it hadn’t been for this key, I would be dead.
When Aerden had first given me the key, I had taken it as a token of his loyalty and friendship. At the time, I was about to become engaged to his twin brother, so it seemed appropriate and incredibly sweet.
He hadn’t told me where he got it or why he chose that particular gift, only that I should keep it with me at all times and that it would keep me safe.
I had placed the key on this rope and worn it ever since, keeping it close to my heart.
Until today, it had never done anything but remind me of him. I was desperate to ask him where he had found it, but I could tell that the battle had affected him. Maybe I should have stayed with him instead of disappearing into the trees, but all I’d been able to think about was getting to a better vantage point and taking down as many of those suckers as possible.
I took a deep breath and walked through the halls of the
castle. All of the children had been safely returned to their homes, and since the shield had been partially repaired, the village had grown quiet, most of the city’s residents asleep in their beds.
Harper had been lucky there wasn’t more damage to the castle itself. This castle had probably stood for more than a thousand years, and it would have been a shame to lose it so soon after her father’s death.
I had thought taking a walk would make me feel better, but being here only reminded me of the castle I had left behind when I followed Jackson to the human world.
I was a princess, too, after all. And though I’d thought many times about going back to see my father, I had serious doubts that he would welcome me with open arms the way Harper’s father had when she first arrived.
Going home was on my mind now, though. When Andros had told me about the rumors of a diamond stone guardian in the King’s City of the north, I hadn’t believed him. After seeing the diamond pendant on that hunter, though, I had a sick feeling in my stomach.
Was it just some kind of horrible coincidence? Or did my father have something to do with this?
I shook my head and pushed the thought aside.
The hunters belonged to the Order of Shadows, and it was believed that diamonds were the gemstone of the High Priestess. What could my father possibly have to do with her? He may be harsh and he may often make decisions that others in his kingdom don’t agree with, but I knew in the deepest part of myself that he would never make an alliance with the Order of Shadows.
Still, something was eating at me.
Why bring a diamond stone guardian to his city just after he sealed the gates?
I wandered through the hallways on the main level of the castle, wishing I could make sense of what was going on.
Paintings of past kings and queens adorned the walls. Depictions of everything from great battles to serene farmland had been hung up and down every corridor. One particular painting caught my eye, and I walked over to it, pushing my own regrets deeper into my belly.
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