by Lindsey Duga
“And who will teach me? Certainly not you.” Zach scoffed. “I thought that’s what Royals were supposed to be good at—leading by example.”
“Give it a rest!” Brom finally yelled, chucking a pinecone at Zach’s back. “Both of you.”
That shut us up. There’s nothing worse than being called out by someone younger than you.
Zach and I exchanged uncomfortable glances, but we kept our conversations and attitudes civil well into the afternoon.
The landscape we traveled had changed in the past two days. Though the land was still mostly fields and plains, I could tell we were approaching another forest due to the small copses of trees. True to the morning, the sky remained overcast, and it put me on edge. That, and being two days away from the Crown City’s walls. Deep in my chest I could feel the Forces’ power stronger the farther we got from the castle.
Midday we came to a plowed field nearby a village. In the distance we heard the screeching of a crow. Lorena trotted forward nervously.
I felt it, too. Shadows stretched across my chest like a tight, uncomfortable corset. Resting my hand over my heart, I said, “Something’s close.”
Seeing my pale face, Zach cursed. “This really is like being blind.”
I chose not to comment. Now was not the time to argue about me “stealing” his Sense.
Zach turned his horse around, its hooves agitating the dirt. He searched everywhere—the fields to the southwest, and the trees to the northeast.
It was Bromley who spotted it first. “The skies—”
His words were cut off by a shriek. What I’d first thought was a crow must have been the distant screech of a griffin. It appeared small in the sky, but it was diving toward us at an impossible speed, growing larger by the second. Possessing the powerful, lean body of a mountain cat and the head and wings of an eagle, the griffin was a deadly creature both on the ground and in the sky.
“Spread out!” Zach cried, brandishing his sword.
Bromley dashed off to the left and I to the right, grabbing my sword and raising it, ready to defend myself. As Brom’s horse galloped on, he drew up his crossbow, aiming.
But the beast was still diving much too fast, headed straight for Zach. He urged his horse to go south, likely in an attempt to get under the griffin instead of ahead of it. The griffin pulled up at the last moment, screaming and raising its giant talons. With a great flap of its black wings, it dove for Zach again. Except the monster had lost nearly all of its momentum, making it easy for Zach to catch its front talons with his sword. Inches from Zach’s face, the monstrous beak snapped and clicked, squawking with a deafening sound.
I turned to Brom. “If you see an opening, take it.” Then I kicked Lorena into a hard gallop, racing toward my partner and the monster. Have to get closer.
Vel whinnied and snorted as the griffin attacked his rider. Then Zach reared back and head-butted the griffin. It let out an earsplitting shriek of pain, shaking its beak and beating its wings as Zach tried to gain leverage over it.
The griffin was not as easy to kill as dwarves, trolls, and goblins. The beast had one very important advantage: wings. That was why four or five Royals were needed to take one down. They were strong, vicious, and could attack from above, leaving even a warrior as skillful as Zach always on the defensive.
Brom’s arrow just barely missed its flank. Gaining ground, I unhooked my shield from Lorena’s saddle as she galloped toward them, then I took aim and threw the shield. It whirled through the air like a disc, hitting the beast’s wing, and knocking it off-balance. Zach seized the opening and went for its neck, but the griffin beat its wings and took to the sky again.
“Zach!” I reached for him, my hand outstretched and waiting. There was a simple Kiss I could bestow upon him that would render the griffin’s wings useless for a few minutes, allowing us to attack on the ground.
Zach reached for my hand, bewildered, half his attention on the beast and the other half on me. When our horses drew close, my hand found his, and I pulled myself to him, the spell already forming in my mind, magic coursing through me, ready to be used.
Zach pulled back. “No, Ivy, don’t.”
“What—”
We both turned at the sound of the griffin’s wings as it dove for Bromley. Another of Brom’s arrows whizzed through the air. Zach let go of my hand, turned his horse, and headed for the griffin. Zach’s hand that held mine seconds before produced three knives. Three—two—then one—the knives flew skyward to hit the griffin’s furry flank. With another piercing cry, the beast rose into the clouds.
I watched, sword loose in my hand and my mind racing.
What in the Fields of Galliore is he thinking?
Maybe…maybe he just hadn’t been ready for it. Maybe he was determined to continue showing off to prove he never needed a partner. I kicked my heels, and Lorena took off after Zach, who had stopped by Brom and was dismounting.
I pulled up next to them and jumped down from Lorena as Zach handed Vel’s reins to Brom. “Watch him,” he said.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, my eyes on the griffin circling above.
Zach hefted his shield onto his arm. “Protect the horses with Brom. We don’t want the griffin wounding one of them.”
I grabbed his arm. “I don’t mean the horses. There’s a Kiss we can—”
Zach tore away and ran across the fields, his boots kicking up bits of grass and dirt.
I swore and handed Brom Lorena’s reins. “This is insane.” Then I grabbed Brom’s crossbow.
The griffin rose higher then tipped downward, beak first, streaking toward Zach’s lone figure like a meteorite about to hit the earth.
Zach stood his ground, shield up, preparing for impact.
I couldn’t believe it. He was going to try withstanding a griffin’s dive?
No. Cold hands, cold like Kellian’s, grabbed my heart and squeezed. We’ve only just started, and I’m going to lose him.
The griffin was close now, talons extended. I couldn’t watch another partner fall. Hoisting the crossbow at eye level, I took aim and shot the arrow into its wing. The griffin gave a shriek of agony. It dipped and flopped about, then steadied itself and flew higher and higher, up into the dark clouds, then northward, away from us.
As the griffin became a speck in the sky, Zach turned on me, fury darkening his eyes and drawing his brows together. He sheathed his sword and stomped over, yelling, “Why did you aim for the wing?”
He was angry for a good reason. When the wing of a griffin is hit, the monster retreats to heal, then comes back to terrorize villagers after a couple of days, deadlier than ever.
But I was angry, too. “Because we couldn’t have beaten it anyway!”
“You don’t know that!”
“I do.” I tossed the crossbow on the ground. “Better to have it run off than kill us, all because of your stupid pride.”
“Pride?” Zach halted. “You think I didn’t use the Royal’s Kiss because of my pride?”
“You wanted to prove you could beat the griffin on your own.” The wind blew at my cloak and wisps of my hair. Zach’s bangs swept off his forehead, revealing a faint white scar near his hairline.
“It has nothing to do with me wanting to prove anything,” he said, jaw set and eyes locked on mine. “I will never Kiss you.”
The words resounded inside my chest like the Myrial bells. He had refused my Kiss before—once, at the beginning of the fight with Amias, then the healing Kiss after the battle on the wall breach. But…but we were partners now. There was no reason for him to refuse me any longer.
The whole purpose of our partnership was to use our Kiss to defeat the dragon.
He had to know this. He had to understand this. I hadn’t heard him right. It was the wind. “What…what did you say?”
“I will never use the Royal’s Kiss, Ivy. You Royals have forgotten its true magic.”
A physical shock ripped through me, and my legs nearly gave way
.
He really was a Romantica.
A heretic.
And I was bound to him.
Despite everything else, the first thing I thought about was my mother. Holy Sisters, what would she say if she knew I had a heretic for a partner? “As expected of your worthlessness.”
Bromley approached us, leading the other horses. He looked from me to Zach in confusion.
“Surely…surely you must be joking,” I said in a hoarse whisper.
“Troll’s breath.” Zach shook his head. “Yes, Ivy, I didn’t Kiss you to defeat the griffin all because of a joke. I enjoy laughing in the face of death.”
“You can’t…you can’t truly be a…”
“Don’t give me that look. You knew very well what I was. You all did. I made no secret of my bloodline,” he growled.
“Being born to one and choosing to follow their ways are two different things. Up until this moment, you led us all to believe you were a Royal. You came to Saevall’s Legion. You told us you wanted to protect the Lands.” My voice shook. How could we have been so naive to believe a Romantica would never try to disguise himself as a Royal?
“I do want to protect the Lands—battle the Forces.” Zach crossed to his horse, yanking the reins away from Brom and hoisting himself onto Vel. He leaned down to look at me, his eyes narrowed. “They killed my mother. There’s nothing I want more. But I’m not willing to give up my morals to—”
“Morals?” I cried, my voice shrill now. I felt Brom’s hand on my shoulder, no doubt trying to calm me down, but I shook him off. “The Romantica cult is nothing but a group of fools with misguided beliefs and nonsensical ideas.”
“They’re not misguided!” Zach roared. “And so help me, princess, if you refer to Love as nonsense one more time—”
“You’ll what?” I dared. “Now is not the time to believe in myths, Prince Zachariah. We are members of the Legion on a mission to defeat the darkest threat the world has faced in a century. True Love’s Kiss is a story told by cult-believers—not Royals—because it’s a bloody fairy tale!”
Zach pounded his fist onto the pommel of his saddle, causing his horse to toss his head. “I don’t care what you believe, or what you think I believe, but I refuse to use a kiss as a weapon.”
“It is a weapon! It’s been used as one for almost five hundred years. It’s how we defeat the dark creatures. It’s a catalyst—the end of a spell!”
“Then you’ve been wrong for five hundred years.” Zach turned his horse and started north, toward the village in the distance.
I grabbed the crossbow off the ground, mounted Lorena, and rode ahead, pulling up in front of him. “This partnership is useless if you refuse to Kiss me.”
Zach laughed without humor. “What are you going to do? Turn around and ride two days back to find another partner? The Sable Dragon could be fully grown by the time you finally reach it.”
“I never said I would get a new partner. I’m saying you’re as useless without me as I am without you because you don’t know how to sever our bond. As long as you still have my mark, I have your Sense. Good luck trying to find the dragon without it.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll wander the whole mountain range if I have to.”
“Now who’s wasting time?” I retorted. “If you wanted so badly to go after that dragon by yourself, then why didn’t you just leave without me? Why bother becoming my partner first?”
“Because I couldn’t just let—” Zach’s face suddenly tinged red. He turned his horse away. “Figured I’d last longer with you to help, especially after you stole my Sense, but now I’m willing to test my luck.” Then he glanced back over his shoulder. “Face it, Ivy. Even without your Kiss, I’m still a stronger partner than any other prince you could choose. But if you’d rather have someone to Kiss, then I’ll find this dragon alone. Sense or no Sense.”
Chapter
Thirteen
The Decision
Zachariah was no Royal. He was a liar and a fraud. He’d never had any intention of Kissing me from the start. Yet he had agreed to be my partner to go after the Sable Dragon. Everything was so clear now. Why he’d never had a partner. Why he’d never performed a Kiss with me.
Zach continued down the field, leaving Bromley and me behind. Brom looked at me with a question in his eyes: what now?
I didn’t know.
A large part of me wanted to do the very thing Zach told me was impossible: return to Myria, find a new prince, and start over. But Master Gelloren had said we probably had no more than a month, and a week had already gone by since then. By the time I turned around, found a partner, and reached the egg, it could be too late. Even if I did contact Gelloren through the magic mirror and had him send Amias, or someone else, we would need a mage to perform the separation ritual between Zach and me, and the partnership ritual between a new prince and me, which would take yet more time. The worst thing, though, was Zach was right—there were none as good as him. So was my only option to continue on with Zach and hope he would eventually give in and Kiss me?
The closer we got to the Wu-Hyll Mountains, the more danger we were sure to face. I would have dismissed this only a couple of days ago out of sheer confidence in my abilities to protect myself. But the only reason I was alive was because Zach had saved me from the dwarf, and I still had the remnants of the bruise, courtesy of my mother, to remind me of my sore miscalculation. No, I had more than just a bruise. I had memories of my other partners, too. No matter what Gelloren said, no matter if they had the Mark of Myriana, I’d been their partner, sworn to watch their back, and I had their fate—their blood—on my hands.
I swallowed and rubbed my eyes.
Could I really trust our little party to defeat all the creatures of the Forces and walk away unscathed, without the aid of magic?
No, I couldn’t. But it was either that or return home a failure.
Just like my mother predicted. She’d told me time and time again that I failed her. Failed at upholding Myriana’s signature flawless white skin and luscious dark hair—with my freckles and ruddy curls, I couldn’t be further from my grand ancestor. And I’d failed at bringing my partners home, alive and safe. She never let me forget it.
Zach rode farther away. Bromley cleared his throat.
I couldn’t return home without the dragon’s egg destroyed. I couldn’t let my mother be right again. Not this time.
More than that, if there was even the slightest chance I had of protecting young recruits from seeing battles, I’d take it.
I squeezed my reins, the leather making a grinding sound in my palms. He was going to Kiss me, one way or another. I’d convince him. I would make him see that his beliefs were nothing but ridiculous fairy-tale ideals.
I cued Lorena into a fast trot after Zach. Bromley followed.
When we caught up, I brought my horse close to Zach’s. He gave me a sideways glance but said nothing.
“We can reach the village by dusk,” I said, nodding toward the distant houses and barns, my voice as gruff as possible to hide any emotion. I didn’t want him to think his betrayal had wounded me. Even if it had, that wasn’t the reason I felt my throat getting tighter. It was from a sudden rush of crushing guilt. Now that the battle was over and I could think clearly, I regretted my impulsive decision to shoot the griffin in the wing. Everyone knew wounding the wings was the easiest way to force a griffin to retreat, but it was also the surest way to guarantee the deaths of innocents two days later. Maybe Zach could’ve killed it without a Kiss. But I’d been too rattled. Too scared for him. Scared and with no faith in what seemed impossible.
Zach’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Looks like it.”
“We’ll be staying the night.”
“I assumed so.”
“Because we need to kill that griffin.” I didn’t want him to think I regretted my decision, because it’d make me feel vulnerable, like his anger at me was more justified than mine. Yet at the same time, I didn’t want
him to think I was selfish enough not to care about the villagers whose lives we just doomed. Whose lives I just doomed.
There was a short pause, then, “Finally, something we agree on.”
…
The village was small, with houses, stables, and shops that spanned just a half-mile radius. When we approached the dusty road, paved by various slabs of rock worn by feet and time, two guards approached us. They wore rusty chain mail, and dark green shields were slung across their backs. Both middle-aged men. Both looking exhausted and defeated.
“So you saw the griffin, did you?”
It wasn’t much of a greeting, but judging from the looks on their faces, I couldn’t blame them. I nodded and swung off my horse. “Yes, I’m sorry to say we didn’t kill it. But we will.”
The guard, the one who had spoken, waved me off. “I know Royals on a mission when I see them. I’m sure you need to be on your way.” He grimaced. “We can handle one griffin.”
I shook my head as Zach and Brom dismounted. “We’re here to help. It’s my fault it flew off. I had a clumsy shot.”
I caught Zach’s eye. There was something different in his gaze, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
The two guards bowed, their chain mail clinking. “Thank you, milady. My name is Lynel and this is Toreck.”
The other guard, the younger one, bowed again and said, “We’re very honored to receive Royals in our humble village.”
I dipped my head. “My name is Ivy Myriana. This is my page, Bromley, and my partner, Prince Zachariah.”
Zach stretched out his hand to Lynel and smiled. “Zach, if you don’t mind.”
Lynel shook it, looking a bit confused, probably because Royals never shook hands with civilians, then he turned to Toreck. “Why don’t you show Bromley to the stables—get these horses fed and watered.”
Toreck nodded and took Vel’s reins from Zach. Bromley led Lorena and his horse, following Toreck toward a stable at the far end of the dusty road.
“We really are honored to have you both here,” Lynel said with a tired smile. “Come, come, I’ll make sure you have full plates and nice warm beds for the night.”