by W. J. May
He stared out the darkened window, a faint smile still lingering on his lips. “We’d just defeated a wizard, beaten back the royal army, resurrected a dead friend, and restored the five kingdoms. I’d just gotten your mother back.” He paused suddenly, as if parts of the journey were still difficult to remember. “And then a prophecy threatened to take it all away.”
She stared hard at the portrait, almost as if she could see the alcove on the other side. “...but you can’t regret it.”
“No,” he said briskly, shaking away the darker thoughts and turning back to his daughter with a smile. “Because, if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
He kissed her softly on the forehead, spinning her towards her room at the same time. “Get some sleep, Evie. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day.”
She grinned wryly and waved goodnight. Leaving him standing there, staring up at the portrait. Big was a bit of an understatement. As far as big days went, they didn’t get bigger than this.
It was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day her family saved the world.
EVIE OPENED HER EYES the next morning, only to see something silver glinting just above her face. She blinked quickly, trying to focus, then realized with a gasp that it was the tip of a sword.
“Wha—”
“Surrender or die,” a cruel voice interrupted. “I’m certainly hoping you choose the latter.”
Heart still racing, she tilted her head a few inches to see the blurry outline of a man kneeling on the bed. His knees were planted on either side of her body, and his long white hair was practically glowing in the morning sun. His eyes narrowed as they met hers. Dark and unyielding.
“Final warning.”
She paused a moment. Then hit him upside the head with a pillow.
“Everly,” he complained as the sword clattered to the floor. “You were meant to cower in fear. I hadn’t even gotten to the good part of my speech yet.”
She tried hard to scowl, but ended up grinning instead. It had felt like ages since she’d seen him. And if he was already at the castle, that had to mean—
“I told him not to.”
Asher!
Her head snapped up to see another man leaning in the corner, waves of dark hair and arms folded across his chest. When their eyes met, his entire face warmed with a gentle smile.
“He never listens to me.”
At that point, the princess let out a rather undignified cry.
“Get over here!”
Before her attacker could leap away to freedom she yanked him down on the bed, reveling in his curses and protests as the man in the corner forgot his customary reserve and leapt upon them as well. There was a chaotic flailing of laughter and limbs before the fae pulled himself free.
“That’s quite enough.” He smoothed the sleeves of his jacket, though he was unable to fully hide a grin. “I’d hoped your governess would have civilized you by now.”
She spat a mouthful of feathers at him before turning to the dark-haired boy by her side.
“When did you get in?”
“Just now. Right behind Ellanden, actually.” He glanced to where the prince of the fae was sheathing his sword with a pout. “I suspect his father is waking yours in the same way.”
No sooner had he spoken than there was a deafening crash from upstairs.
“...I think you’re probably right.”
“Are we the first ones?” Ellanden asked, forgetting that he was pretending to be mad and settling back down on the bed. “Uncle Kailas and Aunt Serafina—”
Evie shook her head. While her mother’s twin occasionally resided in the High Kingdom, he and his lovely wife had been spending more and more time in Vale.
“Not yet. Michael and Petra were supposed to get in last night, but they sent a message ahead saying they were going to be late. Something about looking up an old friend...”
“My father and I were almost late as well,” Asher added, tracing absentminded shapes on her comforter. “He made us stop and hunt a thousand times on the way here. I guess with the big celebration, he didn’t want to take any chances.”
The others shared a quick grin over his head.
Yeah, I’ll bet.
Aidan Dorsett had learned the hard way how quickly tempers could get out of hand at a royal feast. As one of only two vampires in attendance, he wouldn’t be taking any chances with his own thirst. He wasn’t going to let his teenage son take chances either.
“Maybe he was just culling the deer population,” Ellanden said with mock sympathy. “They can really get out of hand this time of year.”
The vampire flashed him a deadly grin, showing every one of his teeth. “I’d love something a little stronger, if you’d be willing to volunteer...”
Without another word of warning they leapt on each other once again, catching the princess in the middle. Shrieks of laughter and violent oaths echoed down the halls as they tore into each other like feral cubs that had been kept too long indoors.
They didn’t notice when the door opened in the background. They didn’t see the group of people watching them, until the one in the middle cleared her throat.
“Ten minutes and they’re already trying to kill each other...”
It was as if Evie was reading her fairytale all over again. Each of the legendary characters had just stepped right off the page. Cassiel and Tanya were standing in a loose embrace, leaning back against the door. Aidan was still in his travelling clothes, staring at the trio of youngsters with an indulgent smile. Her own parents looked a bit disheveled—perhaps because they had awoken to a similar kind of reception only minutes before.
The children leapt to their feet with matching grins, rushing across the room to embrace those they hadn’t yet seen. There was an affectionate scuffle as they let themselves be passed around from one person to the next, then Evie wound up in the arms of her uncle.
“I missed you.” Cassiel pressed a kiss to her forehead before looking down with a twinkling smile. “Have you been practicing with that bow I got you?”
She lit up with excitement, poised on the tips of her toes. “Every day! I can hit the center of the target almost every time!” A thrill of adrenaline rushed through her as she whirled around the spot, searching for it. “I need to show you—”
“You need to get dressed,” her mother corrected with a grin. “In case you hadn’t noticed, the gates are open and a rather large group of people is gathering outside.”
In a fit of childish excitement Evie and the others abandoned the adults and ran to the window, looking out at the courtyard below. In just the time since they’d arrived at the castle the bonfires had been lit, the doors had been opened, and the festival was just starting to come to life.
No sooner had they rushed to the window than a man lifted a trumpet to his lips.
The celebration had officially begun.
Chapter 2
What happened next was a battle of wills.
It was Everly Hale-Damaris versus no fewer than twenty hairdressers and stylists, all of whom had appeared out of nowhere the second her mother said the fateful words, ‘get dressed’. She’d like to say she was winning. She’d like to say she even stood a chance.
But there were few things in the five kingdoms more formidable.
“This is intolerable,” she muttered, slumping as far down in her chair as possible without getting strangled by the linens piled around her neck. Outside, the festival was already in full swing; the music of a lively fiddle drifted in on the breeze. “I’m missing everything.”
In an effort to save space, the three friends had been relocated to their old nursery in the southern wing of the castle. A choice that was not only drenched in nostalgia, but was strategic at the same time—there was only one door and very little chance of escape.
“You wouldn’t be missing anything if you’d gotten up when I recommended last night,” her hairdresser chided indifferently. “I’ve been prepping myself since well b
efore dawn. Now sit up.”
She tried to slump further out of spite, but was quickly lifted by the hair.
While the rest of the castle followed strict royal protocol, the stylists were a different breed altogether. Things like boundaries and royal commands had very little impact on them.
It was a lesson Ellanden was learning as well.
“I don’t even live here,” he said sharply, throwing a look of warning at two men holding up different samples of linen. “You have no authority over me.”
They retreated with look of deep disappointment, but in reality there was very little about the young prince’s appearance they could hope to improve.
He may have been gifted with Kreo blood, but Ellanden was pure fae.
His ears were slightly less pointed, but for the most part he looked exactly like one of his kind. Tall and graceful, with a lean athletic build and dark, eternal eyes that seemed to always sparkle regardless of the light around them. He had the signature ivory hair of his family, and while the royal bloodline already had a certain reputation he’d surpassed his people’s every expectation.
Their prince was extraordinarily beautiful.
It had taken Evie a while to feel comfortable saying it. To push past any awkwardness and merely state it as a fact. Her best friend was a heavenly creature blessed by a distant star.
So what? Get over it.
When they were children playing in the woods around the castle, she didn’t understand the way people would stop and look at him—whispering behind their hands and murmuring under their breath. When they got older, she found herself annoyed by the gaggles of adolescent girls who followed him from place to place, peering around corners and giggling behind their hands.
Now, she hardly noticed it.
“Do you guys remember this?”
The others turned as Asher held up a wooden pony, dancing it lightly across his palm. He’d been rifling around in their old play-chest, quietly delighting in all the memories that emerged.
Evie watched as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the floor, trailing his finger along the wood with a little smile dancing on his lips. He was just as captivating as Ellanden. Gifted with the same otherworldly beauty and grace. Everywhere they went people stopped to look at him, too.
...just in a slightly different way.
She’d never forget the night her Uncle Aidan had showed up at the castle with a five-year-old vampire tucked under his arm. It had been raining—storming, actually. Yet when the weary travelers arrived, both of them were mysteriously dry.
The others had been visiting for the holidays. She and Ellanden, just toddlers themselves, had been playing at their feet. But they were quickly banished to the nursery as the adults vanished into an adjacent room, whispering furiously, leaving them alone with the child.
Well, almost. At the last moment, Tanya panicked and cracked open the door.
She remembered that first moment the three of them had been together, staring at each other with open curiosity, none of them venturing a single word. He had never seen a fae before, and silently marveled at Ellanden’s pointed ears. The prince tilted his head, checking excitedly for fangs, while the tiny vampire lifted a curious hand to touch a lock of Evie’s fiery red hair.
They’d stayed like that for only a moment, then rushed in unison to eavesdrop at the door.
“—and there’s no one left to look after him?” Dylan was asking under his breath.
Aidan shook his head, looking almost as shaken as the child himself. “He was going to be killed.”
The men glanced grimly at the floor. Katerina held a hand to her chest, eyes tearing up with the strength of the story. “Poor boy...”
Aidan’s hands tightened on his chair, then he pushed swiftly to his feet. “I’m taking full responsibility for him. I’ll raise him as my own.”
If it was possible, this declaration was met with even more shock.
“Aidan, you can’t be serious.” Tanya stood up as well, staring in disbelief. “You don’t know anything about the boy. You’re just deciding to claim him for all eternity?”
“It’s a huge decision,” Cassiel said seriously. “One that can’t be made in the heat of the moment. Your lifestyle isn’t exactly conducive to raising a child—”
“I know exactly what it takes to raise a child,” Aidan interrupted stiffly. “You’re all terrible parents. I’ve been raising your children for years.”
At that point Katerina stood up as well, laying a gentle hand upon his arm. “Cass has a point. With the work that you do—”
“No one can protect him better than me,” Aidan declared, having already made up his mind. His voice picked up speed the more he talked, rushing with equal parts fear and anticipation. “He’ll stay with me when I’m travelling. When we’re together, he can stay with the rest of the children—”
The others shared a swift glance.
“What now?” he asked irritably, feeling their unease as his own.
“You say he’s five years old?” Dylan asked quietly. The vampire nodded. “That means for five years he’s fed off the blood of mortals, like the rest of your kind. He isn’t accustomed to anything else, and has no sense of control. You cannot put him in the nursery with the rest of the children.”
“Not yet,” Katerina amended. “Not until he’s been taught the rules.”
Evie and Ellanden cast the boy a quick look, then returned their eyes to the door.
“For the last few months, he’s been living off nothing but animal blood,” Aidan replied shortly. “He knows the rules; I’ve explained them.”
“And you’re willing to stake Ellanden and Everly’s lives on that?” Cassiel asked softly. “If there’s even the slightest chance that you’re wrong...he must not yet stay with the children.”
“I know the rules,” the boy chimed in softly.
The adults whirled around to see him standing at the door. The children whirled around, too. One second, he’d been standing right beside them. The next, he was in the frame of the door.
“He moves like you already,” Tanya muttered, clutching her heart. “Quiet as a ghost.”
“I know the rules,” Asher insisted. “I won’t bite anyone.”
Cassiel stared at the boy a moment, then his face softened and he beckoned him inside.
“You won’t bite anyone?” he repeated gently, holding the boy accountable with his eyes. “Not even if you’re very, very hungry? Not even if they deserve it?”
Looking back on it now, Evie understood his concern. Back when they were children, she and Ellanden had spent equal time as both the best of friends and the most bitter of enemies. One day, they’d make a blood oath and swear to be brothers-in-arms; the next, they’d be locking each other in the dungeon. Once, when Ellanden had stolen her book of fairytales, she’d thrown her father’s sword and knocked him straight off his horse.
Point being: kids played rough.
Throw a baby vampire into that equation? There was no way to know what might happen.
Asher stared back with enormous eyes, shaking his head.
Katerina pursed her lips to hide a smile, sharing a quick look with Dylan, but Cassiel kept a straight face as he knelt in front of the boy, reaching out to take his hands.
“What about me?” he asked quietly, studying his face. “Would you bite me?”
It was must have been quite a temptation. The blood of a fae was intoxicating to any and all vampires. Enough to make even the most disciplined break rank and lose control.
Asher glanced quickly at Aidan before shaking his head.
“Good.” Cassiel straightened up suddenly. “Then I won’t be frightened to sleep in the nursery tonight beside you. The rest of the children may sleep there as well.”
Although Evie didn’t understand at the time, it was the highest compliment he could pay the child. She also didn’t realize that, for the next several nights, her uncle wouldn’t be getting any sleep.
She snapp
ed out of her trance as Asher continued his examination of the pony, pausing over what looked suspiciously like a bite mark. He lifted a finger to it, turning curiously to face the others.
“Was this me?”
“Probably, you little savage.” Ellanden stood up and went to examine the toy himself. “I still maintain you went through that teething phase a lot longer than was necessary.”
Asher nipped playfully, sending the stylists into a mild panic.
“There.” Evie’s hairdresser put the final touches on his masterpiece, stepping back to give it a finishing pat. “It’s perfect.”
The princess stared at her reflection without blinking.
“Uh, it’s two feet tall.”
Sometime in the midst of all her pouting, the devious man had managed to coil every lock of her crimson hair into a nightmarish tower on the top of her head. How it was managing to stay up without pylons and a support structure she had no idea. She suspected sorcery was involved.
With a sting of betrayal, she turned to Ellanden with a withering glare.
“You saw this was happening! How could you not tell me!”
He lifted his hands in innocence. “I thought you were entering the joust.”
Oh I’m going to KILL him—
“I think it looks really nice, Evie.” In a flash Asher was standing before her, looking down with a knowing twinkle in his eyes. “Very...innovative. I’m sure your parents will approve.”
...what?!
She was on the verge of killing him, too, but there was a method to the madness.
For a split second, her hairdresser forgot the vampire had fangs and looked on the verge of embracing him. Tears filled his eyes as he plucked a flower from a vase and stuck it in the very top.
“That’s exactly what I was trying to do.” He let out all his breath in one fanatical sigh. “Make something the rest of the realm had never seen before.”
Evie whipped around to face him, toppling a bit to the side under the weight of her hair. But Asher grabbed her arm with a sweet smile, lifting her to her feet.
“Well if you’re finished, I guess we’ll be leaving. Landi—you ready to go?”