by Emma Hamm
For all the attention he’d brought upon her, he dismissed her rather easily.
Lorelei slunk back into the crowd of women, though she noticed how they all distanced themselves from her. Not a single girl wanted to be seen with the woman glittering like starlight. Perhaps they feared their own beauty would dim in the wake of someone who looked like her.
Perhaps they had a reason to fear.
“Bravo,” a voice muttered in her ear. “If you wanted to get his attention, that was the perfect way to do it. How are you casting this spell, by the way?”
“What spell?” She didn’t even look at the man standing behind her.
“The one that made you what I named,” Abraxas said. He was too close, and he saw far too much. “Lady of Starlight.”
She turned then, certain he was about to give her up. “It’s the butterfly I caught. You can thank Borovoi and the fates for whatever you see before you.”
He gave her a knowing glance. “Somehow I doubt that.”
Lore swallowed hard. Was this it? Had he seen through every ounce of her hiding and knew that she was a magical creature? He’d give her up if he did. The Umbral Knights would descend upon her and throw her from the party.
His eyes said he wouldn’t. The smile on his face was kind and thoughtful. It was not the expression of a man who knew he was going to harm someone. Somehow, she wondered if he had it in him to hurt anyone the way she had expected him to do.
He was a complete and utter mystery. Who was this man?
“You never said where you were from,” she murmured. “I find it hard to believe that you are one of the Tenebrous crowd, considering your clothing and the way you hold yourself.”
“Really?” He smiled a half smile that was so alluring. “What makes you say that?”
“You don’t carry yourself like you’ve been wanting your entire life.”
“Wanting what?”
Did he step closer to her? As though maybe he thought she meant that he had wanted her, but that wasn’t how she wanted this conversation to go. And yet, now he was in her space and she could feel the heat radiating off him as though he housed a furnace in his chest.
“Food,” she whispered. “Clean water. Clothing that hasn’t been ripped off the back of the dead. Countless dreams and wants that other people seem to get but Tenebrous never has.”
“Ah.” He licked his lips, the movement so distracting that she almost didn’t hear his reply. “I’ve had my fair share of wanting. Perhaps not in the most recent years. But I have wanted, Lady of Starlight. I have thirsted and desired much in my life.”
“And how much of that did you not get?”
It was the right question to ask. Clearly, he didn’t have an answer for her. He looked away, back toward the King, who was calling out names.
Lorelei didn’t care. Let the King forget she existed while this man stood in front of her. This man of mystery and shadows with his dark hair and yellow eyes. She’d never thought to meet someone like him in her entire life.
He made a thousand questions burst to life in her chest. Questions that she knew would likely never have answers.
“He called your name,” Abraxas said. He took a hefty step back from her. “You should go to the King. It’s what you wanted, after all.”
“I don’t want the King,” she corrected him. But she turned toward the villain who would now own her body and soul. “I don’t want any of this. And yet, here I am.”
A blast of heat struck her back, and for a moment, she thought she felt the slide of a hand over her stomach. Her muscles tensed, locking up tight as he whispered a single phrase in her ear.
“Arce Damnatorum.”
City of the Lost.
And then he was gone.
Disappearing as though he’d never even stood in that crowd with her. She looked for him, but he had well and truly disappeared.
Had she dreamt it all? Conjured a man in her mind that would help her through this horrible situation with the King? Surely she hadn’t already lost her mind.
“Lorelei!” Her name thundered through the crowd, said with impressive annoyance. “Where are you, woman? Here I was thinking that the most beautiful lady would be last on my list, and she disappears into the night once again!”
The crowd laughed, and she knew she had little time. The King called for her, and she needed to kill the King.
“Here!” she called out, still glimmering with starlight a little too brightly.
As the others stared at her in shock, she let the moonlight fall from her skin and pretended to be surprised when it disappeared. At least some of them would believe her charade that the magic had worn off of her before everyone else.
“Oh,” she added. “I thought it would last longer than that.”
The King had little patience for her antics. “Well, come on then! We all have to get going and you’re holding us all up, now.”
So much for being his favorite.
Lorelei fell into line with the other women and realized they were already leaving Tenebrous. The rest of the women had family members bringing their bags, promising that the rest of their clothing would be sent in trunks later on. The King’s men gathered up those large bags and carried them to a caravan of carriages that appeared out of the forest.
She didn’t have time to go get her things or gather up her weapons. This wouldn’t work. There was too much on the line for her to not have a single weapon of her own.
“Here you are, my dear.” Borovoi appeared at her side, holding out a bag that appeared light as a feather. “It’s everything you’ll need, I’m certain of it.”
She took the bag. Enchanted, obviously. It weighed as though there wasn’t a single thing inside it. “All my things? Or yours?”
“Your dwarf friend found everything in your apartment and gathered it up for you. He said to tell you that yes, he went through your things.” Borovoi winked. “And I might have put a few outfits in among the rest, so you won’t be the worst dressed woman in the castle. Who knows what’s in there.”
“It adds to the adventure, I suppose.” She threw it over her shoulder and managed a weak smile. “To the carriages I go.”
“Good luck, Lorelei.” Borovoi bowed deep and low before muttering, “I think you’re going to need it.”
Chapter 10
Lore
The carriages the King had sent were beautiful. Lorelei stepped into the one that the Umbral Knight pointed her to, and didn’t even clip her head on the ceiling. Already a rarity, considering she wasn’t a short woman by any means.
Three other girls already waited for her. And she meant girls.
None of them looked a day over twenty, and every inch of their beings shifted with nerves. She supposed that was natural, considering they were heading to the castle for the first time in their life. And most of them were likely afraid of what the King had planned for them. He was a king with a dragon, after all.
She sat down next to the window, crossed her hands in her lap, and waited for someone to say something. The two girls across from her looked like they were sisters. Perfect cherubs, really. Their dark hair was neatly tied up on their heads in buns, while their dresses were exactly the same cut. Only one was pink and the other was green. They ducked their heads together and began whispering. Pointing out the window at things that Lore couldn’t see.
There would be no talking to little girls like that. She had no interest in learning about their newest crush or whatever it was children talked about these days. Which meant the only potential ally she might have was the girl sitting beside her.
She turned and gave her seatmate a once over. She was pretty in a healthy kind of way. And Lore thought that with the utmost respect. It’s just that the girl was plumper than the rest, and while that didn’t make her any less beautiful, it certainly meant she had led an easier life than the others.
A nobleman’s daughter, perhaps?
Her seatmate met her gaze and grinned. The smile lit
up her entire face and made her glow with happiness. “Hello. My name is Beauty. What is yours?”
“Beauty?” Lore asked. “What a strange name. I’ve never heard it before.”
Beauty tucked a strand of chestnut colored hair behind her ear and shrugged. “My father thought I would be the most beautiful girl in Tenebrous when I was little. He was the one to name me.”
What father didn’t want their daughter to be that? Lorelei was certain he hadn’t intended to send this little girl into the lion’s mouth of the King, however.
“My name is Lorelei,” she replied. “Are you excited about going to the castle?”
“Oh, very much! I’ve heard it’s the most beautiful building in all the land.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry. I keep saying that word over and over again, lately. I don’t know how to talk to people like him.”
“The King?” Lore leaned back on the plush cushions and snorted. “I don’t think he’s all that interested in what women have to say, if we’re being honest.”
Beauty gasped. “You can’t say things like that! A Knight will hear you!”
“Mm, maybe.” She doubted it, though. All the Knights were off with the King, and if they were even thinking about the carriages with the women in them, then they were more likely guarding the outsides and they weren’t going to overhear what the women were saying.
The King was vain, and he’d already proven himself to be controlling. Neither of those qualities translated into a man who cared about the opinions of women. He likely thought they were all bumbling dolts that he could control with a wave of his hand.
She supposed he could. He was, after all, the King.
The other two women in the carriage still hadn’t looked up. They had eyes only for each other, and she wondered how young they were. They had to be at least eighteen, although they looked younger than that.
“How old are you?” she asked Beauty. “There appears to be quite a bit of age difference throughout all the women that were brought before the King.”
“Eighteen,” she blurted quickly. Too quickly.
Lore raised a brow and eyed the girl. Even she appeared younger than she said she was. Though that could easily be the soft roundness of her cheeks. “How old are you, really?”
She’d at least expected a bit of a fight from the child. More lies or arguments that twisted her words. But Beauty was not a liar, it seemed.
The girl’s cheeks turned bright red, and she sighed. “Seventeen, technically. But I’m turning eighteen in a month, so my father said I should lie. How many opportunities does a girl get to marry a king?”
Lorelei supposed very few of them in their lifetime, but she didn’t think that Beauty would end up as the queen. She was too kind. Too soft. And the King was a hard man who wanted someone next to him who was just as cruel.
She’d already seen that in his eyes.
Beauty twisted, facing Lorelei with her back to the window. “How old are you?”
Three hundred. Lorelei almost told her the truth. Her attention was on the battle ahead of her where she had to convince the King that she was worthy of his attention more than these young women who were in the prime of their lives.
“Thr...” She cleared her throat. “Thirty.”
“Oh!” Beauty’s eyes widened. “And you aren’t married yet?”
Right, because at that age she should have been married with three children on her hip by now. Lorelei controlled her eye roll and glanced out the window. “Uh, no. I’ve never been all that interested in being married.”
That apparently was the signal to summon the attention of the girls seated across from them. The twins stopped talking and glared at her with no small amount of hatred. “Then why are you here wasting the King’s time?”
Lore hadn’t expected them to be quite so aggressive about it. The girls glared like they had some personal connection with the man who had ruined so much of this country. Lore almost wanted to tell them exactly what this king had done to her and her people, but she had to check herself.
These children didn’t care about the plight of the magical creatures. They didn’t care about the future of Umbra or how much their world would change if people like Lore were eradicated from this realm.
All they cared about was a crown, a throne, and a future that was easier than living in Tenebrous. Lore couldn’t blame them for wanting to claw their way out of the cesspit they all lived in.
She forced a smile and shook her head. “I suppose I shouldn’t say it like that. I’ve never been interested in anyone I’ve met in Tenebrous, and I will not marry anyone that I don’t want to marry.”
The girls relaxed and whispered to each other again. Apparently, that was the right thing to say.
Lore glanced back at Beauty, who still wore a frown on her face. The girl was thinking, and that was good. She shouldn’t stop herself from making her own opinions. The more she watched this girl, the more she liked her.
Beauty opened her mouth, closed it, and then blurted, “You aren’t like anyone I’ve ever met.”
She gave the child a little half smile. Perhaps there was no small amount of secrets in that look, because Lorelei hid more than Beauty could ever guess. “I take that as a compliment, dear girl.”
“I meant it as a compliment. Tenebrous is filled with everything that I’ve come to expect from people. They all wander through life as though every day is going to be exactly the same as the last.” She licked her lips. “I don’t want every day to be the same. I want to live my life with adventures and excitement. That’s why I want to marry the King. I don’t think living a boring life is worth living.”
Oh, she could easily love this little girl. Those words were right out of Lore’s heart.
She reached forward and cupped Beauty’s jaw. “You are a rare flower in a desert wasteland, Beauty. Your father was right when he said you would be more beautiful than any girl in Tenebrous. Your soul glows with a thousand suns.”
Beauty’s eyes widened with every word. She took in what Lore said and soaked it up as though she really were a flower. Somehow, Lore thought, no one had ever told Beauty that she lived up to her namesake.
The girls across from them snickered. The one in pink muttered, “Now if she could lose a few pounds, then maybe she actually would live up to her name.”
Lore watched all the happiness drain out of Beauty. It was like all the energy that she’d brought into herself from kind words just... died. Lore had felt that before. She knew what it was like to have someone believe she was lesser because of how she looked. That horrible feeling should never be felt by such a rare and kind creature as Beauty.
“Listen here, little girl,” she snarled, turning toward the girl in pink and ready to give the child the tongue lashing of her life.
She didn’t have the chance.
A whistling sound pierced the air, then the glass window of the carriage shattered. Shards burst into their faces and the girls all screamed. Lore didn’t move. She watched the arrow fly through the window and embed itself in the pink dressed girl’s throat. Silencing her immediately.
All sounds stopped. The girl let out a horrible gurgle, pressing her hands to the arrow in her neck that had come out the other side. Lore had heard that sound before, long ago, when the war meant her people were still fighting.
“Save her!” the girl in green screamed. “Someone save her!”
Lore tilted her head to the side, expressionless and empty. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Your sister is going to drown in her own blood.”
“What? No! You have to do something.”
A small amount of pity filtered through the shock. Lore had to get them out of the carriage. Someone had attacked them and that was not good. She had to save herself.
“Fine,” she snarled. Lore lunged forward and ripped the arrow out of the girl’s throat. “She’ll die faster now.”
She wasted no time on the grieving sister. Planting her hand firmly on
Beauty’s back, she shoved the girl out of the carriage and landed in a crouch outside. Already the Umbral Knights were forming a protective barrier around the carriages that were all gathered together on the road. Other windows were broken, and considering she could hear a few other girls screaming, she had to assume more were dead.
None of the trees moved. She saw nothing in the bushes. With a quick glance, she noted the few arrows that hadn’t found windows were pointed down slightly. Meaning they had been shot from above.
Smart. Their attackers were high in the trees somewhere. Harder to find for the Umbral Knights who used their swords rather than bows. She’d never seen them touch the crossbows on their backs.
More whistling. She grabbed Beauty and slammed the girl’s back into the open door of the carriage, holding it in front of them while three thuds shook the frame.
“You’re covered in blood,” Beauty gasped. “Your dress.”
Who cared?
Lore glanced down at her front to see a small amount of splatters. The dress was ruined, of course, but she wasn’t covered.
“Stay here,” she muttered.
The arrows weren’t the rebellion’s. She knew that much. They were crudely made with twisted wood. That’s why they weren’t flying correctly. Amateurs.
If Beauty moved, then it wasn’t on her anymore. Lore had set the girl up as best she could, but they weren’t able to run now. Keeping the door in front of her would help a little. At least she was crouched on the ground with solid wood in between her and the flying arrows. However, she couldn’t stay there forever.
The Umbral Knights were doing nothing. They stood there like the empty headed soldiers they were, swords drawn, ready for their enemy to attack them. But their enemy was in the air.
Someone had to do something, or they were all going to die.
Grumbling under her breath, Lore ripped the skirts on either side of her legs so she could at least run freely. She spun around the door and grabbed the arrows still stuck to the wood. They hadn’t gone too deep, thankfully, so she could rip them free with relative ease.
The next part she worried about. She sprinted toward an Umbral Knight, arms pumping with only three arrows in her hand. Lore leapt into the air, snagged the bow from the nearest Knight, and rolled over his back. She landed hard on her feet, but moved quickly so he couldn’t catch her.