by Ella Fields
“Twice,” she said, her brows furrowing as she tried to remember what Kash had likely informed her. What I should have informed her.
“The war horn.” I took her by the hand, leading her from the room.
Audra
Warriors and faeries raced everywhere, into one another, and toppled down the stairs, clearly unaccustomed to the idea of war.
Zad’s hand in mine felt hot, tight, and oh, so perfect, but I had little time to adjust to the sensations before Nerro and Dace found us. “It’s Este, my prince and queen,” the warrior said, sounding out of breath. “She rides toward the castle.”
“How many accompany her?” Zad asked.
“We cannot be sure with our scouts still returning, but she travels with her army.”
I held back a curse, knowing I should’ve paid more mind to the Queen of the Silver Court’s absence and lack of welcome.
Zad led us down the hall and up another flight of stairs that never seemed to end until we entered a circular chamber filled with armor and maps. We crossed the room to the arched doorway and stepped out onto the battlements that gave a view of the sweeping cliffs either side of the castle and the rushing river beneath.
“Quickly,” Zad said, tugging me back inside the room before I could see what he’d checked and handing me a sword.
Briefly inspecting the worn yet fine metal, the leather pommel molding to my grip, I watched Zad select his own and then hand me a breastplate. “I have my own armor in my rooms.” A gift from Elkin and his pack that I’d found waiting for me upon returning.
“We’ve no time,” he said, walking over to strap the plate to my chest when I didn’t move fast enough. “I have no idea what she wants, but that her army journeys with her means we’re in deep shit.”
“We will speak with her.”
Zad released a dry huff, his smile grim as he tightened the straps and then reached for his sword. “We rarely seek to negotiate. If we bear arms with an army, we mean to either capture or kill.” He met my eyes, his own hard and swirling with worry. “Usually both. Stay with me.”
I didn’t argue, knowing it was prudent I listen to him. Remembering who was more adept with faerie warfare, I followed him out the other door behind the stairs.
Zad stopped atop the battlement and looked down at the forked bridge as warriors converged over it and took up their stations along each side and the paths leading to it. Others ran farther, meeting with many who emerged from the trees.
And when I looked at the west toward the city, more wolves were running in groups, weapons bared, strapping on fighting gear, yelling and howling to one another.
“Where did they all come from?” I’d known the king had a considerable army, but I hadn’t known the numbers nor what would happen when called upon. I’d thought most would live in the barracks of the castle or nearby.
“Their homes,” Zad said before meeting with an archer some feet away.
The warrior he was talking with threw his eyes at me twice until Zad snapped, “She stays with me.”
Warmth encompassed me, and I offered a smile. “You couldn’t lock me away if you tried.”
The wolf blinked, then nodded and looked at the horizon.
I did too, in time to see a furbane scream across it, a female on its back, her white-blond hair making her recognizable to nearly anyone.
Este.
“Down,” Zad ordered, and I obeyed as an archer farther down the battlement was plucked from his station.
The furbane dropped him into the falls behind the castle, then did a loop with the queen on its back whistling to the army that’d invaded the valleys and forests, racing toward us with a speed I knew would have them arriving in minutes.
“Back,” Zad said to me. “Stay low,” he told the archers, who didn’t seem to need telling at all, already crouching and on guard.
I reversed closer to the tower we’d just left, my sword still at my side but ready to swing if need be.
Some of the Silver Court arrived on horseback—mostly the Fae—and the others in wolf form. In blacks, silvers, grays, whites, and fawn, mixed and varying in size, the beasts closed in.
Many of our own warriors were still racing in from all sides, and I realized with not a small amount of alarm that they would just meet the enemy on time and fight until the death without any hesitation at all.
An enemy that should not be, for if I was right, and Kole had not returned to Este’s bed, then the queen wanted one thing and one thing only.
A cure for her broken heart.
Impossible, yet I could relate. So I ran.
“Audra,” Zad bellowed, his footsteps on the stairs behind me as I raced down, down, down, into the stomach of the keep a comfort but unnecessary. “Audra, stop.”
“You stay here,” I shot behind me. Snatching a helmet that’d been hanging from the spear of a chipped wolven statue, I dropped it upon my head as I turned the corner, then another, moonlight spraying over me as I pushed through warriors at the entrance.
Shocked murmurings and pleads came from behind me, generals and even their youngling warriors beseeching that I get back inside.
I didn’t listen.
“Stop her!” Zad roared. “Fates be damned, fucking stop her.”
They didn’t listen.
I was their queen, and like it or not, I would do as I wished—even at the expense of my own life.
A violent growl sent shivers down my spine, and then Zad landed before me in the center of the bridge, hard enough to quake the stone and shake the dust.
He’d flown. I hadn’t the time to absorb that, to marvel as I longed to. He glared. “Turn around.”
“You turn around.” The enormous expanse of those wings blocked my view. “Or at least move before you get us both killed.”
He stared at me.
I stared back.
Finally, he grumbled something that sounded like, “Forever the death of me,” and tucked his wings behind his back.
We turned right at the fork, and together we hurried to the end of the bridge, warriors at our backs, sides, and our fronts. They parted when we met them, but I knew we weren’t moving fast enough before growling and screaming cleaved the air.
I grabbed Zad’s hand. “You need to get her attention.”
“I told you, we do not negotiate.”
“Your brother did,” I needlessly reminded him. “We can help her. We know what she wants.”
A bloodcurdling howl cut across the river, pain-wracked with fury and despair.
“Zad,” I urged. “We need to buy time. Distract her at the very least.”
Knowing I was right, he clenched his jaw.
Then the queen plummeted toward us, and I was in his arms, airborne. My heart lurched and stopped, and we soared into a tree as the queen, atop her furbane, laughed and did a loop in the air before swooping upon a group of warriors near the bridge.
Zad turned, absorbing the impact with a crunch that had to have broken something.
We wobbled to the ground, and he winced, cursing as his wings banked, giving us a softer landing than I’d anticipated. “You need to see the healer.”
“I’ll heal within the hour.”
“We don’t have an hour,” I said, my eyes darting everywhere, searching for the sword I’d lost.
A warrior, seeming no older than I was, crouched down into the dirt, his teeth bared and his sword raised as the queen dipped again.
My eyes narrowed, fingers unfurling, and although it pained me to do it, I stole the air from the queen’s furbane.
Screeching and stumbling, the creature narrowly missed the young warrior as it slammed into the ground and took out half the bridge with its wing. Warriors cursed and leaped. Some fell into the river while others tried to fish them out, the furbane in a heap on the bank.
The queen, sword in hand, jumped off and rounded the beast’s side, taking in the damage—wholly unaware or perhaps not caring that more than twenty warriors had now surro
unded her.
“Rinny,” she cried, the beast twitching as I released my hold on its airways and walked over.
The queen sagged with relief when the furbane tried to get to its feet. Unblinking, I kept my eyes upon it, willing it to stay down.
“Remove your hold on my furbane, queen,” Este sneered, leaping to her feet with a preternatural grace.
“We both know I won’t be doing that.” I inspected my nails, battle cries and growls clouding the air, the scent of blood and sweat and fear reminding me to hurry and put a damned stop to this. “Your wolf is not here, and we are not the answer,” I said. “Go home.”
“An order?” She tilted her head. “Cute, but I think I’ll take what I came for first, if you don’t mind.”
Pursing my lips, I lowered my hand. “Well, I suppose it depends on what that might be.”
“The king stole my heart, but being that he is no longer with us, I’ll be taking my revenge out on you.” Her eyes flicked to Zad, who moved from my back to my side.
“Este,” Zad said, his voice soft, masking the danger lurking in his eyes and fluid steps. “Audra had nothing to do with Kole leaving you.”
Este hissed at that, her eyes slitting and her features icing. “I’ve no reason to slay my High Queen,” she said. “I’m here for you.” She lunged before she’d finished talking, Zad’s magic blocking hers just in time and right before his chest.
Half-hypnotized, I watched the invisible forces clash and push, and in doing so, I lost my concentration on the furbane, who rose to her feet with a deep wound in her side.
The queen pulled back abruptly and ran, but Zad was ready, gently throwing his defense into the dirt. A crater appeared, grass exploding and wind howling, as the queen struck again from atop her furbane, and they rose above us.
“Este!” someone shouted.
She ignored them, tossing an iron star at a nearing warrior. He bounded to the side, and it skimmed his arm, taking skin and flesh with it.
“Este!” More urgent this time, stealing her attention away from every threat that’d encircled her.
And there were too many.
An iron-crafted arrow struck her from behind, and the silver queen tumbled from her beast.
Zad ran and leaped into the air, and her furbane screeched, shaking the treetops. Warriors scattered as the creature roared and threw itself to the ground, right next to where Zad caught and laid her queen.
The young archer across the river paled, his bow slackening and falling to his side.
“No.” Kole pushed his way through the gathered warriors, snarling when he reached Zad, who stepped back as Kole took Este from him.
Crouched over her with blood coating the hand he pressed to her cheek, he murmured words we shouldn’t have been permitted to hear. Removing the helmet, I looked away.
Nobody moved for the longest time, and then I called, “Someone send for Alahn. Now.”
With a mighty roar, Rinny flapped into the air, branches rustling and leaves flying, snarling down at anyone standing too close to her queen.
Everyone looked at me with questioning eyes, and I felt my chest clench with sorrow as I watched the mated couple cling to one another in the bloodstained dirt. “Clear out,” I said, my voice a rasp. “Lay down your arms and clear out.”
Zad studied me with those amber eyes for two breathless heartbeats, then cupped his hands around his mouth, and bellowed, “Fight no more and disperse, or be captured and dealt with accordingly.”
The healer came rushing out from the castle’s side entrance, confusion upon his face as he took in the fleeing warriors. Many waded past him back into the keep while others made sure the Silver Court headed back the way they came.
“The queen,” I said, walking over to Alahn. “Help her.”
Old eyes drank me in, and he nodded once. “As you wish, my queen.”
Zad and I watched from the broken bridge as the queen’s furbane refused to be led down from the skies where she kept guard of her rider, and the healer struggled to help the silver queen.
I nodded to Melron, who then joined some of the wolves standing by, awaiting news of Este, unwilling to leave without their queen. After a moment of talking with them, their faces hard and grave, they came forward and did their best to remove Kole so that the healer could do his work.
The queen’s side was covered in blood, a wound deep enough to show a glimpse of her ribs refusing to close.
Zad stood at my side as we both watched and waited.
And as the sun began to rise, the healer finally rose too, and said, “I’ve staunched it as much as possible.” But the queen had long ago lost consciousness, half her face planted in the grass, eyes closed while Kole begged her to wake up. “Now it is up to her.”
Reluctantly, Kole stood and whistled three times, calling the furbane down. It landed some feet away from them, large dark eyes like reflective glass orbs as they beheld the mess that was its queen.
“The queen should not travel,” the healer said. “The iron’s poison could spread.”
“She would be safe here,” I said, meaning it. “I would personally guard her.”
“What?” Kole barked with a harsh laugh, brows low over simmering eyes. “Why?” Brushing his hand across his cheek and into his golden hair, he covered himself in smears of blood. “She brought war to your door.”
Unsure how to say it, that I understood and would have done the same as his injured mate, I shifted and just stared at him.
Frowning deeper, Kole looked from me to Zad, then to Este. “She needs her people and her land.”
Zad walked away then and gently collected the queen who’d tried to murder him as Kole climbed onto her beast and held out his arms.
With Este situated as best she could be, one of his hands around her and the other in the creature’s feathered mane, Kole looked at Zad and nodded once before clicking his tongue.
Soon they were nothing but specks in the slow to color sky, and all that remained was a stain on the grass.
Audra
We lost three warriors during the short battle led by Este.
“Quite fortunate,” said Kash over breakfast the following evening, as though three people—two shifters and a faerie archer—dying wasn’t so bad.
He hadn’t noticed the rising of my brows, too busy stuffing curled bread into a little bowl of butter and into his mouth while he reached for some tea.
Zad was nowhere to be seen, supposedly out visiting some wounded wolves in the city and villages.
“How many wounded?” I’d asked. Unsure if I could stomach the raisin-loaded oatmeal before me, I merely dragged my spoon through it.
“We cannot be sure until Zad returns, as many of them shifted to heal. We’re expecting quite a few.”
The silence that’d followed had my teeth grinding together. “I don’t know why I couldn’t have gone with him.”
“He did not ask?”
“More like he did not wait until I was even awake,” I’d muttered. I’d checked his room after waking and found no sign of him, his scent faded in the halls. I’d arrived for breakfast, and Melron had informed me that he and Dace had left.
Shaking off the annoyance, I steered Van back over the river, my heels digging into his sides. We glided lower, and I inspected every leafy fern, arrow-pocked tree, and even the water for anyone who might’ve been left behind.
I knew I needn’t have bothered and many Fae were unaccustomed to such things as collecting and mourning their dead, but I couldn’t shake the habit of responsibility.
Finding nothing save for the odd weapon and a bloodied rock and tree, we flew back toward the keep, and I returned Van to his stall. He wasn’t fond of his neighbors, and I couldn’t say the wild things were fond of him, often scenting the air as though he were something far too foreign to belong here.
I wondered how many creatures thought the same of me and if I should care if they did.
It mattered not, so I would not.
“Vanamar needed company,” I said, gazing back into the dark to find his eyes upon me. Smiling, I turned away and swept across the ankle-deep grass, marching uphill toward the castle.
The breeze carried a salty mist from the violent river at our side, and I inhaled deeply, wondering how I’d fallen for a land as murderous as many of its occupants. Perhaps the odd energy that warmed my cool blood, the unavoidable pull toward the forest and the skies and all its many creatures, made it so I couldn’t fight it.
I wasn’t sure what else this land would have me do for it or what capabilities it might bestow on me. Kash said it differed from ruler to ruler, and that over time, we would see what the fates wanted from me.
I didn’t mind waiting when I was still allowing myself to grow used to all I’d already been gifted. The sight, the hearing, the musical notes and messages carried to me upon the wind—nearly every evening, I woke hearing, tasting, or scenting something new. As though I’d always had the knowledge tucked somewhere deep inside me, lying dormant, I knew what it was without needing to ask.
Uncertain if I’d have the same lifespan as the Fae, who’d been known to live for thousands of years, I couldn’t be sure how long this reign of mine might last, nor what I could accomplish during it. But I was grateful I seemed to tire less easily, so I’d be sure to make the most of it.
“The ball,” Temika said as she caught up with me, bobbing at my side.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
To rid the tension of Este’s... visit, Temika and Kash had agreed upon a ball to celebrate the return of a High Queen and the lands’ health.
It’d been four nights since Este and her army had left and taken to the hills and seas, and so I doubted she’d return so soon—if at all. Other than a message from her court delivering news that she lives and that Kole had not left her bedside, we knew nothing else.
“I have readied your gown,” Temika informed me as we crossed the repaired bridge. “It awaits you in your rooms.”