“I know everything, Shortie. You should know that by now,” I teased, hoping she bought my bluff.
The door to the tower was open, and I smiled broadly down at Ruby as we made our way up the stairs. After some effort—I hadn’t expected the climb to be quite so high—we reached the top. A small wooden doorway led out to a narrow platform built around the tower. The only thing between us and a mile-long drop was a thin iron railing that only reached up to the top of my shoe, clearly for decorative purposes only.
“Um, you don’t suffer from vertigo, do you?” I asked, feeling slightly queasy as I looked down.
“No…but this is slightly scary, Ash.”
“But look around,” I replied brightly, “the whole of Nevertide…”
This was a mistake.
“It’s amazing,” she conceded slowly. “But why have you brought me up here?”
“Well… I thought it might be nice. Romantic, maybe?”
She started to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand, doing her best to hold it back.
“I’m so sorry,” she gasped. “I don’t mean to laugh…It’s just… this is terrifying. I feel like I’m going to plummet to my death at any moment.”
“I know,” I groaned, half laughing, half disbelieving that I’d messed this up so badly. “I didn’t really have time to plan this.”
“Plan what, though?” she replied, trying to collect herself. “I don’t understand. If you want to spend some time together, let’s just go back to our room?”
The words were said with a shy smile, and I kicked myself. Why hadn’t I just done that? We would have had privacy there. Why did I have to go and make this so complicated? Ruby turned back toward the door, beckoning me back down the stairs.
I wanted to follow, but I was fast losing my nerve. If I didn’t say it now, I was afraid I’d never get the words out of my mouth.
“Ruby, wait,” I called out.
She turned, looking at me expectantly.
“I have something I need to ask you. I know things are…unsettled between the two of us, but I wanted to say this now rather than later…just in case anything happens.” I took a few moments, trying to breathe—to say the right words.
“Ash?” she questioned, her voice high-pitched and frightened. “What’s going on? You’re acting really weird, has something happened?”
I shook my head, realizing that this most definitely wasn’t coming out the way I wanted it to.
“Ruby, please just listen. I wanted you to know how much you mean to me—how I couldn’t have gotten through the last few weeks without you, not even close. That you make me feel like the luckiest man alive, even just to be near you—”
“I feel the same way,” she interrupted.
“Good, but can you just—”
“Seriously, Ash,” she continued, moving away from the door and back toward me, “I can’t imagine what I would have done without you.”
“Ruby!” I yelled her name, trying to get her to listen.
Instead, she jumped backward in surprise. Her eyes widened as her foot caught in the iron bar. She stumbled, her arms flailing outward in the air. I caught her around the waist, holding on for dear life, but it was too late. Most of her body weight had fallen backward, and as I grabbed hold of her, I felt us both falling into thin air.
“ASH!” she screamed, her nails digging into me.
“HOLD ON!” I bellowed, crushing her to me as we free-fell from the tower.
Hexorn, come!
I mentally called the name of the only bird I knew well—the one who had saved me from the earthquake at the Fells. I quietly prayed that he was training with the rest of the flock…
Suddenly I was jerked from beneath, my back slamming into the soft, feathery back of the bird. I heaved a sigh of relief, and looked down at Ruby. She still had her eyes closed.
“It’s okay, Shortie. We’re safe, it’s okay.”
“Ash?” She opened her eyes, staring up at me. Her fingers reached out to feel the surface she’d landed on. She inhaled a huge gulp of air when she felt the feathers of the vulture.
“Ash?” she asked again.
“Yes?” I murmured softly.
“What the HELL was that?” she screamed, sitting bolt upright. “Why were you yelling at me? You idiot!”
I’d never seen her so furious. She looked as if she was about to rip out my eyes. “I’m sorry!” I pleaded, “I just wanted you to listen to me for a moment!”
“Why? What the hell was so damn important that you had to knock me off a tower and almost kill me?” she screeched. I got the impression that she wouldn’t want me to mention the fact that she was massively exaggerating.
“Because I was TRYING to propose!”
She fell silent.
Finally.
“I want to marry you, Ruby. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I’m in love with you. Completely and utterly in love with you.”
I pushed into the pocket of my robe, pulling out the small gold band that my mother had worn till the day she died. It wasn’t much, and it hardly seemed the most fitting engagement ring for an emperor to give his future wife, but it was all I had.
“I don’t want an answer now,” I emphasized. “Honestly, I want you to think about this, because if you say yes—that’s it. I’ll never let you go. Take your time.”
“Oh, Ash,” she sighed, her face lighting up as she reached for my hand. “Even though I’m the biggest pain in the ass?”
“Even though you’re the biggest pain in the ass,” I confirmed.
I kept the bird circling the castle, finally finding a way that we could spend time together, uninterrupted and in complete privacy. The strange twilight caused by the ripped sky glared behind Ruby’s head, making her blonde hair look like some kind of angelic halo, her skin glowing in warm, golden tones as she leaned toward me. I clasped her tightly in my arms, kissing the life out of her—her lips electric, sending volts of desire charging through my body.
“I love you, Ash,” she breathed against me. “I love you so damn much.”
Ruby
After the vulture had landed, Ash had left me to meet with the ministers and discuss the schedule for maintaining the barrier. I had wandered through the castle on a pink cloud, completely oblivious to what was going on around me. Jenney had enquired after the boys, but I couldn’t remember what she’d actually said, or what I’d replied. It was like my feet weren’t even touching the ground.
I had always laughed at Hazel’s obsession with romance stories—those implausible endings, falling madly in love within a matter of days, reality vanishing in the force of the characters’ feelings for one another. I had thought it was the stuff of fluffy fairytales. I had never for a moment believed that I would ever feel the same way—as swept up by my feelings, as utterly and hopelessly in love with someone who apparently felt the same way.
But marriage?
It felt so sudden.
I quietly shut the door to our room, resting my head on the back of the door and closed my eyes against the strange twilight that bathed the room in pink and purple light. It was peaceful here. I needed to be alone right now, to sort through the conflicting voices in my head. The rational half of me, sounding a lot like my father’s voice, told me that it was crazy—it was too soon, too hurried. We had insurmountable differences that needed to be discussed before we moved forward together. The other part of me, the emotional part—the sum of my beating heart, the lightness of my body, the shaft of sunlight inside me that felt like it would burst out at any moment—that part of me wanted to rush back into Ash’s arms and give him the answer he wanted to hear.
What do I do?
Which voice was I supposed to listen to?
The rational side of me had always served me well, had always steered me on the right path. It was the reason I’d survived Nevertide, and why I hoped to make an effective member of GASP one day. I always weighed pros and cons, never taking something at face value, knowing the differ
ence between right and wrong—never allowing room for the gray areas of doubt that so many others suffered from.
But this was different.
Wasn’t this the stuff that made life worth living? The unexpected bits, the part where there weren’t lists to be made, where there was no right or wrong. There was listening to my heart, and following it to the end just because I could. It was risky, and messy, and there was the danger that my heart could be broken into a million little pieces, the cracks never healing in quite the same way.
It meant change, and in this instance, a fundamental transformation.
A sentry.
An emperor’s wife.
Nevertide.
Would he come home with me? And even if he did, would he forever yearn to come back here—and what would he do? He’d wanted to be emperor; he had chosen this. If I was the reason that he left it all behind, would he resent me forever? And what about if it was the other way around? What if I lived here, would I eventually hate him for taking me away from my home, my friends, my family?
Breathe, Ruby, breathe.
I sat on the bed and lowered my head between my legs, steadying the rising panic. These questions needed to be discussed with Ash—calmly. I couldn’t solve all our problems in a few minutes, alone.
You love him, just let it go.
I moved, lying back on the soft coverlet. I looked up at the ceiling, noticing the ornate plaster work creating intricate floral patterns, each leaf and vine weaving in and out of one another. I traced the patterns with my eyes, finding the action meditative and soothing.
I did love Ash.
I could say yes, and see where fate led us. Or I could say no, and spend the rest of my life regretting the decision, every day wishing I’d had the courage to submit to the unknown and had enough faith that our love would hold me steady through the journey. I could throw myself into work, my heart slowly hardening, forgetting what it felt like to love and be loved.
I had a simple choice to make, and suddenly the answer felt glaringly obvious.
Derek
As we journeyed to our destination, we navigated a route that avoided the main roads and thoroughfares which had once been heavily populated—as evidenced by strange hoof tracks and footprints—in order to ensure we remained unseen. We tried to stay under the cover of darkness, as best we could, tracking our route so we remained beneath the patches of sky that had been torn, only showing the pinpricks of stars in the night sky. The good news was that the werewolves were also exposed to a near constant moon, which enabled them to transform.
We had been traveling for an hour before the dragons, and some of the Hawks—Field and his brothers included—stopped us. They had flown on ahead and discovered another deserted castle, one that was fully intact this time.
“Do we stop?” Lucas suggested. “It might be worth exploring—if it’s still standing it might give us some better clues as to the types of creatures we’re dealing with.”
“I agree, let’s look into it,” I replied, halting the team and changing our direction—veering north instead of east. It wouldn’t delay our journey by much, so long as we didn’t run into any trouble.
Soon we were following a muddied track, which had clearly been used recently—and by a very large group; there were hundreds of footprints and more of the strange hoof markings.
“What happened here?” Sofia wondered as we walked into a large clearing, a white stone palace in the distance. “It doesn’t look like the earthquake damaged it…why would it just be abandoned like that?”
“It looks like it’s been empty for a while,” I replied, noticing the decay of the building as we moved closer; two walls on the lower levels had been almost completely blown out.
“Derek, Rose.” Micah ran up to us. “The kids have been here too. I can smell them. I think recently. The scent’s much easier to pick up.”
Rose looked around worriedly, assessing the damage of the palace—no doubt trying to imagine what could have happened, wondering whether Hazel and Benedict had been hurt in any way. Claudia pushed her way through the group, followed by Ashley, demanding that Micah direct them to where the scent was strongest.
“Rose.” Sofia placed a reassuring hand on our daughter’s arm when Rose didn’t join them. “This is good news—if the scents are fresh then it increases the likelihood that we’ll find them.”
Kira caught my eye, then nodded her head in the direction of the forest that surrounded us. My adrenaline shot up uncomfortably. If the werewolf wanted to speak to me away from Rose and Sofia, then I doubted that she had good news to impart.
We made our way out of earshot. Thankfully Rose, at her mother’s urging, was heading up toward the palace, along with the rest of the GASP members.
“Derek, there’s something I wanted to say, but not in front of Rose,” Kira whispered, keeping her voice low. “It’s Hazel. Her scent has completely changed. She’s definitely still alive,” she hastened to add, noticing my look, “but there’s something different about her—and I don’t know what it is…like her genetic make-up’s changed somehow…. but I thought maybe you might be able to prepare Rose in some way. If her daughter’s different.”
My stomach tensed. “And you can’t tell what it is? What the change might be?” I urged.
The werewolf shook her head, blonde curls bouncing.
“I’m sorry, I really can’t tell. It’s just not…human.”
I nodded, grateful that Kira had told me alone.
“I’ll have a word with her,” I promised.
The werewolf nodded before making her way back to Micah.
I didn’t know how I was going to broach the subject with Rose. I wondered if it wouldn’t be better if I held off till we knew more, but it might be too late by then. I would have to tell her, but gently. When the time was right. At the moment, she was still doubtful that the children were alive—I didn’t want to add to that.
“Derek! Ben!”
A shout went up from inside the palace. It sounded like Eli, and I hurried toward the entrance, swiftly followed by the rest of the team. We thundered up the wide staircase, tracking him down. I could tell he’d found someone in the castle. From here I could smell blood and a rapidly beating heart…whatever or whoever it was, they were afraid.
“Through here,” Eli called out, and I followed his voice to a door in one of the towers. On the floor in front of him was a woman—an abnormally large, tall woman dressed in a large headscarf and brightly colored, but torn robes. She was crying softly, her hands tied behind her back.
“I’ve been trying to untie her,” Eli said, “but she doesn’t want me anywhere near her.”
The woman was slowly shifting away from us on the floor, backing up into her prison. Our presence was obviously terrifying her.
“Okay.” I turned to the rest of the GASP members who had followed me in. “Rose, Sofia, Ashley, Grace—please help this woman. The rest of you are going to look around the rest of the castle and the grounds.”
The team moved swiftly, giving us some space.
“Do you want me to leave?” Eli asked, evidently wishing that I would say yes. His eyes were wide beneath his glasses, the woman’s fraught emotion clearly making him uncomfortable.
“You can leave.” I nodded.
Eli heaved a sigh of gratitude and rushed off before I could say another word.
“What happened to you?” my wife murmured softly.
The woman looked at us, her eyes darting across each face as she registered our strange clothes and appearance.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice trembling. “What are you doing here? Did my master send you?”
Sofia and I glanced at one another. What master?
“We’re from another dimension,” I replied softly, not entirely sure how much I wanted to give away about our origins. The woman didn’t look dangerous, but my several centuries of living had taught me that first appearances could be deceptive. “We’re looking for some y
oung humans who were taken here, two boys, two girls. Do you think you might have seen them?”
Her eyes rested on mine. I could see she was deliberating about whether or not to tell us the truth—her expression was at once wary and hopeful. I supposed she saw us as her ticket out of this place, if she gave us the right answer.
“Human children were taken for the trials, the kingship trials, by the Hellswans. The ones who locked me up here. Maybe your children were among them…but you’re not human.”
“No,” I replied, “not exactly. And neither are you.”
She frowned.
“I’m a sentry. Like all the others of this land. Who exactly are you?”
Clearly the woman wasn’t eager to give much information away until she had a better understanding of what we were. I glanced over at the others again, thinking that perhaps Sofia or Rose should take the lead here. They had more patience than I did.
“We’re members of a supernatural organization, created for the protection of humans and other supernatural creatures. We’re just here to find our children,” Sofia explained gently. “If there’s any information you can give us, any at all, it would be really helpful. Maybe you could explain who these Hellswans are?”
The woman seemed to relax at my wife’s explanation, and she nodded.
“I can help you, yes…. The Hellswan family has terrorized this land for years. Tejus Hellswan is the evil, dark overlord who’s caused so much of the devastation you’ve undoubtedly already seen.” The woman looked at all of us with wide eyes. “Come to think of it—he kidnapped a girl who looked a lot like you.”
Her remark was directed at Rose.
“Is she still alive?” my daughter breathed. “And she has a brother too—a small boy? His name’s Benedict. Hazel and Benedict? Have you seen them?”
The flurry of questions was answered by an enthusiastic nod from the woman.
“Hazel and Benedict, yes, poor creatures. The last time I saw them was at the trials. They were treated so badly by Tejus and the others. I tried to fight for them—to stop the cruelty to your children and all the others, but look where it got me!” She held up her shackle-burnt wrists, shaking her head sadly.
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