Prologue

P rincess Gabriela Avila Strong exhaled with a groan and turned to her side. "The pain." The last remaining heir of House Strong of Strong Haven pressed into her midsection with both hands. "It returns." She clenched her teeth and squeezed the sheets. "Worse this time."

"My dear lady. Hang in there," Maid Gidna said soothingly as she wiped Gabriela's wet forehead with a soft cotton cloth. "Help is on the way. It should arrive any moment."

Gabriela panted in bursts. Her breathing grew shallow. "It's all wrong." She looked to Maid Gidna for help. "Please… My baby is not due to arrive for another month." Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head from side to side. "It is too soon."

The stocky and faithful dwarf had served the Strong family, and then Gabriela and Lord Leaf, for almost one hundred years. Her lady had never endured such pain. It was all too much. "All will be well. I am sure Lady Sonia is on her way. She will fix you right up."

Maid Gidna prayed to the Stars Lady Sonia would arrive soon. But who knew when the hard-to-locate witch-healer would show.

"And Leaf?" A hard swallow and then Gabriela asked again. "What of Leaf?"

Gidna glanced at a maidservant huddling in the shadows of the bedchamber's corner. The young and tiny maiden clutched her fitted white dress skirt in her small hands. The flowers that usually adorned her short-clipped brown hair had fallen away. With wide eyes, she moved her head from side to side.

Hiding a gulp, Gidna reported the progress to the princess. "Surely, our raven has reached him and he races home now. I have no doubt."

Gabriela dug her nails into the feather mattress. With jaws clenched, her face contorted. When the wave passed, she gasped for more air, and her head fell back against the pillow. "I am breaking in half. I need help."

She wiped Gabriela's chin with the square of cotton and pulled the long white-streaked brown hair away from her lady's face. She stroked Gabriela's moist and cool cheek. "You are not breaking, my princess."

Seventy years ago, Gidna had stepped in and filled the void after Gabriela's mother, Princess Celyse, went to the Passing Place. Five years later, Gidna assisted with the paternal role when Gabriela's father, Lord Julio, died in a car crash. He paid the ultimate price while visiting the human realm. She and others suspected responsibility lay with House Kane or those aligned with them. Yet, there had been no way to prove it, of course.

"I love you, Gidna." Gabriela locked eyes with her servant and best friend, then squeezed her hand. "You are my family."

The dwarf blinked and then harrumphed. Her lady mustn't start with that talk. "You will be fine, my lady. I know it. I can feel it with every sense inside me."

Ignoring Gidna, Gabriela went on. "Do you remember when we first met?"

"Sun, Moon, and Stars, my lady. Of course, I do."

The princess smiled, and her eyes took on a faraway look. "I was seventeen when I came here from the human realm. I hardly knew anything about Faevenly. But you…" Gabriela swallowed and winced as if the pain had jabbed her again. "You helped me. Because of you, I learned the balance between the human and fae realm." She threw her head back and unleashed a throaty wail that echoed throughout the small room.

This time, Gidna could not stop herself. Tears fell from her eyes. They trailed down her cheeks like a mighty river carving through the rocky mountain range. If Lady Sonia didn't appear soon all would be lost. The princess could not take much more of this agony. Neither could the baby. Disaster loomed, and Gidna was determined to stop it.

She hollered over her shoulder. "Send more guards! Find Lady Sonia at once!" She turned to the shy maidservant in the corner. "And where is Manny!?" Gidna did not know how to help the princess. She could not save the baby from coming early, and she was woefully unprepared.

The maidservant scurried away and left Princess Gabriela to her ragged and shallow breathing. "My Uncle Manny…is probably…fishing somewhere. He's surely lost in a daydream."

"It would not surprise me in the least." Gidna flashed her a half-hearted smile. Manny spent countless hours fishing and wasting time. "Daydreamer, that one. But full of nothing but love for you."

"I know." Gabriela struggled to prop herself on her forearms. "You must promise me something."

"My lady, please, none of that talk. Lady Sonia will be?—"

"Please, Gidna!"

Gidna's mouth dropped open. Her next words hung in her clogged throat. Giving in to Gabriela's plea, she exhaled and pursed her lips. "Anything, my lady."

"If I do not make it, you must know that Leaf will perish too."

"Your soul is linked to Leaf's. I have not forgotten what that evil witch Draven did to you both."

Gabriela clutched the platinum cross hanging from her neck. She stroked the smooth edges of the precious heirloom. Her father passed it on to her when she was a child. It was all that remained of him—a powerful symbol of his human faith and a reminder of the powers held within her human bloodline. "If my baby survives, this must be passed on. This represents great power. The child will need it throughout life and beyond."

Gabriela's mother had foretold in a dream that her child—the Only One—would restore peace throughout Faevenly. Gidna knew and trusted that prophecy. She had seen the power within Gabriela. Her father, Lord Julio, possessed it too. "Your word is my command, my lady."

With a deep, guttural grunt, Gabriela struggled to remove the chain from around her neck. She placed it on Gidna's warm, thick palm and then closed Gidna's trembling fingers around the cross. "Faith is a warrior."

She nodded. "It is."

The princess's head fell back. "When you have no other choice, you must share my letter with the child. You know where it is, right?" Gabriela motioned toward a glass of water on the bedside table.

"I do, my lady." Gidna held the glass to her lips. "I know the spot."

The princess took several small sips and then waved the glass away. "Do not use the Strong or Avila name for my child. Tell Manny he must keep the child and raise my baby using only his name—Vela."

"Yes, my princess. Of course, I will do as you command until my heart's last beat."

"If the Kanes or their allies learn that Leaf and I conceived a child…" She groaned, and her voice lowered. "Assuming our baby lives, they will stop at nothing to kill it. Their hatred for me and my family runs deep. They do not want the prophecy realized."

Fifteen years ago, Gidna was present when Gabriela and Leaf abandoned Strong Haven and moved to the Sublands. Her heart hurt at the memory of that awful day. Though over time they had all grown to love the red and rocky province. "I will protect and defend your child with my life. Manny will, too. We all will."

Gabriela moaned and shifted to her other side, her purple nightgown wet and clinging to her tanned skin. "Trust only in Manny and Lady Sonia. No one else."

"No one else," Gidna repeated the command.

Outside, the day was closing, the sun's golden hues giving way to the dusky colors of twilight. Shadows stretched across the dull and dirty stone floor as finality settled in Gabriela and Leaf's simple bedchamber. With each passing minute, Gidna's hope for Lady Sonia's timely arrival and her lady's salvation waned.

Like the setting sun, Gabriela would soon face her final moments. Gidna could see it in the princess's paling skin and hear it in her failing breaths.

But for the baby…there was still hope. Gidna rubbed the cross and prayed for a miracle. "For peace in Faevenly, let this child survive."

Over the distant hills and drifting through High Meadow, the raven's message arrived on a chilly gust of wind. Hurry home. A flush of heat and Leaf's stomach roiled. He yanked the reins. "Silverhoof, home!"

Silverhoof's muscles tensed. She clamped the bit, steam bursting from her flaring nostrils as she jetted forward.

Leaf crouched low and leaned forward as the muscles of the powerful steed bounced beneath him. The rushing wind forced his eyes into a squint while the landscape of High Meadow zoomed past. With each strike of Silverhoof's hooves, he drew closer to the rocky Sublands.

Hurry home.

Gabriela and their unborn child were in trouble. He knew it. His heart quivered. His chest knotted like a ball of breeding snakes. He should have never left. If something happened to them, he would never forgive himself. He prayed to the Sun, Moon, and Stars that he would make it home in time.

But the worst scenarios always seemed to find them.

"Hold on, my love." Tears slipped from the corners of his eyes. "Please, hold on."

Silverhoof weaved her way around tall trees and thick underbrush. She leaped over jagged boulders and skimmed across glistening streams. Any faster and Silverhoof would have taken flight. She loved Gabriela too and must have sensed the danger.

The greenery and colorful wildflowers of High Meadow thinned. The red and orange desert landscape of the Sublands took over. A sliver of hope entered Leaf's heavy heart. "Almost there! "

But something else entered and resided within him—a long ago binding from the wicked Draven Midlothian.

The fae witch had almost conquered Faevenly when Gabriela and her human witch abilities and blue energy power ended Draven. But that victory came at great cost. Many died during that uncertain and tumultuous time. Leaf almost met his end too, but Gabriela saved him. That selfless act linked their souls forever.

A tickle of cold gathered at the top of Leaf's head. Like an icy tendril, the sensation trailed through his body and down to his feet, sapping his energy. Listless, he slumped over, gasping and clutching his chest. He knew what was happening.

Gabriela was dying…and so was he, and there wasn't anything he could do to change that.

He threaded his fingers through Silverhoof's long mane. Although Leaf lacked the power to tug the thick, coarse hair, the trusty steed knew what he needed. Silverhoof slowed to a standstill. Her head hung low, and her ears drooped. She stomped her hooves and neighed.

Leaf slipped his boots from the stirrups. He slid from his mount, his face smacking against the cold, rocky ground with a thud. This was it. He would never rise and retake that saddle.

Silverhoof whinnied and lowered herself one leg at a time. She inched closer and nudged her soft, warm muzzle against Leaf's fast-freezing cheek. Silverhoof gave him a gentle, loving nudge.

"I cannot." Leaf stared into the steed's violet eyes. "I am sorry, my friend."

Silverhoof's head swayed and then snuggled against Leaf.

"We shall meet again in the Passing Place. But not yet. You must find Gabriela. She and our baby need you. You must go to them. You must protect them." Leaf tried to prod Silverhoof but could not lift his hand. "Go home, my friend. Help our princess. Be quick."

Silverhoof stayed close for several long seconds before she nudged Leaf goodbye. She scooted back and raised herself upright. She stomped her hooves and circled Leaf.

"Go!" Leaf pleaded in a weak voice. "Do not disobey—not now."

His horse huffed and whinnied before slowly trotting away.

"I will miss you too, my beloved friend."

Leaf lay firmly planted on the ground. His black trousers, long-sleeved green tunic, and black cape provided no protection from the cold rushing within his body. He could not even feel his feet inside his boots anymore. Death had come for him.

The retreating sun rays stained the sky in a collage of red and orange. A trail of puffy white clouds floated by. He watched the tufts pull apart as his heart slowed and his breathing grew shallow.

He closed his eyes and pictured Gabriela's soft tan skin and her big brown eyes. He hated that he was not there for her during her time of need. As her one true love, that was his duty. He hoped she would not suffer at her end. He prayed their child was not meeting their end, too. He would find out soon enough in the Passing Place.

"I am coming, my love." His vision tunneled, and a soft light led the way. "I…am…"