Chapter Seventeen

The pale moon seeps through the darkness and casts a silver glow at my feet as I gather anything within my line of sight.

Though determination courses through my veins, I'm not foolish enough to believe I'll be able to survive the likes of Greenwrath Forest and the cold with no supplies. And I will survive. No matter if my instincts scream in warning that this is another carefully laid trap.

I wrap a thin blanket that isn't drenched with blood around my shoulders and pick up a dagger. Though dirt and blood are caked beneath my fingernails, pride stretches through me. There's a certain freedom in the knowledge that I'm a queen bearing her own weapon. When worries of wielding such a small weapon against an animal or another fae rise to the surface, I push them aside. I will survive.

By the time I reach the final tent, the satchel I find is full of dried meat, nuts, berries, and a waterskin. With little thought of a plan, I make for the lone, sable mount that grazes at the edge of the camp. The horse neighs softly as I run my fingers through its coarse mane.

"Please don't throw me off," I murmur.

Taking a deep breath, I place one foot into the stirrup and swing my other leg over. Although the horse shakes its head and neighs louder, it blessedly makes no move to buck me off. Adjusting myself on the saddle, I smoothe a curl away from my face and snap the reins without glancing over my shoulder.

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The crunch of leaves beneath my mount's hooves soothes me as I make for the forest. I tuck the corners of the blanket under my arms as the wind picks up speed, rustling the towering tops of the bittercrass trees. The thick canopy above me smothers the night and leeches the stars of their color.

Being heir to the Foliage Throne, I learned about Greenwrath Forest during my studies. The bittercrass trees native to the forest stretch for miles, each of them analogous to the next. Herbaceous plants sink their roots deep into the forest floor. Blinking, I sigh. They, too, seem to blend together. Except this time, I'm alone, and without a sense of direction.

To put it plainly, I'm lost.

I've scanned my surroundings for minutes or hours, I can't be sure. Instead of choosing to return to the road that Goldie led our party down, I decide following the stream will help me avoid the Carborough Pass. There lies a problem with that logic because, no matter where I look, the stream I bathed in is nowhere in sight.

Faint hoots of owls and the occasional huff of annoyance from my horse are the only sounds that cut through the otherwise quiet night. Looking over my shoulder, I pray to all the stars that I can find some form of shelter. An abandoned hut or a cave would do. To my dismay, the dozen times I scan the vast wood before me prove to be fruitless.

My cheeks and fingers are numb, and the thin blanket isn't adequate protection from the relentless wind. If I'm forced to wander about the woods all night and wait for the sun to rise, it'll be a miracle of the stars themselves if I don't freeze to death.

A bitter laugh escapes my throat as I wipe away tears from the corners of my eyes. If someone were to cross my path, they wouldn't believe me to be a queen at all. My hair is a mess of tangled, matted curls, and my silver gown is streaked with dirt and blood. I have no crown and no protection, save for the dagger in the satchel at my side.

If only the people of Minalis could see me now.

I know a significant amount of time has passed as we wander further. The stars' bright silver lights flare to life when we reach a clearing. I look up and a shiver wracks through my bones. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth as I laugh mirthlessly. The stars must enjoy taunting me.

Reaching into the satchel, I pull out the waterskin and scowl. Though I've been conscious of the amount I drink, little water remains. What does remain sloshes around because of my trembling fingers. Unscrewing the cork, I bring the waterskin to my lips and take a small sip. While it's cool in my mouth, it's doesn't slake my thirst.

The heaviness of my eyelids vanishes when a twig snaps through the thick brush ahead. Lifting my head, my eyes narrow as I scan the darkness. All manners of creatures lurk about these woods. Most of them have excellent hearing, and those that don't compensate with their sense of smell. It's likely they smelled the empty package of dried meat that's in the satchel.

My eyes fix on the tree line ahead when another snap of branches echoes through the night. Silently reaching into my bag, my hand closes around the dagger in the same breath that a silhouette darts through the trees. I breathe a sigh of relief and unclench my vise-like grip of the knife when my gaze catches onto the outline of large, white antlers. Sensing my stare, the animal freezes and angles its head in my direction. Gold and white patches reflect off its copper fur beneath the moonlight.

It's an animal I recognize from tales Nuelle told me as a girl. Legends that have been passed through the centuries believe that kismet gazelles are a blessing from the stars themselves. The golden spots on their fur are claimed to be made of starlight. The Gazelle's are protected from being hunted by laws in Minalis.

Although I know little about their temperament, I nudge my mount into a gallop and veer in the direction the gazelle runs. Animals of this nature don't lurk about woods that have no food or water supply. Besides, crossing paths with a kismet gazelle is thought to bring about luck. While I don't believe in luck, I'm in need of any aid the stars provide me at this moment.

The tree line becomes a blur with the breakneck speed I command my mount into. The gazelle is quick, its slender legs and lithe frame ensuring it's always a league ahead of me.

When the fierce wind brings tears to my eyes and clouds my vision, I slow my mount to a trot. Frustration claws at my chest when the gazelle disappears. I look down at the forest floor, but am unable to make out its tracks. I blow out a long sigh of defeat, but all thoughts of the gazelle fade away when I lift my eyes.

I must be going mad.

A soft, golden glow illuminates through the thick cover of darkness.I blink several times and shake my head, willing the orb of light to disappear from my mind. The glow remains each time I open my eyes.

My mount stamps its hooves and throws its head back when the glow pulses, burning brighter. The bushes ahead are bathed in its light, revealing red berries dangling from small branches. Murmuring soft words of encouragement into my mount's ear, a familiar feeling seeps into the darkest crevices of my soul.

When we're mere feet away from the orb, I dismount and lead my horse to a towering bittercrass tree. The close proximity sends a tingle through my chest and the blood coursing through my veins heats, recognizing a call of magic akin to its own. Starlight.

My horse's distressed whines cut through the still night, and I pull the red berries from the bush beside me. Stroking her mane, I scatter them on the ground beside me. Though I'm unsure if my horse is a mare or not, I deem it so anyway. Stallions aren't known for such easy temperament.

Another shiver wracks my body as the wind cuts through the thin material of my gown. While I'd known the temperature would plummet the further I ventured into the forest, I hadn't realized the warmth her silky coat provided me until now. My hands shake as I tie the reins in a knot around the tree. It's a poor knot at best, but I don't believe it will come undone. Wiping my palms down the front of my gown, I turn back to my girl.

"Please don't abandon me out here," I murmur, massaging the coarse hair behind her ear.

I sigh when she continues to graze on the nuts and berries, not bothering to lift her head.

The light dances when I turn. Up close, hundreds of whorls of gold and silver swirl about in the air to form a sphere. The bitter, metallic taste of magic sticks to my tongue and clings to the back of my throat as I inch closer. It's a tang that is not so easily forgotten, the same tang that settled over the battlefield just days ago.

The thread in my chest beholds the sphere in awe. Small flecks of silver surrounding the orb resemble the stars in the sky above. I take a final, small step forward and lift my hand. Unable to resist a mantra that beckons the magic flowing through me, I stretch my hand out. My lungs stall as the orb's glow flares to life and my fingers disappear into hues of molten silver and pure gold.

White-hot sparks surge through me, leaving images of what was once the life of a princess in their wake. The lid of each of the trunks in my mind splinters to pieces and crumbles to dust at once.

"Can I try it on, pleassseeee, Mama?"

"Alright, but for only just a moment," she sighs. A long, chocolate strand clings to the crown as she removes it from her brow. "But be careful, Ellesandra. This will be your crown one day."

I frown in confusion. "But how? You and Papa will rule the kingdom forever."

"Oh, my little pea." She kneels in front of me and places the rubied crown atop my head. "One day, a very long time from now, you will take your father's place and become ruler of Minalis." A gentle smile that speaks of a mother's love spreads across her lips as she leans forward to kiss my forehead. "Now come along, let's see how it looks in the mirror."

A dry swallow works down my throat as the scene within my mind transforms.

I peered up at him through thick, wet lashes. "You're the mirror of my soul," he said quietly. Too quietly.

Despite the moaning wind beyond the door of the hidden alcove, I heard the words all the same. The somber expression with which he stared down at me saw a fresh sting of agony lance through my chest. A sob caught in my throat. The prince's hands moved to cradle my face. "We can go to our fathers and force them to acknowledge our bond," he murmured. The pads of his thumbs wiped away the glittering tears that streamed down my face with the gentlest of touches.

"No," I whispered. The hope shining in the depths of his sea-blue eyes was too much to bear. I glanced away. "Your Father—" Unspoken grief frayed the edges of the thread in my soul, its lustrous shine dulling as the words fell from my lips.

"Is a fool." He lifted my chin and whispered the words against my lips. "Even the grave couldn't keep me from you, Lumina. This, I promise you."

I curse and jerk my hand away, toppling to the ground as I break the connection. The bond cries out in protest when memories carrying nothing but sorrow fade into the distance and become an echo. While the bond is foolish enough to fall prey to the orb's magic, the remembrance of all that followed those memories tastes bitter on my tongue.

Swiping a stray curl from my face, I look up and sigh. The golden orb zips through the tree line ahead. It's almost out of my line of sight before it hesitates, then brightens and dims three times. Follow, my soul commands, responding to the beacon.

Despite my magic's wishes, I don't need to debate the matter. Although numbness has crept into the balls of my feet, I find strength anew and push to my feet. I haven't an inkling of where the sphere wishes for me to go, but I won't be finding out. I've fallen prey to the allure of magic before and suffered the consequences.

Frost coats the grass and crunches beneath my boots, the pale moonlight shimmering above the canopy of trees that surrounds me. Though I have no concrete proof, I know the starlight is tied to him somehow.

Following my tracks back to my mount, the bond's maddening thoughts fill the hollow abyss of my soul once more. With each thought that fills my mind, I curse myself, the stars, and this stars-damned existence. It was foolish for me to follow the orb's call in the first place.

The lore that accompanies the talks of starlight is almost as vast as the Tempest Wastelands. While it's known that the mirror soul bond is rare, there's little information that has been proven aside from that. My existence speaks to the belief that those who bear the mating mark are all but assured some form of power. Outside of that, the extent of knowledge regarding magic and the mirror soul bond begins and ends with the recorded histories.

I spent centuries studying the lore. While the words of scribes who lived over two thousand years ago are fickle at best, I was left with little choice when I realized I would be tied to the miserable Risian creature for the rest of my life.

Days after that fateful night, I'd ransacked the library, searching through each lore book that had the slightest mention of magic, starlight, or the bond. Some of the books spoke of the belief that the mirror soul was literal, and that the individuals who mirror each other will mimic one another's behaviors and mannerisms. Another scribe believed that, once the bond was complete, the mirror souls could speak into each other's minds.

There's one paragraph I found in a dusty, leather-bound journal on the topmost shelf that comes to mind now. According to the person who wrote in the journal, the starlight that comprises the lakes and streams across the kingdoms is the same magic that makes up the mirror soul bond. When an individual taps into that kind of raw and undiluted power, they can seek out their mirror soul, no matter how much distance separates them.

This section had made no sense to me at the time. My powers are not the same as Felix's. The interaction with the sphere, however, reveals that there may be some truth to the journal. Raw power had flowed down my fingertips when I touched the orb. Not only that, but the orb had responded to my touch, recognizing the magic housed inside me. Unease resurfaces from the furthest corners of my mind as the clearing comes into view.

If I chose to believe whoever wrote the journal, the bright ball of starlight is more than just a sign. It means that my enemy sought me out and found me.

Raising her head, my mare's tail swishes as I approach. While I know nothing about what has become of my kingdom, I will not turn my back on my home. Even if the King of Risian lies in wait. Running my hand down the length of the mare's back, determination fills me.

"Let's hope I have a crown to return to," I whisper, mounting and returning into the night.