Chapter 1

1

C oral Ferenze somehow managed to look haughty despite being covered in blood, sweat, and direwolf spit.

The redhead stood with her hands on her hips and groaned at me, beleaguered and put-out.

“Are we almost done, Tavi? I swear, I spend more time standing around watching you or flat on my ass than I do actually learning.”

She flipped her hair over her shoulder, eyes piercing me.

I struggled to tune out her voice, although it’s much less annoying now than the first time I’d heard her in the halls of the Elite Academy. Instead, I focused on my enemy.

Or rather, my pet.

“I know you’re holding back,” I told the direwolf.

He cocked his head to the side but his eyes were intelligent enough that I knew he understood every word. His dark fur bristled and he huffed a breath out from his long snout.

“Stop holding back and attack me the way you did in the forest. It’s the only way the three of us are going to get stronger. Okay?” I adjusted my stance and gestured for him to bring it .

“Tavi!”

Coral was perilously close to throwing a temper tantrum, which was one of her favorite pastimes. I’d seen her in action more times than I wanted to count and she always blew me away.

Sometimes literally.

Often, when we were at the Academy together, she’d toss a burst of invisible yet potent magic at me just to put me on my ass and have her minions laughing at my misery.

“Just do it,” I whispered to the direwolf.

“If you’re ready to stop talking to your pet, then—” Coral never finished the statement.

The direwolf, whom I’d named Noren whether he agreed with me or not, let out a roar that shook the leaves of the trees and set them trembling.

He lifted onto his back legs to his full, terrifying height, and finally launched himself at Coral.

The sight of his red open mouth packed with teeth longer than some of my fingers made my insides tremble. Yet my bully, my cousin, stood her ground and adjusted her stance the way I’d taught her.

In the next breath, she’d called on her own change and the strawberry-blonde hair on her forearms, too light to see normally, darkened and grew until fur covered her arms entirely.

She completed the partial change in time to meet Noren’s attack and swipe her claws low across his belly. She never made contact, but then again neither did he.

I held my breath, tensed and ready to step in if necessary, but Coral pivoted on her back foot and lashed out with the other leg.

She held the change through it all.

Noren leaped over the kick, launching himself over her head and landing on the balls of all four feet. Coral barely had time to rear her arm back before he pounced. A low growl split the air.

“Girls! Who’s thirsty? I made tea with lavender and pea flowers. I think it gives the tea a beautiful color.”

Coral’s Mom, Nexa, didn’t blink when she strode across the overgrown backyard toward the garden clearing where we practiced.

Didn’t blink at the way her daughter rolled on her back and slashed at Noren’s underside with curved claws.

Even I swallowed over a gasp at the snap of his teeth inches away from Coral’s pretty, snarling face. She was really getting the hang of things, though, especially with her mom’s unwavering support.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting.”

Nexa set the tray of drinks down on the ground inches away from my feet. We were far enough from the sparring for the glasses to be safe, but if I looked away now…I might miss something.

“It’s fine, we’re almost finished,” I told her. “Have you, ah, had any luck? Tracking down your sister?”

Her sister, my missing mother.

A familiar clenching sensation began in my heart and traveled down my torso before it settled, low and hard, in my gut. My mom was alive. I’d found my family here in Faerie, and accidentally gotten my pure-blooded fae cousin turned into a shifter.

My fault.

Nexa shook her head and strands of shiny reddish-brown hair slipped from the intricate curled updo she sported today. “I’m sorry to say, Tavi, but I haven’t had any luck yet. I won’t stop trying for you.”

I nodded and swallowed down my disappointment. I should be familiar with that , too.

“Just because I haven’t had any luck yet doesn’t mean I’m going to give up.” Nexa’s tone took on a happier, upbeat quality. Was she trying to convince me, or herself? “She’s out there somewhere. The last word I received from my people said she was in Yelaine.”

The name clanged through me.

I tilted my head to the side, only half paying attention to the way Coral and Noren attacked each other, Coral going on the defensive more often than not.

“What’s Yelaine?”

“It’s a large metropolitan area. I know, it’s hard to imagine a faerie city out there but it’s nearly eight hundred miles away. The topography of the land changes the closer you get to the coast. Most fae have chosen to test their mettle in a more progressive setting rather than the forests.” Nexa sighed, reached a hand behind her neck to work out a kink. “Things aren’t what they used to be.”

I wasn’t sure if she missed the old ways or not.

“Why would my mom want to go to a city?” I pressed.

“I’m only guessing here, mind you, having not spoken to my sister since your birth…” Nexa cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed. “I’d imagine she’d want to get as far away as possible from the king. She escaped his death sentence, which makes her a wanted fugitive. But stop worrying!”

She broke off to grab me in a hug. It took me precious seconds to return the gesture, my muscles twitching as if I wasn’t used to it.

And on some level, I wasn’t. Physical touch still felt all kinds of awkward for me.

“I promise I won’t give up looking,” Nexa finished.

“I appreciate it.”

We called it a day five minutes later. Coral wasn’t much on goodbyes, however, and skulked off to the house with her pretty painted nails in the air.

It was about the best I’d get from her—not like it mattered—because although my own wounds had healed, I still had a long way to go before I felt right again.

Which made long practices like these ultra-hard.

The second she and Nexa disappeared, I hunched over and sucked overheated air through my burning nostrils.

Squeezing my eyes shut against a swell of pain, I counted to ten, then another ten, until I managed to get things under control.

At last I clicked my tongue and Noren fell into step beside me.

We made our way carefully out of the backyard through a side gate hidden almost entirely by roses. He knocked me with his massive shoulder and I rubbed my hand through his fur, gliding my fingers through the thick strands.

“Sorry, buddy,” I whispered. “I’m not feeling the best. Today took a lot out of me.” Nexa’s tea had settled my stomach at the moment but not for long.

It was only days since my fight with Claribel, the rogue Bureau agent working for Dorian Jade. Days since I mentally manipulated Noren from a raging mindless beast into the docile pet he was now, and although my physical wounds were gone…the rest of me remained fragile.

Hot, nauseated, you name it.

My joints ached, and there were times when I listed sideways under a random attack of dizziness.

I’d had a flu that felt the same. Which meant this had to be some kind of reaction to using up too much magic.

I’d gotten sick a couple of years ago at the Fae Academy for Halflings, in the human realm. That had been abnormal enough.

Getting sick again? In the freaking Fae realm where I was supposed to be my strongest?

Ugh. No.

The walk back to the palace was a long one though, and before I reached the massive courtyard gates, I leaned even more heavily on Noren. I’d held out long enough to keep Coral from seeing me this weakened, but playing pretend cost me in the long run.

It would give her teasing rights for the rest of our lives and fae were notoriously long-lived. Plus, she trusted me to teach her and show her the ropes.

Staying strong counted for extra now.

With Noren keeping me upright, we made our way through the palace gates. Guards stood at strict attention on either side and stared at me as I passed.

Did they still suspect me of being a mass murderer? What a joke.

They probably did. They refused to meet my eyes.

I glared back at them in response. How much longer would I have to keep defending myself against that stupid accusation? Everyone seemed too willing to think the worst of me.

Noren let out a low rumble of warning from the back of his throat. The guards shifted, lifting their attention forward as we walked through without incident.

The castle loomed ahead of us with its spires reaching up in the rich sapphire sky, and although dark clouds remained on the periphery of the forest at the castle’s back, magic seeped through the stone.

Flowers remained unfurled under the prismatic sunlight.

I drew in a deep breath and willed my emotions to calm.

“Just a little bit longer.” I spoke more for my benefit than for Noren’s, although he had the uncanny ability to look as though he actually heard and understood every word I said. “A little bit longer and we’ll be back.”

I refused to think of the castle as home no matter how long I’d lived there.

A smooth male voice cut through my inner chatter. “Tavi? There you are.”

I glanced up and blinked, a familiar golden head of hair swimming into view.

Prince Michael Thornwood cut an imposing figure. He strode across the courtyard with his elbow bent at a ninety degree angle and his mother gliding on air beside him.

Queen Laina .

I suddenly felt as if the ground dropped away underneath me.

Mike waved, a smile spreading across his features, and my heart flipped over in a rough tumble inside my rib cage. Had there ever been a more handsome male created? He was so attractive. And his smile…for me .

I picked up my pace as much as I could, and with only ten feet separating us I felt my skin go hot as a wave of dizziness crashed over me. Oh, god. Please don’t throw up .

I gripped Noren’s fur, locking my knees and greeting them both with an easy and totally faked smile. “Hi.”

Queen Laina was radiant. Her expression remained a picture of grace and beauty, and today she wore her long hair twisted behind her head in an assembly of braids that left small, tight curls fanning her ageless face.

“You look well today,” I told her.

“Thank you, Tavi,” she replied easily. “You as well.”

Mike stared at me and a question formed on his face but the grin remained in place.

I used to be terrified of discovery by the royal family of Faerie. After all, a person like me is not supposed to exist. Fae and shifters were sworn enemies of each other, and to have an offspring produced from the match basically amounted to heresy in the eyes of the monarchy.

Yet Queen Laina knew my secrets. She kept secrets of her own hidden from her husband and the other pure-blooded fae, and I knew if there were anyone out there who would protect me, it was her.

We’d come to an understanding.

“Will you walk with us?” Laina extended her other elbow to me and I swallowed an exhausted groan.

The last thing I wanted to do was walk. What choice did I have? It wasn’t like I was in a position to say no to the queen herself.

I bowed my head in deference before I moved to her side and slid my arm through hers.

The moment we lurched into motion, Mike shifted to stand on my other side, and Laina bent her head to mine and spoke in an undertone too low for anyone passing to catch.

“There have been a few updates, mostly concerning my recent conversation with King Tywin,” she whispered.

I jerked at the name. “What did he say?”

“I went to bat for you.” She scrunched her pretty face, her mouth a hard line and her desire for me to shut my damn mouth evident. “And in the course of our discussion, I managed to get you reinstated in the kitchens. Your job is safe.”

I inwardly cringed at the mention of my old job working for Raelynn, the busty fae in desperate need of an attitude adjustment. Not so exciting news.

“I’m also convinced that the king has a completely warped view of you, Tavi. As far as I know, in speaking to Mike regarding everything happening over the course of the last year, this has all been a misunderstanding or a mere coincidence,” Laina continued.

“It’s true,” Mike insisted hotly.

His trust meant the world to me. And under different circumstances I’d have a lot more to say and a better outlook for the future.

But the tight skin and hot flashes made thinking almost impossible.

For whatever miracle I’d received that earned me Mike’s trust, I’d be forever grateful. There was a point in our near past where I thought we’d never be on the same page again. Sometimes I wait to wake up from this nightmare and be right back at square one.

Plus the queen appeared to have genuine affection for me, which certainly helped. Laina was the reason I’d been cleared of all suspicion regarding the pure-blood fae murders and the tarot reader Madam Muerte’s untimely death.

“Darlings, compose yourselves. We’re being watched.” Laina straightened, her gaze fixed on something in the distance that grew larger with each passing breath.

I tried to focus on the figures and failed miserably when everything went blurry.

“What is it, Mom?” Mike’s voice hardened.

“We’ve been expecting a delegation of several leaders from distant regions. We were unsure of their arrival but it seems to me they have recently crested the borders of our city.”

I glanced up in time to see her face twist into a beatific smile, the apples of her cheeks pink and her eyes kind.

A mask. A different kind of magic.

“You two be careful and watch out for each other. I need to take my leave. Michael, my love, I’ll see you in a few days.”

Laina raised on the tips of her toes to kiss her much taller son on his cheek before gliding away from us back toward the castle. Faster than I’d seen her move in the past with her feet hardly touching the ground.

The moment the queen was out of earshot, I cast a concerned look at Mike. “Distant leaders? Why are they coming here?”

And why was his mother practically running back to the safety of the castle, away from them?

A hard pit in my stomach grew into a chasm, and sensing the change in my mood, Noren whined and pressed against my leg.

Mike hardly spared a glance for the direwolf now. He’d gotten used to the addition and, I halfway suspected, was curious how this would play out.

“When other diplomats come to visit, Mom…”

Mike dropped his voice and at the same time lifted a wall of silence around us. A full one would be much too noticeable, but this spell dampened our conversation enough to avoid suspicion or eavesdropping.

“Mom remains in seclusion so no one can discover her status as a half-blood witch. It would cause a huge scandal, and some of the more bigoted leaders of the realm might use it as a ploy to try and unseat my father. It’s always been this way.”

My gut flipped in disgust. “That’s awful.”

There were parts of Faerie so backward it made me sick. I’d always thought of this place as an escape from the harshness and cruelty of the real world. Instead, it had more problems than I ever imagined.

Noren whined louder and threw the bulk of his massive weight into my legs until they buckled.

“Stop it,” I corrected without any heat in my voice. “What are you doing?”

“He’s protecting you,” Mike replied with a little laugh. “He takes his job very seriously.”

“Protecting me from what?” I batted the direwolf away, just as the edges of my vision suddenly went black and blurry.

The wave of dizziness crashed down over me with such force I toppled into Noren, heat scalding my veins like acid.

The darkness overtook everything else and I went down into unconsciousness, with the approaching delegation of distant leaders watching me fall.