Chapter 1

S he came into the world for a purpose. Nearly two hundred years before her birth, her mother had a vision of Ailikaya and knew that she would be destined for great things. It was an immense amount of pressure to put on a baby, and the pressure only increased with each passing year since her birth.

At the ripe age of twenty, Ailikaya Aesa was feeling the weight of her title. Dark Bringer , they called her. Not just a princess, but a Blessing. Born with Cadaith's kiss—a Mother's Kiss. It was mostly unheard of. There hadn't been a Dark Bringer born since Thybalt Joran. And now, the title was hers.

The Mother of all creation, Cadaith, was said to have bestowed three Blessings amongst the leaders of the old Driikona Clans: The Dark Bringer, the Dark Flame, and the Death Cry. These three abilities were to protect the people of Driikona, the chosen ones, the natives of these lands—the fae . Ailikaya's power was amongst the most deadly and was said to not only help conceal the people of Driikona and protect them from harm, but also to defend them. It fueled the Dark Flame and was triggered by the Death Cry—the cry of the Banshee. Each Blessing aided the other in it's ultimate goal: protecting what Cadaith sacrificed so much to create.

When the Caddagh warlords invaded the once-peaceful land of Driikona, they believed the fae to be beneath them… lesser beings that were wild and savage at heart. The Credulans began dismantling everything the Three Clans of Driikona had built.

Taking their land and their way of living was not nearly enough, the evidence of their greed was in their desire to steal every sacred thing the fae held dear and mold it into something… darker . Their interest in Ailikaya and her power was another example of that.

She was rumored to be a weapon. A fighter. Their servants whispered about how dangerous she was—that she'd nearly killed her own mother. She was a monster. She was—

"Not going." Ailikaya scoffed, lifting her skirts. Her feet were caked with mud, the fabric of her dress wet all the way up to her knees.

Moryna chuckled, shaking her head. "Your father will be greatly disappointed." The princess turned, eyes narrowed. She never would have expected Moryna to be the one to betray her. Not when they both knew what this meeting entailed and how opposed the both of them had been about such matters only mere days ago.

"Moryna, my father is a fool to believe that those monsters are wanting to join forces. After what they did in Drikiera?" She scoffed, shaking her head. Ailikaya opened the latch on the garden gate, stepping onto the dirt path with great reluctance.

She would go. If only it meant that Moryna wasn't going to be bored on her walk home.

Bored was the loosest of terms that Kaya could use when it came to describing her friend's innermost feelings. Fear may have been a more accurate description, but her personal guard would never admit it. After the Credulans destroyed Drikiera, everyone was in fear that Holiadon would be next.

It had been two-hundred years since the Queen of Credula died. In her wake, she left one of the most tyrannical and evil beings to walk the lands to be crowned king. Queen Rydanthe was adamant about the clans being able to keep their people united but the new king, Tymon Thepyra, had no such desire. Based upon what happened in Drikiera, he was on a war-path and determined on destroying any form of society that remotely contradicted his sick and sadistic ideas of leadership.

What was left of the Drikiera clan was now nothing, but ash and ruin—their people living in tents and shells of the homes in the Borderlands.

"Your father is trying to prevent what happened in Drikiera from happening here . You know as well as I do that demonstrating your powers could persuade them to leave Holiadon alone or form an alliance with us. Either would suffice."

She was no fool. An alliance could come in the form of marriage or it could come in the form of the Credulans using her as a weapon of war. It was highly unlikely that they would simply be enjoying afternoon tea with them on holidays, perusing Holiadon's shops or lounging on the beaches at the coast exchanging pleasantries. That sort of an alliance with these brutes was unheard of, to say the least.

Kaya paused, glancing back at the cabin that housed all of her greatest childhood memories. It was evident that those days were over. Her mother forced her into a set of rooms at the Silver Palace the day after her eighteenth birthday, rambling on and on about becoming an adult and following the natural order of Cadaith's will.

Whatever that meant.

If it meant anything at all, Kaya was sure that it did not mean that they were to form an alliance with colonizers, hell-bent on genocide.

"We don't need an alliance." She said it more to herself than to her friend. The declaration was not a comfort.

Her parents would say that she was stubborn . The name given to her at birth was a precursor to her skill. Ailikaya was a term of endearment in the Lowen language, something you would call a child who refused to eat their supper. But, to put it rather simply, her name just meant willful. In other words— stubborn .

Moryna smirked. "Then do your worst, princess."

She would.

If there was anything Ailikaya Aesa was good at, it was ruining things.

The thought plagued her for longer than she wished and the walk back to Silver Palace was far too silent—Moryna stealing glances in her direction every few seconds with an annoying look of worry etched across her tanned, freckled face. Kaya tried to ignore it, tried ignoring the incessant hum prickling at her senses—the voices she tried blocking out.

They whispered her name, they whispered their pleas, they cried out in hunger.

She shoved them back down, locking them away in the pitch-black vault that people called her Core .

They were quiet.

For now.

━?○?━?○?━

She stalked through the halls of the Silver Castle, her jaw tight and a constant twitch at the corner of her eye. Her mother told her not to worry over the demonstration, but said nothing about being visibly annoyed by the new presence of guards that seemingly took post at every arched entrance and exit.

There was no way in or out.

She looked at the hooded figures—none of them donning blades or any weaponry besides their own power forces.

This place was supposed to be her home. But no matter how much she familiarized herself with each twisting and turning patch of the larimar floor, no matter how she came to know the exact number of windows and every escape route possible… the palace was just too grand for her liking. She preferred the toasty, humid comfort of the cabin in the woods.

She preferred her fires to roar to life in a river-stone hearth, as opposed to the silver and quartz hearth that was too small. The stone flooring held no warmth in the winter and even though she had strewn rugs across the floor of her bedroom to accommodate the incessant chill that only stone flooring could bring, it didn't help much. She liked the creaky old floors she toddled on as a babe.

But the cabin wasn't permanent. She'd been told that from the beginning—that when the palace was complete, they would leave the old barn that her father worked day and night to transform into a cabin for their family.

She couldn't remember a time at which her father hadn't been king, but she did remember him seeming so much more… normal before the palace was complete. Less frantic and far more considerate of her thoughts and feelings .

Her twitch was not caused by worry, that was for certain.

Kaya rounded the corner, hearing the soft murmurs coming from her parents' rooms. From the crack of the door, she watched them. Her mother paced the floor, her hand splayed over her rounded stomach, the skirt of her dress swirling with each anxious twirl of her body.

"I do not think that she is ready for this, Alder. She is just a girl . She has barely reached the threshold of her Becoming." Her mother's voice shook with nervousness, her hand coming up to brush a black wisp of hair away from her face.

Her father's voice was not much different from her mother's, a low and quivering whisper that rolled over the room. "You are correct, my love. But if she is this powerful before her Becoming, there is no telling how she will grow when she does—"

"She's a child ."

"She's twenty ."

Silence. A silence that propelled towards her like the vicious cracking of a whip. She recoiled from the crack of the door, sucking in a gasp when a pair of green eyes snapped into view. Ailikaya looked at the male—no, man —standing before her. She noticed his ears, one of them rounded and very much human and the other pointed at the tip.

Both small.

Human . Not fae.

"You are not supposed to be here." The timbre of his voice rumbled through her chest, his sage-green eyes narrowed through the slit of the door.

She could just barely make out the presence of stubble on his chin—a rarity with the fae, as they chose to uphold themselves to a thoroughly kempt manner.

This was a man , if she'd ever seen one.

"This is my home, I can be wherever I like." The man loosened a sharp breath through his nose, smirking. "Who are you, anyway?" Ailikaya moved to peer around his shoulder, eyes landing on her mother again. She stood with her arms folded across her chest. She looked sad, still, despite the change in atmosphere .

"I—"

Kaya's mother stepped forward, opening the door so that she and the strange half-creature were entirely visible. She could feel her parents watching her, but Kaya's perfectly honed gaze was still fixed upon the man.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

"Ailikaya, do not be rude."

She ignored her mother, moving closer to the man to more effectively scrutinize him, only to feel as if she had slammed into a wall. Kaya stumbled back, face crumpling.

"My name is Ilias. Ilias Dothrae." The man said.

He offered no hand to shake, and did not stoop to a bow. She frowned.

Kaya looked at her father, who now appeared at the side of his queen, his hand affectionately placed upon her waist. "Ailikaya, I have summoned Ilias to Holiadon to be your teacher. He will be teaching you how to control your Blessing. He is Captain of the Silver Guard and you will treat him with the respect that he has so dutifully earned."

"He's human ."

The queen's cheeks heated, her eyes going wide. "Kaya, do not be rude."

"Unfortunately, I believe that I must defend myself, your majesties." Ilias spoke the Lowen dialect with an odd accent, one that Kaya could not place. She watched as he bowed to her parents. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he raised himself to face her. "I am not entirely human."

"You are not entirely fae, either." Kaya snapped.

His eyes narrowed. "Not entirely, no. But I am. Where it matters the most."

"And where," Kaya began, folding her arms over her chest, "exactly would that be?"

It took but a moment for her to feel it—to be toppled over by an invisible brute force. She landed on her bottom, arms splayed at her sides to lessen the impact. She let out a huff, shock etching its way across her face as she peered up at the halfblood before her. He approached her with an outstretched hand, his shirt rolled up to his elbows to reveal a multitude of jagged scars. She found it boastful of him to show them so boldly, but assumed it was his right to bear them. Scars were earned— sacred .

Serving in the Silver Guard was no easy feat and most were lucky to see their thirtieth year in service. Moryna had been training for years to become apart of the guard, but with no such luck.

Kaya knocked Ilias's hand away, pushing herself to her feet. "When will my training begin?" She asked, not even daring to take her eyes off of the cocky grin plastered across the guard's face.

Smug bastard .

"You will be leaving with him tonight. He's taking you across the border and into G'Illach." Alder Aesa was turning away from her at this point. It seemed as if he couldn't look at her and she could understand why. If she were a parent sending her only child off to train with some strange… man, she would feel guilty, too. Her father's most recent decision making skills were proving to be rather ludicrous, his fear and desperation overtly evident. And her power was the only thing of value Alder Aesa had in his possession that could change the Tymon Thepyra's mind.

She continued to observe Ilias. Though, by this point, his attention was solely upon her father. Her father requested for her to learn how to harness the Dark Bringer and expected for it to be done quickly, as the Credulans were demanding to see her within a month's time.

It was unnerving, to say the least. Kaya was used to toying with her shadows, but was more fond of talking to them and learning about them than she was actually having to use them. It could get dangerous at times.

Especially when they were hungry.

The scar on her mother's face was enough proof of that.

Ever since that night that still haunted her dreams, she could barely muster the courage to summon a splotch of shade on even the hottest of summer days.

"Well, I suppose there is no use in trying to argue my defenses. It seems as if any argument I have on my own behalf is automatically nullified." Kaya grumbled.

"Your assumptions are correct." Alder started, thrusting a leather bag into the arms of his daughter. "Pack your things. Eat your supper. And don't," he put an extra emphasis on the word, "Be rude. You are expected to listen to him as you have so dutifully listened to your other tutors. He is working on my coin, and I will not stand to see things go to waste."

Kaya smiled prettily, eyes rounded to give herself an air of innocence. "Would I ever ?"

To this, her mother let out a quieted laugh, shaking her head as she moved towards her daughter. They embraced deeply, the Queen taking a deep inhale of Kaya's hair. As she always did.

Alder and Ilias skirted to a far side of the room where her father began handing the guard different texts from his collection. Kaya and her mother remained by the door and she almost darted out of the opening in an attempt to flee, but Kaya's mother reached out and grabbed her hands before she could even lean into her sprint.

" A'noa, Kaya. Ti na machna ii'loam ." The Lowen tongue was always such a beautiful sound, like a lullaby of flowing waters, of wind dancing between wispy tendrils of willow branches. But instead of calming her, this time it made the shadows ruffle their feathers.

She shuddered, confused at their sudden movements.

Behave, Kaya. He's your fearless guardian.

━?○?━?○?━

" Machna ii'loam, huh? That sounds rather important." Moryna sighed, the snap of the book she closed causing Kaya to turn and face her.

"Did you find anything on it?" She asked.

Moryna shook her head, her hand going up to comb through her close-cropped curls. "Not a thing. All I could find were definitions of each individual word, but not of them used together."

"The shadows didn't like it."

"They don't really like anything. The way it seems to me is that they want you to themselves. Jealous little bastards." Moryna huffed, shoving herself to her feet as she walked to Kaya's suitcase. She tossed the book onto the pile that had been started, chuckling softly at the romance novel placed carefully in a side pocket. "I suggest you not reading that in a camp full of male warriors. They'll smell your arousal and lose all sense of direction."

Kaya slammed the lid of her trunk, turning to face her friend with a sneer. "Perhaps my plan was to seduce the guards and warriors and have them allow me passage to the human territory. I'll clip my ears, live my life as a mountain witch that they warn their children of, and live a life of blissful solitude."

"You're going to be stoned to death."

She laughed, shaking her head as she turned back to the trunk. "A proper stoning might be better than demonstrating my powers for the Credulans." She grunted as she lifted her belongings off of her bed, the leather pack her father handed her already slung over her shoulder. "But, alas, it seems as if I have to be a good daughter. I'm not doing this for my father, but for mama. I owe it to her to at least learn how to control these sneaky little bastards."

Omina fida . Let me feed, they whispered. Kaya went still, heaving out a frustrated sigh as she turned to the door. Moryna was close behind, following her as usual, but the young guard said nothing as they made their trek through the quiet castle to the front steps.

Kaya hoped that her mother and father would be there to see her off, but she knew that her mother was growing more and more tired with each inch that her belt grew. She retired to bed early in the day, as soon as the skies started to turn pink with the sun's descent.

Moryna would have to suffice.

"Well," Kaya sighed, "I'll be seeing your ugly face in a few weeks."

The guard scoffed, rolling her bright purple eyes. "I wish it were longer."

"If my plans of seduction are successful, you'll feel sorry for saying that." Moryna went stiff, her body going unnaturally straight, her eyes fixed upon an unknown object in the distance. Kaya's brow crumpled in confusion.

"There will be no seducing anyone on this journey, princess."

She turned, cheeks heating when she saw Ilias stepping out from the shadows and into the auralight. There were no snide remarks or clever quips that could save her from her embarrassment, so she merely fixed her eyes on him the way she had in her parents' private chamber.

Once again, Ilias looked away.

"Are you prepared for your journey, Princess Ailikaya?" Ilias asked, tightening a strap on his steed's saddle.

She wasn't ready, that was for certain. But she was most definitely prepared.

Prepared for someone to get hurt and for Ilias to either kill her or send her straight back to her parents, deemed a deadly threat that should be shackled in iron and thrown into a dungeon.

It took her a moment, too lost in her thoughts, to realize that he was mocking the trunk that hung heavily at her side.

She observed him, the way the muscles in his broad shoulders rippled as he finished tying down his belongings. There were a multitude of tomes, some weaponry, and very little clothing. So little that Kaya began to feel as if she had, perhaps, over packed.

"The other guards told me that you had quite the mouth on you." Ilias sighed. He turned to her and, before she could protest, he was already taking her trunk from her and was starting towards a white mare from her mother's stables. "But you have been surprisingly quiet and agreeable."

"It's because she's scared, Captain." Moryna chimed.

Kaya whipped her head around, eyes narrowed with intent to petrify, but Moryna only laughed. "I'm not scared ." She started to turn back to Ilias—to at least plead her case, but stumbled back slightly when she saw how close he was.

She peered up at him with wide eyes, her heart thundering as she looked over the chiseled jaw, pillowy lips framed with coarse brown hair. The slim, slightly curved nose that proved it had been broken a time or two, and then to those eyes….

Those eyes that were a calm sage green color in her parents' room were now the shade of a shadowy morning forest. She sucked in a breath, turning her head just slightly. By the furrow of his brow, she expected for him to chastise her or berate her for feeling fear, but instead he merely grabbed the leather pack she'd slung over her shoulder and began strapping it to her mare. She swallowed, turning to see that Moryna was, once again, in stance. Albeit, with a smug grin.

Kaya was only a little scared.

But it was not the fear of what creatures lurked the inclines and slopes of the mountains. Kaya did not fear what she knew, but she was absolutely horrified of the unknown. And she'd never been close to the human territories before.

G'Illach was said to be a beautiful place and she had no doubt that it was, but she was defenseless and she did not know this man. As positive as her father seemed about having Ilias teach her, she couldn't help the slight panic that lodged itself in her chest when she watched him.

He was strong, certainly. That was enough to terrify any female.

"Are you just going to stand there or do I need to come and fetch you?" Ilias asked.

Kaya jumped and shivered, blinking up at him as he approached her again. "I am very much capable of doing it myself, thank you. Please keep your distance, human ."

Ilias scoffed, shaking his head as he watched her walk towards the mare who, he knew, could only be mounted a particular way without being spooked.

He fell back a step, leaning against a silver pillar as Kaya put her foot in the stirrup. Her leg had barely crested the mare's rump when the beast kicked it's hooves off of the ground, sending Kaya to the quartz stones—a loud grunt sounding from her amongst the crashing of flower pots being knocked over.

She felt the spot on her head that dealt most of the damage to the flowers, but instead of whimpering or crying like he expected, Kaya's eyes narrowed at him. She grit her teeth as she rose to her feet, dusting her hands on the legs of her trousers before moving towards him.

"You knew that would happen, didn't you?" She demanded.

Seeing her with leaves and petals in her hair, her eyes wild with rage wasn't particularly funny to him, but Ilias did take some joy in seeing her humbled.

Playing tutor to the princess he swore his life protect was certainly not something he would have chosen for himself, but he was loyal to Alder Aesa. He owed him much more than babysitting his spoiled and obnoxiously prideful daughter.

He'd trained for ten years to fill his role as Captain of the Silver Guard. From the moment he turned fifteen, he left his mother's dilapidated cottage in the Human Realm and sought out Alder Aesa—a name that reoccurred in the stories his father would tell him. Ilias was successful in his training and was given the best treatment a poor young man could ever hope for. He proved to be a very powerful guard and the power he'd inherited from his brute of a father aided him in making that happen. He was an Energetic. His force fields were strong and he could use those energy forces to not only shield, but demolish.

His father was not a bad man, but what good man would leave their lover to birth and raise a boy all on their own?

His mother never married. She never bore any other children, as she became pregnant with him in her early forties. She nearly died bringing him into the world and she worked, day and night, as a seamstress to provide for Ilias in the best way that she could.

Until she fell ill.

Ilias let out a sigh, leading his mare in Kaya's direction. She assessed him thoroughly and he assumed he deserved it, but said nothing and made no indication that he noticed her hateful sneer as he passed his horse to her. She climbed onto the beast with ease and Ilias took to Fury, the temperamental mare, and climbed onto her in the exact way that kept her calm.

He wasn't much for babysitting and he wasn't too fond of this new job of his, but he also never turned away from a challenge. And much like taming Fury, he was sure that he could take this unruly little princess and turn her into something lethal and loyal.