The ripple stills just as the white glow brightens until it turns positivelyblinding, making me shut my eyes and turn away with a grimace. A moment later, the glow subsides, and I turn back to see that the net has turned into a solid single shield rather than a web, and all the sigils have fused into it. After a moment the shield’s glow disappears, turning invisible, but I can still feel a strong hum of power radiating from it.
“The brighter it glows, the more powerful it is,” Claude says faintly. “In all my years I’ve never seen a shield create such an explosion of light. Not here, and not in any of the realms I’ve visited.”
His voice sounds more shocked than praising, so I turn to look at him apprehensively. He’s staring at me with wide eyes and raised brows, the wrinkles on his forehead deepened under the weight of his surprise.
“That’s a good thing, right?” I ask slowly. When he doesn’t respond, instead continuing to stare at me, I press, “Did I do it correctly? Is it good enough? AmIgood enough?”
I’m not quite sure why I ask the last question, considering I shouldn’t care less about Claude’s opinion, but despite being above him on the power spectrum, he’s half a millennium of knowledge, wisdom, andexperienceahead of me—which is as valuable as raw magical ability. He’s the only other witch-adjacent being in this castleand possibly in this city, so he’s probably who I’ll be turning to for all things magical.
Claude lets out a soft puff of laughter. “To tell you the truth of it, child, you are remarkable.”
“Fuckinggods, I just nearly wentblind,” a voice calls out to my far left, in the direction of the castle. I swivel my head, barely able to make out the silhouette of someone walking in our direction through the darkness of night. Although I can’t see who it is, I quickly place the voice as belonging to Wyatt.
“And here comes another foul-mouthed royal,” Claude comments wryly. “I expect the two of you should get along famously.”
“Considering he intends to claim my sister in a matter of years, not to mention his species and position, there is no reality in which we willeverget along,” I say quietly so only Claude can hear,
Claude stands abruptly and walks to me, clasping my arm tightly. “You should,” he says seriously. He snaps his fingers together with his free hand, and a small shockwave of power flows out from him, making me tense. When I look around, my eyes land on the fire, and I’m shocked to see its flames appear frozen in time, not fluctuating or flickering in the least.
I turn to Claude, wide-eyed. Before I can ask for an explanation, he says curtly, “That time-freezing spell buys us a few minutes of guaranteed privacy. I’m going to give you advice, and you are going to listen for the good of yourself and your sister. Are we in accord?”
Shocked at his sudden bluntness, I can’t do anything other than nod mutely.
His grip on my arm tightens. “It’s time for you to open your eyes, Sierra, because you’re in shark-infested waters, and if you want to survive, you don’t stand a chance of doing it alone. You need connections in high places. Connections that youalreadyhave the sort of access tothat others wouldkillfor. Besides being a prime candidate to protect the young Princess from any harm that might befall her, Wyatt could be your best ally. He loves his brother, but he doesn’t agree with some of the segregation shifters impose between species—he thinks that cultural restrictions and prejudices are the reason we’re at war with the vampires in the first place.”
Claude releases my arm as though I’ve burned him, and proceeds to walk around me in a circle, appraising me with a newly critical eye. “You’re young. You’re sharp as a tack. You’re powerful beyond comprehension. If you should wish to, Sierra, you could change the world—not just for humans, but foreveryone—and destiny has given you the perfect way to do it. Yet you spend time wallowing in resentment and anger because Camden’s grandfather did things that resulted in a chain of events that ended with the death of your parents. Have you considered that Camden himself is not at fault? He’s done nothing to earn your wrath other than try to keep a kingdom running under enormous pressure. I’ve gathered you fault him for the injustices humans experience, yes?”
I nod tersely, unsure how to respond to this version of Claude. So far today he’s been fairly quiet and task-oriented, and now I’m getting the sense that he presented himself that way so he could have an opportunity to study me without my being on guard.Clever.
“Have you stopped for a moment to think on the possibility that Camden quite simply does not havetimeto focus on anything outside his own kingdom? Shifters are by no means easy to rule—they’re mercurial, prone to violence, and only bow down to the strongest and most dominant of all. There are packs scattered across three separate continents, packs made up of three factions of shifters—wolves, felines, anddragons—which makes keeping them all in line a logistical nightmare. In the little time Camden isn’t traveling between packs onroyal business, he is attending to the countless other duties that befall a king. Finding you has set him weeks behind in work, and yet he carves out time for you in a full schedule. You can’t stomach the thought of him yet—I see it will take time to change that. In the interim, get to know his brother. You may find the two of you have much in common and could accomplish a great deal together. Get yourself an ally, Sierra, or you’ll sink.”
He snaps his fingers again, and I feel whatever power he let out recede back into him as time around us resumes. The fire once again crackles and pops, and Wyatt steadily treks closer until he’s visible within the light of the flames. All the while I’m mulling over Claude’s words, deciding how much merit they have.
He’s right that Camden himself hasn’t actively inflicted harm on humanity, but he has passively turned a blind eye, or so I assumed. The fact of the matter might well be that he didn’t have time to turn an eye on them at all—I learned from my lady’s maid that he never really got a childhood; he’s been wrapped up in serious royal duties from a young age. A youth in which helost his mother,something we have in common. Still, even though I might’ve unfairly assigned the blame for human suffering to him, he’s causedmeplenty of suffering that’s reaped resentment.
Wyatt, however, hasn’t. My interactions with him can be summed up to my trying to keep him away from Leisel—I haven’t bothered to get to knowhimas an individual, mostly because I assumed there’s absolutely nothing we have in common, but that might not be true.
“Cam was getting ready to send out a search party for you two since you’ve been out here over ten hours; I offered to come instead,” Wyatt says, stopping beside the fire and looking between Claude and me. “Judging from the flash that nearly cost me my eyes, I assume the new shield is functional?”
“Very,” Claude responds. “I’d even go as far as to say it's impenetrable. No living being could make it past the barrier and into the castle unless they were invited. Usually, anyone who tries to penetrate such shields would run into it face-first and get sent back a few steps, but I think with this one…contact with the shield alone could kill enemies.”
I nod in approval, pleased at the protection that now surrounds Leisel, while Wyatt whistles. “Nice. That’ll come in handy. Sierra, you’re scheduled for dinner with my brother in fifteen minutes, and the walk back takes about twenty, so you should probably go straight to his wing once we’re back. I’m here to walk you.”
Lovely.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ieye Wyatt, thinking over Claude’s words. Ican’tstomach the thought of Camden yet—especially while I’m freshly mortified from last night and aching to spend the rest of my life avoiding him, but Wyatt is a different story. My hostility towards him is more on principle than anything else.
What’s an icebreaker that might work with Camden’s little brother?
After several moments of sifting through possible conversation openers, I ask, “Do you read?”
Wyatt looks mildly surprised at the question. “Sure. I had a lot of alone time growing up, and I spent a decent amount of it in the palace library.”
I don’t entirely believe him, but he seems sincere. He’s simply never struck me as an intellectual, but that could be because I never bothered to look closer.
“Earthly literature or books native to your realms?” I ask.
