1. Run away from anything scary—including Blackfire.
2. Find the best hiding place possible.
3. Cry myself to sleep and pray it is over when I wake up.
It’s the best plan, if I don’t say so myself. I know today is different because Mistress comes back, dressing me in tight black leggings and a dark long-sleeved shirt that’s cut low, showing off my mark. She ties a belt around my waist, with a holder where daggers are clearly meant to be, but she’s not giving me any. Finally, when she’s done, she orders the human slaves to braid my hair until a French braid’s falling down my back, a few strands hanging out. Eventually, she claps her hands, claiming that they’re done, and the humans leave.
Standing in front of the mirror, I stare at my fur-lined boots, my tight outfit, and finally I look up to my eyes. I’m fully healed now thanks to the vials I’ve been given, but I still look paler than usual. I tell myself it is the shock of everything that has happened and it might get better. Then I remember the Folkland. I’m a dead woman, and the woman in the mirror knows it.
“Here.” Mistress just hands me a small black bag with long straps that slip over my shoulder, the bag falling to my lower back. “For your drake friend.”
Tannith gratefully climbs into the bag, and I zip it shut, her head just peeking out. “I have a feeling things are going to get bad for you, and I need to nap. The anxiety of watching your life is giving me stomach cramps.”
“It was more likely the cake you ate. I’m not sure drakes can eat cake,” I mutter back, but she has already disappeared into the bag to nap. I lift my eyes to Mistress, who is looking anywhere but at me. When she meets my eyes, she looks concerned. “Erm, thank you.”
She looks at me one more time. “May the goddesses be with you, girl, and give you a quick death. I will pray for you.”Still zero belief in me? Got it.To be fair, I have no belief in myself, so it makes sense. The door opens, and two guards step in, sunlightblasting off their red armour. “Go with them, girl. It is time for the Folkland to begin.”
I longingly look at the comfy bed and the empty plates that had a cake on them at one point, before following the guards out of the door. I’m well aware I don’t have a choice but to do this, even if every instinct of mine is screaming for me to run away and hope Tannith doesn’t hate me for leaving her as a drake. Even thinking it, I know I wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t. I will do what I can to survive the Folkland for her and for the children in the orphanage that the alpha said he would burn. I know exactly what it is like to be trapped and burnt, and I won’t let that happen to anyone else if I can help it.
This time, the guards walk slowly enough that I get to actually look at the corridors. They’re filled with ancient paintings of wolves and other bloody, very gory paintings, which I quickly look away from because they are gross. The floor tiles are gold and glittering under my boots, and the walls are drenched in dark red, matching the stained glass windows that pour in red light. The pillars are shaped like flames, stretching high into the ceilings like they’re holding them up. Not my first choice for home décor...actually, my last choice. Definitely not my style.
Eventually, after we’ve walked down at least fifteen different corridors, we stop. The guards stop on either side of the door, open it for me, and usher me in. I step in and find Blackfire waiting alone in a small room. He’s dressed the same as usual, in black from head to toe, tight clothes filling out his massive frame, but this time, he has shiny black armour on his chest and on his arms, decorated in dark flames. A long cloak falls off his shoulders, his mask covering all of his face except for his lips and jaw, and the hood is pulled up, somehow hiding all of his hair and the rest of him too.
He doesn’t say a word, only clicks his fingers and points at the floor next to him where he clearly wants me to stand. The door is shut behind me with a slam that gets my feet moving.
I purposely don’t stand where Blackfire pointed at, and I go to stand on the other side of him, which makes me nearly touch his shoulder as it’s so close to the wall. His growl echoes around the room, and I hum a song, pretending to not hear him as I look at the only thing in the room. There’s a huge mirror frame, but there’s no glass in it. Just the frame of a mirror, a giant one that’s at least twice as tall as me and ridiculously wide, being held up by pillars on either side.
The black frame seems to vibrate suddenly, and I take a step back right before it flickers. In the centre of it, red fire burns in a swirl, leaving behind a shimmering mirror wall. It looks like a picture off the other side of a cliff face, snow blowing around harsh enough to hide anything within it.
Blackfire’s red eyes stare down at me, and I lift my head and look up at him. He finally decides to speak to me. “Leaving the drake here would be a smart decision.”
“With your psycho uncle?” I snort with laughter. “No thanks. She is safer with me.”
“Careful,” he growls, grabbing my throat. He yanks me to him, putting enough pressure on my throat that I start to gasp. “I’m not going to tell you again to be respectful of the royal family and stop opening your mouth and saying stupid shit. I don’t know if you want to die, but you are acting like a brat, and I won’t fucking have it when I have been tasked with keeping you alive. You have been tasked with helping me for the sake of that friend of yours, so start fucking helping by not doing things that put you in danger, Hopeless.”
“Stop calling me that!” I snap. “And we both know you aren’t going to do shit to keep me alive. You will just tell your uncle you did.”
He laughs, and it’s an evil sound. “You’re smarter than you look, Hopeless.” His minty breath blows across my face. “But you should be begging me to help you. Every wolf in the Folkland is going to be hunting you because you’re human, and you’re so beneath us that you should not be in the Folkland in the first place. Orion is a problem you caused, and you haven’t even apologized for it.” I laugh, and he frowns, sighing before letting me go. “Are you mentally unwell?”
People keep asking me that question, and I’m a little concerned they need to ask at all. I haven’t been mentally well for years, and I thought it was obvious. I gasp, sucking in air as I rub my sore throat. “Just as mentally well as you are, Your Majesty.” My voice drips with sarcasm. “Better? More respectful?”
His jaw clenches. “What did I tell you about respecting the royal family?” I flinch like he’s going to hit me, but he doesn’t. He stands there glaring down at me, like he can glare me into behaving well. “When we go to the other side of this portal, they’re all going to be watching. I’ve told them that I’m protecting you; therefore, they’re going to be wondering why. It’d be best if you pretended like you weren’t my enemy when we are being watched. I will deal with them in the Folkland. The entire thing is meant to last six months, but I figure I can kill them all within two weeks.” I gape at him as he rolls his shoulders. “You need to act like you can stand being at my side, maybe stretch to pretending we are friends. I plan to use you as bait.”
“I failed acting class. There was one class in school, but I dramatically failed it. The teacher said that I have every emotion I feel written on my face at all times, and I can’t pretend.” I shrug as he lightly growls. “And bait? How exactly are you planning to use me as bait?”
His smile is wicked. “I’m going to throw you to the wolves, Hopeless. Don’t get bitten.” He looks away at the portal as I shiver with the threat. It kinda sounds like he is the one I should be scared of getting bitten by. “If you can’t pretend, just shut up and don’t talk.”
I think about it for a second. “Nope, not possible.” He growls, grabbing my arm, and he starts dragging me towards the mirror. My heart pounds in my chest as he pushes me through first, and it feels like nothing, like stepping from one place into the other. Nothing but a brush of warmth across every inch of my skin before I’m cast into freezing cold snow, and I stumble, rolling in it until it sticks to my clothes and hair. I check Tannith, seeing she is fine, before focusing. I’m thankful for the braid as I climb to my feet and the harsh, cold wind nearly pushes me back over. I’m going to freeze to death.Why don’t I have a coat?
I’m shaking as Blackfire steps through the portal perfectly, not rolling in the snow like me, just perfectly steps through like a damn god walking this world. He looks down at me, growls in annoyance at whatever he sees before he grabs my arm, picking me up to drag me through the snow. The falling snow is pounding in every direction from the harsh wind, and I can barely see one step in front of the other until we step into a dome. The snow stops battering against the sides of a dome of pure magic, the air shimmering like glittering water when the sunbeams sneaking through the clouds hit it. Water magic. Whoever is doing this must be from the Maiden Pack. They control water, after all, and snow is a version of that.
It’s still cold though, and I can’t stop shaking as Blackfire comes to a stop and lets me go. I feel eyes on me, but I don’t look at anyone else. I have already made two enemies, Blackfire and Orion, and honestly, I don’t need another one. The tension is high as the wolves and I all stand in silence at what feels like the edge of the world.
Finally, the priest from the selection walks out into the centre of the dome. He taps his cane on the snowy ground, and slowly, a stone pedestal rises out of the ground. It’s a simple pedestal with a flat circular rock face, only the rock is marked red with old bloodstains. Ew. I’m not touching that. It definitely has a virus on it. The symbol of the triple goddesses is stark in the middle of the bloody rock, and it begins to glow gold.
“Welcome to this holy place and treasured land. It is said the goddesses first stepped onto this world here, and they made this pedestal to mark their arrival so time would not forget. When they first made the Folkland for the first royals, they changed this place to be the beginning of all leaders. They began here, and so did each of you. As I look around this group, I am looking at the three leaders who will walk out of the Folkland as heroes to our world and change our world for good.”
He doesn’t look at me. Fair enough.
