“Oh? Really? You do surprise me…”
“Hey, watch the sass.” But my soul warmed as she huffed a soft laugh. “But, yeah, I was a stubborn little shit. Even though Winter was my kingdom, I always had an urge to explore the forest. Maybe it was the wolf in me, I don’t know. You see, the borders of Winter couldn’t hold my attention, not when there was so little forest life. My father’s estate wasn’t like the lands around the Winter Palace. It was given over to farming and feeding our army. It probably still is. We were, are, constantly at war, fighting battles with the dark Fae to keep them from swamping Seelie lands. As a child, I had the fact that I was heir to this territory shoved down my throat by my father, who was less than happy he had a shifter as a son. He wanted nothing more than to either forget he had me or make me into his image and force me to hide my wolf. He did nothing to make me want to stay—even as a young boy.”
“Wh—what did he do?” Her voice held a note of apprehension, and I realised she was worried that what had happened to her had happened to me, too. I gave her hand a squeeze as we continued on.
“He didn’t hurt me in the same way as your father did to you. He is a purebred High Fae in every cell of his body, which means he wanted children—a son—who was a perfect and malleable copy of himself. He’s a control freak and a bully. Aside from the High King, he has the biggest army in Faery. That makes him one of the most important Fae in this world. Even Ventry can’t afford to alienate him—not really.”
“Why? What can he hold over a Fae as powerful as Ventry? Surely, the crown commands an army big enough to protect his borders?”
“He does if that was the only war we were fighting. But many political wars are being fought, as well as fighting the Unseelie. Ventry was the most powerful and respected general in his father’s army, but since he’s become regent, he has had to concentrate on Faery’s political machinations. The High Lords of the other kingdoms have taken advantage. Spring behaves—mostly. The High Lord tries to poison his people mainly with political unrest and vitriol. And Summer is a strong ally. But the Autumn Court is unhappy with not having more troops on its borders with the Void. When the Moons totally eclipse, Autumn has to deal with the Wild Hunt.”
“What’s the Wild Hunt?”
“It’s a wave of…something…not even the Fae know exactly what. Some people say it’s the vengeful spirits of the Darkling Fae that were banished to the Void thousands of moon cycles ago. The people of Autumn suffer far worse than the other kingdoms. Whatever is actually in that hunt kills whoever they find. Stories tell of Fae-like creatures who appear like the dead, their skin rotting and falling off their bones, riding huans with red eyes and skeletal features. Precious children go missing, and adults are murdered if they’re found outside. It is approaching time for the Wild Hunt again, and the Autumn court thinks that Ventry has abandoned them in favour of fighting the Unseelies on Winter’s borders. Their High Lord has been accusing the crown of selfish disinterest and sacrificing the people of Autumn rather than protecting them from the death and suffering of the Hunt. If Ventry can’t gain the throne soon or find a way to break his father’s curse and allow him to return, he will have a civil war on his hands for the crown of Faery.”
“Oh…wow, I didn’t realise things were so unstable here.”
My chuckle was dark. “In what world is there ever a lasting peace? I don’t know of one—do you?”
“No, I guess not.”
She went quiet, and rather than dwell on my dark words, I decided the more she knew about my father, the safer she’d be. I hoped our paths would never cross, but life wasn’t benevolent like that, so it was best to be prepared.
“My father’s army is vast, and it ensures the safety of the Winter Kingdom against the Unseelies. Their lands border my father’s, divided only by a fast-flowing river and flood plains. That army is paid well to remain loyal and vigorously fight for their kingdom. Not only that, my father has no qualms about making every warrior swear allegiance to him for the safety of their loved ones or their own life if they have no family. If they break their oath to fight to the death or they desert, the enchantment he weaves into their vow kills them and their families.”
“Wow, sounds like he could be friends with my father.”
“Yeah, an evil piece of shit through and through. His only loyalty is to his lands and his heritage, not to the king, not to his warriors, not even to his family.”
“Is that why you left? So you didn’t have to suffer a life of war?”
“Me?” I couldn’t help my bitter chuckle. “I don’t think I avoided that. Do you?”
“No, not really.”
We fell silent, and I wondered if Shannon was thinking about the wars we’d fought by Connor’s side. No matter where my home was, death and destruction followed me. War was definitely in my blood. My wolf huffed in agreement. Bloodshed was in our nature.
“My father wants to keep the Unseelie in their place. Most ancient Fae consider them creatures that are lower than lesserFae. Few are powerful, but their sheer numbers threaten the High Fae. Orth is the Unseelie kingdom…”
“Orth? Isn’t that where the Unseelie who dealt digitalis with Ember was from?”
“Yeah, that’s what she said. Bogwarts are ugly little creatures who thrive on manipulation and are motivated only by wealth and gain.”
Ember had a sketchy past, but I didn’t judge her. We all did what we needed to do to survive. “Orth used to be like all the other kingdoms. It was originally the Night Kingdom. But over thousands of years, the High Fae pushed all the Faery creatures that weren’t beautiful into that corner of our world. It became a dark and dangerous place. Or so we have been led to believe. I know Connor’s mother was part of the ruling family there, so I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“But why would they do that? Were those creatures dangerous to them?”
I thought back to the Fae I’d met when I’d used an illegal portal to escape Faery. They hadn’t seemed any more dangerous than me. Greedier, maybe, but I’d met far more evil humans and shifters than those dark Fae.
“Who knows? It was so long ago now that I don’t think anyone is sure, save perhaps King Ventris and any other ancient High Fae who have lived through Faery’s history. But they are few and far between because many Fae become unstable at such great ages, so they are granted a death at the King’s hand—or Ventry’s until his father’s curse is broken. I guess Ventry can’t risk letting them into the Seelie kingdom without some kind of proof that they can be trusted. My father’s reasons for fighting them aren’t so noble. Like I said, he merely wants to keep the Seelie bloodlines pure. That’s why he hates my shifter spirit so much. He considers me tainted, an abomination whose soul is Unseelie. He was disgusted by me and told me to hide my wolf.As a child, he scared me into doing just that until I was too old to ignore my wolf any longer and had to shift. I tried hard to stay out of sight, even coming here into the Spring Kingdom to shift deep in the woods away from prying eyes. That worked for a while until my father realised my magic was growing too strong and that he couldn’t threaten me or control my behaviour any more. I did my best to stay on his good side. I became one of his best warriors because he knew if he threatened Airling or my Mother, I’d do whatever he ordered just to keep them safe—until he commanded me to sacrifice a whole fucking legion of our warriors to lure in a large force of Unseelie that had crossed the river into our marshlands. I won that battle my own way, without such a massive loss of life, but Father didn’t see it that way; all he saw was defiance and disloyalty. When I came back from the battle, I caught him hitting my mother. I don’t think he’d ever hit her before, but I don’t know for sure. She denied it. He threatened her because he wanted my true birth name. My mother refused because she knew he wanted to control me and my power.”
“Did she give it to him?”
I turned to answer, but as I did, she narrowed her eyes and cocked a hip. “Wait! Stop the fucking train. Your name isn’t really Stone?”
I grinned widely, and her gaze snagged on my canines, her tongue darting out to lick her lips. “It is Stone. That’s the name my mother settled on because she said my eyes reminded her of the smooth stones at the bottom of the stream, which was her favourite spot to escape from my father. It was her happy place, and she wanted me to remember it and her when she goes to the afterlife.”
Her face dropped. “Oh, no—did he kill her?”
