“How does everyone know already? The wedding was only yesterday.”
“Word spreads fast in the kingdom,” Henry said with a smile.
Apparently too fast.
The king walked and I followed.
“What happened here?” He kicked one of the bones of the dead knights.
These creatures differed from the zombie warriors the Lich King normally used. The skeletons were outfitted in rusty swords and armor, mainly used for fodder. They could be difficult to kill since there was no flesh and blood. Blunt force seemed to be the only thing that would smash them to bits.
“I'm not sure,” Alina replied.
She whistled and held out her arm. A gorgeous firehawk full of bright-orange and red feathers cawed from the sky and landed on her arm. She chirped at the bird and then bowed her head to nuzzle.
“Go eat,” she said and she pushed her arm up, letting the bird fly back into the sky.
“I haven't seen a firehawk in years,” I said, looking at the birds that had almost dwindled.
“My family breeds them.”
“Your family?”
“Oh, I see you two haven't been properly introduced,” the king said. “King Kane, meet Alina, daughter of the magistrate of Farrow’s Gate.”
It took me a minute to think back. I had distanced myself from humans, even in magical settlements. “Lord Demious?”
The girl frowned. “He died way before I was born. No. My mother and uncle are the magistrates of Farrow’s Gate. Calvin and Rosalie Hawk. My father is a dark fae. I’m half-elemental, half-dark fae. So, even if you allowed humans in your settlements and court, my loyalty belongs to King Henry and below to Queen Merelda.”
I glared at even the mere mention of Queen Merelda.
Though the Queen and I had an understanding, I didn't enjoy sharing responsibility. While I handled all the fae abovethe surface, Queen Merelda lived in the underground full of dark fae and monsters.
Ignoring the comment, I shrugged. “If you're on the surface, your loyalty is to me. Don't worry, I don't need you to bow. I need you to tell me what the Lich King was doing here.”
“I don't know. I was passing through. I've been visiting some of the smaller farming villages, seeing what they needed. Helping to burn any crops. You know, make sure we have food to survive, and then we're just attacked out of nowhere.”
We walked through the center of the farming town. The one main street held a few stores, a tavern, a general shop, and an apothecary. The damage thankfully hadn't been to these areas.
“If I hadn’t been here,” she continued. “Those undead would have trampled this place. These people aren't soldiers.”
“I don't understand what is of value here?” I asked.
“Maybe I can enlighten the three of you,” a sly voice spoke behind us.
The three of us turned.
A pale elf. No, not a high elf or maybe once he was, but his pale skin and red eyes meant only one thing: a vampyre.
King Henry unsheathed his blade, lighting it like the sun.
The vampyre held no weapons except a single dagger he twirled in his right hand. He casually leaned against the side of the apothecary as if out for a stroll.
There were no rules banning vampyres. They were allowed to come and go and they were the only creature out of the twisted race that were accepted anywhere as long as they didn't eat anyone valuable since they had a higher intellect and the rest of the twisted were either undead or mindless monsters.
“What are you doing here?” Henry asked, taking a step forward.
“I have a message for you.” He pointed the dagger at me. “Bring the child of prophecy to the southern temple. The attacks will continue until we have what we want.”
