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Chapter One

Freya

An orange and red blaze streaked across the sky and then shot downward into the earth. A loud boom erupted across the courtyard, shaking the ground. The sound echoed loudly, alarming everyone on the settlement.

I halted on the sidewalk, and so did Aurora.

“What’s that?” she asked, shielding her eyes from the blinding sun.

“I don’t know. It sounded like a missile.” My fingers trembled as an object hovered above us, creating a huge dark shadow on the ground. I knew something bad was about to happen.

When a second shot landed somewhere near the entry gates, Aurora and I jumped and held each other close. People were screaming. They were going nuts trying to find cover. Everyone jetted this way and that way, afraid that the shots would reach them next.

During the frenzy, Aurora and I got separated from the guards. I looked around for cover. Somewhere underground, maybe, but she kept pulling me toward the gates. Toward freedom. Away from my obligations. Away from the settlement. Away from the tyrant who my father would force me to marry. A tyrant who was more than twice my age.

Something bad had just happened, indeed. The walls that contained the citizens of the North settlement had fallen. People were making a mad dash for the forest, either to safety from the blasts or to freedom.

Suddenly, Aurora broke off from me. I caught her by the wrist for fear that she’d leave me and I’d never see her again. I knew in my heart that our meeting was forced. Her tenure as my maid was for life. I never had any choice in the matter. My father had decided. He was a monster, and he probably hated me just as much as I hated him.

I wasn’t sure how Aurora felt about me, but I thought of her as my friend. My only friend. I promised her that one day I’d work to get her sentence lifted and she’d be released from servitude. I just needed time and a mix of the right circumstances.

“Aurora,” I called out to her. My fingertips held onto hers.

She looked back at the crumbling gates and then at me. She was sad and conflicted. I saw it in her eyes and then suddenly I understood…I understood what she wanted the most. In a sense, she was like me—she wanted to be free.

“Then go…” I finally whispered. My guards were close by, calling my name through the fumes of smoke taking over the settlement.

A breeze rushed between us, bringing clouds of ashes with it. Aurora doubled over and coughed. “You have to understand, Freya. I want to leave. I have to leave,” she said, her eyes wild with apprehension and fear.

“I know,” I told her and then looked back briefly to see if the guards had caught up to us. “Go. Go.”

She took off and my heart dropped. I thought I’d be happy for her. I was happy for her, but for me…I felt nothing. In this place where I was standing, I didn’t feel in control of my destiny.

My feet started moving, taking the same path that Aurora had taken. I didn’t think. I just moved forward. Behind me…there was nothing.

When I reached the place where one of the missiles struck the ground, I looked down. I’d never seen a hole of that size and magnitude before. I was certain that whatever weapon did this was not of this world. I looked up toward the sky. Nothing was clear anymore. The spaceship-looking thing that once hovered above us was gone.

“Lady! Come away from there,” the guard warned me. “Your handmaiden. She is gone. We’ll get her back. Come with me now. I’ll take you to your father.”

I ignored him and stood among the fallen bricks that once made up the walls of the settlement. All around me citizens were frantic, fleeing the city as if their very lives depended on it. As if trying to tell me something, a warm breeze pushed at my ankles.

I turned around and briefly glanced at my family’s estate which sat high on the hill surrounded by tall iron gates. The whole city would be ashes before the morning. Unsurprisingly, the fireballs that rained down from the sky only moments earlier had not touched the home where I once felt trapped. That was too bad.

“Lady? It’s not safe out here. We must get back to the estate.”

I turned around to find a guard directly behind me, holding out his hand.

“I don’t want to go back,” I said quietly. I looked down at his outstretched palm and then turned away. For a moment, his fingers gripped the red cape I was wearing, but I simply shrugged out of the garment and raced out into the unknown.

I didn’t know where I was going. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, determined to end up in a better position than I was now. People who knew me would laugh at me if I told them I hated what my life had become. I was the daughter of the governor. My legitimacy had been questioned, but still, I was raised as a royal. One of the richest bachelorettes on this side of the nation. But if they only knew…

Wherever I ended up, I’d need a new name if I really truly wanted to be free from my past. Not many would recognize my face because my father had forced me to live such a sheltered life for fear that he could not follow through with his deal if I ventured off the path he set out for me. He was suspicious and untrusting of everyone. His traits had cost him many friendships, and I just knew those same weaknesses had just cost him his settlement. His enemy—I was not sure which—had just attacked. And if his safety were somehow compromised, what good would it do me to go back to the estate anyway? I’d likely be killed on sight.

It didn’t matter now. I was free. I would never look back.

The shrubs and trees got thicker as I made my way through the forest. I ignored the stench of smoke as it filled the atmosphere. The city behind me was burning, but I wasn’t going back there.

I had no idea that my life would change when I got up this morning. When my father told me that my soon to be husband wanted to move the wedding ceremony up by more than a month, I panicked. Even Aurora could not console me.