I'd come to love the night.
It was the only time I could allow myself to forget the chaotic ruins my life had become.
The night was when I could remember what had once been — a time long before the Crown Trials when I'd still been a First-blood.
I was playing with Koa behind our old house, our tiny legs unable to keep up with the pace our minds wanted to set for us.
We were laughing, our clothes muddy and stained from climbing trees as if we'd had the arms and hands of a Yuus — a furry creature with four long arms and an appetite for sweets.
The only thing we felt like we missed at that moment was the sweets.
I lost my grip on a branch as we jumped from one tree to the other, falling toward the soft ground without as much as a scream.
Drops of crimson blood stained the grass beneath me from an open wound in my sore palm.
"Koa?" I called, expecting my best friend to come to my rescue like he always did. Worry tickled my spine when he was nowhere to be found.
"Koa?" I called again. Still no answer.
"Are you hurt, Child?"
I looked behind me as the first tear trailed down my reddened cheeks.
The woman was wearing a form-fitted, black dress decorated with stones and patterns from a different time. Dark, wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders like a violent waterfall, but I couldn't see her face.
The hood she wore was too dark.
"You're bleeding," she said, stepping closer to gently touch my bloodstained skin. "Does it hurt?"
I nodded reluctantly.
Mom had always warned me to stay wary of strangers. Yet, somehow, this lady didn't feel like a stranger.
"You're very brave, Child, but I think we should find your parents now, don't you?"
I nodded again as the lady helped me to my feet. She didn't rush me forward or force me somewhere I didn't want to go. Instead, she stepped in front of me and walked the path to my house that I would've otherwise walked on my own.
My eyes widened when I saw her back.
On her long cloak was an embroidery of wings — the symbol of air.
I stopped walking and looked down at my injured hand again.
My blood was no longer red but the intense color of the sky.
Panic fluttered inside my ribcage like the wings of a delirious bird. I held my breath and looked to see if the lady had noticed, but she was no longer there.
My house wasn't there either.
"We're going to be late, Willow."
A smoke-like shadow of my mom passed me like an icy wind. She wasn't as tall as I remembered her from back then.
Then she looked back at me, revealing lines on her face that only years of passing time could've caused.
I looked down at myself and realized I'd grown into the woman I'd been a year ago.
When I raised my head again, I found myself standing in front of the grand estate of the Iridis Mansion.
Dread crawled up my spine, and my chest grew tighter around my heart.
Mom was running directly toward the entrance we'd used every morning together since I'd started working with her.
She grabbed the handle, and a shock of fear struck me like lightning. Something terrible was going to happen if she opened that door.
"Mom, wait!" I shouted, leaning forward to stop her, but it was too late.
She twisted the knob, and a sea of flames erupted from the gate, consuming everything within its reach.
"MOM!" I screamed as the blast forced me backward until my feet stumbled over themselves.
Then a pair of arms caught me.
"Magpie?"
I looked back, expecting to see my dad's face, but it was Caiden's arms that had caught me.
"Caiden," I whispered, turning around with frantic eyes to grab his uniform. "My mom, she—"
"You're hurt," he said, gently moving my hand and revealing the pale blue stain my wound had left behind on his shirt.
It was the same wound from before.
I looked around, but we were no longer in front of the burning mansion. Instead, we were in Caiden's room.
Warm hands caressed my cheeks, bringing my eyes to meet the shadow of his. "Let me protect you, Willow," he whispered, leaning closer to me. "I promise that I'll always protect you."
His velvety lips grazed mine, and everything around us disappeared. This was where I belonged.
If only this obscure voice in my head would disappear or at least tell me what it wanted from me. But its voice was faint, and its words unrecognizable.
"I see you're keeping more secrets from me than I've cared to notice."
I gasped when I opened my eyes and found that it was no longer Caiden holding me in his strong arms. It was Tarkan.
He kept me locked in place, his grin as wicked and corrupt as his soul.
The ivory fabric tightened around my torso, suffocating me. Then, the vines from my dress began growing, slithering around my skin like snakes until I could barely move.
"I'm deeply hurt that you haven't felt comfortable sharing your new secret with your fiancé."
Secret?
I looked at my hand, and my eyes widened when they saw the golden substance of my blood trickle down my wrist, past the vines.
It was happening again.
"No!" I screamed, somehow escaping Tarkan's prison and pushing myself away from him.
I stumbled backward until my feet could no longer find solid ground. Then I fell.
Darkness surrounded me. I wanted to scream, but no sound came from my lips, just like when I fell from the tree.
Some kind of warm hill caught my falling body, and I rolled until the slope leveled into a horizontal plane.
My limbs ached, but I'd miraculously escaped the fall unscathed.
I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by a new sea of sand stretching as far as I could see. The starry sky was dark and pure from light pollution.
"Are you hurt, Child?"
I sat up and saw the lady from my house. She was dressed the same, and I still couldn't see her face.
"You don't seem to be bleeding, but you look lost."
She was right.
My palm no longer ached, and the wound had healed, leaving nothing behind but a faint scar.
"Come with me, Child. I'll show you the way home."
She turned around and began walking. I didn't want to be left alone miles away from the nearest trace of civilization, so I got up.
I stepped forward to follow her. Then the sand swallowed me before I was submerged under the surface of icy waters.
My body became rigid, as if the cold waters had turned my blood frozen.
Then I saw the woman floating weightlessly a little further ahead.
She gestured for me to follow her, and to my surprise, my limbs obeyed.
I sucked in a needed breath as I breached the surface, finding myself inside a dark cave. The only light I could see was a rich flickering from a crack in the wall.
The woman squatted in front of the opening, and when she turned her head to face me, I finally got a faint glimpse of her face.
Her dark eye stared at me, a single golden scar stretching from the middle of her forehead across her eye to the sharp bone of her jaw.
Then she jumped through the crack, disappearing from my sight.
"Wait!" I shouted, forcing myself to my feet. But when I reached the crack, I was pushed back by a flock of black-feathered birds.
Their wings surrounded me. Their caws deafened me, and their claws tore my beautiful dress apart until it was soaked in my own golden blood.
"Find us."
***
I flung my eyes open, nearly headbutting Faye's frail forehead as she slapped me across my face.
"Faye," I gasped, my lungs burning as hot as the skin on my cheek.
"Sorry," she exclaimed, fumbling backward. "You were screaming as if you were having a nightmare. You wouldn't wake up, so I— I turned to drastic measures...."
I rubbed my cheek, teasing the stinging pain to convince myself I was awake.
"That's okay," I whispered, sitting up to stretch my drowsy body.
Then I massaged my hands like I always did, but felt a strange bump I hadn't noticed before.
I spread my fingers and examined my palm.
A scar stretched from the base of my thumb across the entire surface like the cut of a knife. I couldn't remember having seen that before.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"What?" I said, looking up to meet Faye's worried face.
"Do you want to talk about it? Your dream?" she asked again, moving closer. "Sometimes it helps rid your body of the restless gnawing that the nightmare leaves you with. At least, that's what my mom has always told me."
She wasn't wrong. My body felt restless as if my mind was searching for answers to questions I wasn't quite sure why I was asking.
I closed my eyes and tried to remember what had caused this dreadful feeling to haunt me. However, the more I tried to remember, the blurrier the faces and the memories became.
"Sorry, Faye. I— I can't really remember," I said, pressing my finger further into my hand. "It's all kind of hazy. The only thing I can really think of is the sound of birds."
"Birds?" she said, crooking her brow.
I nodded and pulled the sheets closer. "Black-feathered birds."
"The Mortis Crow?" she asked, and I shrugged. "That would make sense. The Mortis Crow can give even the bravest warriors nightmares. Imagine if one caught you and brought you to the shadow dimension...."
Faye shivered as she mentioned the shadow dimension.
I chuckled. "You know it's only a story that the old people tell children to keep them from wandering off, right?" I asked, playfully narrowing my eyes. "No one has actually seen a person being taken by those things."
"I know," she said, jumping off my bed. "But it's a darn effective story."
She raised her shoulders to her jaw, making her neck disappear to gesture the fear shaking her body.
I tilted my head, observing her stacking the numerous books I'd left in chaos on the vanity table.
"What kind of dress would you like to wear today?" Faye asked, skipping toward my oversized closet. "Strapless? A-line? Uh, what about slim fit?"
"Something warm and comfortable," I said, throwing myself back into the giant pillow.
Caiden had invited me on a trip outside the castle walls.
The Crown Trials had ended, so I was no longer bound by the rules of my previous contract. I could leave the castle if I wanted to as long as I returned, but time had slipped through my fingers.
I'd wanted to see my family or visit Oakley, but the wedding preparations had robbed me of those chances.
Faye sighed and grabbed a dress that looked like my usual attire, only warmer. "You always say that," she said, throwing the dress onto my bed. "What's wrong with being a little bold?"
I grabbed the hairband next to me and folded my hair into a loose bun. "What's wrong with comfortable?" I said, chuckling as I threw the sheets off me.
The hairs on my body stood on end as my bare feet touched the cold marble floors.
"Nothing," Faye mumbled and shrugged as she found a pair of matching shoes. "Are you going outside today?"
I skipped across the floor, sighing comfortably when my toes touched the heated floor in the bathroom.
"I think so," I said, splashing my face with water.
"Really?"
Faye's voice echoed between the tiled walls.
She was leaning against the door frame, looking at me with a pestering smirk.
I sighed and leaned the back of my thighs against the sink. "What?"
"Has Prince Calix invited you on a romantic trip before your grand wedding?"
My smile froze, and my breath hitched.
"I bet he can't wait to marry you."
Faye sighed with a dreamlike expression and stared into nothingness. "I hope I'll find that kind of love one day."
My stomach turned, nausea threatening to empty the remaining content of my stomach.
I turned around to lean my body over the sink, so she wouldn't see my horrified face.
Faye still didn't know that I didn't want this wedding to happen. She knew as little as Piper, and as the wedding date drew nearer, I felt the crack in my mask growing bigger.
I'd lied to her before when she thought I'd been vying for Caiden's hand. Then I convinced her otherwise, and now I was lying to her about Tarkan... Would this evil circle never end?
"Faye," I said, my eyes spitefully examining the crimson stone on my finger. "Don't get—"
A knock on the door interrupted my warning.
An excited smile took form on Faye's face as she looked back. "Do you think it's Prince Calix?" she asked, pushing herself away from the frame. "I know he hasn't been here since your engagement, but since he's invited you on a trip, it would be appropriate for him to get you."
"I seriously doubt it's Tarkan, Faye," I whispered under my breath when I was sure she couldn't hear me.
But what if it was?
Caiden had asked me to meet him in the tunnels. What if Tarkan had found out somehow?
I clenched the porcelain harder when I heard Faye open the door.
"Prince Atlas."
My eyes widened. What was that idiot doing here?
"Good morning, Miss Faye. Is Miss Aldwyn still in her chambers?"
Shaking myself free from my reflection, I grabbed my robe and stepped out of the heated bathroom.
"Yes, but—"
"It's okay, Faye. I'll take it from here," I said, tying the rope an extra time, tightly, around my waist.
Caiden's smile brightened when my eyes met his. I did not return that smile.
"But, Will—"
"I'll be fine, Faye," I said again, grabbing her shoulders to push her past Caiden. "I'm sure Prince Atlas is simply here to forward a message regarding the wedding that Prince Calix couldn't give me himself."
"Are you sure?" she whispered, grabbing the door before I could get her out. "Don't you think it's odd to be alone with the man Heliac previously believed you fought to win?"
That was a question I did not want to answer.
"Please tell Abigail to heat some water for tea when you reach the kitchen. I'll be with you in ten minutes."
"But—"
I closed the doors behind her before she could protest against my request.
Exhaling, I leaned my forehead against the wood. I was already exhausted, and breakfast hadn't even been served yet.
"She is very protective, that chambermaid of yours."
Caiden had moved to the table supporting my books and was flipping through the pages of the story on top.
Narrowing my eyes and clenching my fists, I stepped closer to him.
"What are you doing here, Caiden?" I asked, reaching out to turn him around. "What if someone saw you?"
His gloved hand caught my wrist before I could touch his shoulder.
The books Faye had spent time stacking this morning dropped to the ground as Caiden lifted me onto the table, placing himself between my legs.
Heat shot to my cheeks when he stopped an inch from my face.
"No one saw me," he whispered, the words sounding so sweet from his alluring lips. "I used the tunnels."
I bit my lip, desperate to keep my urge to reach out and touch him in check.
"I thought we agreed to meet in the tunnels. Not here," I whispered, my hand trembling as his grip around my wrist tightened.
The smile on his face disappeared, remorse filling his hypnotic eyes.
They could spellbind me with a simple, cursed glance, and I had yet to figure out how to break that spell when we were alone.
"I'm sorry, Willow," he said, his eyes focused on the contours of my lips as his fingers moved to graze my chin.
"For what?" I asked, my body greedily begging me to close the space between us.
"We, unfortunately, will have to postpone our trip, and I'm afraid you're going to have to leave your chambermaid disappointed as well," he said, lifting my chin closer. "Something else has come up."
"What?" I whispered, my mind too far gone to care what consequences had interfered with our plans. He was here with me now. It was all that mattered.
Caiden smiled and gently stroked the curve of my lip with his thumb. "Uncle Art has summoned us."