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“Come, son. I best feed you before you collapse, for this is not a quick tale.”

As I sit and eat, he tells me a story about a young doe falling in love with a wolf. “It was one of the lower herds,” he says. “The leader’s son fancied himself in love with the doe. Foolishly, his father tried to separate her from the wolf mate, but a bond had already been made. The doe and wolf fled. When I found out. I ordered a search, offering a place for them among our herd in safety. It was too late. They were never found. It would seem likely they were living secretly in this wolf pack ever since.”

“We need to bring them back.”

When he shakes his head, my chest heaves, and I surge up.

My father places his hand on my shoulder and urges me back down. My legs are shaking, so it takes only a small amount of pressure to get me seated.

“We betrayed their trust,” he says.

“Not us,” I say.

“No, not us, but a former herd leader and his jealous son. I would not force them to return.”

“They are not safe,” I say quietly. “A fawn, especially a doe, is prey to wolves.” I swallow thickly. “She was away from her home and clearly shifting in secret. What if one of their pups came upon her… what if?—”

He squeezes my shoulder. “Trust is easily given and a thousand times harder to mend when broken. Her parent’s trust was broken through no fault of yours or mine. But I am the king and Master Stag, and you shall take up that mantle one day. We must take responsibility for failing our subjects as such. You believe in your heart saving her, bringing her to safety here is your duty?”

“I do,” I say. More so now than ever.

He nods. Accepting.

My father sent an envoy. Not wanting to betray their trust or expose them if they wished to remain secret, he did so in a circumspect way. The envoy followed the trail to their home only to find it abandoned. He was told that the family had fled in the night several weeks earlier, and no one knew where they had gone.

We had already betrayed their trust once, and at my father’s order, the envoy did not disclose what they were.

I searched for her for many weeks and months between my duties as the prince. When I was not searching for my lost Fawn, I threw myself into battle.

Perhaps it would make no sense to an outsider or one who does not believe in the will of the Goddess, but meeting her, as I did on my coming-of-age quest, felt significant to me.

It felt like destiny.

Like Fawn was mine to protect.

When I received the letter from her mother explaining that the secret fawn was now all grown up and vulnerable, I knew instantly who it was, and a different kind of pull lodged in my chest.

The wolf is railing, fighting against inevitability. He is delusional if he thinks I will bow out… that I will not pursue my claim, one the Goddess herself placed in my path all those years ago.

I am Master Stag. Not the leader of a herd, buttheleader of all herds.

My father died five years ago in the great battle for Estoria, supporting the fairy kingdom against the dark fae. I fought at hisside, and although we were victorious, we paid a high price in his life.

Somewhere above, sitting at the Goddess’s side, I believe my father, who ever saw the humor in things, is chuckling as he watches me go head-to-head with a pack enforcer to complete a promise I made.

Chapter Thirteen

Fawn

Iam having a pleasant dream, one filled with pleasure. My pussy tingles and the urgency builds. My hands search for the source of this carnal torment… and collide with fur.

My eyes pop open.

I’m sprawled out on the forest floor, and there is a beastly head between my splayed thighs, his big tongue lashing my most intimate place.

For a stretched moment, I have no idea where I am or how I got here, and then everything comes rushing back.

My secret exposed.