Page 40

“All right.”

“You’ll do it?” He seemed surprised.

“Why wouldn’t I? I’m the captain. It’s my job.”

“After you ruined...” he paused. “You seemed angry with us the last time we were all together.”

Well, that was putting it lightly.

“I am, but I have a job to do, and I want to break my curse.” My eyes bore into my father as I mentioned the curse. I still didn’t understand everything, but that was the only reason I was still here. But one thing was for certain, I hated this kingdom and these fae at the table. A scouting trip would give me the break I needed from Cerithia.

“We’ll send some men with you.”

“No.” I stood. “I’ll go alone.”

My father’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t used to being defied or spoken back to. I grabbed my roll and looked up at them.

“I’ll be back when I figure out what’s going on.”

I didn’t wait for them to say anything. I walked out of the room and heard their harsh whispers as soon as I left, but I kept walking.

?????

I was happy to leave Cerithia, even if only for a short while. The atmosphere had been intense since my kidnapping, and I hadn’t been able to uncover any new information. I felt stuck.

I set up my base camp a few days ago and had been watching Falgon’s castle for two days. I noticed their guards were becoming scarcer, the number patrolling dwindling each day.

Something was clearly wrong. I felt it the moment I stepped onto Falgon territory. Even the forest was eerily silent tonight—the kind of quiet that made the hairs on my neck stand on end, as if sensing I was being watched.

My father’s instructions had been vague, almost as though he was desperate to send me away. I nearly turned back to Cerithia when I realized something was off, but I didn’t. The truth was, I’d rather face whatever was coming than return to the dullness of life there.

Glancing around the darkened forest, I saw nothing. Just as I shifted my focus back to the castle, I caught a slight movement deep in the trees.

Dammit. They knew I was here. I began to creep toward the castle to see what was happening.

“Don’t move.” The voice came from behind me. I turned to see dozens of guards now standing in the forest, surrounding me. “We will shoot you.”

My eyes darted around, counting about thirty men. I hadn’t even heard them approach, which was honestly impressive.

“I could kill you all without lifting a finger,” I warned.

“We know,” the captain sighed. I noticed that his green uniform had a white crest over his heart. “But you don’t need to do that.”

Before I could ask him why, a sharp pain made me cry out. One of the men behind me had shot an arrow into my arm. I turned, my fire mist surging forward and killing the man quickly. Whipping around, I killed half the men with a swipe of my hand before I started to feel something foreign pumping through my veins.

My fire magic stopped immediately. Damn it.

“You poisoned me?” I glared.

“We just needed you to not kill us all. It will wear off.”

I threw my dagger at him, killing him instantly, and then smiled at the irony.

“I don’t need my magic to kill the rest of you!”

The commotion made by all the men yelling and charging at me was so loud that it made more men come sprinting from the castle. I started running into the forest as they chased me down, picking them off one at a time with my daggers. As I ran, I ripped the arrow from my arm. Sybil’s healing magic was trying desperately to heal me, but it couldn’t.

I kept moving toward Kizar lands, with Falgon’s army following. Somehow, though, a guard managed to get in front of me. I readied another dagger to throw at him, but he dropped his weapon.