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Chapter One

M orning doves coo overhead as I move through the early-morning streets of Parshen. Banners of royal blue and green drape the lampposts and hang from the tallest buildings. They flutter softly in the breeze, which whispers a warm promise that summer is arriving.

At this time of morning, with the sky drifting from black to watercolor clouds, the only other person I have seen is the lamplighter carrying his pole to extinguish the torches burning in the lamps. I chose this hour because I’m not likely to see many guards, if any, and I won’t run into the hundreds of people who have flocked into the city. Even with a hammer and nail, I will only be a mild nuisance.

I stab my flier through the already existing nail on the post, covering up someone else’s weather worn poster with nearly indistinguishable print seeking a lost pet. I’m not likely to receive a ticket for noise. Not that hanging posters would warrant a ticket, but what is on them might: Protest laws forcing expensive testing and licensing of magic users. Sunset at Torgen Meadow, Thursday. King Willard forces witches and wizards from Arcoren.

Behind me, I hear paper tear, and I bristle in anger before turning to see who has just ripped off my flier.

A young man casually leans against the post with a half-eaten apple crumble muffin in one hand and my flier in the other. “You know you can get arrested for this, right?” he says without meeting my gaze.

The hood of his blue cloak obscures his features, but the polished pins on his green vest show he is a high rank of soldier. The buckle of his cloak is the royal shield, so he is also important enough to be near the royal family, though he isn’t in the uniform of the king’s guard.

“Hanging fliers isn’t against the law,” I point out, crossing to a horse post a few steps away and adding some distance between us. I still keep him in the corner of my vision.

He lifts his head just enough that the morning light shines on the lower half of his face and the smirk on his lips. “Holding a rally intentionally challenging the laws of the king is.”

“Maybe you should take the flier to your father so I wouldn’t have to hold a rally at all.”

“My father?”

At this, I am unable to restrain myself and do, in fact, roll my eyes. “Your boots.” I hammer a nail through the next piece of paper onto the post. I glance back at him in time to see him looking at his feet, lifting the toes of his mud-covered boots.

“What do my boots have to do with anything?”

“Sure, they’re worn and dirty, but they’re made of the finest leather. Not to mention, the seams are in perfect shape.” I give him a sickly sweet smile when he meets my gaze again. “Good morning, Prince Kaison.”

He grunts, but I cannot tell if it’s from amusement or annoyance. It’s amazing how similarly those two emotions are emphasized in a grunt. He tugs his hood off, revealing the handsome face I haven’t seen in a few months. His shoulder-length black hair is clean and groomed, though a bit messy from wearing his hood. His copper eyes dart down and back up, looking me over even though I know he’s clearly been following me.

“You look good. I like your dress. It’s new, isn’t it?”

I turn to fully face him, holding the remainder of my fliers against my chest. It’s a great alternative to my sudden desire to strangle him. He has the audacity to comment on my looks right now? “You can come to the rally if you want to. Unless you plan on shutting it down.”

His lips are parted to form a response when the right corner lifts up slightly in a sort of bewildered scoffing smile. Prince Kai finally chooses to shrug off the post. “Why can’t you just get your license like every other witch?”

I frown, the familiar ache in my chest quickly discarded. “We’ve been over this before.”

“No one cares about your struggle with reading.” He raises his brows in what I assume to be a gentle coaxing. “And you put together a good flier.” He snaps his finger against it.

It may have been a compliment years ago, but now I can’t help but feel his condescension. He lost all charm—and our friendship—a year ago when he arrested my mother and made sure she was sent to trial and imprisoned for practicing magic without a license. Not only did I lose my mother that day, but I lost my faith in the boy I'd trusted, the boy I had almost thought I loved. His reasons matter little to me. That kind of betrayal can never be forgotten.

Or forgiven.

I straighten my spine, but he’s still almost an entire head taller than me. “To enchant and make potions, I don’t need to be able to read. I’m getting along fine.”

“Stubborn as ever.” He shakes his head. “El, every other wizard and witch and...whatever else uses magic has to attend university and take an exam. Did you ever consider that if you attend a university, maybe you’d be able to learn more than just how to read? Maybe you could be more powerful.”

I laugh. “You want me to become more powerful? Wow.”

“El—”

“Stop calling me that,” I interrupt. “You lost that privilege.” I turn away from him and storm down the street. I’ve done well avoiding him every chance I’ve had, but he’s like a dandelion that just keeps popping up out of nowhere.

He cuts in front of me. “Elowyn, I just don’t want you in prison too. That’s all. This rally...it’s your final offense.”

“Are you going to arrest me too?” I glare up at him.

His lips tighten.

I don’t relent.

As usual, Kai is the first to cave. His shoulders drop and he turns his face away. “I hate it when you look at me like that. I’ve been trying to talk to you for a long time because I wanted to explain what happened that day. You never seem to be home.”

“I know.” I try to step around him.

He grabs my arm, stopping me, and lowers his voice. “El, I can’t help your mom or change any laws until I am king. You know this. I’m sorry for what happened. I really am. Everything I’ve tried...” He sighs and finally turns his head to meet my furious glare again. “I can't make him change. I can’t convince him of anything.”

I know that Kai is right. His father is the most stubborn person I’ve ever heard of. Though I’ve never met King Willard myself—other than a small run-in when we were children and I was caught slipping over the back fence into the gardens to throw a mud pie at Kai. Kai has always had very few positive things to say about his father. After all, King Willard is the entire reason I even have to hold this rally in the first place. He despises magic. But his father’s attitude is no excuse for Kai betraying me. For as many times as Kai has let me go, I expected he would do the same for the only person I have left in this world. I haven’t even received a letter from my mother to know how she’s doing.

“I can’t afford to attend university,” I mutter. “So what else am I supposed to do with my time? All I have to do is to help my mother. The only way to do that is to make the king change his laws. Magic users are just as capable as anyone else of finishing an apprenticeship and proving our worth by being trained by another user of magic. Why is it good enough for every other profession to have an apprenticeship but not those who use magic?”

Kai lowers his hand to his side, takes the final bite of his muffin, then wipes his hand on his pant leg. Through the muffin, he says, “If you bring that argument to my father, do you know what he’s going to do?”

I tilt my head. “Find it valid like you do?” I ask hopefully.

He swallows. “What my father would be most inclined to do is require the other occupations to take paid exams.”

I frown. “Do you truly have no sway with your father?”

He blurts out a laugh and runs his fingers through his dark hair. “If you think I have any sway with my father, I wouldn’t be forced to marry a princess who requires fifty mattresses to sleep.” He points his thumb back toward the castle.

My heart skips.

It’s his wedding day.

I was so busy remembering my anger toward him, I forgot that he’s supposed to be in the castle right now, preparing to merge our kingdoms in some sort of alliance. I look him up and down.

How could I forget?

No. I didn’t forget. I am in denial.

The flapping banners and influx of people into the city are all for him.

“Might feel a little pity after all?” he asks, his tone playfully sad.

I clear my throat. “First, how did you even find fifty mattresses in the city?” I step up to the side of a building and use the hammer in my hand to nail the flier into its wooden wall. “And second, how does she even climb on top?”

He holds his hands out, palms up, and shrugs. “Slugs if I know. I can’t believe those are your questions right now.”

“It sounds better to start off with questions like that instead of ‘What is she like? Tell me all about her!’ when you clearly aren’t excited to be marrying her.”

We stand in an uncomfortable silence until Kai breaks it. He rests a hand on his hip and gestures his other toward his body. “Look how nicely I’m dressed. What makes you think I’m not excited?”

Normal friends would be happy for one another. I should be teasing him or helping him fix his hair. He was my best friend, one of the few people in the city who would play with me in spite of my purple eye—the other being blue—and the rumors I was a witch. I’m tired of being alone after a year. But if he hadn’t arrested my mother, or even spoken up in her behalf during her trial, she wouldn’t be locked away for the next four years, and I wouldn’t be alone in the first place.

I smile a little bit. “It’s your wedding day and you’re wandering the streets? Moreover, you’re here. With me. Knowing how much I hate you.”

Regret flashes in his eyes and his jaw hardens. “Fair enough,” he mutters.

I lick my lips. I won’t admit it to him, but I do feel bad for him. I’m not sure he had any say in this marriage. “Well, if you’re looking for something to do.” I hold my stack of fliers out toward the prince, completely expecting him to raise his brows—which he does. I also expect him to turn away, but he does not.

Prince Kai takes the papers from me in both hands. “Where to next?”

I stand there staring at him like a bog salamander with unblinking eyes for far too long, because why on earth is a prince agreeing to help me hang fliers deliberately holding an illegal rally to speak against his father? Even if we are—or were —friends, he should be doing other, far more important things right now.

“I...uh...” I finally shake myself from my stupor and gesture. “This way.”

As we begin down the street, he steps up to match my pace so we are side by side. His arm brushes my shoulder, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t like the sudden spark that shoots through me. I’ve missed his strong presence, his smile, his...smell.

“Have you been getting along all right? I’ve been worried.”

The prickle of anger when he says he’s worried makes my face hot. “I’m fine. I have a thriving garden, I’ve been able to sell things at market, and I’m still practicing magic. Don’t look at me like that. I’m only practicing at home, so I’m not anywhere near the city. And I’m still doing nothing more than enchanting things, so I’m not putting anyone at risk.”

“It’s just...you know how to push the boundaries.” He lowers his voice. “You shouldn’t be telling me this.”

I take a piece of paper from him and pin it up on the corner of a building. “You aren’t going to turn me in.”

Even though he arrested Mother, when I burst into her trial and his father tried to arrest me for disrupting the court, Kai stepped between us and argued that I had a right to be present. He added other technical things I can’t recall, but I was allowed to stay. What I remember most is breaking down when the king sentenced Mother. Kai dragged me out before his father could change his mind and arrest me too.

We turn down an alley that leads to the main road. On a normal day, I might see a couple of people leaving their homes, heading off to jobs or to set up their carts at market. Today is different. Many people are leaving their homes in their finest clothes. One woman holds the door open and shouts up the stairs for her partner to “Hurry so we can get a good spot!”

Kai stops just long enough to quickly pull his hood back up to hide his identity.

I reach out and take another flier. “You don’t have to stay.”

“I want to.” He holds the flier against the post so I can hammer it in place. “How is Acorn?”

I tilt my head at the mention of my hedgehog sidekick. “Digging a hole, more than likely. Kaison, the small talk doesn’t suit you. You can go if you need to. Why are you really here with me?”

He shrugs and stops in front of a bulletin board to pin one of the fliers up himself. “I suppose I was hoping you would give me a reason not to follow through with the wedding.” His gaze darts to me from the corner of his eyes.

I straighten. “You...want me to talk you out of it?”

“Stupid, huh? I mean, who else am I going to marry? You?” He looks at me with a coy grin, one that used to send my heart into palpitations and make my stomach roll. In spite of my bitterness toward him, the familiarity of that feeling makes my heart ache.

“Oh shut up,” I reply. But I used to dream about that very thing.

The bells in the castle towers ring and he turns to face them. I hate that I can’t see his full expression beyond his hood. His confession to me that he doesn’t want to get married cracks the defenses I’ve built up against him. Knowing I am furious with him, he has still sought me out and not only spoken with me today, but more or less asked for my forgiveness. I have no doubt he would have gone all the way to my home to find me.

I’m not ready to forgive him and let him back in. But I’ll always care for him.

“You’re welcome to hide at my cottage, if you want,” I suggest in spite of myself.

His lips tug in a sad smile and he hands me the remainder of the fliers. “Don’t be surprised if I show up later.” He grins, and the angle of sunlight shows his face just long enough for me to see him wink.

We both know he won’t.

For a flicker of a moment, I see the young man whose bright brown eyes always saw the world with curiosity. The one who slipped me into the kitchen of the castle to steal an orange because I had never tasted one. The one who showed me how to hold a sword and attempted to teach me how to fight with it. The boy who snuck me a basket of food on my birthday two months ago when I refused to open the door for him.

“Good day, Lady Elowyn.” He bows to me, a formal gesture he rarely uses with me.

“I’m not a lady,” I protest as he begins to turn away.

His gaze lingers. “You are to me.”

I suck my lips into my mouth and my anger dissipates with every step away from me he takes.

I should yell at him to come back.

I can’t imagine being forced into a marriage I don’t want. Kaison was my dearest friend my entire life. Was. I wish so many things in this kingdom could change. Maybe it really will be best for Kaison to marry a proper princess in order to take the throne and make the changes the people need. Maybe then I can forgive him.

But what will he need of my forgiveness if he’s married to someone else?