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CHAPTER ONE

IN WHICH THE PLAYERS ARE INTRODUCED

PRESENT

When I first came to this world, it was a night much like this one.

A bright moon. Humid. Lots of screaming.

At that time, the screaming had been mine. Tonight, it was a pair of thieves who’d taken off with a large portion of a local lord’s livestock. As I watched them plead for mercy at the hands of my companions, I recalled the evening I stepped into the fae world with a fond smile.

Time was tracked a little differently here—based on lunar cycles rather than months—but if my math was correct, it was around ten years ago.

As one of the Golden Children born with magic following the opening of The Rift, a mysterious portal connecting Earth to a dimension where magic and fantastical creatures ran amok, I attracted the attention of the U.S.

government. They kidnapped me and smuggled me out of Brazil to have me spy for them.

After a few years of thinly veiled indoctrination, they realized I wasn’t as much of a pushover as they thought.

That was when they moved me to the White House, hoping the other girl they had, Avery, would rub off on me.

She was a sweet girl, timid and malleable in all the ways they liked.

I only lasted a couple of years before I couldn’t keep pretending that things were okay.

However, they wouldn’t let me go without a fight.

It took some effort to get to this point, especially with the new language and so many fae species to keep track of.

But a couple of years in, I found a group like me—free spirits with nowhere else to go.

My merry band of misfits and I did what we pleased, paying our bills through odd jobs like this one.

It wasn’t exactly the life I pictured for myself, but it was nice.

“Mar! You plan on helping?!”

The sound of my name jolted me back to the present.

People came and went over the years. The fair Alfen twins—humans might refer to their race as elves—Hohem and Vyrain, were the newest additions to our group.

One of them had a thief on the ground in a headlock, the man’s struggles growing feeble.

It was he who’d interrupted my reminiscing.

“What do you need me for?” I groused. “You look like you’ve got it covered.”

The other criminal was likewise subdued.

Another member of our group, Ked, looking mighty pleased with himself, made use of his considerable size by sitting on him.

It was hard to say if that thief still breathed—as a half-giant, Ked was around seven feet tall and proportionally wide, with bulbous facial features and hair like damp straw.

“Pay no mind to my brother,” the other twin called from nearby.

“Despite having the same upbringing, he never learned how to treat a lady. You sit tight, sweetheart, we’ve got things handled here.

” He navigated the grassy plain with a green-tinted orb of light in his palm, trying to corral our client’s lumbering cattle-like lya so that we could herd them back.

Equally tall, blond, and light-skinned, with the same boyish allure to their features and often flaunting the same hairstyle, the twins were a challenge to tell apart by sight.

However, it was a breeze once they opened their mouths.

While Hohem was an inoffensive fellow, perfectly agreeable in all the ways that mattered, Vyrain was a hopeless romantic who had his sights set on me.

It might have been flattering if not for the fact that his attention was likely inspired by a lack of prospects rather than any features I possessed.

Their story, though simpler than my own, was no less entertaining.

A seer predicted that their mother would give birth to a hero who would inspire a thousand ballads, or something to that effect.

This prophecy became a point of contention as, ironically, the seer hadn’t known there would be two of them.

I empathized outwardly, but I had to admit it was a decent grift.

Hohem released the now-unconscious thief and let him topple unceremoniously to the ground. Shaking the blood back into his arms, he stepped over the man’s prone form.

“There are no ‘ladies’ when it comes to making a living. We all need to do our fair share,” he said, directing a pointed look my way.

“I was the one who found the job, remember?” I pushed off from my spot leaning against our covered wagon and rolled my shoulders back to appear more authoritative.

“If you spent as much time hanging around the job boards as you did complaining, maybe you’d also be able to take a break once in a while.

It’s not all about hard work, you know. Do it right, and you can enjoy the sights while putting food on the table. ”

“Food?” Ked interjected hopefully, head swiveling at the word. Cunning was prized among giant clans, but Ked was born with a developmental delay. As a result, he’d been abandoned as a child. He would have died if not for Jük and Vee taking him in.

“Soon, big guy,” I promised. “Just gotta get these cows back home.”

Giving the antlered, horse-like avida that pulled our wagon an affectionate scratch on the chin, I examined the herd of livestock animals in the field before me with a critical eye.

None of us were animal keepers, but if they were anything like the cattle they resembled, keeping them in check was a matter of having the right equipment. That gave me an idea.

A familiar ache and the welcome heat of magic zigzagged throughout my body, following veins as my body expanded.

I shook out my arms and got into a crouch.

Like one big, gratifying stretch, joints popped to make room for elongating bones and multiplying muscles.

My clothes became a layer of thick, dark fur decorating my sun-bronzed skin.

Practiced as I was, the process was complete in seconds, and I stood before my friends on all fours.

“The fuck is that?!” Hohem exclaimed, having never seen a dog before.

I was grateful for my shapeshifting abilities.

They’d made sneaking out of the White House a breeze all those years ago.

Once I was on the road, I hitchhiked to Niagara Falls.

I waited for the cover of night, walked through the area’s defenses disguised as a soldier, and jumped to my freedom. That was where the screaming came in.

There weren’t many places I could go where the government couldn’t find me. What better way to start fresh than in a whole new world across The Rift?

My lips pulled taut against my canine teeth in an approximation of a smirk.

Dashing forward with a burst of exhilaration, I made for the stragglers on the edge of the herd.

Heads rose from grazing as the beasts sensed a predator in their midst. As I got close to one, it lumbered forward, picking up the pace when I snapped at its heels.

A narrow brush with angry hooves had me backing off.

My heart pounded in my chest, a combination of nerves and delight.

It took some trial and error, but once I got into the flow of things, the herd made its way slowly but surely down the hill back toward the lord’s estate.

Whooping with excitement, Vyrain raced for the wagon.

Our other friend, Yrra, who had been assisting Vyrain with gathering the herd, followed closely behind.

Hohem collected Ked, and they hurried to catch up .

About an hour later, we corralled the stolen lya into the fenced field with the rest of them. Vyrain and Hohem helped me get them situated while Ked and Yrra waited with the wagon.

Transforming didn’t hurt , per se, but it could be uncomfortable, and when I maintained a certain form for a while, it became more difficult to return to myself.

Covered with equal parts sweat and dirt, I forced my body back into human shape, wincing as everything settled back into place with a low burn like that of overworked muscles.

The satisfaction of a job well done bolstered my strength enough to work through the exhaustion.

Dusting mud off my breeches, I caught my breath while looking around for the lord or any of the stooges we’d spoken to.

They should have seen us coming from a distance, but there was no one in sight, only orchards bursting with green fruit and mountains against a starry backdrop beyond that.

They’d acted like these animals were a big deal, the way they announced the job in the square and didn’t bother negotiating the price.

Something made the hair on the back of my neck prickle with awareness. If my gut was reliable, collecting our payment was going to be a headache. We may have to get mean.

“Hohem. Vyrain.”

The boys perked up at the sound of their names.

They were the muscle of our unit, their lean builds belying their true strength.

I could appreciate how useful it was to have them around.

When it had been just me, Vee, Jük, and Ked, I needed to be the strong one, the reliable one.

Thanks to their presence, I didn’t have to be on my toes all the time.

“Can I get a hand?” I angled my body to indicate the manor. Understanding my intention, the twins came to join me. Next, I directed my attention to Yrra and Ked. Yrra sat in the back of the wagon, helping Ked fix a tear in his sleeve. They’d be fine waiting.

“Hang out here for a moment, will you?” I asked. “We’ll be right back.”

Yrra gave a measured nod, his big, impassioned eyes never leaving mine, and put a blue-skinned hand protectively over Ked’s. “Be careful,” he told us, his voice a whisper.

“Of course.”