His face went blank. “Now see here, girl. I am king of Lore, and I will not be barked at by you. You will marry Prince Filip, and I don’t care whether he has fangs the size of daggers or a taste for the blood of babies. We must have his elven warriors to keep the Wylfen at bay. They’ve ransacked our cities for years. They’ve brought war to my kingdom once and will do it again. My spies have seen campfire smoke, and they say a contingent of Wylfen forces will march on Dragon Wing Pass sometime during the next moon.”
The Fae Queen gasped.
The king nodded. “We don’t know how they’ve managed to make their way through the mountains this time of year.”
The bluster went out of Aury, and she stood, her arms limp at her sides. “The Wylfen.” Memories of the war on fae grounds pierced her mind—trained scar wolves, burning trees, children’s screams, and weeks with nothing more to eat than stale nuts and a few berries. The Wylfen were human, but they fought like demons. “So you need the elven army.”
The human queen touched her back, then Aury moved out of reach. “We do,” the queen said. “We must have a powerful weapon to fight them. We’ve lost so many soldiers and mages. We can’t fight them and win. Not again.”
Aury turned to see Werian watching her, his eyes pinched with what looked like worry. She stared at the ground and moved the small, round stones of the pathway with her slipper. Her bones shook inside her skin. She felt as if her body were remaking itself by trembling, soaking in the truth of who and what she really was. A human. A ruler’s heir. A mage. Bound to marry a monster.
Lightning shot through her. She faced the king. “If I am your daughter—”
“You are.”
“Then I should have powerful magic as a water mage, yes?”
“Perhaps.”
She knew of the Mage Trials, the evaluations by the Masters of the Order, the greatest mages in Lore. Normally, water mage recruits studied for a full year or more before taking them. She’d read the information in numerous scrolls during her tutoring.
“And water mages must train and pass the Trials to earn their place in the army,” Aury said. “You don’t want me, the princess of Lore, to be coddled, do you?”
“No,” the king stammered. “I…”
“I must earn my place and thus the respect of the people.”
“Yes, but…”
“How can I focus on training in the middle of wedding plans? Wait to wed me to the elf until I have passed the Mage Trials.”
The human queen laughed nervously. “There’s only a slim chance you will pass, Aurora Rose. The Trials are incredibly difficult. Few women earn a ranking.”
“Maybe because they lack support,” Aury snapped.
The queen flinched, then cleared her face of emotion. “We can’t risk losing an army of a thousand vicious fighters who have experience with the Wylfen. They’re already mobilizing, but to slight them—”
“But what if I become the most powerful mage the kingdom has ever seen? I don’t shy away from work. I can learn.” The face she’d seen in the water rolled through her mind. “And just today, I saw a battle in a bowl of water.”
The Fae Queen traded a look with Werian, who only shrugged. The king and queen narrowed their eyes.
“What did you see?” the king asked.
“A face. A saber. Do water mages scry?”
“They can,” the queen said. “Strong ones do.”
“See? I’m going to amaze you.” You complete turd piles of lies and apathy. “You don’t care about me yet, but in time…”
“We do! We just wanted to protect you.” The queen pulled her cloak more tightly around her shoulders.
“You grew strong in spirit here, at least,” the king muttered.
Aury waved a hand to quiet them. “No, you don’t care about me. But you will. I go to the Order’s castle at dawn. Promise me you will give me time to train before you marry me off.”
“We can’t do that,” the king said. “Absolutely not. There is no time. And besides that, Prince Filip is most likely on the road to Loreton Palace right now.”
Aury’s skin felt stretched too thin. “Just give me until the Mage Trials. You don’t have to tell the elf a thing. Simply put him off for a while.” She would figure out what to do once she had more time.
Werian stepped forward, the purple strands in his black hair shimmering lightly. “The Mage Trials are scheduled for three weeks from today.”
The king scowled and shook his head, but the queen tugged at his cloak. “It’s only three weeks. Filip can wait three weeks,” she said. Then she faced Aury. “The moment the Trials are complete, the wedding will take place at Loreton. You will marry the prince with no argument.”
“But if I’m so powerful that we can fight the Wylfen without the elven army—”
“Aurora…”
“Fine. After the Trials, I marry the bloodthirsty elf.” She’d figure out another plan. This was all happening so quickly. She needed to stall, to find time to think.
The king whispered something to his wife, and she patted his shoulder and sniffed.
“Agreed,” the king said, his stare flat and his shoulders stiff. “We will dine at Loreton Palace soon and meet your future husband.”
“My never-to-be husband.”
“Enough.” The king raised a hand, and Aury stood her ground, setting her jaw, daring him.
“Go ahead, Father. Show me how much you care.”
“Ach.” He threw up his hands and barged his way through the group and back into the great hall with the queen on his heels.
The Fae Queen stayed in the garden. “You must remain in your rooms tonight and tell no one of this. If you do, you will find yourself dead of some mysterious poison.”
“Sounds about right.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing, Auntie.”
The Fae Queen returned to her feast, and Aury was left with Werian.
He didn’t try to hug her or console her, but he stood nearby, tossing rocks into the pool. “Did you really see a face in the water?”
“I did.” Tears burned at the edges of her eyes. No way she was crying. “Will you come with me to Loreton Palace? Just for a while?” She hated the desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t manage to hide it.
“I can’t. My mother would never allow it. Not now. Later, I will visit you, Princess Aurora.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
The calico kitten appeared at Aury’s feet. “Back to the barn, kitty,” she whispered as she set it on the path again. “I’d flee with you if I could.”
“I do have another introduction to make,” Werian said, taking Aury’s attention from the kitten’s shadow as it disappeared into the hole near the stable wall where the cats often slept.
Werian clapped three times, and three fae women walked out of the deeper parts of the garden.
The first two were tall and slim with golden eyes like a cat’s. The third one was short, dark-eyed, and curvy. Their tattoos said all three of them had fought in the last war with the Wylfen. The inkings snaking up their arms told of all three’s bravery in battle, quick-thinking, and great power in healing.