Cobalt irises that sparkled like twin pools of stars stared down at me. His eyes narrowed, and a moment of clarity hit me at the insolence I was showing the crown prince.
Cailis dug her nails tighter into me, and I flinched, but it was enough of a warning—a reminder—of what this male was capable of.
Thankfully, it snapped me back to my senses because the last thing I wanted was to die today, which would leave my sister alone with no family left to speak of.
“My prince.” I dipped my head and averted my gaze. A tiny notch was grooved into his chin, the only imperfection on his smooth skin.
The four male guards who’d accompanied the prince still stood by the door, their stances casual as they leaned against the doorframe and barn walls, yet their alert expressions told me they missed nothing.
The prince’s firm yet full lips pressed together, and my attention shifted to his mouth. Of course, he would not only be the Death Master of the continent but an absolutely beautiful fae male at that. It made me hate him even more.
“Stand.” His single command fell with such authority that I knew he was used to being obeyed without question.
Cailis gave me one last warning squeeze before releasing me, and I quickly slipped my legs over the bench to rise before him.
I kept my back straight and my eyes on his chin, but I still had to crane my neck back. Even standing tall and square, I barely came to his collarbones.
For the briefest moment, his gaze drifted to my throat, to the area clouded in Vorl’s illusion affinity that hid my bruises.
“Remove your scarf.”
My heart lodged in my throat. “My prince?”
His eyes hooded, and a wash of irritation radiated from him. “Remove. Your. Scarf.”
A flurry of whispers erupted around the room, but a sharp yell from Vorl had them quietening.
I darted a look at my sister, then Birnee, and finally Finnley. They all stared at me wide-eyed, as the fear on my sister’s face grew.
With trembling fingers, I lifted my hands to the back of my neck and slowly undid the knot that held my scarf in place.
When the scarf fell, my hair tumbled down my shoulders and around my breasts in a shameful ebony waterfall.
The prince didn’t move. His gaze was unflinching as his attention traveled over my winged eyebrows, the tips of my ears, and then down the length of my hair.
Every villager sat frozen around us.
With a swift turn on his heel, the crown prince of the Winter Court gave me his back.
My eyes widened as I took in the thickest wings I’d ever seen. The height of those appendages was higher than any wings I’d ever encountered.
The prince glanced over his shoulder, his expression as cold as ice. “You’re coming with me.”
CHAPTER 4
“No!” Cailis leaped from her seat and positioned herself in front of me.
Denial jolted through me as my breaths came faster. Surely, I hadn’t heard him correctly.
“You’re not taking her! She’s done nothing wrong!” Cailis yelled.
But the prince merely walked toward the door. His steps didn’t falter. He didn’t even deign her with a reply.
“Cailis,” I whispered as the rest of the villagers wore shocked expressions. Mother Below, is this really happening?
“He can’t!” Cailis wailed.
I grabbed her shoulders. “Cailis! Don’t. Please. I can’t lose you too.” Because if she fought the prince, he would end her without a second thought.
“But, how can he—” A sob shook her chest as her wings extended, then retracted. “Not you too.”
“See to it that her last wages are given to her next of kin,” the prince said to Vorl, as though he didn’t know—or care—that Cailis was my only next of kin. “She won’t be returning.”
I won’t be? My heart beat so rapidly that it felt as though it would beat out of my chest.
“My prince, what did I do?” I called.
The prince dipped his head to his four guards and began speaking quietly, my plea entirely ignored.
“No, no, no,” my sister wailed. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close, burying her face in my neck.
I clung to her, holding her tightly, as the shock of what the prince had just said slammed into me like a tidal wave on the Tala Sea. She won’t be returning.
But why? Did he mean to kill me? Apprehend me? End me because I was different?
It was as though he’d known when he’d asked me to remove my scarf that he’d find me without silver hair, but since when was being an outcast cause for the Court of Winter to intervene?
My thoughts tumbled around in my mind like a swirling cyclone.
“But I’ve done nothing,” I whispered. “Absolutely nothing against the court. How can he be allowed to take me?”
Cailis sobbed harder.
“The prince has summoned you,” Vorl called from the corner. A glint filled his eyes, and I knew he would relish bringing me to heel if I resisted.
I held my sister tighter. “I love you,” I whispered and stroked her hair. “I love you. I love you. I love you. Please know that, sister. I will always love you.”
Another sob shook her frame as tears pricked Birnee’s eyes, and pity filled Finnley’s. The rest of the room was silent as the fire flickered in the hearth. In the serving line, both Krisil and Evis watched everything slack-jawed.
“Look after her. Promise me that you will,” I said to Birnee and Finnley as my sister dissolved into a bigger mess in my arms.
Birnee nodded quickly as Finnley stood in a swift move and wrapped both of us in a hug. His large muscular arms felt warm and comforting. He’d been like a brother to me, even more so since Tormesh had gone. But the joking expression Finnley usually wore, an expression my brother had also commonly bore as he teased Cailis and I mercilessly, was absent. Stoic resolved filled his face.
A soft wail came from Birnee, and then she was there too, standing with us as we all held one another while the rest of our village’s laborers looked on. The four of us had been best of friends since childhood, and I knew Cailis would need Birn and Fin now more than ever.
We gripped one another harder.
The Death Master stood with thinned lips and a hard stare, but damn the Winter Court and its heir. He was robbing my sister of the only family she had left.
Glaring at him, I gave him my back and cradled my sister’s cheeks in my palms.
One of the prince’s guards, the one with hair shorn close to his head, said loudly, “The prince has demanded you come with us. If you do not come willingly now, we shall have to use force.”
Vorl’s shoulders tensed, his hand going to his club.
“Stay strong, Cailis.” I kissed her on the forehead as she turned to Finnley and buried her face in his chest. Birnee gave me one last pleading look. “Take care of her,” I begged. “Please.”
Birnee and Finnley nodded solemnly as my sister’s shoulders and wings moved up and down with each sob.