"There's a new Midnight Star?" That's news to me. I know the stories, more or less. That the Midnight Star is one born of Royal Fae blood, and it's their magic that awakens the Druids and the magic of the Fae. But the Fae haven't had a Midnight Star since the Unraveling, when the last of the Royal Fae were killed and all the Druids disappeared. I was born well after that time, so it's all just stories to me.
Tavian nods and turns his body to look at me. "I'm surprised you don't know. The story of the half-Fae Princess has spread through my people like wild-fire. And it was your people who brought her here. The girl from the other world, half human, half Fae, here to unite the world and bring the magic back to our people. Legends already abound about her."
I nearly fall off the horse at his words. I'm shaking and my thoughts form in pieces. He stops the horse and helps me dismount. "Are you ill?" he asks.
"This Midnight Star? What is her name?" I ask.
"Arianna. I think that was her name, yes." He hands me a bladder full of water and I drink deeply as he talks. "She was rumored to be with the vampires, but the Fae made a strong case for her ascension. She's the daughter of the last known Fae Prince, who was exiled to the human world many suns ago. She is a new hope for my people, or so they say. I have little care for Fae politics."
I look up at him, my eyes burning. "She's likely already dead," I say. "That's who I was trying to save when you captured me." My voice is bitter. Angry. "She was executed this morning in Stonehill, at least according to the letter I received." And now I know why. Levi, that bastard, must have found out what she was and had her killed. I will destroy him when I find him, that I vow. But why Fen? Why was he killed too? He probably did something stupid in defense of her. Stupid man.
I will my tears away and stare at the other stupid man in front of me. "Looks like your people have lost your hope," I say, praying my words act as a dagger in his gut.
But he doesn't look upset. He looks mildly bemused, which just pisses me off more. "She's not dead," he says.
"How would you know?" It's a hope my heart still clings to, but I don’t trust my captor.
"Her magic yet lives. Those of us connected deeply to ourselves can feel the awakening. Midnight Star is alive. So your friend must be as well. I would know if she had died."
Our break is short lived, and he has me back on the horse and clipping along at a fast pace, presumably to make up the time lost on my near breakdown. "Truly?" I ask him again, for the fifth time.
"Truly," he says. "I may be a vampire-killing, princess-capturing bastard, but I am no liar."
I choke out a half laugh at his words. "At least you have standards," I say sarcastically.
But he nods gravely. "A man’s word should be trustworthy. For when we are stripped of all that made us what we were, we have only our word left." He turns again to look at me. "I promise you this, Princess… I will sell you to whoever will give me the best price. I'm not claiming to be a good man. But I'm no monster. I will protect you on this journey. I will not harm you or let harm come to you. And I will not lie to you."
"I could almost like you," I say, "if you'd just drop the part where you sell me to the highest bidder like a slave."
He turns around abruptly. "War breeds a necessary kind of evil in all it touches. It turns even good men into raiders, killers, thieves."
His words sound much like my thoughts of late, and I look down, memories of burning villages and crying children filling me with shame and sorrow.
We travel a few more hours in silence before stopping for the night. My feelings are spilling all over each other—spiraling into a cacophony of fear and hope. If Tavian is right and Ari is still alive, does that mean Fen yet lives? Did they escape? That's the only thing I can figure. Levi wouldn't have altered their sentence once he'd taken a public stance. Which means there might still be time. To help them. Save them. To do something.
I have to get back to Stonehill, and right now we're going in the wrong direction. I do my part to help make camp, which includes collecting dry wood for the fire. I could run now, but I would have no supplies. So I plan.
Later, as we sit around the fire, I pass Tavian his dinner, a stew made from fresh meat he caught cooked with vegetables I foraged.
And then I wait.
It takes longer than it should.
Perhaps I underestimated the dose. Tavian is a big man, all muscle and brawn. But eventually he begins to slur his words and slant to one side, unable to sit up straight. I move to him and help him into a sleeping position. Then, once he's fully unconscious—thanks to some herbs I slipped into his meal—I tie up his feet and hands.
Part of me hates leaving him here this way. Drugged. Tied up. Without a horse, since I will take his to get back to Stonehill.
But I shrug off my guilt. He's Fae. He'll find help. And he tried to kidnap me and sell me to my enemies. Surely he doesn't deserve my sympathy.