My growing affections for this kingdom’s cold ruler were not enough to quiet the unrest inside me. An unrest he’d caused with his bloodthirsty plans, but that I could only fix myself. He would never change his mind, and he certainly wouldn’t allow me to meet my father when he was the very reason I was here.
Florian could not love me, and trying to make him would not save me.
I would need to save myself. To seek all I needed before I fell into another trap I might have avoided if I’d only opened my eyes wide enough to see that something wasn’t right.
And the befuddling conversation I’d overheard last night had been a stark reminder that none of this was right—no matter how differently the beating organ in my chest felt.
Downstairs, Zayla waited by the doors in the foyer. She sketched a playful bow. “Your wish has been granted, Princess.”
“Thank you,” I said, meaning it, as the portrait of Lilitha caught my eye.
Her mischievous eyes twinkled, and I could’ve sworn the young princess trapped within a painting attempted to convey something.
Shaking my head, I gathered my skirts to descend the damp steps to the drive.
I stopped at the sight of the guard leaning against the dark-blue carriage. He flicked ash from his tobacco stem and straightened with a grin. Smoke billowed from his mouth and clouded his face.
The ash floated across the royal insignia of the hellebore flower upon the carriage door, falling to the melting sludge upon the ground.
The driver, dressed in the regalia of a warrior, leaned down from his seat to smack the carriage. “Cease ogling and open the damned door, Fellan.”
Zayla closed the doors to the manor.
Fellan shot the male a dark scowl and stomped on the stem with unnecessary vigor. “No one in their right mind would ogle Molkan’s spawn.” He glowered and spat at the ground.
I tensed and glanced at Zayla when she reached my side. “Apologies, Princess.” A sharp warning look was given to Fellan. “He was one of few with a clear morning schedule.”
“Wonder why,” I muttered beneath my breath, and sighed as I walked toward the carriage.
Fellan opened the door, whispering far too close to my hair, “Heard that, Princess.”
I ignored him and climbed inside, nearly tripping on my gown as Snow howled behind the doors to the manor.
Zayla sat beside me while Fellan sat opposite us with his legs spread. His jaw rotated as the carriage lurched forward, his gaze unwilling to leave me alone.
I did my best to act as though he wasn’t there at all, all the while knowing it would be wise to never be caught alone with such a hostile creature. Perhaps I should have told Florian he’d bruised my ribs after all.
They were now healed, and the chance was gone.
Though smaller than the royal carriage I’d journeyed in before, it was no less grand. The seats had been upholstered in black leather, and matching drapes veiled the windows. With Fellan’s unrelenting glower pressing like a burn upon my face, I pulled them open to view the woods.
“Close them,” Fellan barked.
I finally looked at him, frowning. “I would rather not, thank you.”
His dark eyes flashed, teeth meeting with a clack behind his thinned lips.
I never thought I’d meet anyone who loathed me more than Rolina had. But this male… Something told me he’d peel my skin from my flesh and use my bones to feast upon my organs if given the chance.
I withheld a shiver.
Zayla spoke before Fellan could, a look given to him that I couldn’t decipher. “We can better ensure your safety if people do not know you’re in here.”
I refrained from saying that not once had Florian told me to keep from looking out the window. Not during our long carriage ride through Hellebore, nor during our shorter trip into the city. Annoyance and a chilled feeling I couldn’t name pricked at my skin.
But I let the drapes fall closed and caught a gesture from Fellan.
A gesture I’d assumed was vulgar, but it had been made with his fingers in his lap—so slight, I couldn’t make out what it meant as I turned it over in my mind.
Then my peripheral snatched the movement of Zayla’s quick nod. A flock of birds screeched overhead, and she shifted on the seat.
Fellan laughed, but it didn’t reach his evil eyes. “Still got that fear of birds, Zay?”
She had no fear of birds, and the almost imperceptible confused purse of her lips before she played along said as much.
The screeching sounded again.
A warning I felt right down to the marrow of my bones.
Hair rose upon my nape and arms.
I didn’t need another. I tugged the drapes aside just enough to glimpse the sharp turn up ahead. As I’d begun to suspect, we were not venturing to the city at all.
We were traveling across the mountain into deeper woodland.
I breathed, slow and quiet, through my nose in an effort to keep the guards from noticing the faster cadence of my heartbeat.
“Close the drapes, Princess,” Zayla ordered, her tone gentle no longer.
I did, then forced an apologetic smile. “It’s just beautiful, isn’t it?” I said, wistful. “The foliage beneath all the melting frost.” I needed to act as though I had no idea what these guards were up to until I could figure out a way to escape them and this carriage.
Fellan snorted. “If you say so.”
I scowled at him, and he grinned. The grin of a warrior who was about to win a battle I couldn’t see coming.
But I could.
Fear thundered through my heart now, wild and untamable. Although I tried, there was no calming it. For I didn’t need to wonder what this male intended to do with me. It was written all over his smug face.
I looked back to the window and feigned a sigh.
I had to get out of this carriage before they scented my fear and decided to act while I was stuck like a caged animal. “I need to relieve myself.”
Zayla tensed beside me. “We’ll arrive in a few minutes, Princess.”
“I’m afraid I cannot wait.” I knocked on the carriage ceiling three times.
The horses complained as the driver tugged on the reins and the carriage lurched and slowed.
Fellan growled, “Sit down.” Then he turned to the window behind him. He pulled the drapes and knocked on the glass, motioning for the driver to keep going.
But we’d slowed down enough that although it would still hurt, I could escape.
Now, instinct screamed.
I threw myself at the door.
It burst open, and the world spun in winter color as I hit the rocky road with a yelp and rolled down the embankment.
Shouts sounded from somewhere above, and I scrambled for purchase among the rocks and ferns. My nails split. My hands sliced on stone and stick. There was no stopping it, and knowing it was best to get as far away from the carriage as possible, I gritted my teeth and let go.
Pain careened through my arms, sides, and head.
The air knocked from me with the fall failed to return as I slammed into a tree and bounced faster downhill.
More branches and rocks scratched and gouged. My coat and gown ripped and tangled around my legs as I rolled over thorny plants and came to a stop by an unused road beneath the one I’d fled.
I moaned, splayed across overgrown weeds, and turned over with a hissed wince. Moss covered the dirt road beneath my palms as I pushed to my hands and knees, trying to catch my lost breath.