A yawn escaped me, and my leaking magic vanished.
Our hands separated, our lips lifting slightly as we looked around our group.
We’d done it.
We were alive, and we were free from our chains.
And soon, we’d be free of the curses that had gotten us captured in the first place.
The kings would die…
And we would never be chained again.
Chapter2
Four days later,I walked away from the inn dressed in a simple black slip dress that fell to my ankles and matched most of the clothing on the other women I passed. A golden dagger was strapped to my thigh, the sheath visible through the dress’s slit with every step I took.
In the Night Court, the moon was always up, the stars were always out, and the shadows were always dancing. The wealthy wore white and silver, like the moon, and the poor wore black, with jewelry made from gold because of its low price.
I wasn’t ashamed to embrace my lack of status. I had been born to nothing, and made into a monster by the king I now hunted—the man who I would destroy to save myself.
Twenty-one years earlier, I’d been an infant without enough magic to survive on my own, doomed to an early death. Then the Night King had passed away unexpectedly around the time of my birth, without choosing one of his three sons to inherit the throne and the immense power that accompanied it.
The power had split between his kids, but the throne’s magic wasn’t compatible with the king’s sons’ personal magic. The three of them were being torn to shreds by the power within them until they found three powerless fae women to take their magic—me, Akari, and Vena. My magic had belonged to the youngest of the king’s sons, who was now a king himself.
The shadow magic had both saved my life and ended it in one fell swoop, keeping me alive by giving me the power I needed to survive, but landing me in the hands of those who wanted to use the king’s power through me.
Those men and women had trapped my friends and I, locking us in chains that would be burned into our minds, souls, and bodies for the rest of our existence. They’d experimented on us, tortured us, starved us, and anything else they could think of in an attempt to remove the kings’ magic from us, but they had never succeeded.
I’d wished for death many times in my two decades of hell, but fae were damned near immortal. We died if we were killed, but murder was an unforgivable sin that would get a person cast out to a hellishly bright island just off the coast of our land. Night fae like us needed moonlight to use our magic; too much sun would drain us until we passed on to the mysterious life that followed this one.
But I would happily accept a life of sunshine and a trip to the next existence if it meant I was free of the demonic shadow magic lying beneath my skin, always waiting to take over and deliver hell to anyone or anything around me.
And considering that I’d been the one to end the lives of the guards holding us captive before Akari, Vena, and I escaped, I was likely already doomed to spend the rest of my time on the bright island.
The inn my friends and I had stayed in was in the Shadow King’s portion of our land—and he was the king I needed to kill to be free. My target wasn’t the cruelest of the brothers, but he was constantly at war with the Dark King, which didn’t exactly bode well for those living in his territory.
It did, however, make me feel slightly better about the fact that I was going to have to kill him.
As I walked, the magic I emanated and the scars on my wrists drew more attention than I liked, but I ignored the stares of the other fae who passed me on the road to the castle. My magic—the king’s magic—was strong, and anyone passing me would feel its heartbeat as I passed them, so there was no way around that and therefore no point in fearing it.
And there would be time to worry about what others thought of me on the sunny isle, where I couldn’t hurt anyone. If I let myself worry while I walked, there was no telling what my magic might do to those who stared.
The sky remained dark throughout my journey, as it always would so long as the Night King did his job properly. While the moon was up, our people were nearly invincible, which protected us from the other lands of fae, gargoyles, gods, and beasts.
Hours passed, and eventually, I grew tired and decided to stop for the night. There had been enough money left to get my friends and I to our destinations safely, so I found another inn and managed to sleep a few hours. The chains were all I’d ever known, so I didn’t have nightmares about them—though there was a phantom ache in my wrists and ankles when I woke.
After a large breakfast, I returned to the road, and continued on my way.
After another day of walking,and another stop at an inn, I reached the city the next morning. Though we lived in a state of constant night, we still considered our waking hours “days”. Our bodies were naturally attuned to the awake and asleep patterns of our days and nights, which was useful.
Awe filled me as I wandered the streets of the city. The streets were full of those selling goods, trying to call attention to themselves and survive in the dark world we called home.
As I walked, my fingers brushed soft, luxurious fabrics, and pulled back at sharp decorative items. I’d showered at the inn and washed my dress in water too, so I wasn’t filthy, and I loved the freedom my cleanliness gave me to explore.
As I wandered, a woman caught my wrist.
My magic tensed in my chest, its heartbeat thrumming with mine as I spun to face her.