Page 113 of A Dance with the Fae Prince (Married to Magic 2)
“The wall is only about two hundred years old,” Giles says. “The last Boltov king built it to try and cement his perceived legitimacy to the Council of Kings. I’m pretty sure the winter after it was finished, his son assassinated him so he could ascend to the throne.”
“Tell me, has a fae king ever died of natural causes? Or do you just kill each other before such a thing can happen?”
“It’s been rare for a king to make it to the end of his natural life since the fall of the Aviness family.” Giles glances to Raph. “I don’t want you to feel pressured, not even now. If you don’t think there’s a way that we can safely get in then—”
“There’s a hole in every wall,” Raph says with a small grin. “We just gotta find it.”
After half a day of walking, we finally do. Sure enough, there’s one segment of wall where the forest has encroached on the stone. Of course, Raph is the one to notice it.
“See that?” He points. “The big bushy section, like there’s a small tree poking through. Well, actually, I think there is a small tree poking through. You know what that means, right?” He rolls his eyes at our oblivious expressions. “It means that the wall isn’t quite so sound right there. So I just gotta go down there tonight, take a peek, and if I’m right then you two will come and join me. And just like that, we’ll be in.” He snaps his fingers.
Into the deadliest area of the fae wilds. I have the rest of the afternoon to contemplate the decision. I spend it munching on some mushrooms we found a day ago during our long trek and watching the patrol patterns of Boltov’s Butchers on the walls.
As night falls, Raph moves during a break in patrol. The boy is nimble and small; in a blink, he disappears through the foliage protruding from the wall. Giles and I share a nervous glance. But then Raph pokes his head back out and waves us down the hill.
The wall is much larger than it seemed from a distance. The wicked-looking spikes that protrude from the top are far sharper than I imagined them to be. Ignoring the creeping sense of dread working to smother me, I press through the foliage, pushing against the jagged, crumbling rock, and emerge on the other side. I hear a soft chime in the back of my mind and an invisible hand wraps itself around my throat, disappearing on the wind before I can choke.
“We need to move quickly to the forest up there,” Giles whispers as he breaks free of the wall with a rustling of leaves. “The faster we can get away from the wall and under cover the better.”
“What was that?” I ask as we retreat from the moonlight for the cover of the trees. I rub my neck for emphasis.
“That was Boltov’s ward. He knows someone has trespassed in his territory now. It’s only a matter of time until they’re looking for us.”
“Do they know it’s us?” I ask, picking up my pace to match Giles’s. “Will they know it’s us on sight? Can they track us?”
“Tracking, I don’t know. On sight? Well, at a glance, Raph and I might be able to blend in with the other fae of the High Court, you less so. But they have rituals they can perform to expose us.”
“Then we have to move quickly.”
“Already working on it,” Raph mumbles.
The city looms ahead, perched at the top of the hill. Another wall surrounds it with more guards at the entrance. We slink through the forest, straying away from the main gate.
“Do you know anything about the city inside?” I ask Giles.
“Not a bit. I’m as oblivious as you are.”
“Don’t look at me.” Raph shrugs. “I’ve never been this far from Dreamsong.”
“We’ll just keep making it up as we go then.”
We’re almost through the forest to the edge of the city wall when there’s a rustling in the trees behind us. I turn. I’ve been hunted by Butchers now too many times not to know the way they move, the way they sound, as they ride on the shadows. My hand is on the pendant and I’m not sure whether I’m about to put up a fight, or submit in the hopes that maybe I can get close to Davien one last time.
The woman is a blur. She’s on me in a second, faster and more deadly than any Butcher I’ve ever seen so far. Yet, rather than killing me, her hand clamps over my mouth. Her other hand is on Giles’s. Raph is in too much of a stunned silence to do anything other than blubber.
“You’re going to get yourselves killed,” Shaye says with a crazed grin.
