We take to the skies.
The canopy rushes past us. I try and shield myself with a hand, pressing my face into his chest. Davien shifts as well, taking the brunt of tree limbs with his shoulders and neck. The forest becomes a distant memory as we break through its leafy barrier and slow to hover among the stars.
“Look,” he whispers.
I peel my face from his chest and shoulder as we begin to descend. We’re falling much more slowly than should be naturally possible. Davien stretches out a leg and points his foot. With just the tip of his boot he meets one of the upper branches of an oak tree and then pushes off once more with another flap of his wings. We arc back upward, magic sparking like embers off the wings behind him.
“See, it’s not so bad.” He looks down at me with a grin. I bite my lip and finally admire the world around us now that I’m at least somewhat confident I’m not about to fall.
Even though I know I should be afraid. Even though my stomach has fallen from my body. My heart is soaring.
“Not so bad…” I repeat, the thought getting lost among the splendor.
From this vantage I can see the entirety of the Bleeding Woods. They spread all along the distant mountain range and thin as they near a vibrant city at the top of a hill in the distance. I can make out the spires of a castle against the dark sky. It’s the only significant sign of life that I can see. Above us, the heavens have never been so bright. The stars look more like the sandy shores of an ocean, rather than the tiny specks I’ve always known them as.
“It’s incredible,” I whisper. I loose a hand from around his neck and point toward the castle. “What’s that?”
Whatever it is, he doesn’t like it. I can feel his shoulders tense before a scowl sweeps across his face. Even the brilliance of his eyes seems to dim with the shadows of trauma.
“That is the High Court. It’s the hill on which the first kings were crowned, where the glass crown of the fae resides, and where the Fae King lives and rules.”
“And you want to kill him.” The words are easier to say than I think they should have been. But I have no horse in this race. I hardly care about fae kings and queens.
“How do you know that?” He glances down at me as his toe touches another treetop and he launches us off again.
“You told me you wanted to become king once.” I relax more into the safety of his arms.
“You didn’t forget.” He chuckles. “I thought you would’ve written that off.”
“I would’ve, if I’d smelled smoke.”
“Smelled smoke?” He furrows his brow. I realize I haven’t told him about my gift.
“Well, you see…” Every time I try to tell someone about it, things end badly. I tear my eyes from him, looking away. That’s how I see the motion in the distance. There’s a blur of shadow. I blink and the figure is gone, only to appear from a puff of smoke closer. “Look out!” I shout. But I’m too late.
Davien turns. His eyes widen as he sees what I see. A man has come seemingly from out of nowhere. A shawl of shadow identical to that on the woman in the woods that day is around his shoulders. He condenses darkness and hurls a spear of it right for us. Davien tries to react, but not even he’s fast enough.
His cry fills the air as the spear punches through his shoulder, blood pours down on to me, his arm goes limp, and I slip from his grasp as we plummet back down to earth.
