Page 1 of Shaped By Discovery

“Please, Your Highness! I must fit you for the ball by the night, or they’ll not finish the alterations in time.” Cornelius’ words echo down the hall after us. His voice is loud but still respectful, the same way everyone addresses the royal family.

Garrett doesn’t glance back as he continues dragging me down the long, winding hall of the castle, headed for the nearest exit.

I know we need to stop. Poor Cornelius will have a heart attack if Garrett doesn’t get his measurements done. But I can only smile as I try to keep pace with him. If I fall, I have no doubt he’ll stop, but I don’t want to be the reason we get caught.

Garrett looks over his shoulder at me as my laughter rings down the hall. The smile on his face tells me he’s enjoying this just as much as I am.

We have a reputation around the kingdom, one that many people like to blame me for. They say I’m a bad influence on the young prince, but I assure you it’s all him—well, mostly him. Cornelius should be more than used to Garrett’s games, though. He’s been his personal servant since he was only two. Yet every time, he acts surprised when Garrett runs off.

We make it almost to the courtyard before we run into a problem.

Turning the last corner, we don’t see the king and queen on the other side until we almost plow into them. Garrett manages to skirt us around them at the last possible moment. The king’s face pulls down in a frown, but the queen smiles at us the same way she always does.

“Garrett!”

His father’s voice thunders down the hall after us, the bite of his high alpha bark hitting me, and my steps falter. But it has no effect on Garrett. He’s the strongest royal shifter in over a century and has long since discovered that even at six years old, no one in this kingdom outranks him.

“Oh, let them play, Dear. I’ll have Cornelius use last month’s measurements with minor adjustments. He has grown little,” the queen tells him, and I hear the smile in her words.

The king and queen are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. They took me in when I had nothing and nobody. They take in all the orphans in the kingdom, but they don’t just do it because they have to. They care about every person, man, woman, or child, and ensure nobody goes without.

Garrett and I met on my first night here in the palace. I’d been brought in from the harbor. They found me unconscious on the beach with a head wound and a broken ankle. Everyone said I’d survived by a miracle. At the young age of three, I should have been lost to the sea, but somehow, I survived. I’d washed up at the one place in our realm that had the means to ensure I fully recovered.

The queen has light magic so strong and pure that it goes far beyond just the average light wielder. She can heal most wounds, and I’ve heard she can even get glimpses of the future, though I’ve never heard her say so. She saved me when my head wound might have killed me otherwise. The night they found me, they rushed me to her. From what I understand, I was unconscious for three days before I woke. When I finally did, I had no memory of what happened or where I was, but I woke to a boy with beautiful golden eyes and a smile that made me feel warm and safe.

Something about Garrett felt right, as if I had known him all my life. From that moment forward, we have been almost inseparable.

“It is not befitting of a prince to run around the castle as he does all day, my love.”

“Oh, dear, please do not act as though you would not have chased me the same way had we met as children. We must remember he is not only the prince but a child, and Serena is the center of his universe.”

I don’t even realize I’ve stopped moving until the queen looks up, winking as she catches my eye. My cheeks flush of their own accord, and I glance away, embarrassed even though I can’t explain why. I don’t know what she means about me being the center of Garrett’s universe, but it feels important, and I don’t want to disappoint them. That sounds like more than someone like me should be allowed. I’m nobody special, just a girl who washed up on the shore. What makes me better than the girls in town with fancy dresses fighting for his attention whenever we go there?

“Rena!”

Garrett’s voice breaks me from my thoughts, and I turn to find him standing just a few steps in front of me, watching me with his usual playful smile.

“Hurry up before old Corny reaches us!”

He’s already heading down the hall again as he waves me to him, and I feel like I couldn’t stay put if I wanted to. Not that I do. No, I would follow Garrett to the end of the universe if he asked me to, and even if he didn’t. Now that he’s a part of my life, I can’t imagine being without him. It would be like losing a limb.

“First one to the spot wins!” I shout as I run after him, and he does the same to keep his lead.

A smile spreads across my face as I feel my shift start to take over my body. The magic in the air around me fills me and changes my form without me missing a step. One second, I’m on two legs, and the next, I’m down on all fours, hopping between his legs with ease, knowing he hates losing.

Cheater!

His voice sounds in my head, and I laugh back down our bond as I break into the sunshine.

“Don’t you dare shift in this castle, Garrett!” The king’s voice echoes down the hall to us, and this is actually one of the few rules Garrett does follow. He’s destroyed far more of the castle than he’s proud of over the years while getting his shift under control. Now he’s in perfect sync with his beast, and even if he did transform in the hall, I have no doubt he would keep his wings tucked enough to do minimal damage. Not that the king knows that. All he sees are the massive holes his son has put in the castle over the last three years, and yeah, I can understand why he’s concerned.

I don’t make it far, maybe fifty feet from the castle garden, before a large shadow blocks the sun. I don’t need to look up to know he’s flying overhead. I can feel him, forever my guardian.

Show off.

This time, he laughs, and I feel his excitement as it flows down the bond to me moments before one of his massive clawed feet wraps around me, pulling me up into the air with him. With two sharp flaps of his wings, we’re up among the clouds. I wiggle in his hold to turn and see the castle from this height. It’s one of my favorite views. The entire kingdom looks like specks, and it feels like everything falls away. Garrett’s not a prince, and I’m not an orphan; we’re just us, existing together with our beasts.

He gives me a moment to enjoy the view. I could look at the kingdom like this all day, but it’s always over too soon. Garrett’s claws open around me, and my stomach drops as I descend. It only lasts a second, but it always gives me a rush, even if I know Garrett would never truly let harm come to me.

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