Page 1 of Marked By the Enemy
Chapter one
The Knife in Her Sleeve
The sky above the Fae Moon Kingdom of Elaren looked like old bruises—purple, yellow, fading into ash.
I watched it from the carriage window as we bumped over the path that ran around the mountain. It hadn’t been a long journey. My arrival was only from the Western Borderlands, southwest of the Realm of Humans and northwest of the Realm of the Fae.
“Why is this new moon important to them?” Priestess Jinth asked, her tone flat, her eyes sharp. She’d avoided looking at me from the moment we crossed the outer sigil.
“Because Selthar–the Sea Planet–has entered Lune’s third house,” I said. “The Sea Planet turns its face to the inner moons and drags all dream magic forward. They say the Crone sees best when Selthar blocks the lesser stars.”
Jinth gave a short nod. “And what will they ask the goddess for?”
“Control,” I answered. “Over land. Over thought. Over the unseeing.” I paused. “They’ll ask to keep their chains hidden. To feed without resistance. They’ll call it balance.”
“The unseeing,” Jinth repeated. “You mean your people.”
“No,” I said. “I mean the ones who cannot see the fae or their realm.”
She studied me a moment longer, then turned back to the window.
In the lowlands, the air felt warmer, though cool enough for a velvet cloak. Despite the peak of summer, a post-sunset chill hinted at this Fae Kingdom’s high location in the mountains.
Would the plan work? Once I killed the Prince of the Moon Court, would I be able to escape? Jinth appeared confident in her magic’s success. But even as a priestess of the Moon Goddess, she was only human.
When the city gates opened before us, they rose like the jaws of something ancient and bored. We passed through them in silence.
My black robes itched. Silk, too fine. I hadn’t picked the dress or the perfume. Jinth, the spy-witch, had. We dressed the same, in black to commemorate the black moon. My weapons had been taken, except for one. The blade in my sleeve. Slim. Ceramic. Undetectable.
The air changed once we crossed the second gate. Sharper, drier, something older. Beneath the carriage, the road grew smoother. The sound of hooves softened under archways. The buildings were pale stone. Orbs of faint light hovered between door frames, each bobbing like it remembered its place. Music drifted in low tones from behind a distant wall.
Only the fae, tall and quiet, clothed in pale blues and silvers, walked the paths silently. Their skin was unmarked. They glanced and looked away, but I knew they’d seen us. Somewhere beyond the inner wall, bells chimed three slow notes. That’s when the sensation changed.
The second entry was quieter. Even the air had a changed aroma. Less stone, more jasmine. The kind that bloomed at night. The orbs above us lowered slightly as we passed. We were in.
The Moon Court didn’t allow strangers without a reason. I was pretending to be a high priestess from a Seluna Coven in the eastern valleys of the Borderlands.Granddaughter of the Crone, third face of the Moon Goddess. Priestess Jinth said if they questioned me, I was to act blind in one eye and be grateful for it. Apparently the Crone saw better that way.
I’d trained my whole life to kill fae princes. And now I stood in their court like a painted doll—dressed in enemy silk, forced to kneel. The leather cord in my sleeve cut against my skin. I curled it tighter around my fist.
I hadn’t come to pray. I hadn’t come to serve. I had come to kill the fae prince. The coin would be enough to buy me out of the boundless and to leave Mountain Stone. I would be free for the first time in my adult life. But I might not survive to tell the tale, and that would be okay. Prince Darian’s death was my first priority.
A servant opened the carriage door. I stepped out. Elaren’s capital smelled like jasmine, cooked starch, and too many fires burned for display. The courtyard was thick with nobles, guards, and the ones who lived to be close to power.
Their eyes turned toward me as if drawn by a string they didn’t know they held. I kept mine low. They saw black silk. Rouge. Curls ironed to softness. Not the girl who trained on Mountain Stone. Not the girl sent here to kill a prince.
A fae woman clad in enchanting robes advanced toward us. Her appearance was captivating, with robes resembling the tumultuous waves of the ocean. I couldn’t tell if her magic was genuine or an illusion, but she carried the sound of the sea, and the wind around her echoed the scenes depicted in her robes.
Her hair, tousled by her windy presence, was curly and the shade of sea-foam. Her eyes were a serene sea green. She paused in front of us and smiled. The waves settled until her ocean robes looked like a mirror reflecting the stars.
Her aura calmed as well. “High Priestess Jacintha and Jinth of the Seluna Coven in the Borderlands?”
We nodded.
She held out a blue-tinged hand. “I am the Water Seat of the Moon Court, and you are welcome in the name of Prince Darian.”
After Jinth took her hand, I did, too, and she winced ever so slightly on touching me. “This way. The ceremony begins shortly.”
I followed her through long marble corridors lined with trees. Real ones, growing from enchanted stone. The Moon Court of Elaren didn’t pretend to be modest. Every hallway was a shrine to its own power. We passed mirrors that weren’t mirrors.
