Page 20 of Prince of Blaze and Embers
I didn’t want to get down. I wanted to savor the moment, but as the dragon angled its huge wings down to the ground, I resiliently got up from the saddle and walked down the ebony-scaled wing. The prince remained on the saddle, glaring out into the Faewood.
Bella slid down the other dragon’s wing and ran to me.
We stood together, side by side, watching the prince and Hunter scan the ancient forest. Both of them had their hands on the grips of their swords, and from the prince’s free hand, his golden staff with the fiery bird’s head emerged, wafting with wisps of magical smoke.
He stood and strode down the wing. I fought hard to not stare. But even the way he walked made my brain tingle and my tongue slide along my lips. Krakos and the other dragon sniffed the air, and both seemed calm as they stretched out their wings and stiffened their tails after the flight.
“Come,” the prince said, not looking at either of us but motioning with his golden staff west.
We both followed, with Hunter walking behind. We were sandwiched between the two men, two of the most infamous riders in all of Allovan. It filled me simultaneously with a sense of safety and terror. There was no way out of this. Nowhere to run, only an endless forest that appeared as dense as a jungle coursing with vines and dense brush.
“It’s just up ahead.” The prince was at the tree line, and we were not only leaving the clearing behind but the two dragons as well. I swallowed hard. But as the prince found a narrow trail that led out of the clearing, giving one last hard look around, he walked into the forest, and we both followed.
The world darkened instantly, and Bella’s hand found me, clasping on as if that single grip would save us from anything that came from the dense, deep woods.
“Don’t worry.” Hunter’s words from behind were indeed soothing, but we were two girls without weapons, so if anythingcame, it would be up to the two soldiers. I had no idea how to call my magic unless an evil dragon started descending on us again. And by the god, I did not want that again! “We’re almost there.”
“This is the Faewood,” Bella whispered into my ear. “They’re not taking us to Raven’s Bane Castle, or the queen…”
“We don’t know anything yet.” I scratched my cheek. “Just because we’re not there doesn’t mean we are out of danger.”
But we both knew the truth. The prince bought and owned us. We were legally his in every sense of the word. I’d been a slave as long as I could remember, and the lack of knowing what the prince was like was the scariest thing of all.
After fifteen minutes of walking along the path, following the prince and his cape that scraped along it, we approached another clearing.
What I saw made my jaw slack. Bella’s fingernails dug into my forearm as she gasped.
“It’s a house,” Bella gasped. “Or… a castle?”
In the middle of the clearing, a two-story building rose from the Faewood floor. Built into a bulbous ancient tree, the building was comprised of piled stones, mortared together, embedded into the hollow tree. The tree had died long ago, with withered branches and a cracked base, but the shell of the old tree harbored half the building. The stonework looked hundreds of years old, possibly thousands.
As we approached, the front door opened wide, and an elderly woman walked out. She had curlers in her hair, a lace apron, and a crick in her back from her old age.
The four of us met the woman as the two dragons circled high in the sky.
“These two will be staying with us.” The prince took his mask off, holding it at his side under the crook of his arm. The musty smell of his hair bit at my nostrils, and the skin on my arms and legs tingled. “Make them comfortable.”
“Will you be staying, my prince?” The old woman’s crow’s feetdeepened at the corners of her eyes as she scanned Bella and me. Even from a couple feet away, the smell of strong tobacco smoke wafted with her.
“We will be in and out,” the prince said. “We have things that need attending, and questions that need answers.” He suddenly turned toward me. “This is Rosa. She will tend to you while I am away. Treat her with respect, or you’ll have to answer to me. And…” His enchanting eyes narrowed upon me. “…Stay put. Do not wander off into these woods. There’s more than what you heard in songs roaming the Faewood. The last thing I need is you getting yourself killed while I’m away. Understand?” He raised a finger between my eyes. “Got it? Stay here!”
Locked in his gaze, seeing past the fiery speech, I was lost. I nodded, dumbfounded by his rugged handsomeness. His strong jaw, his perfect nose, his dark eyebrows, and the long hair that swooshed along the sides of his face. The muscles of his neck and the sharpness of his Adam’s apple—I’d never seen anyone so gorgeous in all my life.
“Good.” The prince took off his gauntlets. “Rosa, would you show them to their rooms, please?”
“Where—” The question left my mouth before my brain had recovered from his face so close to mine. “Where will you be?”
The prince scoffed, rubbing his nose and turning his back to me. My brow furrowed, and I picked at my fingernails behind my back.
“We will be here and away while we figure some things out,” Hunter said, also removing his gauntlets. They walked to the far side of the house, toward the half built into the tree.
“Come, my darlings,” the old woman opened the door wide for us. “You must be famished.”
CHAPTER 9
With a pop of the lock, the inside of the house in the enchanted forest revealed itself. Rosa ushered us in with a bow and wave of her hand. The inside of the house was as immaculately clean and furnished as any room I had ever seen.
Smooth wooden floorboards shined under the sunlight that poured through the oval windows. Table skirts lined the two long tables in the main room, both a vibrant green color with golden trim, and a great spindly chandelier hung between the two. Rocking chairs of fine craftsmanship rested before the massive hearth at the room’s far end, between two doors that were shut. I wondered what lay behind them.
