“A wager?”
I shook my head but smiled. “You and your wagers. I’m curious, what is it you want this time? ”
He laughed and reached down to adjust his boot in the stirrup. “There’re a few things I can think of I want from you that I haven’t had yet, Princess.” He paused before going on. I rolled my eyes. A smirk followed as if he got the reaction he’d waited for. “Stay the night with me.”
My face warmed and I peeked back to see how far away Bindy was. Far enough not to hear, thankfully. Of course I’d thought about staying the night with him and what that could entail but we’d never talked about it and his abrupt request had my tongue tied. He must have taken my silence as an answer.
“I don’t mean it that way,” he pulled his horse closer to me and softened his voice. “I mean, stay up with me, lay outside and watch the stars, make wishes on those that fall and talk and be with me. There are always people around, when all I want is to be with just you.”
That sweet side of this boy made an appearance again. The side of him that won me over. “You don’t have to make a bet to get that.”
“This way is more fun.”
“So if you win we lay out and watch the stars. If I win?”
“We lay out and watch the stars and I’ll give you a foot rub.”
I grinned. “Oh, I like the sound of that.” I kicked my horse and sped off.
“Cheater!” Zyacus called racing up behind me.
I gripped the reins and squeezed with my legs, galloping at Proud Boy’s top speed. Wind whipped my hair and my eyes watered. Zyacus, being probably seventy pounds heavier than me, kept up well with his horse’s nose level with mine’s flanks.
“Faster boy!” I shouted.
A black mist crept from behind the boulder as we neared. I jerked back so hard on Proud Boy’s reins that he raised up in protest and I tumbled off him. Then I hit the ground and the breath whooshed from my lungs. My first thought was, what is it with me falling off my horse in the Gap of Freeole?
I coughed and rolled onto my belly with an aching left shoulder. Black boots hit the ground and Zyacus dropped beside me. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
I lifted my eyes to the boulder where the mist grew thicker and swirled into various shapes. Forms of the winged creatures—imps, and human skulls, and serpents. I pushed myself up, rubbing my eyes and blinking to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. “Look,” I breathed, pointing.
Zyacus turned and slowly rose to his full height. “What in the name of Crighton is that?”
Crighton? I’d heard the name before but I couldn’t remember which Hesstian god he was. But right now that didn’t matter. The black mist… you better pray to your gods you never see me again because if you do, you will be in chains. That’s what the Winter Fae prince had promised. Had he followed me here? Why would he if he let me go then?
I stood beside Zyacus as Bindy and Mateo caught up to us. All of us watched the mist creep toward us.
“Get on your horses,” Bindy commanded.
Proud Boy had wandered a few yards away as had Zyacus’s horse. I took three steps before the mist suddenly enveloped us all. I heard Zyacus, Bindy and Mateo hit the ground, groaning in pain.
I whirled in the darkness surrounding me, wondering why I wasn’t on the ground too. My heart leaped into my throat when the mist parted to make way for the silvery blue-skinned Fae I’d met previously.
“You fooled me,” he said with that otherworldly voice. A voice like wind howling in the tops of trees, like waves crashing against a shore. Terrifying and powerful.
My magic surged and pulsed beneath my skin like its own beating heart. Ready to unleash. “Fooled you?”
He gestured a hand up and down my form like that was supposed to be an answer. “You are not a Hesstian commoner.”
“Please stop hurting my friends.” I didn’t know why it mattered to him who I was.
He curled his fingers and my crown lifted from my head and floated to his hand. He inspected it as if it were of great importance. “You are a princess. Perhaps the Princess.”
The Princess? “What does it matter to you?” My eyes searched the fog for Zyacus; I could hear him nearby, grunting and hurting. I wanted to draw my sword, throw a spell, something but with how easily he took me down last time I didn’t dare until I had an opening or some advantage.
“Are you powerful? Do you have a special ability?”
Was he worried I could kill him? He wasn’t afraid at all so why ask these questions? “Stop hurting them.” I set my jaw.
With the wave of his hand the mist cleared and with a second wave all three of my companions lifted off the ground and with toes dragging, drew closer to us. “This is how we will move forward. You answer my questions or your friends suffer.”
Their cries and groans of pain stopped but they all looked like they couldn’t speak. The red in Zyacus’s cheeks and sweat in his brow made me think he struggled to break free of the magic holding him.
The Winter prince’s black eyes—no, such a dark blue they appeared black, looked me up and down. “Your answer.”
“I’m of average magical power and have no ability.”
His white hair moved in the breeze when he stepped closer. “It is ironic that I can’t tell a lie when I am so good at detecting them. See, when I try to, the words get caught in my throat. Probably an ancient curse from your kind.” He leveled me with a hard gaze and the fog began to grow and swirl around us. “Let’s see, whom should I torture first? I could start with you but if
