“What do we have to do?” Ella asks.
“Only the one who took his life can lift the spell.”
“How?”
“A drop of your blood on his skin will break the enchantment, for it is a blood curse that hides his true form, and only blood can erase it.”
Ella gives me a determined look. “All right,” she says. “Let’s go. We have to save Rina’s husband, and we have to find the true prince, wherever he is.”
Chapter 31
Devon
As we make our way to the castle, I struggle to quell my fear. Each step toward the palace is one step closer to danger. I glance at my bond brothers beside me and know without asking that they feel the same.
Nyx is skilled in illusory magic. He cast an enchantment on my eyes to make them appear human. Even so, I cannot help but worry that someone might see past it. Drawing in a deep breath, I push down my fear as we continue on.
When we reach the palace gates, each of us appears dressed in only the finest of clothing as we request an audience with the king and queen.
“What business do you have with them?” the guard asks. “They are mourning their son.”
I turn to Ella, her hands bound behind her back as if she were my prisoner. She and Rina both. “We have brought the ones responsible for justice.”
His eyes snap toward Rina and Ella, and his jaw drops. “Open the gates!” he cries out. “Tell the king and queen we have found the prince’s murderer!”
Guards rush toward the palace. I grip Ella’s arm to keep her close to me, but the guard grabs her forearm. “I will take this filth from you.”
“No!” I snap, and I feel Kai and Nyx tense beside me as well. “I will take her before the king and queen. There is a reward, is there not?”
He narrows his eyes and gives me a reluctant nod. “Fine,” he says. “Follow me.”
Leading us to the throne room, the guards watch us warily, their eyes full of anger. One of them steps forward and spits at Ella as he slaps at her face. I rush him, pinning him back against the wall. “Do not touch her,” I grind out.
“Why?” he asks angrily. “That witch killed our prince! I was there that night! She bewitched him and murdered him!”
“Take us to the king and queen,” Kai snaps. “Now!”
The guard shoves away from me and continues leading us through the palace.
When we reach them, the king is sitting on his throne, while his wife is seated next to the body, laid out in a glass coffin upon a long slab, that she believes is her son. Her face is puffy and swollen from crying, and when she turns to see Ella and Rina, she grits through her teeth. “How could you? How could you kill my son? What did he do to you that would make you do something like this?”
Ella steps forward and bows low. “I did not kill your son.”
The queen scoffs.
Ella lifts her head to meet her eyes evenly. “That man is not your son. The body is enchanted. You are shedding tears for a stranger. A wolf shifter.”
The king gasps, and so does the queen.
She gives Ella a strange look. “What do you mean?”
“I can prove it,” Ella announces, lifting her head proudly.
“She speaks the truth,” Kai adds beside me as he bows low to the king and queen. “Allow her to prove it.”
Something akin to hope fills the queen’s expression as she moves away when Ella steps forward. I hand Ella a knife, and she drags the blade across her palm. Holding it over the body, she allows a few drops of blood to land on his skin.
A rippling wave of light moves over the body then lifts away, disappearing into smoke and taking the false form of the prince with it.
The king and queen stare down at the stranger’s form. A broken sob escapes the queen as she turns and hugs the king tightly. “It’s not our boy! It isn’t our son!”
She turns to Ella. “Where is our son then if this is not him? I don’t understand.”
As Ella explains everything that happened to them, they listen intently. At the end of their conversation, the king orders his guards to free Rina’s husband.
The queen takes Ella’s hand. “Please. Is there any way to find our son? You must help us.”
Rina steps forward. “There is a way,” she says.
“What is it?” the king demands.
“I—” Rina stops, her gaze shifts to me. I do not know what she means to say, but it is easy to see that whatever it is will reveal to them that she is a shifter. Humans used to hunt our kind. What she does is a significant risk to herself and her husband.
I place a hand on her shoulder. “If it goes badly, we will protect you.”
She nods and turns back to the king and queen. She allows herself to transform before their eyes into a beautiful peacock, spreading her feathers wide.
The queen stares down at her in shock a moment before she returns to her human form. She bows low, her body trembling as she straightens again. “I am a shifter, Your Majesties,” she explains. “I infuse the clothing I create for my customers with some of my magic, and because of this, I am able to track it. I have made many things for the royal family, and if the prince wore anything I created when taken, I would be able to find him.”
The queen takes the king’s hand, her grip so tight her knuckles begin to turn white as she stares at Rina. “Please,” she begs. “Do whatever you must to find my son.”
Rina’s husband walks in with the guards. As soon as he sees her, he rushes forward and embraces her.
“Is your husband also a shifter?” the king asks, and Rina’s husband pales.
He looks to his wife.
