Baron whines at the entrance, and we both tear through the snow and run as fast as our legs will carry us. Her scent fades now that we are in the open. New snowfall has covered her tracks, and it doesn't take us long to lose any hope of finding her. I scream into the woods, and Baron matches my grief with his own howl.
We run back to the castle. This time I don't slow for Baron. I use all my demon strength, pushing through the pain still in me.
Once there, I immediately send scouts to search the woods, and another to bring Asher to me posthaste.
Everyone avoids me as I tear through the castle looking for any clue as to what happened to Arianna, though in my heart, I know. And it means war. More than war. It means annihilation.
When Asher arrives, he smiles at first, ready with a cocky quip. I erase that smile with my fist.
He rubs his jaw, looking confused. "That's an odd sort of greeting for your favorite brother. What troubles you, Fen?"
I step up close to him. "Tell me you didn't know."
"Didn't know what, brother?"
"That Arianna is of royal Fae blood. That you planned to marry the true heir off to one of us, thus securing our reign forever."
His eyes widen, and I know in that instant the truth. I punch him again, this time sending him flying back.
His normally jovial face turns hard. "I'll give you those, but no more, Fen. How did you find out?"
"Her blood," I say.
"You broke the oath?"
I shake my head. "Not consciously. I was poisoned by raider's blood. They mixed it with something. I nearly died. She made me feed off her while I was unconscious."
Asher frowns. "How did her blood not make you worse?"
I shrug. "I do not know. I thought you might. Perhaps it is the mix of human and Fae. Maybe it negated the poison."
"What about the other effects?" he asks.
"Those were not negated. It is still a drug. An elixir. I healed far too fast. I feel too strong."
Asher rubs his chin again. "You certainly do at that."
"Why did you not tell me who I was guarding?"
"Father said, for this to work, it had to remain secret. He said he only told me, and that I was to tell no one."
I squeeze a fist. Even in death, my father favors my brother.
Asher looks around. "Where is the princess now?"
"She's gone," I growl. "They took her while I was unconscious. I felt it. It's what woke me from the stupor."
"She is the key to everything," he says. "We must find her. Now, before we lose her forever."
My eyes fall to the ground. "Don't you see? We have already lost her. They will tell her the truth of who she is, and she will think we betrayed her. That I betrayed her. And we will be at war. With her as their leader."
Asher lays a hand on my arm. "You love her."
It's not a question, so I don't bother answering.
"Brother, this cannot be. You were chosen by the High Council to guard her and protect her because you refused to be king."
I look up, fury raging in me. "This isn't about being king. This is about Arianna and her life."
"She will not walk away so easily from us, brother. We still have her mother's soul. She will come back, and she will choose a prince. Or her contract will be broken and her mother's soul will spend eternity in hell."
My fist acts of its own volition, landing on Asher's jaw and knocking him out this time. I leave his body on the floor and walk away.
Five weeks ago, I stood in front of my father, the king, holding both our goblets of wine in my hand. Indecision plagued me.
One goblet contained poisoned wine. And how my father answered my questions would determine which goblet he received.
"You have never had a head for the long game," he said to me, in that patronizing way he always had. "You just want to stab your sword at a problem, but some things require more delicacy. More manipulation."
"You're talking about destroying your own people," I said, still holding the goblets.
My father paced the sitting room and continued to deliver his lecture about the greater good and the fate of this world and how we will never break the curse that plagues us if we don't sacrifice a few of our own.
When he asked for the wine, I gave him the goblet in my right hand.
I gave him the poison.
He drained it, and I waited for him to fall to the ground.
I expected the wrenching.
I expected the foaming at the mouth.
But I didn't expect his heart to stop.
The poison wasn't meant to kill him. It was meant to render him unconscious so he could be imprisoned and questioned further.
I acted quickly, setting the room to look as if he'd been alone, and leaving, allowing someone else to find his body.
He was declared dead.