Prince of Blood and Shadow
I. Chapter 5

Keira never meant it. No matter how angry he made her, she didn’t want him to die. As upset as she was, she didn’t fully blame him for what happened to Vestin. Inias had led the party into danger, but her brother had agreed to follow him. Ran alongside him towards their death. Taking heed of Inias never led to a favorable conclusion for anyone unless wine was part of the equation. The nights they’d raided his uncle’s wine stash hidden deep within the castle crypts were always full of laughter.

When others found her grotesque, Inias saw her as fierce and striking. He’d liked her mixed hair color and solid black eyes. They’d spent hours transforming dresses and other outfits together. Numerous dresses remained in the closet, horrifying her traditional servants. She ran her fingers over the fabric of the midnight blue gown they had sewn together before he’d left for Willowberry. They had sewn the crest of her clan, a raven perched beneath a full moon, into the center where a diamond jewel had once sat. They sewed knots along the sides like vines intertwined with flowers. Securing her closet, Keira headed to the bathroom to complete her clothing for the journey.

She didn’t hate Inias, but if he preferred to hide in the forest and weep instead of fighting to fix things, she wasn’t certain she wished to see him again. All those years she defended him, took blame for their shenanigans, and now when she needed him most, he’d just given up. Her intuition told her that her brother was out there. The Ravenmoons were famous for their familial bonds. If he’d died, she would’ve felt it. She knew before the rest of the court that the mission had gone wrong, horribly wrong. If no one else would join her she’d fight those little goblins solo.

Her parents, Inias, and the court may not have believed her. If she turned out to be mistaken, at the very least she would return their bodies and ensure they received a proper burial. Not left in the woods for beasts to feast on. The incident has shaken everyone in the city of Knivae. The once fierce and feared shadow clans were hiding behind the walls of their city in fear of those red-capped goblins.

Keira looked at herself in the mirror as she slid the purple pendulum necklace around her neck. She slid a black leather jacket around her shoulders, made from a werewolf pelt. The amethyst buttons fastened as the jacket came to cover the thin white shirt beneath it. She was wearing the same leather trousers she’d had during her meeting with Inias.

Upon exiting the bathroom, she made her way back to her bedroom adorned with scenic tapestries of sunlit forest groves and fairy-lights of many colors dancing around the trees. She padded barefoot over the warm marble floor to the table where a map of Harrows Forest sat beside a fresh glass of wine. No one had ever ventured deeper than Goblin Territory or Werewolf Run. There were rumors of many tribes calling the massive forest home. What lay beyond the goblins were the wilds. Rumors suggested that deep within the fog-ridden forests, there were spiders the size of lions and a pair of red dragons. The only vermin she cared about were redcaps and any goblins in her path.

She would have to give Sylvis a good slap. Inias may have been a twit, but his words had cut too deep. The entire incident had already spread like wildfire around the castle, and she’d been right there, witnessing the whole sorry spectacle from the yard. “Bastards…” she muttered as she traced her route on the map with a quill. With a rolling motion, she pushed it into the satchel attached to her chair.

If Inias wouldn’t make this right, then she would. As she sipped from her glass, she experienced a sudden pain in the back of her leg. Her hand reached behind to replace a dart buried in her right thigh. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she clung to the table for support. “Who…” she groaned as she felt an arm curl around her waist pull her away. She glanced up to replace a dark silhouette standing over her as it swiped the glass from the table, along with the bottle. In a panic, she fumbled for a knife hidden in her sleeve, but it slipped from her grasp and clattered to the floor as darkness descended over her vision.