The hood I wore to disguise myself itched against my brow, coarse linen clinging to my temples like a shroud. Even with dusk cloaking the pixie realm in violet mist, I kept my head low, wings tight against my back, hidden beneath the dull gray cloak. Royal wings shimmer, even in the dark. Mine would betray me if I wasn't careful. I wasn't supposed to be here....on this side of the riverbank, past the market scents of charred rootbread and sweet spice bark. This was Freasia's world, notmine, only commoners lived here.
A cart rattled by, one of the fishmongers giving me a strange look, I held onto the hood to cover my face more as I pressed deeper into the alley, my heart hammering, dust from a broken fig pod curling into my nose, I sneezed quietly and cursed under my breath.
Freasia's home wasn't even a home, not by my noble standards anyway. It was carved into the side of an old tree root, deep, gnarled wood hollowed and patched with layers of moss-press and glass pollen. From outside, it looked like nothing. Just bark and shadow. But I knew the sigil etched beneath the moss. I pressed my hand to it, whispering the old word he'd taught me in secret when we were younger, before titles and bloodlines got in the way.
"Vel'antri."
The door cracked open with a hiss of warm air, scented with ink and fireleaf oil. I stepped inside, pulling my hood lower as the wooden slats creaked under my boots.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten how to knock," Freasia said without looking up from his desk, his quill held between two ink-stained fingers. "Or is that just how princesses enter people's homes these days?"
His voice... familiar, teasing, cut through the fear knotting in my chest.
"I couldn't risk being seen. If anyone knew I was here…"
"They'd string me up, behead me, and toss you in a tower. Yes, I'm aware." He finally looked up, gaze softening when it met mine. "Ev."
I exhaled, dropping the hood. "I need your help Fea,, Something's… wrong. More than just wrong, its twisted."
He leaned back, his expression sharpening. "Sit, and tell me."
I did,as fast and quickly as my voice could carrye, my voice low as I explained my Sister Roselines suspicions confirming what we already knew, the marks I saw on my brother Jades neck was Morgana's signature_ she made him relinquish his rights to the thron, and the whispering shadows crawling along the palace walls.
"Gaston and Morgana are planning something worse. I feel it." I reached across his table, knocking aside scrolls and scattered charcoal sketches. "I need to break her spell. And you're the only one who knows how."
He didn't answer for a long time. Then: "You're asking me to commit treason, Eva you know what happened the last time we attempted too... I don't know"
"I'm asking you to save the King."
He looked at me, long and quiet, the firelight catching in his eyes like golden glass. Finally, he stood up "Then we'll need to find the scroll. The one lost in the under-chambers."
I blinked. "You know where it is?"
"I know how to find it."
THAT NIGHT
We reached the palace grounds just past the second moonrise. The sky above shimmered in thick swirls of lavender and sapphire, the magical dome protecting Aetherion casting a constant illusion of twilight. I changed into my court cloak to pass the outer guards. Freasia, cloaked in illusion magic so he became invisible, he walked beside me like a shadow but guards didn't look twice, they couldn't see him.
Beneath the library's marble wing, I led us through an old corridor long buried under layers of politics and dust. My mother had shown me the path once, when I was small, before death took her away and darkness took my father.
The passage smelled like wet stone and old bones. Pixie dust floated in faint trails along the carved runes lining the walls, a security spell from the Second Era.
"Keep your wings still," Freasia whispered beside me. "Some of these markings trace movement."
I nodded, pressing deeper, until we reached a locked door made of ironwood, thick with age and sealed by blood.
Freasia produced a jagged silver shard. "Stingstone," he murmured. "Pain sharpens spells."
He sliced a small line across his palm and pressed it to the lock. The door hissed open like a creature exhaling its last breath.
Inside, the air shifted. Dust danced in lazy spirals. And beyond the rows of cracked scrolls and half-rotted books, a whisper reached my ear, soft, melodic, almost chanting.
We moved slowly, each step measured. Around the corner, flickering red light spilled onto the floor it was bloodlight.
We stopped, and Freasia slowly pushed aside a curtain of dried ivy to reveal the ritual chamber.
We both gapsed as we saw Morgana and Guston Kyl chanting a spell.
Gaston Kyl stood shirtless, runes etched in crimson across his chest. His voice carried the weight of ancient spells. Morgana stood opposite,her hair cascading in silver streams, eyes shut, hands dipped into a bowl of dark ichor. Between them burned a glyph circle with black fire.
"…and with this blood echo, bind the line of Guvian to'," Gaston chanted, "until his line runs dry or darkness claims the realm."
My breath hitched.
"Did you hear that?" I mouthed to Freasia.
He nodded grimly and reached into his cloak, pulling out a delicate crystal vine, the kind banned by decree after the war with the Glimmer Fae. It could record voices, even magical tones. He held it up and tapped the stem.
Morgana's voice filled the air, velvet and venomous.
"Jade's death will be simple. We will Poison him at moonrise. Guvian's mind is already a lake, one more whisper from me and he'll drown. Then Aetherion belongs to us."
Freasia clenched his jaw.
My stomach turned. I wanted to scream, to run at them and plunge my blade through their hearts but my limbs stayed frozen. I thought of Jade's handprint, the fading light in my father's eyes.
And then… the crystal vine slipped from Freasia's fingers and fell to the ground, we both froze.
Gaston's head snapped up and he turned towards our direction.
"Show yourself, rebel brat."
Freasia grabbed my hand, "Run."
We sprinted down the corridor, our boots slamming against stone. Behind us, shadows flared, sentries summoned by Morgana's call. Masked, silent, faster than light.
"They're gaining!" I shouted.
"This way!" Freasia pulled me into a side tunnel, too narrow for wings. We squeezed through, hearts thundering.
A blade flashed past my cheek. I screamed, ducked, and stumbled, we rolled and burst out into the stables beneath the old west turret.
I slammed the latch shut behind us, panting.
"Did you keep the recording?" I gasped.
Freasia held up the vine, shaking. "We have proof."
Above, somewhere in the palace, a bell began to ring summoning the palace guards.
They knew we had it.
Outside the stables, more guards were beginning to fly towards us, we had minutes or maybe seconds.
Freasia looked at me, voice low but urgent.
"You said you wanted to save your father. But this.....this is war, Evangeline. And it's already begun."
I nodded, trembling.
"They'll kill Jade at moonrise."
He stepped closer, brushing sweat-soaked strands of hair from my face. "We have one night. One shot. We either fight now… or watch Aetherion burn."
We both stood our ground drawing our swords, even though we knew we were outnumbered.