Caelan Nightshade's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Caelan Nightshade wanted the prophecy dead. He stood in his war room and read the seer's words again, though he knew them by heart: a human woman would be his mate, and only she could crown him king. He hated every letter. A fae prince bound to a human. He would find a way to break the prophecy or he would not rule at all. Then his spymaster brought worse news. Riders from the Celios Kingdom had crossed the border. They rode fast, and they rode with hunting dogs. They were not looking for war. They were looking for a woman. Caelan's hands went cold. If the prophecy was true, the human mate lived somewhere he had never found. Now his enemy meant to find her first. If she died, he would never be crowned. His kingdom would sit without a king, ripe for taking. He did not wait for morning. He rode alone to the frozen pass where the Celios riders had camped. Snow bit his face. He kept his blade sheathed and his magic close, a hum of shadow under his skin. A man waited by the dying fire as if he had expected him. White hair, white coat trimmed in pale fur, eyes like ice with a light behind them. Aldric Celios. Caelan's rival since they were boys, and the one man who smiled while he cut you. "You came yourself," Aldric said. He warmed his gloved hands and did not rise. "I thought you might send soldiers. But no. This matters too much for you to trust anyone else." "Call off your hunt," Caelan said. "Why would I?" Aldric tilted his head. "Your little prophecy is a gift to me. All I have to do is keep one human woman from ever finding you. No mate, no crown. Your throne stays empty, and empty thrones are easy to fill." Caelan understood then. Aldric did not want to kill him. He wanted him unmade, left a prince who could never become king. "You've hunted for weeks," Caelan said. "You still don't have her." Aldric's smile thinned. That crack told Caelan everything. He struck. Shadow poured from his hands and swallowed the fire. The dogs screamed and scattered. Aldric shouted an order, but his men could not see. Caelan seized the map spread by the fire, the one marked with red where the hunters had searched. He tore it free and ran for his horse. Aldric's voice chased him through the dark. "You need her more than I do, Caelan! You'll bring her to me yourself!" Caelan rode hard until the snow thinned. Then he opened the stolen map. Every searched village was crossed out. Only one place had no mark at all. One village they had not yet reached. He had stopped Aldric's hunt for now. But he saw the trap plain. The map showed him where his mate must be. The woman he wanted gone was the only woman who could save his crown, and now he was the one who had to find her first.