Princess Elara and Prince Adrian's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The hunters would return by nightfall. Elara stood in the dark house and knew it. The dog's barking had bought them this night, but no more. Come dusk, the beast would wake again, and the pack would come straight back to this clearing. She had to move Adrian somewhere safe before sunset. She knew only one person who might help. She wrapped the sleeping beast in a blanket and waited for dawn to change him back. When Adrian woke a man again, pale and shaking, she led him through the trees to the herbalist's cottage. Rosemary Willowbrook had sold her mother tinctures for years. She was the only villager who had never once joined the hunts. Elara knocked. The old woman opened the door with dirt under her nails and a knife in her apron. She looked at Adrian, then past them at the empty path, then back at the blood dried on his sleeve. "Inside," Rosemary said. "Both of you. Quick." She shut the door and dropped a bar across it. The cottage smelled of crushed leaves and smoke. Jars of roots lined the walls. "They hunt him," Rosemary said. Not a question. "At every sunset," Elara said. "He turns. They want him dead. Someone pays them for it." She pulled the buyer's list from her coat and held it out. "Beast's blood. Triple price." Rosemary read it once. Her mouth went tight. She set the paper down and said nothing for a long moment. "I can't keep you here," she said at last. "They search the village houses now. Mine next, maybe tonight." She crossed the room and moved a basket aside. Beneath it sat a trapdoor. "Root cellar. Dug into the hill behind. It runs back under the rocks. No one knows of it but me." Elara looked down into the dark hole. "They won't find him there?" "They won't find the door," Rosemary said. "I'll see to that." Elara helped Adrian down the ladder. The cellar was cold and smelled of earth. It was safe. For the first time in a week, her shoulders dropped. Then Rosemary spoke above her. "I'll help you. But I need something in return." Elara climbed back up. "Name it." "Silverthread moss. Grows deep in the woods, high on the cold rocks." The old woman's voice stayed flat. "A man I've cared for many years is dying. The moss is the only cure. The first frost will kill it. And him." She met Elara's eyes. "The woods are full of your brother's hunters. I'm too slow for them. You're not." Elara understood. The cellar would hide Adrian. But to keep it, she had to walk into the same woods crawling with men who wanted his blood. "How long until frost?" she asked. "Three days," Rosemary said. "Maybe two." Elara looked at the dark hole where her brother now hid. Safe, for now. The price of it waited in the trees.