Sold To The Cruel Prince

Aveline turned her head and looked straight at the patch of shadow Kael was hiding in.

He remained perfectly still.

From where he stood, concealed beneath the dark fold of the trees, he knew she should not have been able to see him. No one ever did. That was the point of his stealth, of the way he bent shadow around himself until he seemed to vanish from the world entirely.

And yet...

Because it was her?

His eyes widened.

Then, slowly, the corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk of understanding.

Until now, she had never been able to make him out clearly when he used his stealth, even with his ability to manipulate shadows. But now she had sensed him. Somehow, impossibly, she had known exactly where he was.

How?

He did not want to know.

Not necessarily.

With a flick of his fingers, he formed a rune in the air. A heartbeat later, the concealment dropped away, and he emerged from the shadow as though the darkness itself had been a cloak folded around him and now let fall.

Aveline’s eyes widened.

It was not as though he had stepped forward.

It was as if he had simply been there all along, hidden by something invisible, and the world had only now decided to let him be seen.

She had felt something in that direction. A distortion. A wrongness. A presence she could not explain, but had somehow recognized.

And she had been right. It was Kael all along.

Kael tilted his head. "Want something, Lady Aveline?"

Aveline pressed her lips together.

There was something unsettling about him. Not just his face, not just the shadows that clung to him, but the feeling he gave her when she looked too closely. It was like staring at a darkness that did not simply rest still, but breathed.

At his center... around his gut, she sensed something darker still. A pulse, perhaps. Or a glow. She could not tell which. She only knew it was there, and that it made the air around him feel distorted, unstable, almost alive.

She did not want to stay long enough to understand it.

So she lifted her chin and said, "I saw some flies over there on a carcass. You should lie in wait there. Maybe you’ll catch something."

Then she turned and walked away.

For a moment, Kael only stared after her, as if the meaning had not quite reached him. Then, slowly, it did.

The insult hit a second later, sharp and humiliating. She had called him a spider, again.

His hands clenched so tightly at his sides that his knuckles turned pale. His eyes narrowed, cold with fury.

Just wait.

You will not be alive past tonight.

-----

Aveline sat with her hands cupping her cheeks, slowly chewing on the raisins Theron had given her.

They had been traveling all day, with only a short break for lunch, and yet Theron had barely spoken to her.

He had come near. He had even sat beside her. But whenever she tried to speak, he would rise and walk away as though the distance between them were suddenly necessary.

Aveline frowned to herself.

Had she said something wrong?

If so, what?

Was it because of her prayers? She had prayed for him too, and for his family. Surely that could not have offended him.

Or... did he know something about her parents’ deaths?

Was that why he had gone quiet?

The thought slid into her mind and deepened before she could stop it.

Was he involved somehow?

That possibility settled in her chest like a dark stone, pressing against a wound that had never truly healed.

But even as the thought took shape, she forced it away.

No.

No matter what, Theron could not be involved.

Even if he had been connected somehow, he could not be blamed. He had only been a boy then.

She did not want to think about it.

And yet, despite every effort, something in her still hurt.

Not because she believed him guilty, but because she could not understand why he would not speak to her.

Even the memory of that strange creature from earlier returned to her, uninvited and persistent. She had not been able to do anything for it. Not really. Not even if it had not been trying to manipulate her.

The day wore on.

Evening came at last, and they stopped in a clearing to rest the horses and make camp for the night. Aveline stepped down from the carriage, only to realize Theron was nowhere to be seen.

She found she could not even eat properly without him nearby.

After a while, she sat by the fire and stared into the flames, too restless to stay still. Then, without really meaning to, she rose and wandered off for a walk.

And that was how she found it again. The creature. It was as if her legs dragged her to where her heart was. She almost turned back. Almost. But something made her stop, and then walk closer instead.

The monsters had been quieter all day. No screaming. No thrashing. As if they had all grown strangely resigned to whatever fate awaited them.

Aveline approached the cage of the rat-lizard creature; the one she had named Helena.

"I’m not even sure what you want me to do..." she murmured under her breath, looking around to make sure no one was near.

Then she noticed something. The lock... It was open. Open. The latch remained in place, but the lock itself had been undone.

Aveline stared.

What?

Was this... a sign?

She looked back at the creature. Helena looked exhausted. Not vicious. Not threatening. Just tired.

Aveline reached out carefully and placed her hand on the creature’s head to see if she could understand it like in the morning. She did.

"You’re in labor," she whispered.

Her breath caught.

Now what was she supposed to do?

Her heart thudded hard in her chest.

This was not a matter of pity anymore. This was something immediate, something real, something fragile enough to break if she handled it wrong.

She had no idea what she was doing.

None at all.

-----

Theron waited until everyone had fallen asleep.

His gaze drifted toward the carriage.

Aveline should have been asleep by now.

He moved quietly and crossed to the carriage, opening the door with the intention of spending just a little time beside her. After what she had said about his wife, after the guilt that had twisted in him all evening, he had not been able to meet her eyes. He had only wanted to sit beside her, to watch her breathe, to reassure himself that she was still near.

That was all.

But when he looked inside... The carriage was empty. His expression changed at once.

"Aveline?" he called softly.

Silence.

His voice sharpened. "Aveline?"

He stepped out of the carriage, the unease in his chest turning instantly to alarm.

At that exact moment, one of the knights came running up, breathless. "Sire! One of the monsters has broken its cage and escaped!"

Theron’s heart stopped.

Aveline was missing.

A monster had escaped.

No.

No, no, no.

She was not safe.

"Find them both. Now!" he ordered, his voice hard enough to cut.

His gaze snapped toward the forest. "Kael. Look for Aveline. Do not miss a single place in this forest."

Kael bowed deeply.

And then, as Theron turned away, something cold and ugly slid across Kael’s face.

A smile. A small, mean, satisfied smile... The kind that did not belong on any decent man.

His lips curved into an evil smirk as the darkness around him seemed to thicken.

At last.

Here we go.