her face. “It is powerful enough to cloak two people, yes. Though moving around in it would be rather difficult, I imagine.” She finished pushing her hair back out of her face just in time to see Quinn bow low.
“Thank you, Angelique,” Quinn said. “This truly is an amazing gift.”
Angelique smiled—and she actually felt it for the first time in a long while. “I hope it helps you as you have helped me.”
The blond soldier shook her head. “I have done nothing to aid you.”
“No, you have. I cannot tell you what your offer of assistance means to me.” Angelique again had to fight off the desire to hug Quinn, but her mirth faded as reality bit through the bubble of happiness her exchange with the soldier had provided. “Unfortunately, I should continue with my search.” It took a lot of effort to keep her smile up, but she managed to force it, even though she felt like hunching over again.
“I understand. But first please let me tell you how to contact me, should you change your mind,” Quinn said.
“I would appreciate that, thank you.” Angelique wiped her hands on her dress, which bloomed into the purple color of the early morning sky.
Quinn once again stood with the straight and perfect posture of a soldier as she met Angelique’s gaze. “Also, I request your permission to inform my superior officer of an enchantress in the area. I will not name you, give your location, or mention the details of our meeting.”
Angelique managed to turn her groan into a sigh at the last second. “When the king hears a report, it will be fairly obvious it is me. I’m the only enchantress on the move at the moment…but I imagine it will be fine.”
Not. The king will undoubtedly try to contact me and ask me to investigate the princesses.
An unhappy hiss almost leaked out of Angelique, but she caught herself when she glanced at Quinn and her kind eyes.
Angelique was exhausted, defeated, and desperate. But she could keep up her smile for a few minutes more, and when the king found her, she could look in on his menagerie of daughters—if only for the sake of the first person who had offered her help in a long time.
Chapter 2
After Quinn gave Angelique the name of her band—the small, tight-knit units all Farset soldiers were organized into—and her commanding officer, the two parted ways.
Quinn rode off on her horse (after about five minutes of reassurances that Angelique didn’t need an escort anywhere), and Angelique left the dirt road and trundled through the woods.
The trees hadn’t shed all their leaves yet; many were still puffed with vibrant crimson and bold yellow leaves. But Angelique barely noticed them as she doggedly marched on, picking her way through underbrush until she almost rammed into the magical border that marked off Alabaster Forest from human-owned territory.
Elf magic felt different from the magic of humans. It had a tangy, powerful feel to it that made it recognizable as Angelique toed the border.
She squinted, wrinkling her nose as she peered into the elf-owned woods and looked for any sign of life. “King Themerysaldi!”
Silence.
“Lady Alastryn?”
Still nothing.
Angelique grunted. “Not that I expected something. How many times have I hollered myself hoarse at this border?”
She started walking parallel with the border and picked her way around fallen logs and leaf-less bushes, stopping occasionally to holler over the border.
An hour passed, and she saw no one.
Are they deaf, or does the curse bar them from even approaching the boundaries of their lands? Angelique moodily folded her arms over her chest as she eyed the border.
She sighed and slumped against a tree. Do I keep standing out here screaming like I’ve lost my mind? I don’t think Pegasus is going to come, though, if I call. Maybe I can find the tree Evariste planted his permanent gate in and take it home to Wistful Thicket.
She glanced at the sky and realized that besides the rattling sound produced by empty branches shaking in the breeze, the forest was silent.
It was a smothering silence that pulled through the forest like a thick, scratchy blanket.
Not a bird chirped, not an animal rustled, which grated at Angelique.
She mashed her lips together and flexed her hands, letting silver magic trickle through her fingers.
Angelique heard the groan of a tree trunk and the snap of wood breaking.
She swung around, already forging a shield spell, which she thrust out in front of her as the snapped trunk of a tree