air from behind him, like a streak of dark lightning.
An arrow cleanly pierced the princess’s wrist and she dropped the amulet. It tumbled, end over end, before shattering on the stone floor of the balcony.
Killian couldn’t see where the arrow came from, but he didn’t need to. There was only one person in his court that could have made a shot like that.
Piper.
25
Piper
Piper was out of ammunition.
She had arrived in the Hall of Honor in time to hear what was happening on the balcony.
As if by a miracle, the glass case next to the painting of the woman in the flame-colored dress had held a bow and exactly one ancient-looking arrow.
And now that shot was used up.
Piper had hoped against hope that the hellhound would disappear again when the amulet shattered.
Instead, it lifted its hideous snout to the heavens and sucked in its first terrible breath of freedom.
“The baby,” Wynter screamed at the hound, pointing with her uninjured arm. “Kill the baby, you worthless beast.”
Piper sprinted for the pram, lifting the bow over her head like a club. It was carved from sturdy wood, she might be able to fight off the beast for a short time, until help came.
She knew Killian’s brother, Heath, couldn’t be far behind her. His giant bear might be a match for this wicked beast.
Piper placed herself between the dog and the baby, but the creature only tilted its head curiously at Wynter, as if trying to understand her words.
“Now, you miserable cur,” Wynter screamed again, her face twisted with wrath.
But the hellhound was its own master now.
It stalked toward Wynter, frozen breath pluming from its snout.
“No,” she said as she backed away toward the railing of the balcony. “No.”
But it drew back its lips in a hideous snarl, muscles coiling like a spring, and leapt, snapping its jaw down on her good arm like a bear trap.
Piper watched in horror as Wynter’s arm was frozen solid. Tendrils of ice crept from the beast’s jaws, up the princess’s arm, spreading across her chest, down to her toes, and over her terrified face, until she was completely frozen.
The beast released its grip, and the ice-statue of Wynter toppled over the edge of the balcony.
There was a gasp of alarm from the people gathered below, and then a sound like shattering glass.
Instantly, the hellhound began to smoke and shrink, turning back into blue flame and then winking out.
There was a flurry of movement as the guards unfroze and searched for the man with the eyepatch, who must have slipped away in the confusion.
And there was an uproar among the people gathered in the courtyard just under the balcony.
Piper didn’t blame them. It must have been shocking to see your princess killed and learn that the peace being brokered by her betrothal was a sham, all in the span of a few minutes.
She couldn’t even imagine the political ramifications that were about to come crashing down on both kingdoms.
But all Piper cared about was Kieran.
She turned and scooped him up, cuddling him close, drinking in his sweet smell, and pledging never to let him out of her arms again. Somehow.
“Piper,” Killian groaned, wrapping his arms around her and the baby, though they were in full view of the guards in the balcony and half the kingdom in the courtyard below.
The people began to shout something that made no sense to her.
It sounded almost like a name.
Devona!
“If you tell me there’s still another woman to deal with,” she said with a smile to Killian as she hugged him close, “I am seriously out of here.”
26
Killian
The rest of the day passed in a haze for Killian.
Word was already spreading like wildfire through the kingdom of how the mortal nanny had saved the fate of the Autumn Court, using an ancient bow and a single arrow from the Hall of Honor.
Meanwhile, war between the kingdoms was undeniably afoot, and preparations had to be made. The King had called his sons to his side, and Killian took his place at his father’s right hand.
He applied himself to his duty, insisting that Piper and the baby were to be by his side continually, in spite of the shocked expressions of the royal advisors and council each time he put his foot down about it.
Now, as the sun sank behind the scarlet autumn mountains, discussions were winding down and his eyes kept stealing to the rocking chair in the corner where Piper sang softly to their sleepy son.
“Enough,” the Autumn King said suddenly, his