Page 1 of Kings and Monsters

PROLOGUE

The wool scarf around Rosa's neck was itchy against her damp skin. Her grandmother had insisted that she wear it, the same way that she insisted Rosa wear the too hot wool-lined red gumboots on her feet.

Rosa was seven years old, and it was the first time she had been allowed to visit Grandmother Glenna Wylt on her own in Conwy.

Glenna had a habit of taking Rosa for long walks every day through the green woods and castle battlements. As they walked, she would tell Rosa stories of faeries that were tall, beautiful, and dangerous as a blade, and of a queen that stole Tam Lin away and the lass that had saved him by hanging onto him with all her might. By the streams, she spoke of the Selkies, who had a fondness for snatching away people from the banks of rivers, and the fierce Black Dog whose omen was never good. Glenna Wylt knew a lot of stories.

That day, they were up on the sea cliffs when they came to a crossroads. Glenna pulled out her pipe, her small hands cupping the bowl to protect it from the wind as she lit it.

"You see this crossroad, lass?" Glenna gestured with her pipe, and Rosa nodded.

"There was a story when I was a girl that a human fell in love with the great Gwyn ap Nudd on this very spot. He stole her heart away, and she never recovered. Ten years later, consumed by her heartbreak and despair, she flung herself into the ocean in the hope that she would be collected by the Wild Hunt."

"The Wild Hunt? Like Papa does with Mr. Eli?" Rosa asked. She didn't understand why the woman just didn't ask if she could go along. When she was grown, she would go hunting with Mr. Eli. She was sure of it.

Glenna eyed her seriously. "No, Rhosyn. The Wild Hunt is not like what your father does." She knelt down next to Rosa so that Rosa could look into her serious face.

"The Wild Hunt is the mounted legion of warriors, all following the Lord of Annwn, Gwyn ap Nudd. They fly on faerie horses against sky and sea, mountain and meadow. Their banners are made of the skins of their enemies, and no army can stand against the soldiers of the Hunt. With his great hound, Dormach, running beside him, Gwyn selects the bravest and finest of the dead to join his ranks."

Her grandmother's strong hand rested on Rosa's small shoulder. "Remember, Rhosyn—heed the battle horns of the Wild Hunt. To hear them on the wind means your death or the death of someone you love. If you see the Hunt riding in the sky, look away, and hide your face so that Gwyn's black eyes will hunt someone else."

"If I met Gwyn ap Nudd, I would ask why he doesn't let more girls hunt with him," Rosa said, picking up a stick and brandishing it like a sword. "If he ever refused to let me go hunting, I'd get Mr. Eli to make him take me along. I could ride Dormach if I were too small for a faerie horse."

"Oh, my dear Rhosyn," Glenna sighed. "I do believe you would try, but even Mr. Eli doesn't have the power to force Gwyn ap Nudd to do anything."

"I would ask him, and he would say yes," Rosa said stubbornly. "He can read men's bravery in their hearts, so I'm sure he could read mine. I am brave enough. I am not afraid of the Lord of the Dead."

Strong fingers pinched her chin as Glenna fixed her with far-seeing gray eyes. "No, you aren't afraid, my Rhosyn, but maybe you should be. Heed my warning, brave one. Stay away from Gwyn ap Nudd."

That night, as a storm raged overhead, Rosa pressed her face against the cold glass of her bedroom window and looked for the stag horn helmet of the Lord of Annwn.

Lighting flashed through the clouds, and the Lord of Annwn looked back.

CHAPTER ONE

Rosa woke to the smell of leaves, rot, and wood smoke. The sun was slowly peaking on the horizon, its milky rays stretching through the branches of the dead trees around them. It had been three days since they had crossed into the Aos Si, though time was an unreliable factor in Faerie, but to Rosa it felt like three days too many.

She opened her eyes and saw Eli Vane watching the mist choked forest with sharp eyes and an even sharper blade in his hand. Bleddyn Seren Du, the Midnight Star, Lost King of the Unseelie, had finally returned to the Aos Si, and he seemed to be guarding over them as if he feared the very air would steal them away while they slept. Maybe it would.

A loud snore to her right made Rosa's gaze flicker in tired annoyance to the man sleeping beside her. Raven hair was a riot of messy curls around his sharp, stubbly face. This one was harder to comprehend than the Faerie King. He had come into her life like a storm of lightning, magic, and smart-ass Welsh witticisms. Eldon Blaise was the name the Trickster wore no longer; Merlin Wylt he was once more.

Rosa thought Merlin suited him better anyway. He was her teacher, her Wylt cousin many times removed, and the onlyreason she had kept a modicum of sanity in the past few weeks. Since Aeronwen, the Autumn Queen of the Seelie, had stolen both their loves away.

A different snore on the other side of her marked another mystery. Red of hair and thick of brogue, a man as mythic as the sword he carried, Arthur, the Bear of Britain, slept with an arm thrown over his eyes. Arthur, who had woken just as they had need of him. Arthur, who could calm Merlin's storm when no one else could.

He's the one person I would want by my side if I had to go into Hell, Merlin had said and meant it. He had taken Arthur from British soil hours after his long sleep, unwilling to leave him behind at Gwaed Lyn.

Rosa had been too wound up to talk to Arthur much, but one thing she knew—Arthur Pendragon was as stoic as stone. Waking up and finding out he had been asleep over fifteen hundred years? Well, that was just Merlin's magic being its unpredictable self. Going into the Aos Si to battle with the most powerful witch queen who ever drew breath? Sure, he'd help out. If their places had been swapped, Rosa doubted she would have taken it all in stride the same way.

Merlin Shenanigans, Arthur had called it, as if a war with the queen of the Seelie didn't surprise him in the least.

There was a small snap of a branch, and a woman appeared through the trees, marking the approach of their fourth companion. The quietly vicious, silver-haired general, Eirianwen, terrified them all. Rosa had struggled to get three words out of her since they had returned to the Aos Si. Amongst other things, including presumed dead, Eirianwen had once been betrothed to Eli. Both seemed content to ignore each other. Both failed miserably.

Pretending she was asleep, Rosa heard Eli and Eirianwen whispering in the Unseelie language. She might not have beenable to understand the words, but she understood the tone. Eirianwen was reporting back whatever she'd seen, and she was tense about it.

"You shouldn't be eavesdropping so early in the day, Rhosyn," Merlin whispered beside her, and one perfectly golden eye opened, sharp as a hawk's.

"How can you eavesdrop when you don't speak or understand the language?" Rosa whispered back.

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