Page 6 of Wicked Prince of Shadows
The wind tugged at me, and I slid farther down, my feet pressed against the wall and the knots.
“What’s that?” a sharp voice called out from below.
“That’s the princess!” another shouted up.
The cries rang out from below, guttural and raw.
My head jerked to the side, icy terror searing through my veins.
A pair of guards stood near the base of the palace wall, their grey skin catching what little light leaked from the clouded sky as a servant stood a few feet back. Wings, ragged and smoky, unfurled behind them, flickering like ash carried on the wind. Black stitches crawled across their faces as well as on their necks and their hands, pulling their skin into puckered seams.
Bleeding hemlock!
“Someone stop her, or we’re all going to die!”
What in all the nations was that supposed to mean? I dropped another foot and looked around the pale-grey land. Aterrified squeak escaped my lips at the quickening. Maker, help me, I had to move faster, or they’d catch me.
The two guards sprang into the air as the clamoring intensified. They flew toward me.
"Princess! Stop!" one of the winged guards shouted, his voice carrying on the bitter wind. He and the other soared closer, their smoky wings catching on the wind and gaining height swiftly.
“Someone grab her!” another frightened voice called out. “She doesn’t have wings!”
I dropped lower, the wall opening into a window. Instead of a reprieve, I found myself face to face with the Hollow King as if he had been waiting for me all along, arms folded over his broad chest, spiked crown on his head, dark brows knit together. He stared at me with cold, burning eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I clung to the rope, staring at him. My mouth went dry, and my tongue thickened. The scent of cloves, myrrh, and cedar filled my lungs. “Um...my door was locked, so...I didn't want to bother anyone, and I thought I'd go for a walk.”
“Oh.” He canted his head. “Going for a walk, are we?”
I forced myself to nod. Terrified as I was, I wouldn’t let this wretched creature see me flinch. Steadying myself against the wall, I braced my feet on the stones. “Yes, well, I just wanted some fresh air and I also wanted to see your kingdom.”
His eyes narrowed as he leaned forward. “Is that so?” He stepped up and forward onto the window ledge, filling the empty space.
I shimmied the rope to the side as he turned to face me. His squared shoulders and wings filled the entirety of the tall window space. “Let me give you a proper tour then.” His cold hand clamped around my forearm. He yanked me from the rope and held me out in front of him. He tore the rest of the rope away and jerked it so that it fell into a long coiling pile far below.
"No!" I screamed as my feet left the wall and the rope slid from my hands, my body suddenly weightless. My fingers clawed for the wall.No, no, no, no!
With a dark smirk, he flung me upward.
My stomach lurched as I sailed through the air, arms flailing wildly and throat locking. The palace wall rushed toward me. My arms and legs flailed as I fought to slow my descent. The jagged crenels shot toward me like broken teeth, and a ragged scream finally tore from my throat, my borrowed dress billowing around me like broken wings.
An icy hand seized my shoulders and ripped me back up. “It is so much easier to see up here.” The Hollow King growled in my ear.
Another scream choked in my throat as we shot up higher in the air. The cold wind whipped my skirts and hair, stinging my cheeks.
Up, up, up we flew, facing away from the palace and toward the chasm. The entirety of the land spread out before us, large portions of it swathed in black fog or cut in pieces by the chasm.
My heartbeat was so wild I could feel it in every one of my extremities, but it was nothing compared to the helplessness and rage that curdled in me.
The weak sunlight poured out over the land, weak and watery and in a position that suggested it was late in the day. It didn’t even seem to fully reach the dark-barked forest to the right of the palace or the chasm between the heavy bank of fog.
“There’s nowhere for you to run, princess,” he snarled. He adjusted his grip so that his one arm banded tighter around me as he pointed with the other hand, his dark claws gleaming. “You see that point right there?” He indicated a dark pit on the other side of the chasm. "Inside there is your precious portal that could whisk you home to the Waking Lands. Such a long anddangerous trip for one who can’t fly. This land is harsh beyond anything you could imagine. You wouldn’t survive an hour.”
Though I hated him, I clung to him, my heart racing and my stomach souring.
This land looked nothing like anything I’d ever seen before or even imagined when I'd heard stories of it. It was as if it wasn’t even a full land at all but some wretched space wreathed in black mist that opened at intervals across barren land and sparse black forests.
The chasm curled in a crescent shape before the portal point with three large tablets on the palace side of the chasm.
