Chapter 1

"Your tattoos look so real" he whispered in awe, tracing his finger over the outline of my retracted wings.

Humans were funny, they didn't really believe in us Fae, but they had the expectation that our wings were an external appendage. The reality was we could release or retract them at will, allowing us to blend in with the neighboring kingdoms. I propped myself up on my elbows, allowing my eyes to rake over this Adonis. I had picked him up in a human bar hoping for a fun romp in the hay and he had delivered.

"I should get going, it's getting late and I have things to do tomorrow." I said, lifting myself from the bed to begin dressing.

"Well maybe let's exchange numbers and we can do this again," he grinned, "it was fun."

"I don't have a phone." I responded flatly, pulling on my boots, "Besides, I know where to find you if I want another roll in the hay".

"Off the grid huh? Wow, sexy and mysterious".

"That's me." I chuckled, running my finger down his arm, feeling my magic come to the surface, "You should sleep now."

He promptly collapsed back onto his pillow in a deep sleep. Mortals are so sensitive to our magic and yet that's another misconception they have about our kind. There's no "bippidy boppidy boo" like in their fairytales, a simple touch and command will do when it comes to using our magic on them. Other supernatural beings were another story.

I took a moment to soak in one last look at him before walking to the window. He was a sexy man for sure, I could definitely see myself coming back for another night of toe-curling sex. I pushed the window out and jumped, releasing my wings to fly home to the palace. My kingdom and palace weren't far, I had come to a human city on the border for a night of fun, but it was much faster to fly home.

I had barely crossed the border into my clan's kingdom when I felt a sharp pain rip through my right wing. In a moment of panic, I realized that it was not responding, as if it had been cut off from the rest of my body.

MIRIAM! I heard my named screamed in my mind before another bolt of pain shot through me like lightening. My vision clouded and I could see my twin brother Mikah. He was bloodied and beaten, on his knees before a group in fire clan robes. The panic welled in my throat as I saw one of the robed and hooded figures move towards him with a knife brandished.

"Are you ready to die, Prince?" I heard as a sharp pain tore across my throat before everything went black.

I came to on the ground. There was a clear line where I had skidded across the dirt on impact. Surprisingly, there was very little soreness and I couldn't feel any major damage. I must have instinctually recalled my wings as I fell from the sky because my wings were retracted and unharmed. Overall, I felt fine aside from minor cuts and bruises.

What the hell was that? I thought, recalling the image of my twin brother's face filling my vision as I fell. Mikah was home in the castle. He was surrounded by trusted guards. Even if Fire clan Fae could enter our Kingdom undetected, they wouldn't have been able to get into the castle, let alone near enough to harm Mikah. That couldn't have been a vision across our twin link.

I stood up, dusting myself off and gingerly feeling around to see if my initial injury assessment was correct. I couldn't sense Mikah, but that wasn't unusual. Fae can't link minds generally, our ability to mind link was attributed to being twins born under a red moon. Still, we had learned as we grew up how to cut each other off. Nothing worse than being bombarded with the mental images of your sibling's sexual fantasies. Mikah was probably busy and didn't want me intruding.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sounds of horses. The border guards were hastily approaching from their posts, with a wagon in tow. They must have seen me falling from the sky. I wasn't sure how I was going to explain this one. Hell, I didn't even understand what had happened.

"Your majesty, are you alright?" One of the guards said, stopping his horse in front of me.

"I think so, but I need to get back to the castle." I responded, keeping my voice even.

"Hey Mi... I mean Princess." Came another voice. It was Xaviar. We had grown up together and were almost as close as Me and Mikah. "I have the wagon if you want to hop in, I can get you back to the castle".

His commander, the one who had spoken first, gave him a stern look. It wasn't appropriate for guards to speak to royalty in such a familiar manner. Before he could reprimand Xaviar, I hopped into the carriage seat, sparing a look of my own for the commander.

"Sure thing X, let's get me home before anyone can send word to my parents that I dropped like that!"

Xaviar stifled a chuckle and set the wagon into motion. I knew he would be in trouble later, but I also knew that he would be announced as my intended once Mikah was coronated and wanted to save his pretty face from being bruised when the announcement was made. It was an arranged marriage, meant to strengthen our family since his had been the most powerful and loyal in the kingdom. There was nothing more than friendship between us, but I still didn't want either of us embarrassed if he showed up to our engagement announcement looking like shit.

"What happened Miriam? What caused you to fall like that?" He asked once we were out of earshot of the other guards.

"I don't know X. I guess maybe I drank too much in the human kingdom tonight."

Xaviar chuckled. He and I both knew we fooled around with other people. When we had found out about our arranged marriage, we agreed that we wouldn't limit each other from seeing anyone else until we were forced too. We both felt weird about being matched. It was like being matched with our sibling, but we also knew we had to do as we were commanded for the good of the kingdom. Myself being royalty and him being the eldest son of the most powerful family in the kingdom, we had little say in our own lives. The only upside was that I had at least been matched with a friend rather than some stranger from another clan.

"You know, Miriam, there are easier ways to get out of marrying me than getting so drunk you kill yourself flying." He laughed, nudging me with his elbows.

  I was about to respond when I noticed his face darken and become more serious. We had arrived at the castle, but something was off. I glanced around and noticed there was much more activity than there should have been at this hour. Even the servants didn't usually start there day until just before daybreak and it was only after two am. I saw my father, his face solemn, standing on the castle steps and felt my stomach roil.

Something was very wrong, and my feeling of dread only intensified as I dismounted from the wagon. Before I could reach the steps, I felt my mother slam into me,

enveloping me in a tight hug. She was sobbing. "Miriam, oh Miriam, you're safe", she sobbed, petting my hair roughly.

"Of course, I'm safe mother, don't be so dramatic!" I chided, trying to force back the bile I felt rising in my throat. I glanced at my father sheepishly, looking for help disentangling myself from my mother's firm hold.

"Mik.." my father's voice broke, "Mikah is dead and we thought you were taken".

For the second time tonight, everything around me went black.

I woke up to my stomach growling in my bed with no memory of how I got there. Shit, I must have been really shitfaced last night, I thought to myself as I climbed out of bed. My head ached and my stomach was growling angrily at me. Something felt off and a memory was tugging at the edges of my sleepy mind.

I noticed I was still in my clothes from last night and they were covered in dirt. Too hungry to bother changing, but not wanting to hear another lecture on irresponsible behavior, I threw a robe on over them and decided I would find Mikah. He would be an excellent buffer between my parents and I, giving me space to eat in peace. I quietly walked down the hallway towards his door, noticing an alarming lack of royal guards in the area.

Shit, don't tell me I slept in and missed him! I thought, rolling my eyes to myself. I didn't want to face my parents alone this morning, knowing I must have been a drunken mess when I arrived home in the wee hours.

As I drew closer to his room, I heard a woman sobbing. A sense of dread creeped through my body, making each step feel weighted down. Something in my memory was nagging at me, trying to break through. As I came face to face with Mikah's door, I knew the sobbing was definitely coming from his room. I gently pushed the door open, my hand shaking, and was met with the sight of my mother sobbing next to Mikah in his bed, holding his hand.

I quietly stepped in, still not understanding what I was witnessing. My father, who I hadn't initially noticed, stood and moved to embrace me. It hit me than. Mikah was wrong. His lips were tinged blue and he had stitches across his throat. The nights events came rushing back, everything from me falling from the sky to my father telling me that my twin was dead. I jerked away from my father's embrace.

"What? Who?" I stammered, fearing that the what had happened to me in the sky had actually been a vision.

"We believe it was the Fire clan", my father responded, his voice raw, "a guard found a piece of cloth in Mikah's hand. There was only a partial emblem on it, but it was enough to make out."

My mind was reeling. My father had just confirmed what I already knew. Mikah had linked me in his last moments. I had felt his murder and shrugged it off, how could I have ignored him trying to reach out to me like that? Before I got carried away with my internal mental flogging, I remembered, in my "vision", Mikah had his wings ripped off, I had felt it. I looked into my father's eyes as he gathered himself, praying that he wouldn't say what I knew was coming next. If he didn't say it, then I didn't really have a vision of my twin's murder and ignore it.

"His wings are gone" came my mother's sobbing voice.

I bolted from the room.