Blood & Roses: A Sweet & Spicy Snow White Retelling (Enchanted Hearts Book 2) by Madeleine Eliot

Author:Madeleine Eliot [Eliot, Madeleine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

We rode southwest toward Fairwinds, the only major human-elven city on the border between the Elflands and the human kingdom of Stalheim. Rowan believed he could make it in less than a day as long as he kept up a steady run, and the elven kingdom of Elandor was another day west of the city. We planned to stay there tonight, then travel properly into Elandor the next day.

We kept mostly to the woods, pausing only to rest briefly here and there as we pounded a snowy path south away from my sisters.

A pang of terror gripped me, thinking of my sisters as we headed for the capital. The last time I’d left them for any length of time was twelve years prior. I’d left in search of any word from Mother and Father after they didn’t return home, but I had never told my sisters that the High King refused to see me; only that there had been no word or sign of our parents and that we must keep going as if they were gone.

Lis’ shadows had burst out of her that day. Calli and Ella had cried inconsolably. Sera and Mora had been at each other’s throats, and it was up to me and Lena to keep us together and fed and alive. Lena had taken on the role of comforter, and I…I had found my first job that day.

There was nothing much to see as we traveled. Aside from Mysthaven, there were a few inconsequential towns, a lot of barren forest, and miles of frozen farmland. The land seemed to be slowly dying under the endless winter, and it was a miracle that a city like Fairwind was able to survive at all.

The elven kingdoms got by on trade, mostly from the human lands to the south. But half-elves and quarter-elves tended to be unwelcome in the kingdoms, so we eked out a meager existence on the outskirts.

I wondered if Tristan might be different, with a half-elven brother. Perhaps Elandor was more tolerant than Frostwood, where my father hailed from.

Rowan slowed as the shadows elongated, afternoon bleeding into evening as the walls of Fairwinds came into view. With a shake of his head and a chuff of air, he knelt, my sign to dismount.

“Gods,” he groaned after shifting back into a male, stretching his arms and legs and grimacing in pain. “Everything hurts.”

I was also stiff and sore from riding bareback all day, but I didn’t say as much. Owl was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he’d already flown into town and found a nice place to perch for the night.

“Are you sure we should risk going into the city?” I asked, looking around at the frozen land and despairing. It would be a cold night if we camped in the woods rather than staying in one of the city’s boarding houses, but if Rowan were recognized, we might be targeted by the queen or her hunters.

Rowan shook his head. “I need sleep if I have to run to Elandor tomorrow,” he said, holding out his hand to take the pack from me.

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