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As we came upon the bodies, my stomach plummeted to my toes. Oliver must’ve felt the melancholy in the air, because he poked his head out of my cloak. I gently guided him back inside, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the figures.
Two women and one man hung from the trees. I realized the black cloaks they wore were all too reminiscent of our own in our stashes. Then I spotted the skull tattoo on the back of the man’s hand. I didn’t want to look at their faces, but I forced myself to anyway. I didn’t recognize them—thank the Goddess—but there was no doubt about it. These three people were from the Miriamic Coven. They’d been hanged as a warning, all right.
A warning to people like us.
Grant’s voice wavered. “I don’t get it. I thought the king and queen were sympathetic to dark magic wielders.”
My stomach felt hollow as I answered, “This wasn’t Emma and Ethan’s doing. An execution by the monarchs would be a public spectacle. Someone else hanged these people and then left them here to rot.”
“Who would do that?” Talia questioned in disbelief.
“I’m sure most fae would love to see us hang,” I said.
“We need to cut them down and bury them.” Nadine’s hands shook as she moved forward, but Chloe grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“No!” Chloe insisted. “We don’t have time.”
“They need a proper burial,” Nadine shot back.
“We’re disguised, but if the fae find us tampering with these bodies, we’ll be buried alongside them,” Chloe argued. “What happened to these members of the coven is unfortunate, but it is already done. I don’t wish to join them.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but Chloe was right. “I don’t feel lingering spirits,” I admitted. “They must’ve already moved on to Alora.”
I was still uneasy from the hollowness of death filling the forest, but my confession was enough to get the others to agree with Chloe.
Nadine dropped her gaze, like she couldn’t bear to glance back at the bodies. “All right. Let’s keep moving.”
As we approached Dolinska, I could make out a large stone wall surrounding the city’s borders. A road led into town, where caravans of merchants traveled on their way into the city. They rode in wagons pulled by alicorn shifters to bring their goods into town. The gated entrance was guarded by two big men in full suits of armor. I guessed they had to be dragon shifters. It wasn’t going to be simple to slip inside unnoticed.
We ducked in the cover of the trees next to the edge of the road.
“There’s a ward surrounding the city,” Nadine whispered. “I can feel it from here.”
Grant grimaced. “I didn’t know the city was warded. Our disguises will work on the people, but I don’t think we can trick the wards.”
Nadine closed her eyes, as if concentrating on the magic. “I can move the magic aside long enough to create a hole in the ward to get us through. Fae magic is different from ours, but it’s close enough that I can still manipulate it.”
My wife never ceased to amaze me. I loved that about her.
“Nadine can get us past the wards, but we still need to get past the guards.” I pointed to a large group of approaching merchants. The group was full of carts, carriages, and other supplies, with a group of people following behind one of the wagons on foot. “To get through the gates, we’ll need to slip into the crowd unnoticed and act as if we’re with the other merchants.”
“Then we need to move quickly,” Chloe said. “They’re almost here.”
The group of merchants passed our hiding spot, and we quickly ducked out of the trees and into the back of the group. A woman in a golden cloak shot a glance back at me, and I could’ve sworn her eyes flashed red, but she turned away and didn’t say anything. My heart pounded, and I prayed she wouldn’t rat us out.
We approached the gates, and I noticed Nadine’s eyes lock straight forward. She was concentrating deeply to shift the ward magic aside to let us through. The guards’ eyes roamed over the crowd and gestured each carriage through. I held my breath as the final wagon we stood behind approached the gates. The guards took a quick look in the back to inspect the merchandise, then waved the merchant team through.
We followed behind the others as if we belonged, though I noticed the woman in the golden cloak shift closer to us. She came so close to me that we were nearly touching.
“Hold up!” one of the guards ordered in a gruff voice. He had a thick Malovian accent, which sounded similar to Russian.
He stepped in front of me, and my heart stopped. He was huge—at least six inches taller than me, with big, broad shoulders. Magic tingled in my fingers, ready to retaliate if necessary.
The guard sniffed the air. “Something isn’t right here.”
I began to panic, and I shot a quick glance at Grant. His eyes went wide, and his expression was easy to read. His potion should work. It was the strongest thing we had.
Before I could think of a lie to give the guard to explain our strange scent, he reached toward me—except his hands moved right past me. Instead of grabbing me like I thought he would, his hands curled around the golden cloak of the woman beside me.
