The Midnight Prince

Learning How to Heal

Ashen. 

Pulse.

Steady, but too slow.

“Moon,” I said, brushing snow and dirt from her cheek.

She did not wake.

I checked her head carefully, then her ribs, then the arm twisted beneath her cloak. No blood. No broken bone that I could feel. The impact had knocked her unconscious.

Alive.

I gathered her into my arms.

Her head fell against my chest.

The bond was quiet, but not gone.

A dim warmth under ice.

“I have you,” I whispered, though she could not hear me.

Behind me, Veyra screamed.

Not in fear.

In fury.

“Solan, open your eyes.”

I turned, Moon held tight against my chest.

Veyra sat in the snow with Solan’s head in her lap. His face was pale, too pale, blood at his mouth and nose. The front of his tunic had burned where Nara’s power struck him. Silver cracks of light flickered beneath his skin like shattered moonstone.

Veyra pressed both hands to his chest.

“No,” she snapped. “No, absolutely not. Do not do that.”

Solan’s eyes fluttered halfway open.

“Do what?” he whispered. “Rest dramatically?”

“Stop joking.”

His mouth twitched. “That sounded like concern.”

Veyra’s face crumpled for half a second before she forced it back into place.

“It is not concern,” she said, voice shaking. “It is irritation. You are irritating me by dying.”

“Rude of me.”

“Solan.”

Something in her voice made even him go quiet.

I had never heard Veyra sound like that.

Small.

Terrified.

Ancient.

Solan lifted his hand slowly.

For one strange moment, while death pulled at him and hunters were surely turning toward our light, he touched her cheek.

His thumb wiped a streak of dirt from her face.

Veyra froze.

“You have mud on you,” he murmured.

Her breath broke.

“You idiot.”

“I have been called worse.”

“Stop joking,” she whispered. “Please.”

His eyes softened, unfocused but still on her. “That was a please.”

“Do not make me regret it.”

“Too late, I think.”

His hand slipped from her face.

Veyra caught it before it fell.

Then she looked at me.

I knew that look.

Desperation wrapped in decision.

“I can save him,” she said.

“Do it.”

Her mouth tightened. “It is not that simple.”

Nothing ever was.

“What do you need?”

“Permission.” Her voice shook. “His.”

Solan’s eyes shifted faintly to her.

Veyra leaned over him. “Listen to me, royal mouse.”

A weak breath left him. “There it is.”

“Stop.” She pressed his hand between both of hers. “I can give you one of my lives.”

Even with Moon unconscious in my arms, even with Nara trembling beside me, the words hit the clearing like a dropped blade.

Solan stared at her. “One of your… lives?”

“Fae are not built like wolves,” Veyra said quickly. “Not exactly. I can bind one of my lives to yours. Anchor you before you cross. But it is intimate magic. Old magic. Bond magic.”

His brow tightened faintly. “Cost?”

Veyra swallowed.

“I do not know.”

For once, she did not hide behind a joke.

“I have never done this with a wolf prince,” she whispered. “I do not know what it will tie between us. I do not know if it will hurt you later. I do not know if it will hurt me. I only know you will die if I do nothing.”

Nara made a broken sound.

I looked at my sister.

Her face had gone bloodless.

Solan’s gaze moved from Veyra to Nara.

Even dying, he saw her guilt.

His voice came thin. “Nara.”

She flinched.

“This is not your fault,” he whispered.

A tear slipped down her face. “I did this.”

“Yes.” His mouth tried to curve. “But I am annoyingly resilient.”

Veyra’s fingers dug into his hand. “I said stop joking.”

Solan looked back at her.

For one heartbeat, the forest held still.

“Veyra,” he breathed.

“Say yes,” she whispered. “Or say no. But say it now.”

His eyes searched her face.

No smile this time.

No shield.

“Yes,” he whispered. “I consent.”

Veyra bent over him and pressed her forehead to his.

Green-gold light spilled from her chest.

It wrapped around Solan’s heart, threading through the silver cracks beneath his skin. He gasped. Veyra gasped with him.

The light tightened.

For one terrifying second, both of them went still.

Then Solan dragged in a breath.

A real one.

Ragged.

Painful.

Alive.

Veyra bowed over him, clutching his hand like she could hold him in the world by force.

“You i***t,” she whispered again, voice breaking completely. “You absolute idiot.”

Solan’s eyes opened barely.

“Did it work?”

Veyra laughed once, and it sounded like a sob. “Yes.”

“Good.” His eyes drifted to her face. “You still have dirt on you.”

Veyra stared at him.

Then she made a sound between fury and relief and pressed her forehead harder against his.

“I am going to kill you myself.”

“Later,” he whispered.

Then he passed out in her arms.

No one moved for a moment.

Then Lord Pebblewick gave a low, trembling coo from a broken branch overhead.

Veyra looked up at him with wet eyes.

“Not now.”

For once, the bird listened.

I held Moon closer.

The bond between us stirred faintly, as if she felt my worry even in sleep.

Nara wiped her face with shaking hands.

“I need to leave.”

My head snapped toward her.

“No.”

The word came too fast.

Too hard.

She flinched, but she did not back down.

“Ash, I almost killed him.”

“He is alive.”

“Because Veyra gave him one of her lives.” Her voice cracked. “Because I could not stop.”

I looked away.

Not because she was wrong.

Because she was right.

Veyra gently lowered Solan’s head onto her folded cloak and stood. Green-gold light still trembled faintly beneath her skin, but her eyes were sharp again.

“Nara needs training.”

I already knew.

That did not make the words easier to hear.

“She can learn with us.”

“No,” Veyra said.

My gaze cut to her.

She did not soften.

“She is a Moon Priestess Guardian of the Frostveil Bloodline. Her power does not belong fully to this realm. It touches wolf magic, moon magic, old blood magic, and the paths between worlds.” She looked at Nara. “There are priestesses who can teach her how not to tear herself apart with it.”

“Where?”

Veyra hesitated.

“The fae realm.”

Every muscle in my body went cold.

“No.”

Nara stepped closer. “Ash—”

“No.”

“Ashen,” Moon whispered weakly.

My heart stopped.

I looked down.

Her eyes were half-open, unfocused but awake.

“Moon.”

She tried to lift her head. I shifted her carefully, supporting her against my chest.

“What happened?”

“Nara’s power broke the snare,” I said. “You hit a tree.”

Her eyes moved to Nara.

Then to Solan unconscious on Veyra’s cloak.

Understanding came slowly, then sharply.

“Solan?”

“Alive,” Veyra said. Her voice was rough. “For now. Because I am generous and stupid.”

Solan, unconscious, did not defend himself.

Moon’s fingers curled weakly in my shirt.

“You’re shaking,” she whispered.

I looked down.

She was right.

I was.

Nara took another step toward me.

“Ash, listen to me.”

“I am not letting you walk into another realm.”

“You are not letting me do anything.” Her chin lifted, tears still drying on her face. “I am choosing.”

The words struck harder than they should have.

Nara’s eyes softened.

“I know you are scared.”

I almost laughed.

Scared was too small.

I had survived SilvaFrost by keeping Nara close. I had built my life around knowing where she was, whether she had eaten, who had looked at her wrong, which door she could hide behind, how much danger I could put between her and the rest of the world.

Now she wanted to step into a realm I could not follow.

A place where my body could not shield hers.

A place where I would not know if she was hungry or afraid or hurt.

Veyra’s voice softened. “You cannot go with her.”

I looked at her.

“Why?”

“Because you are not a priestess.” She swallowed. “Nara can walk through realms because the Moon Goddess marked her to do it. I can guide her because I am fae. But you, Ashen… the fae realm would try to keep you. Frostveil heirs are not meant to cross without invitation from the high gates.”

“That sounds like a rule made to be broken.”

“It is a rule made from bones.”

Silence fell.

Nara reached for my hand.

I let her take it.

“You protected me long enough,” she said quietly. “Now let me learn how to protect you back.”

My chest tightened until breathing hurt.

Elowyn’s words came back.

Protect her, but do not cage her.

I hated my mother for writing that.

I loved her for knowing I would need it.

“How long?” I asked.

Veyra exhaled. “Time moves differently there.”

“No.”

“I will return to you in one day,” she said quickly. “I am still your Guardian. I cannot leave you unprotected. I will take Nara to the priestess, secure her training, and come back.”

“Without her?”

“For now.”

Nara’s hand tightened around mine.

“I’ll come back,” she said.

“That is not something you can promise.”

“No,” she whispered. “But I am promising anyway.”

I looked at her forehead.

At the crescent frost mark glowing faintly there.

My little sister.

The Moon Priestess Guardian of the Frostveil Bloodline.

Both.

I pulled her into my arms.

She held on tightly, face pressed against my chest.

For a moment, I could pretend she was small again.

Then she stepped back first.

That hurt most.

Veyra lifted her hand.

A doorway split open between the trees.

Not like the rough portal from before.

This one was beautiful and terrible.

A ring of green-gold light edged in silver thorns. Beyond it, I saw a sky full of violet stars, black trees with glowing leaves, and a moon reflected in water that hung upside down.

The fae realm.

Nara stared at it.

Fear moved across her face.

Then determination.

Veyra touched her shoulder. For once, gently.

“You walk beside me,” she said. “Not behind.”

Nara nodded.

I shifted Moon carefully in my arms. She was awake now, but too weak to stand alone. Her fingers held my shirt as if anchoring herself to me.

Solan stirred faintly on the ground.

His eyes opened just enough to find Veyra.

“You leaving?” he rasped.

Veyra looked back.

Something unspoken moved between them.

“For a day.”

“That all?”

“Try to survive it.”

His mouth twitched faintly. “Bossy.”

Her eyes shone.

“Idiot.”

Then she turned before he could see too much.

Nara looked at me one last time.

“Come back to me,” I said.

Her lips trembled.

“I will.”

Then she and Veyra stepped through the portal.

The green-gold light swallowed them.

The doorway began to close.

For the first time since we ran from SilvaFrost, my sister was not behind me. She was somewhere I could not follow.

At the same moment, the forest went silent.

No wind.

No birds.

No distant howls.

Silence like a blade pressed to the throat.

Solan forced himself upright with one hand against a tree, swaying badly.

I adjusted Moon in my arms, pulling her higher against my chest.

A woman stepped out from between the black pines.

Not wolf.

Not fae.

Something colder.

Her skin was pale as moonlit bone. Her black hair fell in glossy waves over a crimson coat. Her eyes were red as fresh blood, and when she smiled, sharp fangs caught the light.

A vampire.

The portal sealed behind us.

Veyra and Nara were gone.

The vampire looked at Solan barely standing.

Then at me.

Then at Moon in my arms.

Her smile widened.

“Hey, guys,” she said brightly. “Where’s the party? I saw the lights.”

Solan lifted his blade, though his hand shook.

I shifted Moon behind the shield of my body as much as I could while still holding her.

The vampire’s red eyes dropped to the blood staining the snow where Solan had nearly died.

“Oh,” she purred, fangs flashing. “And snacks.”