RELL

"In God We Trust," I read aloud. "It looks like a coin of some sort. Think how valuable it must be to have so much detail." Then I looked closer, "It has numbers too, two, zero, one, five. Maybe that's what it's worth?" I turned to Lorcan, my thoughts swimming. What did the Mountain Dew and strange coin mean? Were they some kind of clues, pointing us to whomever had stolen the Blood Rose? "I've never seen a coin like this in The Dark Realm, have you? Maybe it's from one of the outer realms?"

Lorcan was silent, his face pale, and he turned away from me and began to pace.

The colorful shadows cast by the dragon flame high above played tricks on Lorcan's face, making it impossible to read. Yet the stiff set of his shoulders, and the sound of his feet pounding the floor told a story in itself. He was worried about his kingdom, his mother queen... which is when I realized as his Beast-Slayer, I hadn't been entirely forthcoming with him.

"Lorcan..." I said, voice laced with guilt. "I need to tell you something."

He turned those piercing eyes to me at once. "Then tell me," he commanded.

In halting tones, I told him of the wall, and the moon, the forest, the roaring beast, and the young man beyond (not mentioning the man had been handsome). He turned back to stare at the coffin while I spoke.

"And what do you think it was?" he said when I was done. "This realm beyond the wall?"

"I'm not sure..." I swallowed, "but Poxel thought it might have been... the Human Realm."

His eyes flashed as he stared down at the coffin, not answering.

"Did Poxel have any other opinions?" he asked, voice low and soft.

"He believes it exists.. . Is that possible?" As a Beast-Slayer, it wasn't my duty to wonder about the Human Realm... even though I did so endlessly. But how could I not wonder at a fantastic world with light at the flick of a finger, metal boxes that fly through the sky, ribbon of multicolored light that arched through the sky after a storm?

My duty was to slay Beasts and serve the Dark Prince. I was renowned as the youngest and best beast slayer in the Dark Realms, yet my deepest, darkest secret was that I didn't often slay beasts. More often, I simply talked with them. It had started the first time I'd tracked down a midnight dragon, and she'd caught me unprepared, a talon the size of my leg pinned against my chest. I was about to die, and yet, my final question had been, where did you get that golden scale? She'd stared at me, her eye as big as a dinner plate, like she could see straight into my soul, and then had spoken straight into my head, the first time I'd ever heard thought-speak. Lay down your sword, Beast-Slayer, and let me tell you of my years in the Human Realm.

And so I discovered that sometimes all a beast needed was a story and someone to talk to. And, even more strangely, the beasts were often the most receptive to my imaginations of the Human Realm. Some even told me glorious stories of things like rainbows and pink birds that stood on one foot and yellow horses with long necks and brown spots. Amazing, ridiculous stories that I devoured.

Which is why, when Lorcan spoke again, though I should have been terrified of what the absence of the Blood Rose could mean, I couldn't stop the bursting feeling of excitement in my chest.

"As the Prince of the Dark Realm, I am not allowed to acknowledge the existence of a Human Realm." And then he sighed, running a hand through his uselessly neat hair. "But if the thief has taken the Blood Rose to the Human Realm, then even I am at the mercy of the magic. Without the rose, I cannot open a set doorway to the Human Realm to track down the thief. We are at the mercy of the magic to pursue them."

The Human Realm is real. The knowledge blazed like a fire within me, bright as... well, the colors of a rainbow I'd imagined a thousand times over.

"But beasts slip through all the time, right?"

His sharp gaze suddenly turned to me, at this knowledge I wasn't supposed to know, and then he sighed, seeming for a moment to drop the prince pretense. "Accidently, yes. But they are usually terrorized and killed, and if they can't find a place to hide, the sun burns them away." He shook his head. "Without the Blood Rose guarding the boundaries, more will behind to slip over. More will die."

"Then there's no time to waste." I said, already running through everything we would need. "We take no more than a few guards, and our best knights— "

But Lorcan cut me off, a hand raised. "There's one more thing."

He reached inside his tunic, pulling out a perfectly flat black stone. It was in the shape of a rectangle, but with rounded corners.

And on the back was a tiny painting; a green background, with a roaring lion in the center.

"Shadowglen High," I read out loud, written on a golden banner beneath the lion. "What in the name of darkness is a Shadowglen High?"

I ran my fingers over the screen and jumped back when the glass surface suddenly flared to life. A tiny written message glowed inside the rock.

SWIPE UP TO CONTINUE

"It's some sort of riddle," Lorcan said with frustration, taking the black rock back from my hands. "Yet I can't seem to solve it." I resisted the urge to snatch it straight back. If it really were a riddle, then it meant there was also a solution.

"Any idea what it means?" I asked. "Or why it was left there?"

"It wasn't encased with my mother... so part of me thinks it was either left behind on accident or..."

"Or as a clue?" I felt a tremble of excitement. The realm was in peril. The Queen beneath a terrible curse. This was my chance to be more than a Beast-Slayer. My chance to see the Human Realm.... And my chance to belong somewhere different than a land of eternal darkness. Maybe it was wrong to think that way, but I couldn't help it. I'd wanted to see the Human Realm since as long as I could remember. I wanted. It was a dangerous, forbidden thought for a Beast-Slayer, but it was true.

"Whatever it is," Lorcan interrupted my thoughts,"I leave for the Dark Woods at once, to search for a portal to the other realm. If your wall really was some sort of view of the other Realm, then maybe the forest will have mercy." His jaw clenched, eyes hardening, and I understood the expression. The forest, and magic, knew great wonders... but mercy wasn't one of them.

"How much time do we have?" I said, reaching for my sword— only to remember I'd left it outside.

"The sun will be weaker in the winter... even so, I'd say no more than two full moons. Maybe less."

"I'll come with you."

This time, he stepped closer to me, his eyes charged with something other than worry for his kingdom when they flicked to mine. "Have you thought more about what I asked you?"

I froze. The wooden pews reached out behind us, and for the first time, the cathedral felt vast and lonely. For several days I hadn't been able to think of anything else, his hands on me, his lips against mine, his proposal that I had no words for. "I have," I said heavily, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here.

"And?"

"And my answer is still no. I'm not right for the Realm... or for you, Lorcan."

He nodded, staring down at the coffin, his voice distant, removed. "Then I go alone."

"Lorcan, be reasonable!" I stepped forward, reaching out to take his hand, and then deciding against it. "If you fail, there won't be a Realm to come home too."

"Then I best not fail."

I decided to try a different track. "Lorcan, this is going to be dangerous. We do everything together."

"Not everything."

His words were a shock, like a blow straight to the chest. He must have seen the hurt on my face, because he reached out and gently took my hand in his. He lifted it to his lips, and placed a kiss there, all the while watching me with an unwavering gaze.

"You are my best friend, Rell. We once did everything together. But we were children then. I am about to be a King, and if you will not be my Queen, then I need to put my people first... even above you."

His words were a thousand times more painful for the fact that I had the power to change them and chose not to. But I wouldn't hurt him in that way; not when I didn't feel the same. So instead, I squeezed his hand, and then pulled it gently away. "I will always be your friend. And your Beast-Slayer."

"I know." His voice was a dismissal, already distant. He stared at the coffin so forlornly my heart twisted.

I turned to go, then spun around, bent at the waist, and gave a small bow. "Good luck, my prince. I pray when next we meet you are not my King. I'm not sure I would make a good Beast-Slayer to a King."

He gave a dark chuckle, "Would you listen to me then?"

I paused, and then smiled. "You know I wouldn't."

I left, making the lonely walk down the aisle, knowing that at least I had left my Prince with a smile, if not the kiss he might have wanted. But Lorcan was like a brother to me, and I didn't feel that way to him. How could I, for the boy who'd practically raised me? Besides, the realm was filled with swooning princesses and beautiful courtiers, all wishing Lorcan would pick them for his bride. Why on earth would he want a tall, half-wild Beast-Slayer? Especially one who dreamed of a different realm. I threw open the doors of the castle, surprised when a cold wind greeted me.

Giant black flakes of snow had begun to fall. In the courtyard, courtiers and peasants alike paused in their doings, staring up at the sky in wonder.

I watched as a child with golden curls opened his mouth, caught one of the black flakes on his tongue, and smiled. The rest of the crowd muttered uneasily at the snow, far too early in the season.

Had the effects of The Blood Rose absence begun so soon?

Poxel? I sent out the thought, relieved when I saw my shadow dragon dip below the dark mist. His belly glowed with dragon fire, lighting up what looked like a tiny oblong white ball clutched in his talons.

Can't talk right now, dropping eggs on people. Very important.

This is important. Our realm needs us.

Moderate interest. A quest with Lorcan?

Not exactly. He doesn't want us to go... But don't worry, I have a plan.

Nothing.

Then an egg splat on the head of a bulk of a man next to me, and he jumped, his face red with fury as he spun and shouted, 'Who did that?! Who did that?!" The child who had caught the snowflake laughed and pointed while his mother dragged him behind a cart of smoking dragon dung.

"Guess that means yes," I said with a smile, and disappeared into the crowd, a small dragon flitting through the mist close behind.

(Hey guys,

What did you think of the chapter? 

I love this picture for what Poxel might look like, here is where the image came from http://fav.me/d8fj5db I kinda imagined a mix between that and a tiny, green Toothless from Home to Train Your Dragon XD If any of you guys draw Dragons, I'd love to have a picture of him for a banner! I will dedicate the chapter to you and give a shout out in the comments :D

Please don't forget to comment and vote!

Best,

Hannah)