“Dew!” Teigan burst through the door to her sister’s room, red-faced and panting heavily. The hinges groaned painfully as the abuse. Her braid fell apart into wild loose strands and Dew instinctively tsked at her sister’s sloppiness. 

“Teigan, you need to be more presentable,” Dew reached out to fix her sister’s hair but Teigan trapped her outstretched fingers in a fierce grip. 

“What did Father do with the heads?” At Dew’s furrowed brow, Teigan elaborated, “The Fae heads!”

Dew paled at the reminder and shushed her as she searched for any loitering servants. She closed her bedroom door and dragged her sister over to the bed to sit. 

“Why do you need to know about that?” Dew tucked a light stand behind Teigan’s ear, hands still trying to fix the hapless braid. 

“Fae have been spotted nearby,” Teigan whispered. 

Dew froze in her task. Slowly, she pulled her hands away to blink at her sister. 

“The knight is still here…” Her mind ran wild with the possibilities. “I don’t know what Father did with the heads. I have not seen them.” 

Two weeks since the terrible sight in the hall and Dew still woke in the middle of the night to Efa crawling into her bed after nightmares. 

“What will happen? Will we be cursed?!” Teigan’s words pitched high and Dew slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry…” She muttered when released. 

“I don’t know. Have you asked Maeryn?” The thought of curses spun dread in her head. 

“No, she’s been busy and ignoring me.” Teigan pouted a bit at the thought. 

Out of all the sisters, Teigan held the title of being the least problematic, having held tight to her current engagement for two months now. She will wed next spring if all continued to go well. 

Maeryn carried a heavy burden raising her sisters and often taking their abuse. She stood in defiance of their father despite his blows. A few marriage proposals fell through at her stubborn and strong-headed approach. 

Efa refused to speak which turned away several suitors captured by her beauty, though slimmer than her eldest.  One suitor stubbornly trudged forward with the courtship but gave up when Efa would constantly flinch at his approach and run from his attempts to converse in the gardens. 

Dew had several come and go, one in particular, Ifan, broke her heart. It would be odd for her to marry first anyway. It was odd Teigan would marry before Maeryn but Maeryn would never complain about freeing one of her sisters from the oppressive manor. 

“Where is Efa?” 

“Out sketching, I think…” Teigan shouted in surprise as Dew shot from the bed and ran from the room. She tried to follow but stopped as several servants came rushing from their tasks to see the commotion. 

Dew pushed herself, nearly slamming into one of the stablehands and slipping on the mud. She maintained her balance, however, and shoved the side gate open. Sure enough, she could see the slight frame of Efa by the oak tree. 

“Efa!” Her shout startled her sister. 

Efa rose from her the ground in a quick, jolting movement. Her sketchbook fell from her hands, the charcoal lost to the grass. 

Dew raced to her spot with anxious knots in her stomach. She scanned the woodland’s edge for any signs of life. 

Efa frowned as her youngest sister joined her. She wrote her question on a spare page of her notebook and held it up. 

Dew refused to look at it right away, eyes on the forests beyond the field. 

Frustrated, Efa turned to see what had her sister’s attention and stopped dead. 

Just at the edge, hiding in the shadow of trees, stood a tall being. The distance made him obscure, an outline of a man and nothing more. 

“Fae have been spotted,” Dew whispered, eyes stuck to the stranger. “We need to stay inside.”

Efa gathered her things as Dew watched carefully. Holding hands, they returned to the manor with quick steps. 

The village sat on the opposite side. A row of pines blocked the view. No one would be loitering in the area without getting into serious trouble with the guards. 

“Where have you two been?” Maeryn spotted them entering from the side gate in a rush. 

“Teigan told me Fae were seen nearby and Efa was out sketching.” Dew let go of Efa to lean against the wall, completely out of breath. 

“Go to your rooms,” Maeryn ordered. “Something is about to happen. I can feel it in the wind.” 

Not an uncommon saying for Maeryn which only sometimes held any truth. 

The commanding tone, however, sent them into motion. Dew and Efa headed inside without complaint and split in the corridor. 

Teigan watched from the doorway to her room, having been given the same order. She ducked back at the sight of her sisters speeding down the corridor.

Inside, Dew claimed the window seat and watched with bated breath for anything out of place. Particularly a shadow of a man slipping between the cracks of the outer wall. 

The guards appeared well, making their circuit around the grounds while chatting. The warmth of the day lifted their mood. A cool breeze keeping them cool in their armor. 

Servants rushed through the courtyard in their daily tasks. No fires to put out. No shadows chasing them. 

All normal. All calm. 

A noise sounded to her right. The click of her door. 

Her attention abandoned the watch and turned to the maid entering her room. The maid did not stay long, bringing a few things from the laundry, and squeezed herself back out.

When Dew returned to her watch, her lungs seized tight. 

The shadow rested by the side gate. He loitered on the outside, head tilted down in interest. Then, a hand reached out to tap the gate and swing it easily into motion. The gate, unlatched, swung in a small arch before returning back to the shadow. It stopped short of closing. The shadow moved forward then, pushing the gate open and letting it close behind him. 

She could hear the clang as the gate latched properly this time. 

The shadow walked to the middle of the courtyard and stopped. No servants rushed past. No guards on patrol. A dull moment for now. The shadow’s head cocked back.  

She swore it looked straight at her.

“Dew?” Teigan called from behind causing her sister’s heart to stop for a beat. 

Dew whipped around to see her sister peeking in. She snapped back to the shadow below but found him gone. Cold dread filled her bones. Her palms sweated profusely. 

“Dew?” Teigan called again, closer now. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing…” Dew found her courage and peeled away from the window. She glanced at her sister and forced a smile to her face. “What’s the matter?” 

“Father and the knight are out on a ride right now. He expects us to dress nicely for this evening.” A bad sign if Dew ever saw one. 

The knight enjoyed the leisures the baron gifted him these last weeks. A banquet set to be held tonight in honor of the knight’s glory drew in rich merchants and dear friends. Some noble bachelors would also attend. Ifan, with his young wife, arrived that morning. 

Most likely, the baron did not have 400 gold to spare and would make due by offering up a daughter. Tonight would not only celebrate the knight’s glory, but a marriage. 

Dew is the likely candidate. Efa, second. Teigan would be safe with her current offer to a Viscount’s third son. Maeryn helped run the barony and would only be married for a solid and beneficial offer, if at all. 

“Then, dress nicely, Teigan.” Dew guided her sister out. “And keep your hair up in a braid.”