Ezra, Solomon and I stand on the edge of the city square. In a few minutes Rhain and Devin will be brought to the bandstand and their sentence announced. I feel a rising sickness curdling my stomach.

“Are you sure this plan will work?” I ask. Around us there are hundreds of fae people, all waiting to hear what the king has decided.

“I am certain it will prove enough of a distraction so that you can escape.”

“I hope so,” Ezra says, noticing the increasing crowd.

“You remember my instructions on how to open the door back to the surface?”

I nod. My skin is still stinging from the rose tattoo carved onto my upper arm. Solomon explained earlier that the door we must leave by will only reveal itself once I am marked with the tattoo. It is a key of sorts, and will open the same door to the surface that we entered by. Now, at the very least, I have a permanent reminder of my time here in the Forbidden forest. Of course, it will only serve as a reminder if we manage to escape. I push that thought down. Failure is not an option, there is too much at stake.

“Here they come,” Ezra says, and like the rest of the fae we watch as they are brought into the square.

Rhain and Devin walk calmly between two fae men and my heart squeezes at the sight. Their eyes are glazed, their hands bound in front of them. I instinctively grab Ezra’s hand.

“They are still under the king’s spell. You will need to break it, otherwise they will be going nowhere,” Solomon whispers urgently.

“How?” I reply.

Solomon doesn’t appear to hear me.

“How will I break the spell, Solomon?” I repeat, but the pounding of drums begins, and my question is lost beneath the ruckus. We watch as Rhain and Devin are brought to the bandstand. Around us the fae cheer as a man, who can only be the fae king, walks up onto the stage. He is younger than I had expected, several years younger than Solomon. Although none of the fae look anywhere near their one thousand years. Solomon looks no more than seventy at a push, the fae king around fifty. Unlike the vampires, they appear to age, just incredibly slowly. The fae king raises his hand and the drumming stops, as do the cheers. A silence descends as he steps forward, his crown of gold and silver flowers glinting in the light.

“People of Clan Terra, my fellow fae, I look upon you all. Mother Nature blesses you,” he says, throwing his arms open wide.

“As Mother Nature blesses you in return,” the crowd respond.

The fae king circles around Rhain and Devin, who do not appear to notice him at all. “These men of Clan Lux entered the Forbidden forest. They are trespassers and as such must pay the price. Mother Nature will be appeased, and we will be one step closer to breaking the curse.” He waves his hand. A bright flash of green light, flecked with black lightning, sparks in the air as a great rumbling shakes the ground beneath our feet. The fae in the crowd begin to chant words that I do not understand as a large crack begins to open in the ground. They seem completely unconcerned by what is occurring. Solomon turns to face me.

“The time is now,” he says, pulling back the hood to his robe. “You have but a few minutes to get out of here. I wish you well.” He pats Ezra on the back and shakes my hand. “Make haste,” he urges. I am caught for a moment by the bee tattoo on his face. It seems to light up from beneath his skin.

“Go,” he says, and this time we don’t hesitate.

Ezra and I move forward through the crowd just as a loud buzzing fills the air. It is so loud that it drowns out the sound of the fae chanting. I look at the back of the crowd to see a huge cloud of bees moving towards us. There must be thousands of them, more. My eyes stray to Solomon, the tattoo on his cheek is pulsing in the light. I watch as the bees swarm around him, his fae magic allowing him to control the insects he loves. To have such magic is a rare gift amongst the fae and the only reason he was not sacrificed alongside his wife and son.

Ezra pulls me through the crowd as the people begin to scatter. The bees move with purpose, some of the fae are being stung, but not one flies towards Ezra or me. It is chaos. The ground stops moving now the chanting has ceased. I look up at the king, who is staring at Solomon, his face filled with rage. He shouts something above the din to the fae men who brought Rhain and Devin into the square and together they run towards Solomon.

“Now,” Ezra says, and we both sprint up to the platform. Ezra pulls his small silver knife out and cuts the vines from their wrists. “Come brothers, we have no time,” he says, shaking Rhain, then Devin’s shoulder. They remain standing where they are. “Why aren’t they moving?”

“Solomon said they were under a fae spell, that I must break it. But he didn’t say how. What do I do, Ezra?”

“I don’t know, but you better think of something quick,” Ezra says, pointing towards the fae king who seems to be conjuring magic of his own. A man steps up onto the platform behind us and raises his hand. Ezra ducks as a bolt of green light flies towards him, then he leaps in the air, tackling the man to the ground.

I look at Rhain, then at Devin, the pounding of my heart loud in my ears. What do I do? If I don’t snap them out of this spell, we will all perish here today. In the commotion, Ezra has dropped his knife. I lean down to pick it up, an idea forming. Grabbing Devin’s hand, I cut into his palm, then slide the knife across my own skin, remembering to repeat the chant required for the Binding to work.

I stand back, trying not to listen to the sounds of Ezra fighting behind me. I shake Devin’s shoulders, leaving trails of blood on his clothing.

Devin, WAKE UP, I scream silently, hoping he can hear me. Devin, damn it, WAKE UP.

Hey, no need to shout so loudly. I can hear you. Devin’s head snaps up, his dark eyes focussing on me. “It’s about time,” he says, shaking his head.

I throw myself into his arms. “Thank goodness you’re okay.” For a split second, whilst the chaos ensues around us, I allow myself a moment to relish the feel of him in my arms. Time slows, the noise lessens, my heart beats faster. “Devin,” I whisper.

I’m okay, Accacia. We’re okay.

The moment is gone as Devin whirls with me in his arms just as bright green sparks of magic whizz by our heads. “There’s no time. I need to help Ezra, and you need to wake Rhain up,” he says, letting me go. I nod my head, raising the knife. He pulls on my wrist. “That won’t work on Rhain.”

“Why? It worked for you.”

“You’ve undergone the Claiming. Your bodies are connected in a different way. Kiss him, Lights damn it, and wake Sleeping Beauty up,” he says, before rushing to help Ezra fight off more fae.

Rhain is staring off into space, the indigo-blue of his beautiful eyes glazed and unseeing. I step up to him and, whilst all hell breaks loose around us, whilst the bees swarm around the fae people, whilst the king and his henchmen try to stop Solomon, I kiss him fiercely. The result is instant, urgent. His eyes snap open, just like Devin’s had.

“Cia, Cia,” he says into my parted lips. He reaches up, cupping my face in his hands, and kisses me deeply. I pull away, breathless.

“There’s no time. We must leave,” I say quickly. The rose tattoo on my arm is burning. I pull off my robe, not caring anymore about being in disguise. By now, it is pretty obvious we are not fae. Rhain’s eyes linger on the outline of a rose in full bloom that is wrapped around my upper arm. His eyes follow the thorny stem that curls down past my elbow, wraps around my wrist and finishes at my fingertip. He glances up, then raises an eyebrow.

“I’ll explain later,” I say.

Over my shoulder, Ezra and Devin are still fighting, but I have no time to think about it as I run the tip of the blade through one of the petals on my arm, just as Solomon instructed. I wince as my blood slides out of the cut, colouring in the tattoo, filling up every petal so that it’s no longer an outline but bright red, just like the rose I saw earlier today. Once my blood has reached the outline of the rose, it moves with purpose along the stem of the flower, following the same path all the way to the tip of my middle finger. I watch as just one drop of my blood hits the ground beneath our feet.

The ground shifts again, perhaps not as powerfully as it had earlier, but with purpose nonetheless. Out of the ground a green shoot rapidly appears, growing skyward. Rhain steps back, his eyes wide.

“What in Lights name?” he starts before twisting on his feet and punching a fae man squarely in the jaw. I hadn’t even heard him approaching. Before me the shoot grows into a twisting, tumbling plant that forms into an archway until a wooden door appears. On the centre of the door is the same rose that adorns my arm. Around the doorway, tiny red rosebuds burst into flowers.

It’s time to leave, I say silently to Devin, knowing he will be able to draw Ezra’s attention better than I can.

“Rhain, it’s time to go,” I shout, pushing open the door. Beyond the door is a darkened staircase that curls upwards and out of sight.

Rhain backhands another fae, just as Ezra and Devin come rushing towards me. I step through the door, Rhain, Ezra and Devin close behind. Over their shoulders I can see Solomon lift his hand at us, a triumphant smile on his lips. He flicks his wrist and in an instant the swarm of bees surround him. A moment later he is gone. As the door closes on the city, I catch sight of the fae king. He is screaming.