I am betraying my entire family by being here, Cassius thought miserably as he trudged farther into the forest, a dozen scenarios dancing through his head. His heart thudded in his chest. This is ridiculous, he chided himself. Even if this is legit, it is a long shot.

But it was the only shot he had.

Last night, the call had finally come, with Maximus on the other end of the line to deliver the news.

“We will proceed on New Year’s Day,” he had informed a dread-filled Cassius, though the news had permitted him some relief. That meant he had six weeks to prepare. “Father wants us under his roof to enact strategy on Christmas Day. He feels it poetic to start our new lives in a new year.”

Cassius didn’t care what his father’s reasoning was—all he cared about was finding Ruby and hoping she could give him the answer he required.

The brush grew thicker before him. He pushed the bramble bushes aside, his eyes narrowing as he fought through the scratching branches. Could anyone truly, genuinely live out here? It seemed highly improbable: even in the milder temperatures of autumn, a frost covered the bed of the forest. He could only imagine what the winters brought in the northern part of Rochester, on the Scottish border.

The winter will be the least of her worries, Cassius thought as he continued forth. No matter how hidden she is, she cannot escape what is coming. No one will be able to, unless she can help me.

For over three hours, he moved through the dense forest, and as he felt the temperatures drop, he wished he could continue flying overhead. But there would be no way for him to find her from the sky. Despite his fear that he was going on a wild goose chase, he went on. After all, there was only one way to know whether this would work.

As the sun’s rays weakened, a spark of nervousness tweaked through Cassius’ bones. He was starting to think that there couldn’t possibly be anything out here—it was far too remote—when he suddenly saw a cabin in the distance.

Cassius blinked several times as he stared at it in wonder. Like a fairy tale, it just sat there, a moss-covered structure made of thick wood. Smoke billowed from the dual chimneys, and a brown picket fence enclosed two sheep and a handful of chickens on the wide, square lawn. It did not look like much, but Cassius had the sense that it was much bigger than it appeared, and whoever lived inside surely knew a thing or two about survival.

Cautiously, he approached, ignoring the bleating sheep. A cow appeared, startling him, mooing at him questioningly. Cassius opened the gate and allowed himself inside.

“Hello?” he called out. “Ruby?”

If the cow had startled him, the tiny woman that suddenly threw the door of the cabin open scared the daylights out of him.

Cassius’ mouth dropped in shock.

“Opal!” he gasped, stepping backward as the witch stared at him with intense black eyes.

“I am Ruby,” she said, and his heart hammered wildly in his chest. Her resemblance to Opal was uncanny, but as Cassius regained his composure, he saw the subtle differences between the woman before him and the sage who had cursed them all those years ago.

“Are you all right?” she asked. “How did you find me out here?”

“You are Ruby?” he asked, forcing a note of authority into his tone. He did not want to explain the embarrassing avenues he had gone through to locate the living relatives of a witch from the fourteenth century.

“We have already established that,” Ruby retorted. “It’s cold out here, and you’re letting out all my heat. Are you coming in or not?” She spun as she waited for him to make up his mind, and Cassius found himself staring at her again, doubt creeping through him.

You shouldn’t be here, something yelled at him. You are putting everyone at risk. He silenced the warning, reminding his conscience that his father was the one putting everyone’s lives in peril.

“Would you like some tea?” she offered, and Cassius swallowed his reservations, following her inside the cozy cottage. The door slammed in his wake, and he whirled to see what had caused it. Ruby chuckled. “The wind,” she said without turning from the stove. “Which one are you?”

The question puzzled Cass.

“Which one what?” he asked, the words jumbled and confused on his tongue.

“Which one of the princes are you?”

Cass froze. “You know who I am?”

Ruby chuckled again and cast him a look over her ageing shoulder. On closer inspection, she didn’t seem nearly as old as Cassius remembered the witch from the castle, nor was she as lecherous.

“I knew it was only a matter of time before one of you came trampling in this direction,” she said. “My daughter will be sorry she missed you.”

“Your daughter?” Cassius repeated. “Why?”

“Oh,” Ruby sighed. “I suppose every generation has prepared the next one for what Opal did. Some of us believed that you had forgotten how the curse came to be, moved along with your lives, and we were safe, but that was never my school of thought. I knew I would see one of you in my lifetime.”

“How?” Cassius demanded.

Ruby pulled the kettle from the stove and poured the tea into a pot before covering it with a cozy and bringing a tray to the handmade tree-table. The chairs were merely finished wood stumps, and Cassius suddenly felt as if he had been thrust back into medieval England.

Father would love it here, he thought, shaking his head.

“We are still witches, my lord,” Ruby said. “We know things inherently. I imagine that is why you have come.”

“I have come because I need answers,” he told her shortly. “And I need them fast.” Ruby poured the steaming tea into a cup and placed it in front of him before fixing herself one.

“I don’t know how much I can help you,” she mumbled, and Cassius gave her a look of surprise.

“You haven’t even heard what I need,” he reminded her, and she shrugged.

“I can guess,” she replied. “You want to kill one of your kind.”

Cassius felt a shiver of shock to hear the statement said aloud and with such indifference.

“No!” he denied. He didn’t want to… kill his father, nor did he want to kill any of his brothers, if push came to shove. No, what he was looking for wasn’t a way to destroy them.

“Then what do you want?” Ruby asked, folding her hands over the table.

Cassius considered the question, taking a sip of his tea. “Is there a weakness we possess? A way we can be slowed or—?”

“Killed?” Ruby finished, and Cassius scowled.

“I would prefer it doesn’t come that,” he said gruffly.

“You haven’t said no,” she commented, which angered Cassius. She was toying with him, just as Opal had done before.

“Is there a way to stop us?” he asked, his hazel eyes drilling into hers as he waited for an answer.

“Yes,” she answered.

Cassius felt the air deflate from his body. It was not until that minute that he realized he had been afraid she would say there was not.

“Really?” he demanded. “How? What is it?”

Ruby’s ugly face curled into an amused smile.

“Firstly, there is only one way of which I know to kill one of you,” she explained. “But it would never happen, which is why you have never been killed. Secondly, you can all be stopped. That is a much simpler task.”

“How?” Cassius repeated. “How can we be stopped?”

“I see that the legend is true,” Ruby said, her amused smile widening. “You are impatient and impulsive. That is why you are in this mess.”

Cassius snorted.

“Opal had something to do with that mess,” he informed her, and the witch nodded.

“I happen to know that she could not have turned you if you had not all agreed. Am I wrong?”

Cassius flushed, knowing that she spoke the truth, but his nerves were taut. “As much as I am enjoying this psychological assessment of my personality, I do need some answers. Lives depend on it.”

Ruby flicked her tongue and took another sip of tea before answering.

“Finish your tea,” she instructed. “And I will tell you everything you wish to know.”

Cassius wasn’t sure if he should believe her or not, but he had little choice. He downed the liquid and watched as she reached for his cup.

“Are you reading my tea leaves?” he asked in disgust. “If I wanted a psychic, I could have found someone closer to home.” Ruby turned the cup upside down and studied his face.

“No one is so powerful that they cannot be stopped,” she explained, gesturing for him to give his palm to her. With a calloused index finger, she traced the lines of his hand, cocking her head speculatively. “Some of us are harder to slow than others,” she continued. “But all of us have different weaknesses. You and your brothers are no different.”

Cassius knit his eyebrows.

“How will I know what someone’s specific weakness is?” he asked in confusion, and Ruby smiled.

“I am here to tell you precisely that,” she replied, suddenly dropping his hand and lifting the cup. Her ebony eyes widened in shock, and she bit on her lower lip. “It is the king you wish to stop,” she murmured. “This is more difficult than I originally thought.”

Cassius was flooded with disappointment. “Why?”

There was no humor in Ruby’s expression as she looked up at him, and Cassius realized for the first time that she foresaw the danger the world was facing.

“You need to give him a purpose for living,” she told him, her voice catching as urgency filled her eyes. “If he feels he has a direction, he will abandon this war he is about to start.”

“You’re not making any sense!” Cassius growled, jumping to his feet. “You’re as bad as Opal!”

“Sit down!” Her voice was like whiplash, and Cassius found himself obeying, despite his mounting anxiety. “What could a man possibly want more than anything in the world? What would give him a reason for being?”

“Land?” Cassius tried.

Ruby scoffed.

“Think deeper!” she snapped. “Something he can mold and shape, something he can cultivate and grow as long as he is alive.” Cassius stared at her, his intestines twisting.

“A son?” Ruby’s eager nod made him scowl. “He has six of us,” he growled. “What the hell good has that done?”

“No,” the witch sighed. “You are all a disappointment to him in your own way. He needs a new son, a new heir.”

Cassius gaped at her. “How am I supposed to make that happen? He is far too old, and I don’t know if his wife even allows him to touch her!” The mere thought of it made him shudder.

Ruby slowly placed the cup down.

“Then you must find him the next best thing,” she replied. “Although he may, arguably, find it better.”

“What is the next best thing?”

“A grandson.”

Cass chortled.

“A grandson!” he whooped. “That’s grand. I have six weeks to find him a grandson,”

Ruby shook her head. “Not just any grandson—a dragon baby.”