Free Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) by Melissa Vazquez Page B

unpleasantly. She was in the Emeralde Kingdom, the place Dirk the vampire wanted them to inspect and investigate. Prince Erik’s father, the king, was the one responsible for so many deaths. She had expected a kingdom of stereotypical darkness, but instead, what she found was a verdant forest and a castle with brilliant green banners. Equal to her liking was the prince in front of her, wearing a friendly smile.
    He did not fear her instinctively, as most humans did. Or, if he felt that edge of fear, he was good at not showing it.
    “Evangeline,” he said, echoing her name after she had said it. “And where do you come from, Lady Evangeline? Surely not from around here. You do not dress as the rest of the women in our kingdom do.”
    She hesitated, then explained her situation from the First Realm, carefully leaving out any details about investigating this man’s kingdom. Instead, she focused on the fact that she was separated from her friends and that she didn’t know anything about the land about her. Prince Erik listened, fascinated by her story.
    “Moonriver Academy is to the east of us,” he said. “If you would like, I can escort you there.”
    “You would be able to do that?” she said with a small smile. She didn’t know why she was so trusting of the son of a supposedly prejudice and genocidal king. His father would strike her down for what she was, but the prince himself wasn’t so bad.
    He nodded. “Yes. I am...well, supposedly on a lone hunting trip. It is one of the only things Father allows me to do alone, to prove I am a man worthy of the crown.”
    She noted how his voice was tinged with distaste. “What are you really doing, if you are supposedly on a hunting trip?”
    He shrugged. “Relaxing. Fishing. I have a hunting cabin some distance away from here. Would you like to join me there? It may be more relaxing than this open forest.”
    It didn’t seem right to trust him so quickly, but Evangeline sensed no threat from this kind prince. He didn’t eye her with hatred and distrust, as other people might have. She could only smile and nod at him.
    He dismounted his horse. “Here, you ride on my horse, Nightstorm. It is not proper for a lady to be forced to walk while the man rides leisurely.”
    “No, I can’t–”
    “I insist, my lady.”
    What was it about this man? Evangeline saw nothing particularly special about the prince, from his pale skin to his light brown hair. His emerald eyes shone in the sun. They were kind, trusting. It wasn’t the kindness she was used to and really only able to find among her friends the Shadow Assassins. This man, however, a total stranger, seemed ready to trust her.
    There was the unfortunate complication of the horse to deal with, though. With an awkward admittance, Evangeline confessed that she had never ridden a horse. He didn’t seem to mind and instead introduced her to his war horse, then showed her the proper way to mount Nightstorm. He tried showing her the way to sit like a lady on a horse, but the horse protested like she did; it felt unnatural to her. So, with a laugh, he showed her how to sit properly on the saddle in the way a man did. For this, the horse stayed still, only snorting lightly as her weight settled over him. Prince Erik grabbed hold of the reins and led Nightstorm and the war horse’s rider away from the castle and deeper into the forest.
    As they traveled, the prince allowed himself to talk, as if he had been searching for someone to converse with. He mentioned the men in armor and his father’s ridiculous idea of a war. This got Evangeline’s attention and when she questioned him, he seemed eager to answer her. He spoke of his father’s confusing ways and how it seemed as though his father was a different person than he had been a few years ago. A few years ago, his father would never had considered the thought of war, especially against a certain type of people that did not exist among their kingdom, but now it was as