Chapter 1
Her surrogate mother's hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her screams of anguish as she felt the life she knew shatter underneath her. Tears flooded from her eyes as her knees weakened underneath her and she fell harshly on to the rocky and brutal terrain of the mountain they were on. Her caretaker only clamped her hand tighter, as another scream tore from her lips, if Shiloh had dared too, she would have bitten her with her mouthful of razor-sharp fangs.
The Half-Blood could feel herself becoming faint as she fought to keep herself conscious. Noll, her father, a once proud guard of the Unseelie King was forced to his knees only a few feet from his only child. His hands were tied behind his back with rough rope, blood was soaking through the twine. His silver hair that gleamed in the moonlight was now crusted with mud and dead leaves, a slash mark along his cheek from where Gwyn's whip had struck him was welling over with dark red liquid and looked painful against his pale skin.
Gwyn let out a sigh of annoyance. "Noll, you are a Hunter. The life you used to know was supposed to mean nothing. Your death will be an example to the rest. The Wild Hunt is the only life a Hunter should belong too."
The Half-Blood child shut her eyes tightly and clamped her hands over her pointed ears to block out the sound of the of the axe slicing through muscle and bone, but she still felt the rush of chilled air that came when Gwyn swung his ax to punish her father. She opened her eyes far too soon as Noll's decapitated head rolled in front of where she was buried on the ground against Kaelie's pale arm. His eyes were open and empty, the same icicle blue color as her own, they even had the same shade of silver color to their hair. Her hands were soaked with her father's blood and so was the bottom of her nightgown. Shiloh was not sure if she should scream or breakdown sobbing, her body was too stunned with shock to decide, right now she just felt numb.
She shivered weakly and crawled toward her father's head on her hands and knees. With quivering fingers, she closed her father's opened eyes. Shiloh wished she knew some way to bring her father back to life, the hybrid daughter felt rage mixing in with sorrow as she lunged toward Gwyn like an animal, mouth open and fangs ready to rip and tear him apart, seeking blood, seeking vengeance. Her scrawny six-year-old body did not even make it to him as she was hauled back, screaming and spitting as if she was beast, in the arms of one of Gwyn's huntsman. He had one blue-green eye and one gold, he seemed to be just like Shiloh, a half-blood child. His hair was blonde and he seemed to be showing some pity in his eyes toward Shiloh.
She did not quiet her wild behavior as she searched in the crowd of the Wild Hunt for her sister, Rohan. But her sister was no longer there, it was as if she had been a ghost, a figure of her distraught mind. Instead it was Kaelie Whitewillow, the maidservant of the Queen of the Seelie Court and a lover of her father's, before he had met Shiloh and Rohan's mother.
That was why he had been beheaded, he had mated with her mother, a Shadowhunter by the name of Esther Bloodkey. Unbeknownst to Shiloh's father, Noll, her mother was the bed warmer of the King of the Unseelie Court, she had been since long before the Cold Peace had been brought down upon all Fae last year.
Her mother had hidden Shiloh away, to live with Kaelie Whitewillow in the Mundane World so she would be safe. Noll had been given to the Wild Hunt as a gift from the Unseelie King after he found out what his once trusted soldier had done. He had thought that Shiloh was his child and had died at birth, it was only when they were caught together in the forest of the Unseelie land doing unsavory things by one of his other guards, that he knew his precious Shadowhunter had betrayed him. He gave Noll to the Wild Hunt, to keep his bed warmer and her lover separated. It had taken five years and a lot of spies, but he had finally tracked down the little mutt that had been created by Esther and Noll.
Her mother had gone to see the Unseelie King when she was very young, barely out of her teenage years. Esther Bloodkey entered the Land of Fairie with purpose and a stubbornness passed down to her by her father, she wanted a fellow Shadowhunter to vanish from the world entirely. He was cruel and ruthless with his words and nearly beat her senseless. She had loved him once, when she had been so foolish and blinded by love.
Esther knelt in front of the Unseelie King, her mahogany hair braided back and her hazel eyes brimming with tears. When the Unseelie King heard her plea, he simply smiled at her and lifted her chin to meet his eyes.
"You are very intriguing. I shall grant your request only if you stay by my side as long as I see fit."
Her mother had accepted the deal, not being able to come up with a better option and she lived her life among the Fairies, at least until she broke the Unseelie King's heart like glass and he banished her from the lands he ruled. Including their ten-year-old daughter, Rohan.
The Wild Hunt had tracked down Shiloh and her keeper and now the half-blood Shadowhunter's life was in ruins. Her father would sneak away from the Hunt on her birthday to give her a gift, that was how the Unseelie King's guards found them and dragged Kaelie and Shiloh out of their home and forced them to watch her father's punishment.
It was her birthday, the day of her father's execution, and now she had lost everything.
She watched with a hollow feeling within herself as Kaelie lifted her into her arms as they ran away from her father's limp and headless body. They were both still in their nightclothes. Kaelie in an overly large baggy t-shirt and sweatpants, Shiloh in her fern green nightgown that was decorated with blush pink roses, now stained deep red with her father's blood. Shiloh shut her pale blue eyes tightly and sobbed into the grey fabric of Kaelie's t-shirt, until the bitter cold night air of Fairyland was gone, and she could feel the softness of her own bed beneath her, as Kaelie rocked her silently back-and-forth.
"Where are Mommy and Rohan?" Shiloh whispered, afraid to speak any louder. It was only thanks to father, Noll, that she had a polaroid picture of them framed on her nightstand. Her father was fascinated by Mundane technology and sometimes brought back items for her mother that she did not have in Fairie, that was how her mother and father had fallen in love.
"They have been brought in front of The Clave. They will be submitted to the Mortal Sword, they will then know who you are…you and your sister will be punished because of your mixed blood…I have to find you a new place, somewhere that is safe." Kaelie explained in a rush as she uncurled Shiloh from where she had been nested in the Pixie's arms.
"Why isn't the Unseelie King protecting them I thought he loved Mama and Rohan?!" The Pixie's young ward said loud and angrily, she did not understand being so young.
"You're his proof that your mother was unfaithful…it broke his heart and now they have been banished from Fairie."
Kaelie bit her lip, knowing full well that without the safety of the Unseelie King, Shiloh's mother and only older half-sister had been found wandering in Idris. Her mother looked barely past her nineteenth year of age, when in the outside world, she should have been close to or at her early thirties. Her own confusion brought the Clave upon them, when Esther made her way inside her mother and father's home, stunned by how much they had aged. Her brother's face was bitter with betrayal, he was the one who had alerted the Clave to his sister and her child's return.
Shiloh hadn't seen her mother or older sister since her fourth birthday when her father had snuck all of them out to see her in the middle of the night, it had been her favorite birthday! It was the unusual color of her sister's eyes that she remembered the most, they burned the color of a fire's flame, bright and wild with determination.
"I want to stay with you, Kae! Please don't hide me!" Shiloh begged as she scrambled to get off of the queen-sized bed that she and Kaelie shared.
The pixie glanced back at her charge, a one-bedroom apartment in the city of New York was not an ideal place to raise a Shadowhunter Hybrid offspring. Kaelie could barely provide for herself, Esther did not have any money to send. she had only taken in Shiloh as a favor to Esther Bloodkey, she thought that Shiloh living with her since she was mere babe was only temporary. But the six-year-old was supposed to start learning at a Mundane school at the start of September, either that or Kaelie hid her with the people she trusted the most.
"I'm sorry Shiloh, you need to be kept safe." Kaelie voice was stern, meaning that she did want any farther protesting from her young ward. The Pixie shoved some of Shiloh's other clothes and valuable keepsakes into a duffel bag and then laid clothes for her to change into on to the bed.
"Change. I'll be right back." Kaelie stood and left the room, finding her cellphone on the kitchen counter.
Shiloh shed herself of her nightgown and quickly changed into her navy blue hoodie dress and a pair of grey leggings. She then shuffled her feet into her sneakers, she had to root around in her nightstand drawer for her hairbrush but when she found it, she busied herself with brushing the snarls out of her nickel colored hair.
It was the sense of powerful magic in the air that made the young half-blood's body stiffen and then goosebumps rippled upon her skin in waves out of pure awe. Shiloh hesitantly made her way out into the small hallway of the apartment to see a portal opening up in midair as two figures stepped out. The first was a Shadowhunter, a young man with fading runes on his skin that could be seen on his arms and neck. His raven wing black hair was untidy and his blue eyes still seemed rather tired. He was wearing a worn pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He must have forgotten his shoes because he was barefoot. Standing beside him was another man that was slightly taller than him by a mere two inches. Unlike his companion, he was wearing what could have been a silk kimono with slippers. His hair was the same color as the Shadowhunter's, but his eyes were yellowish-green and shaped like a cat's.
With simply snap of his fingers the portal vanished, the Shadowhunter gratefully accepted the offer of coffee from the Pixie as the adults made themselves comfortable in the sparse living room, with Shiloh now peering at them from a crack in the bedroom door, where she had decided to hide when she noticed the young male adult Shadowhunter.
As he sipped at his coffee, the Warlock listened patiently as Kaelie explained the situation her and Shiloh now found themselves in.
"Wait a minute, Kaelie," the Shadowhunter interrupted setting down the mug, he had curled in his hands among the other water ring stains that were already decorating the coffee table. "Does the Clave know that she exists?"
"They will soon enough. Esther Bloodkey and her oldest daughter are being submitted to the Mortal Sword as we speak. I can't keep her, Shiloh, with me any longer, Alec, and I didn't have anyone else to turn to… with the Cold Peace."
Alec sighed in frustration and turned to look at his companion. "Magnus, we can't take in anymore…."
The Warlock nodded grimly and his yellow-green cat eyes caught sight of Shiloh spying on them. A small smile flitted across his face before he spoke, the smile vanishing. "Esther Bloodkey was not fighting alongside the other families during the Dark War…where was she?"
"Kept safe by the side of the Unseelie King. She is his concubine after all, normally the Unseelie Court does not bother with Shadowhunters, but there was something about Esther Bloodkey that peaked his interest. The Clave thought that Esther had died by the hands of demons or some other faction of Downworlders. She hasn't been seen since she left the Academy, apparently she wandered into Fairies' territory and never left." Kaelie explained, pausing only to notice that Shiloh was now hiding behind the chair that the Pixie was settled in.
"They found the youngest daughter of the Bloodkey family wandering in Idris, dazed and uncertain with a ten-year-old Half-Fairie daughter of her own." Magnus said, watching with curiosity as Shiloh climbed into Kaelie's lap, as silent as a shadow.
"Are Mama and Rohan going to be kept in the Bone City cells and questioned by the Silent Brothers?" Shiloh asked, her voice soft as silk.
Kaelie gently ran her fingers through her ward's silver tresses. "Yes, you aren't safe with me anymore."
"Will I be safe with you?" Shiloh asked looking at the Shadowhunter and Warlock.
Alec smiled softly. "Of course. We won't let anyone hurt you. I'm Alec, and this is Magnus Bane."
"Do you trust them Kae? I thought you said that Shadowhunters and other Underworlders can't be trusted?" Shiloh said and then at her surrogate mother's urging went to gather up her duffle bag.
Kaelie's face turned red with embarrassment and she hastily cleared her throat. "You can trust them, I know them. They're friends." Shiloh only smiled a little, her eyes was filled with sadness.
"You don't have to worry about her. We will take Shiloh to the New York Institute for now, I am sure we will figure something out. Alexander and I will find Shiloh a family where she can be happy and secret from the Clave." Magnus assured the Pixie as he stood and gathered magic to create another portal.
Alec took the duffel bag from the Fairie Half-Blood and then gathered her into his arm, so she would not have to worry about getting separated from them. Shiloh kissed Kaelie goodbye on the cheek and vanished through the portal with the High Warlock of Brooklyn. When the portal disappeared into thin air, Kaelie collapsed hard on her knees and finally allowed herself to break down sobbing.
She did not think that she would love the little one. But on that bitter cold autumn night, when Esther Bloodkey showed up in the café where she worked, soaked to the skin from the pouring rain outside and fresh still-burning Rune Marks covering every inch of available flesh, with a wailing newborn in her arms. Kaelie's heart swelled and she made sure that the instant love that she felt for Shiloh Bloodkey was hidden, she took her in as her own. But now, Shiloh was gone and Kaelie's heart was shattered. She feared for her adopted daughter's life and what would become of the Half-Blood child if the Clave ever found where Magnus had hidden her.