Years Earlier

Amelia all but vibrated in the saddle. They had finished their meeting with the Queen, something that she very well could have stayed home for. Politics and court proceedings were lost on someone like her. Anna, on the other hand, would have thrived. All of the music and snacks mixed with the vibrant silks of the lady's dresses would have had the younger girl swooning.

"Calm down, little owl," her dad said on a laugh. "You're gonna shake yourself right off of his back, y'know? Still got a good half hour's ride left before we're home."

She shook her head with a smile on her face. As if she didn't know the road home like the back of her hand. These woods shared more of her deepest, darkest secrets than even her sister had. It wasn't a half hour's ride like Papa had said. They only had ten minutes to travel down the road, and the dove figurine was damn near burning a hole through her saddlebags. She'd spotted the figurine at a shop outside the castle, shining brightly in the light, its wings stretched outward. She knew that it had to come home with her - Anna would love it.

"You're wrong, you know," Amelia sang as she pressed her heels to Devil's sides.

Papa had always scolded her for allowing the horse to run the last length home. He said that it would spoil the stallion and make him harder for the girl to control, but they'd been riding this way for the last year and he'd never so much as stepped a hoof out of line. Devil was a sight to be seen, standing at 17 hands and sporting a coat so dark that it reminded her of the darkest chocolate that her uncle had smuggled from Orlais. Though beautiful, the stallion was mean. The only people he'd tolerate even touching him were the Trevelyan sisters.

Devil's pace moved from a trot to a leisurely lope as he waited for Papa and his mare, Georgia, to catch up. The black tipped ears swiveled once, and then twice, before he took off like a shot, his long legs eating the distance between them and home. Papa's laugh echoed behind them as Georgia, too, kicked it into a higher gear.

The two of them were still laughing as they tore through the gate. The horses slowed to a walk, eventually coming to a stop before the wide porch of the house. Amelia's cheeks ached from smiling and laughing as she stared at the door, waiting for Anna to fly down the steps at any time.

Seconds morphed into minutes. The silence around them was deafening, and unease began to settle inside Amelia's chest. A glance at her father's face made the girl realize that even he felt something different. Something was wrong.

She'd just slid off of her horse when the door began to open. Even the swing of the heavy piece of wood was off. It didn't swing open and bang against the side of the house. It opened long and slow, creaking into the last few hours of daylight, and Amelia's breath caught in her throat.

Deidre Treveylan came to stand at the edge of the porch, her green eyes narrowed in disgust as she took in her daughter's appearance. She'd never approved of the girls wearing trousers or riding off on horseback. No noblewoman or child should be traveling any other way than via carriage. Her nose wrinkled as Amelia, who still tightly gripped Devil's reins in her fist, stepped towards her.

There was no love lost between Deidre and her eldest daughter. She'd attempted to browbeat the wild child into submission, shoving her into frilly dresses and demanding the girl study the goings on of the court. Deidre had ideas of grandeur - marrying her daughter off to some prince or king, maybe even a high ranked general, expecting her to push out little heirs and cement their standing in society. Her disdain with Amelia grew every passing day as the girl shot her glares before rushing out into the wooded area behind their house, her sister at her heels.

Amelia had the fair skin and red hair of her father, paired with her mother's green eyes. Deidre hated that whenever she saw the deadpanned look in those emerald orbs that she was reminded of herself. The wench was as cold and calculating as the woman who had birthed her, and Deidre hated it. Amelia wasn't a child to blindly believe in her mother, or what was truly best for her.

No, she was a child who always had her head in the clouds. The bane of the Trevelyan matriarch was her daughter's likelihood to her father. She was loud and brass, quick to laughter, and enjoyed riding hours on horseback. The girl had even begun to practice with the damned bow, shooting targets behind the barn. Awful behavior for a young noble girl to have.

She'd had such high hopes for the youngest girl. Anna had come out the exact replica of her mother, down to the button nose and dark, curly locks. Where her sister had balked at every opportunity, Anna had easily stepped into the role of perfect daughter. She'd let Deidre dress her up like a doll and ate up every etiquette lesson. The girl had, even at the young age of 8, acknowledged that it was her duty to strengthen the Trevelyan house with a marriage.

When Anna had first shown that she might be magically inclined, Deidre had seen red. No daughter of hers would be a mage. Absolutely not! But of course, John had put his foot down and told her she was crazy. That was their baby! Of course they'd stand behind her.

It had taken much longer than she'd planned to ship the brat off, but the relief she'd felt watching Irving cart her off down the lane had been well worth the headache that would follow when the others returned home. Even now, she could tell that they sensed something was amiss. For years, Anna had eagerly waited at the front door, desperately searching for the first sign of her precious sister. The damned redheaded protector had thwarted every plan that Deidre had hatched out so far.

The wary look on her daughter's face brought the ghost of a smile to her lips. The little bitch would learn her place today. In perfect timing, as well. They had a new suitor coming for dinner at six o'clock, which meant that Amelia needed to go bathe and get the scent of dirt and sweat off of her skin.

Maker knew that the girl wouldn't land herself a wealthy, successful husband if she sat at the table dressed like that.

"Where is she?" Amelia asked, her voice high with stress and panic.

"Where is who?" Deidre asked as one single eyebrow arched. "Do be more specific, Amelia. Use your words."

The girl's eyes narrowed as her father's boots hit the ground. She felt his hand encircle her arm, the touch both soothing and irritating. Amelia grit her teeth as she attempted to reign in her fear. If Deidre senses any weakness in her oldest daughter, she'd exploit it, twist it until it took hold within the girl until it ate her alive.

"Where's Anna?" Amelia asked, her eyes shooting into the empty door behind her mother. "Where's my sister?"

Deidre rolled her eyes. "So dramatic. Your sister is where she belongs. With people of her own kind and stature, far away from here."

Amelia felt as if the very breath from her chest had been pulled from it. Her vision began to blur at the edges as fear, genuine fear, gripped her entire being. No. She refused to believe for a second that her mother would send Anna off. Not like this. Not without allowing her to say goodbye.

"Great joke, mother," Amelia started before a nervous laugh bubbled from her throat. "Hilarious, even. Where is my sister?"

"Sweetheart," Papa murmured from beside her, glaring up at his wife, "why don't you take Devil and Georgia down to the barn while I have a talk with your ma, hmm?"

Amelia hesitated. She knew the horses needed to be taken to the barn and untacked, but the feeling of absolute despair still gripped her. Papa gave her a sweet smile before patting her cheek.

"Go, love," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Let me talk to her. I'll come get you when we're done, hmm?"

Sparing one last glance at her mother, the girl nodded. She gathered Georgia's reins in her other hand and began the track back to the barn. As if reading her mind, Devil eyed her with his kind eyes and pressed his muzzle against her arm every few steps. She might not know it now, but she'd be forever grateful for the stallion's support in this exact moment.

Amelia slipped Devil's reins over his neck as they entered the old barn. With a quick pat to his neck, the stallion trotted off to his stall to wait. Georgia plodded along the barn aisle next to her as the scent of earth and horse settled deep within Amelia.

It was a smell that always brought her calm. Something she could wrap herself in as she busied her mind as she worked through even the simplest of tasks. Georgia patiently stood as the girl gently removed her tack and slipped a halter over her large head. The mare's lips drooped as she sighed in pleasure as Amelia began to give her a thorough grooming, massaging out the aches and pains that the two day trek had given.

"There's a good girl," Amelia whispered as she walked the mare into the stall and removed the halter. "Go on in, pet, and I'll bring you some hay when I'm done with Devil."

Further unease settled between her shoulders as she heard shouting come from the house. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously as she did up the latch on Georgia's stall door. She wouldn't risk the mare getting out - she was Papa's pride and joy and go to mount. Devil nickered to her from further down the aisle, ripping her out of her inner turmoil. A quick glance showed the horse sticking his head around his open stall door, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and his ears trying to do his best mule impression.

"Yes, yes," she laughed with a shake of her head, "I'm coming, you oaf. Have patience."

The stallion tossed his head before he walked back into the barn aisle. He stood patiently as the girl began to remove his saddle. He always nickered and chuffed at her as she went about his daily untacking routine. She'd even go as far to say that he responded to her soft questions and encouragement. Ever since she'd found him abandoned in the mountains as a foal, he'd attached himself to her hip.

A true partner in crime.

"I don't have a good feeling about this, Dev," she whispered as she slipped his halter on, her hands shaking. "It feels like I can't breathe."

The horse turned his head to look at her, and her heart warmed just a tad. He always knew how to make things better. There was no way Anna could have been stolen from her and Amelia had not known. No sixth sense had kicked in to alert her to anything being wrong with Anna. Maker's tits, she'd even had phantom pain when Anna had fallen out of a tree and sprained her wrist.

"She's fine, right? Probably just sleeping. Maybe she got sick after I left, and I just didn't feel it. It's happened before, you know. When she caught the flu when I was off at Aunt Cecilia's meeting that poor sod they'd tried to marry me off to."

Devil snorted and his ears flattened to his neck. Frowning, the girl looked over her shoulder, her gaze zeroing in on her father. He was pale, his steps faltering, as he walked into the barn. Unease churned in her gut as she watched him shamble closer, his gait unnaturally stiff, as if he was in pain. Her eyes roamed over her father, taking note that there were no visible injuries to his person. Had something happened? Had her mother struck him?

Was it Anna?

"Papa? What's happened?" Amelia asked, that feeling of dread slithering through her veins. "Is it Anna? Is she sick?"

He didn't answer her, his head hanging low as he inspected a speck of dust stuck to his boot.

"Papa?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Papa? Where is she? Where's Anna?"

"Amelia, I-" her father began before his gaze met hers, and the turmoil and sadness that warred in the brown depths caused her knees to give way. "Amelia!"

She felt it then - the terror. Not her terror, though. Anna's. Her heart began to beat erratically as she hit her knees, clutching her chest as pain ripped its way through her entire being. Something was terribly wrong. Anna was hurt. Papa rushed to her side, falling to his knees before her and tugging her against his chest.

"She's gone, Am," he whispered, and her heart shattered.

She couldn't stop the scream that tore from her throat, nor could she stop the terror that flowed through her veins. Anna had no one to protect her - the sweet, innocent dove alone in the world. Amelia howled in pain as her back began to burn in three straight lines, evenly spaced apart, almost as if she had been lashed.

Confusion. Heartache. Sadness. Terror. All of the emotions wound themselves through her body, into her very soul.

As Papa whispered broken promises and gut wrenching apologies, she glared up at the house. Her mother's eyes met hers, and the older woman's lips stretched into a smile that caused Amelia's blood to chill.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she vowed to bring her sister back, no matter the cost. As her mother stepped back into the house without a second glance, the girl swore to herself that one day, she'd wipe that stupid smirk off her face and enjoy watching the light fade from those green orbs.

Anna would come home.