Chapter One

Shiv had been trapped in his lion Beast-form for nearly an entire year. His cage was so small that he couldn’t even turn a full circle, and worse, was positioned next to a cage full of fat sleeping ostriches. He fantasized for the day when the goblins would forget to clip in the locks.

Unfortunately, the goblins were very meticulous about their cage-locking procedures, not wanting to lose a single one of their valuable performers. So Shiv was stuck in his own cage, only dreaming of wonderful things to eat— though he had developed a method of catching stray rats, saving his biscuits to use as bait. Scrawny rodents couldn’t compare to full-sized ostriches, but they were still better than dry old meat and biscuits.

The emaciated Beast set his head on his paws, staring shamelessly at the feathery sleeping ostriches in the cage beside him. They were so close he could reach out and touch one with his paw.

Shiv had been captured by a band of goblins while exploring new territories, alone. It was quite embarrassing, really— a powerful Beast, a lion-Beast no less— captured by a group of puny goblins!

Fortunately for him, the goblins assumed he was a regular animal, rather than a Beast. Otherwise, he’d probably be dead, or else wishing he was. Goblins, like all the other barbaric Indwellers Lady Vindemia had let into the country since she took over Fairyland, had a sadistic fondness for humiliating and torturing the original Fair Folk. Thus, Shiv had remained in his Beast-form ever since his capture, and hoped the goblins wouldn’t be too curious about why a lion had been found so far from the savannahs of the lion-Beasts.

Shiv turned his eyes from the ostriches towards the slightly-open tent flap. A thin strip of white moonlight slashed across the ground, and Shiv thought of how the moon made rippling pathways on the ponds of the Plains where he came from— at least, before the Indwellers forced Shiv’s entire clan from their ancestral lands. The ponds were probably completely drained by now, and if not drained, then littered with so much trash that it would be too soiled to use.

Suddenly, the strip of moonlight flickered, as if something had passed it.

Shiv froze in an instant, ears perked and nostrils flared. The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he stared into the darkness, listening for movement.

All he heard were soft animal snores, and all he smelled were animal droppings.

After a few minutes, he settled down again. It had been quick, and for a fleeting moment Shiv thought the passing silhouette was very tall. Perhaps it was only a nocturnal animal passing by the tent from the outside.

Then, a voice whispered out of the darkness, “Found him. Here he is.”

Shiv jumped violently away from the voice— or at least, as far as he could get in his tiny cage. A young woman, with hair the color of autumn leaves, loomed out of the darkness. Or, at least, she was something with the semblance of a human woman. Human beings could not sneak up on a Beast without their musty scents or clumsy movements giving themselves away first. Shiv hadn’t even heard anyone enter the tent.

The young woman moved silently around the cage, then took the rusty lock in her hands and began fiddling with it with delicate fingers.

Shiv bent his enormous head towards her and inhaled. She smelled of green pine needles and resinous sunset-gold bark covered with amber globules of sap, and a faint earthy scent of canines.

“You are a Beast,” said Shiv in a low voice.

“Yes, I am,” smiled the young woman, looking up. Her eyes were a liquid tangerine color.

Another figure, a younger girl, materialized from the darkness, startling Shiv again. This one wore no shoes.

“Love! How long does it take for you to undo a lock?” said the girl exasperatedly. She grasped the lock, twisted it off with one deft movement, and tossed it on the ground.

“Oh, thanks,” said Love.

“Come on,” muttered the girl, walking towards the back of the tent. She was careful not to cross the moonbeam, to minimize visibility. Love eased the cage door open, and Shiv cautiously stepped out.

“Now, come with us. We’ll get you out of here,” Love said, crouching by the back of the tent as her friend cut the canvas with a pearly dagger.

Shiv followed them as they slipped out of the tent— and just like that, he was free. Suddenly he felt light as a feather, joyful enough to roar, strong enough to tear down the entire tent. No more circus goblins, no more whips, no more dry crumbly biscuits and old stale meat!

The two girls darted lightly across the dirt road and into the trees, leaving faint puffs of dust drifting where they stepped. Shiv padded after them quietly, and soon the thick canopy of leaves cut away the moonlight, shrouding him in darkness. He inhaled, taking in the rich green scent of the forest.

The younger girl said, “I’m Linia, and this is Love, the fox-Beast. We’re taking you back to our Housemaster.”

Shiv stopped in his tracks, heart jolting.

“Housemaster? I’m not leaving the circus to be a slave!”

"Feel free to return to your luxurious circus life at any time,” said Love in a lazy, sarcastic voice.

Linia barked with laughter. “Slaves? We’re not slaves. We’re butlers. We’re the Housekeepers, Kuma is our Housemaster. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a superior, is there? We are Fair Folk, not Indwellers.”

Shiv relaxed, though his heart still pounded from the fright. He was prepared to fight off the two women if necessary, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he would be able to do it without risking severe. Fox-Beasts were notorious amongst the Beasts, as what they lacked in brute strength, they made up for in their trickery and speed. And he didn’t even know what Linia was. Not to mention that he was malnutritioned and weak, and both of them looked healthy.

Well, as long as he wasn’t headed into a different branch of slavery, he was content.

Love sighed. “Let’s get going, shall we? We don’t want to keep our companion waiting.”

“There are more of you?” Shiv asked as he padded beside Linia, who moved gracefully through the shadows. “Why did so many people come just to get me?”

“Oh, there’s just one more. Four Housekeepers in total come out to get you. It’s not safe to travel alone. Times are dangerous, as I’m sure you know.”