Chapter one
Briar had forgotten what it felt like to not be afraid. The hunters' horns had long gone silent, but that was somehow worse than hearing them. At least then she could gauge distance and knew if they were closing in.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been running, one hour? Six? It didn’t matter. Time had become meaningless, measured only in heartbeats and each gasping breath.
All she knew for certain was that she had to stop eventually, even if it was just long enough to catch her breath and gain her bearings. The question waswhere?
Trees spread out endlessly in every direction, offering little in the way of sanctuary.
She had slowed to climb over a fallen log when something caught her ankle and brought her crashing to the ground hard enough to drive the air from her lungs. She lay there for a moment, cheek pressed to dead leaves, trying to remember how to breathe.
As she pushed herself up she glanced back to see what looked like hands, dozens of them, withered and skeletal, sinking back into the earth and the soil closed over them as if they'd never been there at all.
What the hell?
Before she could process whether what she had seen was real or a figment of her unraveling mind, a branch creaked above her.
She looked up just in time to see it descending, moving despite there being no wind. She threw herself sideways and the branch slammed into the ground where she'd been, hard enough to leave an impression in the frozen earth.
More branches moved. All around her, the trees seemed to wake, their limbs reaching down with terrible intent.
Briar staggered to her feet and ran.
A branch caught her shoulder, bark rough against her skin, and she felt it tighten, trying to hold on. She wrenched free with a pained cry, felt the warmth of blood as it began to seep down her back. Another branch swept low and she ducked, felt it catch in her tangled hair. She had to stop, had to grab the branch with both hands and pull, tears streaming down her face as hair tore free at the roots.
It was then, she realized that the forest was trying to kill her.
She needed shelter. Somewhere the trees couldn't reach, where she could catch her breath and think and figure out which direction was actually away from the castle instead of in circles through this nightmare forest.
The ground began to slope upward, rocky and uneven. She used tree trunks for support when she had to, touching them as briefly as possible, always ready to jerk away if they moved.
The slope gradually turned into a proper hillside, stone pushing through the earth in gray slabs. And there, partially hidden by dead vines, a dark opening in the rock. A cave.
No trees inside a cave, no hands reaching from the earth. Just stone, dead, unchanging stone.
She stumbled toward it, hope and desperation mixing into something that made her movements clumsy. The entrance was narrow, barely wide enough for her shoulders, but she could tell by the echo that it opened into a larger space beyond. Cold air breathed out from the darkness, carrying the smell of damp stone and earth.
Briar squeezed through the opening, stone scraping against her shoulders, her torn dress catching and tearing further. The cave beyond was small, maybe ten feet across, the ceiling low enough that she could touch it if she reached up, but it was better than nothing.
Water dripped somewhere in the darkness, a steady rhythm that echoed off the walls and she pressed herself into the deepest shadows, as far from the entrance as she could get. Once she was certain she could get no deeper, her legs gave out and she slid down the wall, cold stone against her back. Every part of her hurt. Her feet were raw and bleeding, her shoulder throbbed where the branch had caught her, and her ribs ached with each shallow breath.
But she was hidden. The cave mouth showed only a small slice of gray forest beyond. If she stayed quiet, maybe the hunters would pass by. Maybe she could rest here, justfor a little while, long enough to catch her breath and bind her wounds and figure out how to survive the next hour.
She closed her eyes, the warmth in her chest remaining dormant. She pressed her hand against her sternum anyway, as if she could coax it back to life through will alone. Nothing. Just hollow space where that golden thread had once lived.
She was completely alone and that terrified her more than anything the forest could throw at her.
Three days. She had to survive three days of this, of running and hiding and bleeding while the fae lords played their games. Then she'd be free. Free to leave the forest, to go back to her mother and Allegra, to—
Footsteps.
Briar's whole body went rigid. Someone was approaching the cave entrance, not even trying to mask their presence.
She pressed back against the wall, trying to become part of the shadows, barely daring to breathe. Maybe they'd pass by. Maybe they hadn't seen the entrance. Maybe—
"Well, well, we meet again, my lady."
Lord Cairn's pale face materialized from the darkness like something from nightmares, his smile all sharp edges and cruel delight. He moved with the lazy confidence of a predator who knew his prey had nowhere left to run.
