Page 46

EDEN

Pain roars up my calf. Brambles cut through my skirt, shredding at my skin, but my ankle is the worst part. I must’ve twisted it while falling into this bramble patch.

Groaning, I try once again to free myself from the twisting branches. But the thorns cut into my palms while the blackberries stain my skin.

I squash a dozen more as I claw at the bush furiously.

I’m no closer to escaping, though. All it does is give me more cuts and makes the pain near unbearable.

Tensing my jaw, I hold back a sob.

Last night was so strange, but even after feeling that mess of emotions from Lux’s shirt, I still dreamt of waltzing in his arms. I wanted to wake up next to him.

But now, I feel nothing but fear when I imagine his hands on me. His faerie hands.

This has to be a cruel joke. Probably Castor’s idea. If it isn’t, I have to get out of here. Now.

Sniffling, I try again to claw through the brambles. But any hope of escaping is crushed just like the blackberries by the sound of two pairs of boots drawing closer.

“Eden,” Lux shouts, emerging from the trees. He sounds relieved, but I can’t trust it. I can’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth.

“Get away from me!” I yell. I try to scramble backwards, but the brambles tear into my bodice. The pain drags a cry from me.

Lux steps gracefully over the bramble branches and scoops me up, while Castor glances around, as if checking for an invisible attacker.

“Where does it hurt, little butterfly?” Lux asks gently. “Was it just the brambles that hurt you?”

I hate the way my thighs burn under his touch, even as I writhe against him. “Please, Lux, just put me down!”

He does so with a reluctant sigh, placing me onto the grass.

Of course my stupid ankle fails me. Yelping, I crumble under the pain.

Lux catches me before I fall again. “What is it, Eden? Where are you hurt?”

“It’s my…” I can’t help but snarl. “It’s my ankle.”

“Your ankle?” He drops to a crouch and lifts my skirt.

Squealing, I try to push his hands away, but someone else grabs me from behind. “Enough.” Castor’s voice buzzes by my ear. “You’ll only hurt yourself again.” He holds my wrists back while Lux slides my slipper off.

I hiss in pain. Before I realise what I’m doing, my face buries itself in Castor’s chest.

“It’s alright,” Lux whispers as his fingers brush my ankle. “I don’t know if it’s broken, but it is swollen. We’ll have to take you back home so a healer can look at you properly.”

I whip my head away from Castor. “I’m not going back to the manor.”

“My darling, right now you have no choice,” Lux chides.

“Yes. I. do.” Somehow I manage to tear my fists away from Castor. “I’m a princess, and I’m not going home with you.”

Castor chuckles. “You know it’s a long, long walk back to your father’s palace.”

“I don’t care.”

“And with your ankle, you’ll collapse from the pain before you even make it past the sunflower field,” Lux adds.

“I don’t care!” I don’t know much about faeries, but I do know that Father is so terrified of them that he almost had a guard executed for letting Fern dance too close to a mushroom circle. If Lux didn’t tell me until just now about his faerie heritage, then there must be a reason for that. I should be just as terrified as Father.