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I set her down, cursing myself, for there was likely a key. But when I gripped the latch and pushed, it swung open easily. Cold wind gusted inward. The girl gasped but still said nothing.
One probably only needed a key to enter from the outside. At the moment, I didn’t care. All I knew was that freedom awaited us. Without a word, I swept her back into my arms and marched out into the snow, tiny flakes falling from the gray sky, and hurried toward Esher Wood.
I carried the faeling at a brisk pace into the snow-dusted forest of esher trees. For a while, there was only the sound of my heavy boots crunching in the snow and the light wind knocking naked limbs together in the boughs above us.
As we wound farther into the woods, I lamented that it was deep winter. The esher trees, bare of their blue leaves, resembled gray-trunked ghosts standing solemn as we passed and offering little cover.
“Thank you,” came the soft voice of the fae in my arms, husky from her ordeal in the dungeon.
Frowning, I replied, “Don’t thank me yet,” I answered in high fae, having learned it from a young age since it was the common tongue across the kingdoms. “We have a way to go.”
And I wasn’t sure where to take her.
Her injuries were severe. We wouldn’t make it to the Borderlands for days if I had to carry her. But who could I trust in the closest city of Silvantis? My one true friend was Keffa and he’d been taken prisoner by my father at the same time as I had.
I needed a place to hide myself while I planned what to do next. There was the baker Ogalvet who lived on the edge of Silvantis. He never seemed to be a fan of my father. He’d likely help me and find a way to get the girl back to her people.
“My name is Una,” she said, voice quivering.
I kept my eyes on the trail, glancing back over my shoulder to be sure we weren’t being followed, not in the mood for conversation. I thanked the gods that it was snowing, covering our tracks as we went.
“You’re a wraith fae.”
I continued on, ignoring her.
“Why were you in that dungeon?”
I didn’t owe this girl anything, least of all the truth that cut me so deeply.
But she was a puzzle, piquing my curiosity. Had the guards found her at the Borderlands and abducted her?
“How did the bone-keepers capture a young, moon fae female like you?” I asked.
She lifted her head, her gaze riveted to my face. She stared with open fascination, but no fear.
“I was caught near Dragul Falls.”
I stopped suddenly, scowling down at her. “What in all the hells were you doing so close to the palace?”
Her violet eyes widened, but her gaze remained steady and calm. “I was looking for something.”
“Something so important it was worth losing your life?” I snapped.
“Yes,” she answered coolly.
“Alone?”
She dipped her chin in a stiff nod.
I shook my head on a sigh. “Stupid girl.”
She turned her face toward the path.
Now in the afternoon light, I noted what I had first thought was a bloody cut on her forehead was actually demon runes. They were smeared and illegible, written in blood beneath her hair. I wondered what kind of horrific spell the bone-keepers might’ve been commanded to put there. She didn’t seem to be suffering in any way other than her physical injuries. The spell must not have worked.
She whimpered when my splayed hand on her lower back slid upward. I shifted her gently, higher in my arms, keeping my hand around her slim waist to avoid her wounds.
I walked on in silence, carrying her deeper into the woods, no sound but my heavy footsteps crunching in the snow.
