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I had no flowers to light my way, and didn’t need them. My body was one big starflower, casting back the darkness as I stepped lightly on the path, heading deeper into the woods.
It wasn’t long before I found myself in another clearing, this one more beautiful than the last.
Starflowers gathered around a pond, dancing a merry shake as rabbits chased each other along the bank and through the glowing reeds. The long stems reached high, tickling the backs of two fawns gently lapping at the water. Large, graceful wings sprouted from their backs.
The deer raised their heads when I approached, took me in, then returned to their drink.
A heavy weight landed on my shoulder, almost startling a cry out of me. My brows blew up when a small, furry head stuck its face in mine, inspecting me closely.
The little monkey must’ve been satisfied because he chittered at the trees, and the trees chittered back—proving he had a couple friends up there waiting for the verdict.
Unlike the impossible rabbits and deer, I saw no wings on the monkey, but he was still different. His coat was much thicker, heavier, and warmer than the monkeys of the Beharra Forest. This little critter was built for the cold.
“What is this place?” I breathed, stroking his soft fur. “How can this forest be dead, bleak, and desolate, while also being beautiful, enigmatic, and wondrous? How did you all get here?” A rabbit flew up to the trees. “How did you become... this?”
The monkey screeched and leapt off my shoulder. I assumed that was his answer.
Laughing, I took a seat in the amazing place, deciding then to make it my hiding place. I was surrounded my more starflowers. They’d further obscure my scent. “My”—the word wouldn’t leave my lips—“won’t believe when I tell them of this. No one will.
“So much beauty in a nightmare.”
“Poetic.”
I bolted upright, moving only half as fast as the animals. They bolted out of the clearing so fast, they kicked up a wave of snow that showered my back.
Alisdair slithered out of the dark—the trickster’s smirk baring his fangs. “Oh, my dear, you’re glowing. I’m flattered.”
I moved as he moved, maintaining our distance—edging around the pond.
“How did you find me?” I croaked. Did Meallan lie? Did I cover myself with a beacon instead of a barrier?
“Of course, I found you. You are just like these flowers...” He bent slowly, eyes fixed on me as he plucked one off its stem. “Meek, pointless, decorative, and so terrified of the dark, you cling to the light.” He flung the pretty thing over his shoulder.
“Come to me,” he growled like a wild animal. “This will be neither quick nor gentle nor loving, and still you will enjoy nothing more.”
I choked, knees knocking together. What a way to describe our first joining as faeman and wife. “You haven’t caught me yet,” I replied when I found my voice. “And you won’t. I will never—”
I dropped down, grabbed a fistful of snow and mud and flung it in his face. I was off before his roar hit my ears.
No sneaking, no hiding, no flowers, no time. I ran as fast as my borrowed legs could carry me, crashing through brush and scattering every critter in my path. He couldn’t catch me.
No matter what it took, I would outlast him until the dawn, and get back to my family.
Heavy footfalls thundered behind me, trumpeting his pursuit. Snarling, I ran faster.
Shadowsoul looked at me and saw a pointless, decorative princess. That night would be the night he learned to never underestimate a woman inside for the pretty wrapping outside.
I was no princess. I was the girl who ran from bullies nearly every day of her life. There was a reason they all slunk home at the end of the day, cursing their failure. A slipperier girl than I did not exist.
A low-hanging branch loomed ahead. I grabbed it without hesitating, flipped, and landed on my toes. From branch to branch I climbed, scrabbled, and skittered up the tree as easy as a monkey.
There was a reason the forest animals did not fear me. They knew I was one of them—a child of the forest. The forest was where we fae belonged, if not for our ancients envying the humans and wanting cities, gold, and government for ourselves, we’d still live in the forests and they wouldn’t have turned against us for the slight. But not this poor dead and withered place. It carried no ill will.
“Argh!”
Not like the enraged beast coming after me.
The tree shook with his pursuit, almost shaking me off its side.
