“He tried,” Larkin said. “But Denan saved my life.”
Venna reached for Larkin’s hand. Larkin pulled back; she didn’t want to be touched. Venna curled her fingers against her chest. “I-I’m so sorry.”
Alorica folded her arms. “Then go somewhere else! There’s more to the Idelmarch than Hamel. There’s Landra or Cordova or a smaller town. I’ll help you—hide you and give you enough money to get started. You can take your family. No one would know you came back, so no one would look for you.”
Was it possible? Could she really go back? Larkin swayed, thinking of Mama and her little sisters. They needed her. She couldn’t imagine living the rest of her life never knowing what happened to them. “How would this time be any different than yesterday?”
“I don’t want to be pricked with one of those poisoned darts,” Venna added.
Pleased with herself, Alorica fussed with her gold bracelet. “That’s just it. We’ll use their weapons against them, as Larkin did when she escaped.” She waded closer, voice rising with excitement. “We wait for our chance and steal three darts. We hit each man at the same time, and then we run all the way back to Hamel.”
“There’s a couple minutes between being darted and total collapse,” Larkin pointed out. “Plenty of time for them to dart us too. And they’d be furious when they came around.”
“They’d fight us off before we ever even got close,” Venna added.
A diabolical light gleamed in Alorica’s eyes. “We’ll let them share the pods with us. They won’t be able to resist. No man would. In the morning, we dart them all at the same time. Then we run.”
“What about the beast?” Larkin asked.
Alorica waved away her warning. “If there is a beast, we’ll handle it.”
Larkin splashed water on her face. “We don’t know how.”
“Hiding in a tree seemed to work last night,” Alorica said. Venna nodded in agreement. “Now, how will we know when to stick the pipers?”
“You could cough for the signal,” Venna said. “Once to let us know to get ready. Once to stick them.”
Alorica broke into a grin. “Venna, you’re brilliant.”
Venna blushed. “And then we simply follow the river home?”
“We’ll be home in a couple days. Less, if we hurry,” Alorica said.
“Larkin,” Denan called. “Stop plotting and come eat your breakfast.”
She froze. Had he somehow heard them?
“Remember,” Alorica whispered as she sloshed to shore.
Larkin followed, legs numb and red. She touched her amulet. Before, there had been a need to hide it. There wasn’t anymore. She untied it from her waist, retied the leather cord, and dropped it over her head. She studied the way the light played off the colors gleaming deep within. If she did manage to escape, she would never learn to use her magic, never be more than a powerless girl at the mercy of druids and pipers and men.
“Larkin, hurry up,” Alorica said.
If she stayed, she would give up her family. That was a price she would never willingly pay. Larkin finished dressing and cringed at the feel of her damp shift under her clothes.
Talox handed out a breakfast of leftover meat and more greens. After they finished, Tam swam across the river with a rope. Denan had them climb a tree and zip across in a thrilling, twisting ride without the need to get wet. They headed northeast, climbing upward with every step. One of the men always ranged ahead.
Larkin hurried to catch up to Denan. He looked at her in surprise. She refused to meet his gaze; she didn’t want to look too eager. “You really can’t tell me the truth, can you?”
He grunted. “Curse bind your tongue?” She nodded. “The others have to figure it out on their own, as you did.”
I am not like you, she thought. What she said was, “Tell me about the curse.” He shook his head. She growled in frustration. “I already know about the wraiths. Tell me about them.” She needed to know how to handle them if they were escaping in the morning.
“In the ancient language, wraith meant ‘children of the light.’”
“You said the magic corrupted them?” She shuddered at the possibility of her magic turning her into something that radiated such evil.
“They were twisted, both in form and in mind. Their bodies shifted from beautiful to terrible. Their purpose from goodness to chaos. They are evil, Larkin, and cunning and cruel and depraved. All the things we as a people fight for, they fight for the opposite.”
“What do they look like?”
He held back a branch and let her through. “At first, they’re mere shadows, then those shadows take shape.”
What did that even mean? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “How do you kill them?”
“You cannot kill what is already dead. A deathblow from a blade made of the White Tree will banish them for a time, and they cannot cross water.” Denan stopped, his hand going out to stop her, his face hard as stone.
At the sound of distant flute music, Larkin shared a worried glance with the other girls and stepped closer to Denan. “What’s going on?”
He unhooked his bow and strung it. “We are being hunted.”
She worried her bottom lip. “Wraiths?”
He shook his head. “They come out after the sun sets.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Gilgads?”
“No.”
She swallowed. “There’s something else?”
His jaw tightened. “There’s a narrow stream not far from here.”
Larkin shot a glance back at Alorica. She had to convince the other girls to reconsider their escape plans.
Denan shot her a suspicious look. “Why so many questions?”
“I need to know how to defend myself,” she said a little too quickly.
“Let us worry about that.”
They reached a little burbling spring not long before sunset. Such a little thing, but Larkin felt an overwhelming sense of relief when they crossed it. They hadn’t taken any fresh meat during the day, so Talox handed out travel bread and they split up the nuts and greens they had all managed to gather along the way.
They were given a little time to wash up before bed. Larkin waited until the men had taken a few steps away before kneeling next to Alorica. “I’m not sure—”
Alorica rubbed water across her face and neck. “You will do your part and keep your mouth shut.”
Larkin made a show of cleaning her teeth. “Are you willing to die for it?”
Alorica leaned closer. “Absolutely.”
Before Larkin could reply, a cry brought her head up, heart pounding. Venna had crumpled to the ground. Water running into her collar, Larkin shot to her feet and hurried toward her. “Venna, what happened?”
Venna’s face beaded with sweat. “I fell.”
Larkin shot a glare at Talox. “Did you dart her?”
“No.” He knelt next to Venna. “Where does it hurt?”
She panted, eyes squeezed shut. “My ankle.”
He gently reached out, untied her worn boots, and ran his fingers over her unblemished skin. Denan and Tam came over too, concerned. Venna’s eyes locked with Larkin’s, and her expression wasn’t full of pain, but guilt.
Suspicious, Larkin sneaked a glance at Alorica, who slipped three darts wrapped in leather from Talox’s dropped pack. She held her finger to her lips as she slid them in her pocket. Larkin’s mouth fell open, but no words came out.
“Larkin?” Denan followed her gaze. Alorica was striding toward them. She knelt beside Venna.
“You should try walking on it. Sometimes that will loosen it up.” She ducked under Venna’s arm and helped her up. Venna took a limping step. Larkin folded her arms, not liking that the two had conspired without telling her.
“It’s feeling better,” Venna said after half a dozen steps. “I think it will be all right.”
“Still, it won’t hurt to wrap it.” Talox went for his pack.
Tam shot Alorica a s
uspicious look. Her eyes went wide and innocent. “Is there really something out there, hunting us?” she asked breathlessly, and it somehow made her look alluring.
Tam gave a slow nod. She bit her lip and considered the darkening forest. “You could probably defend us better if you got a decent night’s sleep.” He nodded again. She sighed. “All right. You take the pod. I’ll sleep on the bough.”
“They’re strong enough we could share,” Tam offered a little too eagerly.
Alorica blushed prettily. “I don’t— I mean, that wouldn’t be proper.”
He bounced on the pads of his feet. “We can tie them flat. Not as much protection from the elements, but it shouldn’t rain tonight anyway.”
She looked at him demurely. “I suppose, but only if you promise to keep your distance.”
“You’re always safe with me,” Tam said breathlessly.
It took everything Larkin had not to roll her eyes.
Alorica turned her wide brown eyes on Venna. “Don’t you want your piper to have a good night’s sleep so he can defend you?”
Venna sat on a log, eyes on the ground. “I suppose.”
Alorica turned that same gaze to Larkin, who folded her arms. “No.”
A glint flashed in Alorica’s eyes. “If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for us.”
Knowing what she really meant, Larkin wavered. The forest was dangerous—more dangerous than any of them really knew—but she’d already warned them, and they still wanted to risk it. Did she really have the right to force them to stay? Maybe Alorica was right, and Larkin was a selfish coward for not facing the danger to return to her own family. “Fine. As long as he doesn’t touch me.”
She could feel Denan’s stare, his suspicion burning her from the inside out. “I can take the bough,” he said. He picked up his pack, set it next to the spring, and refused to look at her. The other pipers headed back into the forest, probably to set up the pods in the tree they’d staked out earlier.
Alorica’s fingers dug into Larkin’s arm, and she slipped the dart into her hand. “Fix it.”
Larkin shoved the dart into her pocket. Alorica gave Venna a hug good night—if the pipers knew her at all, they would have realized how out of character that was. Larkin saw her drop the dart into Venna’s pocket.
No more wavering. Larkin had decided; now she had to live with it. Gritting her teeth, she marched toward the spring where Denan knelt next to the flowing water. Shirtless, he rinsed the soap from his torso. Water slid down his honed body, dark honey skin gleaming. She stopped in her tracks, mouth falling open. He was beautiful. As she watched, he ran a blade over his scalp, shaving the prickling of dark hair.
“What is Alorica up to?” Denan asked.
Larkin started. She’d thought herself hidden from sight. Apparently not. She turned her back to him, as much to give him the privacy she should have given before as to hide her flaming cheeks. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Few can resist Alorica—not once she sets her sights on them.” And secretly, Larkin wished she had that power over men.
“I could.”
She glanced over to see him rinsing the soap from his gleaming scalp. “Just so long as you stick to your side of the pod.”
“You detest me. Why would you want to share a pod?”
She couldn’t look at him for fear he would see the lie on her face. “Because I felt the wraiths last night.” She heard rustling clothes and more splashing. She turned to see if he was nearly dressed, only to find him perfectly naked, his buttocks as toned as the rest of him.
Blushing even harder, she whipped around. “Have you no shame?”
“You’re the one hanging around while I’m trying to bathe.”
She had to focus, had to figure out what other dangers they faced. “What’s the other thing hunting us?”
“You know I can’t tell you.”
Larkin tried to block out the sounds of him washing. “Something the music holds back, but only for a little while.”
“How did you know that?”
“Tam was playing his pipes, but you said we still had to cross the river. Are they as bad as the wraiths?”
He grunted. “No. The magic drives away the weaker ones for a time.”
“And the stronger ones?”
“Just seems to enrage them.”
“So how do you defeat them?”
“Weapons, mostly.”
Larkin looked up through the branches above her. How were they supposed to cross the Forbidden Forest full of gilgads, wraiths, and something she didn’t even have a name for? She had no more idea how to use a bow than a sword. Deep in thought, she prodded her bandage, wincing at the soreness.
“Let me check that.”
She jumped, surprised to find him right next to her—so much skin exposed she wasn’t sure where to look. “Put your shirt on!”
He grunted. “It’s still drying.” He pulled out the salve from his pack. She let her gaze trail down far enough to affirm he had on a clean pair of pants.
She didn’t like him that close to her, but the salve did help with the pain. She tipped her head to the side, and he changed the bandage, adding more salve. “Healing nicely. In a couple days, we can take the bandage off.”
He replaced the salve and shouldered his pack. She followed him to another tree. “Talox,” he called up. “Your turn.”
Talox dropped heavily to his feet and strode past them.
“He doesn’t say much, does he?” In contrast, she could make out Tam chattering above them.
“Only when he needs to.” Denan jumped up and grabbed a bough, pulling himself up and holding a hand out to her. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it. This time, when he set up the pod, he tied the four corners down so it was flat. He settled down the blanket. “In you go.”
Spreading his shirt and damp pants across a branch, he pulled his cloak from his pack while she climbed across the pod. Denan placed the pack between them and climbed in. Their weight pulled them together, the pack a divider of sorts, but their hips and legs still touched. Larkin rolled to her side to avoid the contact. She listened to the sounds of the coming night, trying not to think about the dart in her pocket.
“What’s your favorite color?” he asked.
“Turquoise,” she said immediately. “Like the tail feathers of an amala bird.” She imagined herself soaring through the sky, free in a way she never had been before.
Sometime before dawn, Larkin started awake to the sound of coughing. She came face-to-face with a bare chest. She was tangled up with Denan, her head on his chest, his arms snug around her, their feet intertwined. Her breath hitched in her throat, panic shooting through her.
She froze, horror and repulsion drowning her. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. At the sound of more coughing and a muffled shout, Denan jerked up, instantly alert. A couple beats later, Larkin remembered what she was supposed to do. She wrenched the dart from her pocket, but Denan was already half out of the pod.
“Denan,” she cried. He whipped around, a panicked look about his eyes. She stabbed him in the arm. He yanked out the dart and stared at the welling blood in disbelief. Blood trickled down his arm, and she cringed at the betrayal in his eyes.
“You can’t want to go back.”
“I can’t leave my family.” Why was she giving him an explanation? She owed him nothing.
“I watched you. I saw the way your father treated you, the way the townspeople treated you. You deserve better, Larkin.”
Her two little sisters. Her mother. “My family needs me. And Bane—”
“What about what you need?”
No one had ever asked that before. “I’m sorry.”
His arm dangled; his left cheek sagged. He went to his pouch, removed a vial, and took a quick swallow of antidote. “You have to keep the other girls alive.” He tried to do up the strap on the pack, but his fingers kept fumbling. She did it for him. ??
?You can’t go back the way we came. There are four wraiths tracking us. You’ll have to cross the river.”
She nodded.
“The wraith’s blades are poison and the—” He swore and hit the branch with the flat of his hand. “I can’t say it!” He pushed a knife into her hand. “There’s more of the other ones.” He half fell into the pod. His legs dangled, their weight pulling him down. Trying to push aside her crushing guilt, she lifted them into the pod. He lay back, his gaze locked on hers. “You have your amulet?” She nodded. “If it comes to it, use it like a shield, but your safest bet is to be in a tree before sunset. Promise me, Larkin. Swear it.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“They can’t climb trees.” His words were becoming slurred. “And they won’t cross swiftly moving water.”
“Will you— Will you be all right?”
“I won’t be able to come for you until tonight, but I will come for you. I will always come for you.” It didn’t feel like a threat, but a promise. The tree shook. Larkin half expecting a wraith to come at her. “Protect the others, Larkin.” She gripped the knife tighter to hide her shaking. He reached up and clumsily brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckle. “Stay safe, little bird.” Then his hand dropped, and he went still.
Larkin stared at him for a long time, reminding herself he wasn’t dead. He would come around in a few hours. So why did she feel a desperate, wailing panic cresting in her chest? Unable to resist, she held her hand under his nose, reassured by the puff against her fingers.
“Larkin?” Alorica hissed.
Sniffing, Larkin turned to see Alorica and Venna climbing toward her. Venna was pale. Alorica looked disheveled, her hair coming out of its braid. “Take his pack. Let’s go.” She started down the tree.
Larkin glanced back and saw Denan’s foot dangling from the pod. She tucked it back inside.
“What are you doing?” Alorica hissed.
Larkin took the pack, leaving him some travel bread as well as his bow, shield, and ax—she didn’t know how to use them anyway—and walked carefully along the bough. “Did you give the others the antidote?”
Venna nodded.
“Tam took his after he failed to tie me up,” Alorica said as she stepped down.