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I collapsed onto my back and tried to find my breath. It snarled, snapping its teeth in warning before slipping beneath the murky water. I couldn’t move—paralyzed from the pain in my calf. From fear. From whatever that thing was.
Then, I realized that it was all true. A wave of terror washed over me, turning my skin to ice. The rumors of the river losing iron. The rumors of the fae. They were all true.
What had I done? How was I going to get back?
I clutched a hand to my chest, unsure if I was going to pass out or vomit or both. My chest rose and fell with haphazard breaths. I needed to get out of there. Fast.
Bottling my panic, I tried to stand but stumbled forward, crying out in the pain from the three large puncture wounds marring my skin. I bit my lip to keep quiet while I tore off the hem of my dress and wrapped it around my calf. I’d seen illustrations of different types of fae before, but that thing? That thing belonged in the underworld.
With the gash beginning to clot over, I pushed myself up and limped over to the nearest tree, tethering the rope to its trunk. It was secure enough, I thought, testing its resistance, hoping it’d support my weight long enough to shimmy across.
My lip grew tender as I unsheathed my knife, limping deeper into Faerway’s forest. Leaves and trees blurred together—what had I been thinking?
Blood rushed to my ears, and I swayed. I didn’t know where to find the nightingale, let alone how long I’d last while wounded. Pain radiated up my leg again; slices of icy pain surged into my skull.
This couldn’t be happening. Was that heinous water creature responsible for Lilian’s death? Stars only knew what else lurked inside the forest.
I staggered ahead, fumbling my way through the trees as I kept my attention on the ground, searching the forest floor for anything resembling the nightingale, but nothing came close. It was useless. A foolish mission. My mother was right. If I didn’t get back soon, I’d come down with an infection, or worse, be killed by whatever else lurked in the foliage.
Stumbling, I stopped and slapped a hand over my mouth as my injured leg rubbed against a thorn bush—silencing a scream—when deep male voices sounded from my right.
I hobbled behind a tree to remain out of sight and inched my head around the trunk, holding back a yelp of fear when I saw them. All three men were tall and slim and appeared like any normal human, except their ears were sharp. Their faces more angular.
Fae.
Clad in leather armor that hugged their well-fitted uniforms, they each carried a sword at their back. Their lethal demeanor made me stifle my breathing. I didn’t know if they were guards or common fae, however, there was no denying their otherworldly beauty.
My jaw slacked—transfixed by their swift, agile movements as they breezed through the dense evergreen forest.
The shorter of the three stopped a few feet away and sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?” He grabbed the hilt of his dagger and whipped around, tracking the scent.
“Human filth,” one replied. “This way.”
The trio altered their course, veering toward the same direction I’d just come, causing a surge of tension to grip my already aching muscles. The blood that tricked down my thigh now meant more than a potential infection. They could scent me.
How the hell was I supposed to get out of there with them wandering around? My mother’s words echoed in my head: “The fae are more cruel and cunning and evil than anyone can imagine. Do you know what they’d do to you over there, girl?”
One thing was sure, I didn’t want to find out.
So, I waited until they were out of sight before I crept around the tree, making careful to not step on any twigs. When I slammed face-first into a leather breastplate, my blood turned to ice.
I took in the large, polished boots twice the size of mine as I stumbled back a step. The three faerie men towered over me, hindering my escape. Shit. I swallowed hard, allowing my gaze to travel up the body attached to the breastplate I’d run into, stopping when I met a pair of emerald eyes glowering down at me with pure disgust.
My nails dug into my palms, and I matched his scowl with a heated look of my own. I knew the odds of leaving this forest alive were next to none, but I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
And there was no way I’d cower to a faerie.
“Well, aren’t you a little far from home?”
“Go to hell.”
The faerie man chuckled—the deep, raspy sound matching his voice. “We’re already there. Don’t worry, this will only hurt a little.”
I didn’t have time to protest as an invisible cord wrapped around my body, preventing me from moving.
A smoldering surge of heat coiled around my limbs like an invisible serpent, its fiery tendrils licking at my senses. The warmth seemed to steal the very light from my vision, leaving nothing but a smoky haze in its wake. As the intensity increased, the world around me blurred, until, inevitably, I succumbed to the inky abyss of unconsciousness.
Four
