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And subsequently, many more innocents.

The weight of it sits heavy in my chest, but there’s no time to dwell. Duty pulls me forward toward the stables.

On the way there, Lettie hands me a letter from Avaline.

It’s short and sweet. Just a few lines apologizing for leading Riven to my cottage and for being unable to come help me get settled, saying that Tallis has been running her ragged. She ends the note with a promise that she’ll try to sneak away in the coming weeks, though she doesn’t know when such a visit may be possible.

I tuck the letter into my pocket and sit on a bale of hay, wondering what her days must look like beneath Tallis’s thumb, pressed thin by the nymph supreme’s commands. Across from me, Riven busies himself with directing the stablehands as they ready the horses for our ride.

Lettie and a male attendant, likely Riven’s personal groom, bring out two packs and affix them to the horses we’ll be riding today—an enormous black steed and a smaller, more petite chestnut brown mare.

“Do you know how to ride?” Riven asks, handing me the reins to the mare.

“Do I know how to ride?” I mock, intoning his pompous voice and scoffing. “Of course, I know how to ride.”

My ears burn as I tell the fib, and I’m grateful it isn’t Avaline I’m speaking to because she would immediately call me out on my bluff. I don’t actually know the first thing about riding a horse, but it’s always looked fun.

How hard could it be?

I walk around the animal, trying to gauge how best to hoist myself up onto the beast.

Foot in stirrup, hand on the pointy thing at the front of the saddle, then lift skyward.

I give it a go, wobbling the entire way, and fall flat on my rump with a startled gasp.

The horse whinnies and blinks down at me.

I scramble to my feet.

Riven watches me from the back of his horse, amusement glittering in his eyes. “Do you need some help, little witch?”

“I wouldn’t want you to hurt your back, grandsire.”

I dust the dirt from my breeches and survey the horse again.

“If you don’t know how to ride,” he drawls, “you could always ride with me.”

The heat from my ears creeps down my neck.

That will require us to sit close, very close, and I’m not sure either of us could tolerate it. He shifts slightly, just enough to make me wonder if the idea unsettles him too.

“Come on.” He extends a hand to me, flashing his perfect teeth. “My brother’s the biter, not me.”

It’s as if a string has unraveled between his hand and my legs because I’m walking toward him and placing my palm in his without even meaning to do so. He inches back in the saddle and lifts me as if I weigh nothing, guiding me right between his powerful thighs.

That heat spreads further, igniting across my cheeks as he leans forward, chest brushing against my back, to grab the reins. I’m caged within his strong arms, and my hands are a tangled mess in my lap because I’m not putting them anywhere near his body.

“Ready?” he asks.

I nod, but that’s another fib.

Deep in the woods, Riven directs Cinder, his horse, off a well-worn trail and brings him to a stop.

He slides from the back of the steed, landing on his feet with ease. “Before we go any further, I need to grant you access to see through the glamour I’ve cast.”

“Grant me access how?” I ask, slightly suspicious as he helps me out of the saddle.

“You don’t have to worry.” He unsheathes his dagger. “It’s painless, leaves no trace, and will cease the moment the glamour is unwoven.”