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Ignoring his offered help, I tried to get to my feet, focusing on each muscle movement and using all of the strength I no longer had. They must have drugged me. Groaning, I somehow managed to push upwards and steadied myself against the trunk of a tree. Feeling around for purchase, I realized the bark was oddly soft to the touch, but then it moved under my palm and I flinched back.
My mouth dropped open in shock as I stared up at what had to be the largest tree I had ever seen in my life. It was roughly the width of seven normal trees from the woods back in Karn and at least ten times as tall, reaching skyward like bark-covered mountains, its canopy far overhead blotting out the stars. The tree moved again, and I leapt backwards, magically finding my balance. I stared agape at the trunk as it seemed to undulate and shift, and up a little higher, its branches swayed and moved like spindly arms.
“They’re alive…” I whispered in awe, perhaps to myself. The trees were alive, and not just in the sense that they were growing. They were moving on their own, as if thought and feeling and conscious thought spurred the movements. I gazed around at the forest that surrounded me, finding more of them, all moving independent of each other, disregarding the direction of the wind.
“You’re a quick one, aren’t you?” His voice was dry, as he regarded me carefully, his lips thinning into a look of apathy. “Fortunately, this world is still very much alive and breathing, unlike the rotting carcass of a realm we pulled you from.”
This world… This world?
My blood iced over as I willed myself to look harder at my dark surroundings. I began to notice the shadows that moved through the trees, faster than I could follow. The forest was full of sound—murmuring, scraping, chittering, and giggling. I knew in my bones that I was being watched and studied, because I was no longer in the human world. In the time I’d been unconscious, the Wild Hunt had taken me through the veil and into Faerie.
The air here seemed to have a vaguely violet tint to it. Even the grass, the bark, and the draping moss that hung from them were shades of violet, emerald, and sapphire. Dustmotes floated around me, sparkling in the shafts of moonlight, creating a dreamlike effect that had my fear receding slightly, but it didn’t last long.
There were several erasu creeping in the shadows around us like sentries, making my skin crawl. I didn’t see the other two princes, though, or the legion of faeries who had come with them to collect me from Karn.
The golden-eyed prince strode towards me. I stumbled back a few steps, and he came to a halt, frowning down at me. “What are you cowering for? Is it not enough that I removed your chains?” I peered down at myself. Indeed he had removed my chains. I could still feel a vague burning sensation where they had once dug into my skin.
“Where is everyone else? Did you drug me? Where are we exactly?” My questions flew out in a jumble, but I couldn’t control it. He’d spoken of my chains, those burning iron chains, as if removing them had been a favor. As if I hadn’t been chained on his orders in the first place.
He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face in exasperation. “Listen to me,pet. I’ve been waiting hours now for you to wake up, and I’m in no mood for your incessant questions. You can call me Riven if you insist on addressing me at all, and yes, you’re exactly where you think you are. No, there’s no help coming for you, and yes, you are in more danger than you’ve ever been in your short, little life.” With that, he raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, the sound echoing off the trees. “So, if you’re done with the dramatics, I have places to be.”
I blinked atRiven, jaw falling slack. It was clear he disliked me immensely. I wondered why he’d been the one to remain behind to wait for me to wake up. “You’re not leaving me here…” Panic welled up inside me. I looked around at the trees and the tall grasses. In the distance, there was nothing but darkness.
This place was known as the Void Wood—the realm that separated Faerie from the Veil to the human world. Legend says this forest was filled with nightmarish monsters that would hunt you down in seconds and consume you before you even realized you were hopelessly lost.
Riven rushed at me, moving so fast, he was a blur. Grabbing my chin between his strong fingers, he squeezed tight enough to be painful, bringing his face too close to my own. “Then brace yourself. Unless you’d rather try your luck on the ground, though I wouldn’t advise it. These woods have an appetite that only worsens in the night, and they’d love nothing more than to consume a delicious thing like you.” He scraped the pad of his thumb roughly over my bottom lip, his own stretching into a feral smile. “What a waste that would be…”
My heart raced as I stared into golden eyes that seemed to swirl with shadows and light at the same time. I’d been mistaken before when I thought that he was the benevolent of the three princes. There was a savage intensity in his stare that I couldn’t disregard. This faerie was as dangerous as any other creature that lurked in the Void Wood.
Before I could respond, there was a whirring noise from above. Craning my neck, I watched as several shapes appeared out of the shadows of the canopy overhead. Instinctively, I reached for the dagger that was no longer with me, lying somewhere on the cracked tile of the courtyard back in Karn instead.
Riven clicked his tongue at me with the shake of his head. “Even if you had your sorry little blade, you're no match for the Wild Hunt.”
Several lithe forms dropped to the forest floor, long dangling vines swinging behind them. There were four of them, all incredibly tall and graceful male faeries with varying shades of long hair and bright, jewel-toned eyes. Their lack of animalistic qualities told me they weren’t primals, and yet the curious way they regarded me had me on my toes. Sentinels then. Hunters.
The last one to land was Cadoc, but he hadn’t come down on a vine. Speckled, feathered wings of gray, black, and the darkest brown spread out from behind him. He folded them behind his shirtless body as he straightened to his full, formidable height. I couldn’t help but drink him in from head to toe in appreciation.
Cadoc was built like a god—thick and strong with skin a warm shade of brown that seemed to glow in the moonlight. He caught me gaping, and my wide-eyed awe quickly transformed into a glare.
“Cadoc, would you escort the halfling? I've already had enough nonsense for tonight and I want to find a pixie to fuck,” Riven clipped out as he stepped away from me. I breathed in deeply, filling my lungs with anything but the scent of him. “I’ll deal withherin the morning.” He cast me a dark look as he passed by, then clapped Cadoc on the shoulder once. Another faerie male procured a vine from seemingly nowhere, handing it to him.
I blanched at his crudeness.Find a pixie to fuck?Willingly, I hoped…
Cadoc nodded curtly at Riven and strode toward me, his face as stoic as ever. I kept my attention on Riven still as he turned, gripping the vine tightly, then he stared directly at me. The air began to crackle, and small specs of light the color of his golden eyes danced around his fingers and beneath his boots. His golden tattoos lit up, shining like sunlight dancing under his skin, and my jaw fell slack again as I watched Riven rise up into the air by way of magic, using the vine to guide himself upwards toward the canopy of trees.
The remaining faeries did the same, following him up, only they didn’t sparkle with strange magic. They used their unnatural faerie strength and agility to climb higher and higher until the shadows consumed them whole.
Cadoc waited for my gaping to end before he spoke, and I nearly leapt out of my skin, having forgotten how close he was. He cast me an exasperated look and answered my unspoken question. “Riven’s mother is a mage.” My eyes widened. I’d assumed that Riven was a pure blood, but he was a halfling the same as me, only half mage rather than human, which made all the difference. “Now if you’re through standing around looking like a slack-jawed human—” He moved fluidly, extending his arm as that same black rope-like substance he’d used on Ruarc appeared in his palm like a writhing mass of shadow.
I froze as he flung it outward until it wrapped around my torso and went taut. He pulled me in with more force than necessary. When I was flush against his chest, I felt his hand press into the small of my back, the points of his clawed fingers jabbing into my skin.
He looked down at me with barely a breath between us, those fathomless, empty depths sucking me in. “You belong to the Wild Hunt now, princess. You’re mine to do with as I wish, so I suggest you use these last few moments of solitude to think about the mistake you made by begging for our assistance.”
When he grinned, it was all pointed teeth that filled his whole mouth—his deceptively sensuous mouth. He was beautiful in a monstrous sort of way. Beautiful in the way that drew you in, fascinated and ensnared you, until it was too late and those teeth ripped into your skin and tore you apart bit by bit. I wondered briefly just what kind of creature’s blood ran through his primal veins.
* * *
The smoke-like ropetightened around me until I could barely breathe. Cadoc’s claws held me in place, so struggling wasn’t an option. My back was still on fire and aching in a way that made it hard to move, while my limbs were sore and stiff still, and my head was pounding.
