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She nodded silently. “Come on, it’s late. We probably need to start looking for a place to camp,” she said, changing the subject.
I knew we’d have to find a place to sleep eventually, but I was delaying. I didn’t trust myself to be alone with Raven at night since our kiss in the bramblelands. I thought the guilt of betraying Lila would keep my thoughts of Raven at bay, but it was just the opposite. Raven wasallI thought about. I could still taste the sweetness of her lips on mine and remember the way my muscles tensed with the desire to lift her up and carry her into the guesthouse. I’d walked away then, but would I be able to again?Did I even want to walk away?
“Since we have the moonspar, let’s keep going for now,” I said, hoping I sounded less miserable than I felt.
When she agreed, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in.
Stayon the path in the forest. Keep in sight of each other. Don’t talk to anyone you meet. And whatever you do, don’t disturb the lake.
The warning Yaro had given us was ringing in my head when the Forgotten Forest appeared in the distance late the next morning. It was easy to see why this place was calledforgotten. The entire forest was hidden underneath a thick layer of low-lying clouds.
“Do you remember the old stories we used to make up about this place when we were young?” Kah said to me, his black eyes scanning the valley ahead. “Like how we used to call itFear Forest?”
“I remember,” I grumbled. My friends and I had created our own legends about the forest, each of us imagining something more gruesome than the last as we tried to scare one another around the fire. One boy said the Magi queen was still alive, and to sustain her eternal life, she would eat the heart of any man who dared to cross into her land. Another said the forest was crawling with ghosts of the dead Magi tribe, and the sight of one made your heart stop, killing you instantly. My story was different. I imagined that the queen would take the form of the person you love the most in the world and feign his or her death to destroy your heart forever.
Though, right now, it wasn’t the chilling legends of the forest that concerned me. I was more afraid of what I’d find on the other side of the forest when we reached Askeland.
What if they’ve taken Askeland?
The thought made my muscles tense.
Ahead, Raven gripped on to the branch of a tree to steady herself as she skidded down a steep patch of loose rock. Despite what Yaro had told us about the forest, she didn’t appear to be scared. In fact, she’d quickened her pace when the forest came into view, seeming in a hurry to get this whole journey over with.
When we finally reached the bottom of the valley, the mood of the landscape changed. A thin layer of snow covered the ground and crunched under our feet, interrupting the silence. The air became humid and thick, and the sweet taste on the breeze turned stagnant. The hazy purple mountains along the eastern horizon that once served as a reminder that I was almost home looked dark and foreboding. I had a nagging feeling that the home Kah and I left months ago was not the same one we’d be returning to.
As we got closer, the fur between Kah’s shoulders rose up. He kept glancing warily over his shoulder like we were being followed, but there’d been no sign of the Rathalans, and to my relief, no sign of Skyler either. I’d been inspecting every bird that flew over our heads just to be certain.
Soon, the hidden forest loomed in front of us. Ghostlike trees were cloaked in an eerie fog that rolled like waves along the ground. It was obvious why I’d never met anyone who’d been here. Kovaks never traveled this way. The fog made it impossible to navigate, and the legends surrounding this place were an extra deterrent.
Raven stared straight ahead. “I guess we’re about to find out if the legends are true.”
I glanced up to see the last sliver of the pale moon fading into the blue sky, the final warning that my time to reach Lila had run out. The winter new moon was tomorrow. There was no turning back now.
“Stay right beside me, k’da?” I said to Raven. “We don’t know what lies ahead, and we don’t want to get separated in the fog.”
“I can protect myself,” she said with an edge to her voice that wouldn’t have been there days ago.
I know, I thought. That’s one of the things I liked about her.
Inside the forest, there were no sounds except the padding of our boots on the snow-covered leaves that coated the path. Kah’s nose worked, searching for danger as we traveled deeper into the fog.
The path wasn’t winding or overgrown, allowing us to travel quickly even though we couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead through the fog. The day passed, and we didn’t detect anything more sinister than the occasional sharp icicle clinging to a rock. There were no Rathalans, no ghosts, no bereaved queen, not even a biting insect in sight. Even so, I remained close to Kah and Raven, keeping an eye on them while I listened for signs we were being watched or followed.
When night fell, we used the moonspar to find a place to camp near the path. After eating, Raven took her blanket and fell asleep far away from me on the opposite side of the fire. I could feel the distance growing between us—stretching more every moment to the point of breaking. And there was nothing I could do to fix it. Even though she was still with me, it felt like she’d already flown away forever.
Kah eyed me. “Are we going to talk about your feelings for her?”
“I can’t have feelings for her, Kah,” I lied. “I’m engaged. I’m gettingmarried. That kiss with her was—”Amazing. “—a mistake.”
“Have you ever heard of denial?” he said, quirking an eyebrow.
“Have you heard of minding your own business?” I couldn’t admit to Kah that despite my promise to Lila, it was becomingmore and more difficult to imagine my life without Raven. I didn’t care that she wasn’t a Kovak. I didn’t care that my father would disown me if he knew of my feelings for her. None of that mattered when I was with her.
Before Kah could say anything else, I turned away from him and lay down by the fire. I clutched my necklace, praying to Inaya to give me the strength to do what I had to do next.
Dawn had brokenwhen I woke up. The forest was quiet, making the fears still ringing in the back of my mind sound even louder.
Exhaling, I sat up just as Kah opened his eyes.
