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“Fen,” I whispered. “Say something.”

But she said nothing.

“Don’t sink into that forest and never let me find you again.”

But she turned and left me where I stood.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Fenli

He had poured his heart out at my feet, and I’d left him standing there. I wasn’t going anywhere specifically, just away, just to catch my breath for a moment and try to settle my racing thoughts.

I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. Roan had told me he loved me. And I’d very nearly said the words right back.

Did I love him?

I was an idiot.Of courseI loved him. I was crazy about him. As much as I tried my damnedest not to, I’d given my heart to him.

And now he was squeezing the life out of it.

How dare he tell me he loved me. How dare he give up everything to follow me into the woods and act like he was getting the good side of the deal. And how dare he put me in this place of temptation, damn near begging me to wind those ribbons around his wrists and lead him into the forest like some kind of fae creature.

He’d really follow?

There was a chance I was going to be sick, so I pointed myself in the direction of our hut and started through the streets. The sky waslightening into morning, and I hurried for cover, hoping not to be spotted. I didn’t get far. Someone hooked my elbow, and I went wheeling back.

“Not so fast.”

It was Thaas. My skin prickled at the sound of his voice. I tried to pull away, but he gripped me tighter. I whirled to face him.

“Let go.”

“She speaks,” he said, and he pulled me closer to himself. “Look, I have to bring you over to the west hut, just for a bit. Some of the elders think it best we detain you until we can figure out what comes next. Don’t want you running off again.”

“I’m not going,” I said, trying to wrest myself from his grasp.

He laughed and easily swung me in front of him, his hands closed firmly around each of my wrists. Then he pushed me forward.

“You don’t have a choice,wolf-lover.”

Thaas had brought me to the west hut—the building that had sheltered them while they’d built the village up all those months ago—and he pushed me in, locking the door from the outside. I pounded on the wood with my fists, but it served no purpose but to make my hands red.

Finally, I turned away.

The hut was dark, only the occasional Saik shingle made from pressed goat’s horns to filter in some light high above. The table was long, built to seat many. There was something of a makeshift kitchen along the backwall with a cooking stove in the corner. There was no back door, no window even.

I was trapped. They’d thrown me in a hut and locked me in. Runehall’s were here arguing for me as I stood stupidly, unable to even help myself.

The door rattled. I heard laughing on the other side.

“Hello in there,” someone said. “Just wanted to thank you for finding those wolves for us.”

This brought about a new wave of snickering from what sounded like a small group of men, and my heart dropped to the bottom of my chest.

“We’re planning on taking care of them soon. Maybe tonight, yeah? Take the pups first and wait for the rest to return.”

He paused, giving me a chance to respond, but I had nothing to say. Maybe he’d hoped I’d yell and bang on the door some more. I could imagine they’d love that, but I wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction.