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My stomach soured at Sephtis’s idea of fun.

The blond jerked away and then fell into place between Lore and Silas. Two others had joined us since, one with amber-colored eyes and one who bore a deep scar on the left side of his face.

There were five of them in total. Five elven lords, four of whom were dark-haired, but they all looked the same, even the blond. The only variation was in their expressions, ranging from most severe to least. They stood at the end of my bed, blocking me in.

“Will anyone else be joining us?” I snapped, voice as frigid as my room.

“You could not handle any more of us, vicious thing,” said Lore. “Careful what you wish for.”

“I made no wish,” I said vehemently. I knew the consequences of careless wishing and had seen it with my own eyes.

I wish you were dead!I had yelled at my sister, and then she was.

“She is a tiny thing,” said Silas.

“A vicious thing,” said Sephtis.

“She killed our brother,” said the one with the scar.

“Your brother?” I asked, feeling the color drain from my face.

“Look, Talon! Her face is as pale as snow!” said Sephtis. He seemed the angriest and the scariest.

“You know of what we speak, human,” said the one with amber eyes whose voice was quiet and calm.

“I did not kill an elf,” I said.

“But you killed a toad,” said Lore.

“Bashed him over the head with a rock,” said Sephtis.

“You buried him at the edge of the Enchanted Forest,” said Talon.

I swallowed a thickness that had gathered in my throat.

“I had no choice,” I said, the words a fierce whisper. I knew they were futile. No one in Elk or the world beyond cared why I had done what I had done, only that there were consequences. “There was a curse.”

“There is always a curse, always a choice,” said Silas.

“You could have chosen to break our brother’s curse rather than your town’s curse,” said Lore. “He would have made you his queen out of gratitude for your rescue.”

“But alas, you bashed his brains instead, and so we must punish you,” said Sephtis, a hungry glint in his red eyes.

“How was I to know he was anything but a toad?” I demanded.

“That is the folly of your human blood, to take everything as it appears and not as it is,” said Silas.

“And is it the folly of elves to take everything as it is and not as it appears?”

“Foolish human,” said Lore. “We have no flaws.”

“Then how did your brother end up as a toad in a well?”

“He is no longer a toad in a well,” said Talon. “He is dead in a hole.”

All the elves spoke with a cold civility, save the one with amber eyes who had only spoken once since he arrived. They were not here because they loved their brother. This was about honor. It was the justice demanded by the Forest.

There was a beat of silence as the five elven lords exchanged looks.