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The storm hag gives me a fierce look. “For one, I may not harm that Greenbriar boy, nor any of the line.”

I shiver. That would explain why she fled at the sight of him. Why she sent lightning only at Tiernan. And it would be the sort of curse that Mab might have put on the hag who’d intended the murder of her daughter.

I must keep my wild thoughts in check. “Is this story of my origins what you came to tell me that night on my unfamily’s lawn?”

She gives me a crooked, frightening smile. “I came to warn you that Prince Oak was coming so that you could avoid him.”

“Not about Lady Nore’s stick creatures?” I demand.

Bogdana snorts. “Those, I thought you could handle on your own. Perhaps they’d wake you up to what you could be.”

More likely, they would have shot me through with arrows, or the stick spiders would have ripped me apart. “You’ve told me your story. I listened. Now I am going to go. That was our agreement.”

“Are you certain?” Her eyes are hard, and she asks the question with such weight in her voice that I am certain there will be consequences for my answer.

I nod, feeling as though that is safer than speaking. Then I begin to turn away.

“You know, the girl saw me.”

I freeze. “What girl?”

Her smile is sly. “The mortal one whose house you creep around.”

“Bex?” I was so sure she was asleep in bed. She must have been terrified to see a monster on her lawn.

“When the prince started waving his little toothpick sword, I doubled back. I thought I’d seen her face in the window. But she was outside.”

I can barely breathe.

“She didn’t scream. She’s a brave girl.” The storm hag seems to enjoy drawing out this moment. “Said she was looking for you.”

“For me?”

“I told her that last I saw, you were in the company of a prince, and that he had taken you prisoner. She wanted to help, of course. But mortals will make a muddle of most anything, don’t you find?”

“What did you do?” My voice is almost all breath.

“Gave her some advice, is all,” says Bogdana, stepping into the shadows of the trees. “And now I am giving you some. Get away from that Greenbriar boy before it’s too late. And when I see you again, you’d best do what I ask. Or I can snuff out that spark I put inside you. And snuff out your little unfamily, too, while you watch.”

I am shaking all over. “Don’t you dare touch—”

At that moment, Tiernan steps through the branches. “Traitor!” he shouts at me. “I caught you.”

CHAPTER

11

Tiernan looks across the clearing at me, his sword drawn. I take a step back, unsure if I ought to race off into the night.

Bogdana has disappeared into the woods, leaving behind only the distant hiss of rain.

I shake my head vehemently, holding up my hands in warding. “You’re wrong. Bogdana surprised me. I ran from her again, but she said she wanted to talk ”

He peers into the forest, as if expecting to find the storm hag still lurking there. “It seems obvious you were conspiring with her.”

My mind is reeling, thinking of how puzzled Tiernan was when Oak suggested we part ways. Thinking of how clever it was to let me believe I was on this quest of my own free will.

I recall Tiernan tethering me in the motel. Barely speaking with me. Now I can guess the reason. He’d always considered me a sacrifice, something to look away from, something to which one ought not become attached. I shake my head. What defense can I give, when telling the truth would expose their deception?