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AMELIA

I’m almost at the tree line when I glance over my shoulder. I can’t help it. I have to look. I have to know whether he’s chasing me. General Dalgaard. Oh, gods. I can’t believe I’m running from the fucking general of the Summer Court army. I’m dead. So dead.

Sure enough, he’s giving chase. His huge black wings vanish in a flash of light, and I suppose that’s because the forest is too dense for him to easily navigate with a pair of massive wings. Ice fills my veins, and I turn around and run faster.

I enter the forest and hasten my pace even as branches and overgrown shrubbery hit my face and impact my arms. I wince as a sharp pain pierces my left arm, and I soon realize I must’ve brushed against a thorny bush.

Despite the pain, I don’t slow my stride, not even when I brush against another bush and thorns dig into my right arm.

Why hasn’t the general caught me yet? Surely he’s faster than me. He’s a highborn fae.

I can’t resist another peek over my shoulder, and when I scan the forest for any sign of him, I spot him on the edge of the clearing.

He’s locked in battle with four armored human soldiers.

He summons his wings in a flash of brilliant light, then swipes a wing out and slices one man’s throat, felling him on the spot.

Then he turns in a circle as he appears to size the other soldiers up.

Oh, thank you, gods! Some of my fear dissipates, and I experience a surge of hope that I might actually survive this attack. If General Dalgaard remains distracted long enough, I might succeed in escaping him.

I tear my gaze from the clearing and focus on the path ahead, even though there’s not really a path.

In this area of the forest, there’s barely room for me to run amidst the thick vegetation.

Still, I keep going. I run and I run. My pack slams against my back with each rapid step, and I eventually slow briefly to readjust the straps, then I take off again at full speed.

I run until a coppery taste fills my mouth, both my sides ache, and my lungs scream for air. Even then, I don’t stop.

I’m running blindly through the forest, with no sense of direction, but it’s my hope that eventually I’ll reach an area that will provide good enough cover for me to hide.

I keep an eye out for a hollow trunk or an area that’s not so fully affected by the ussha glow, a dark place where I might conceal myself in case the general decides to come after me.

I pray he doesn’t. I pray the human soldiers in Glenville keep him occupied long enough to permit my escape. Maybe he’ll decide I’m not worth the trouble.

Yet part of me can’t help but wonder if he’s the highborn fae who helped me in Sorsston.

Someone helped me. A winged fae who flew me to my parents’ home after I experienced a danger in the castle I can’t quite remember.

I have vague recollections of a flight in the early morning.

Logically, I know I must’ve been glamoured.

The highborn fae who helped me didn’t want me to remember the uncharacteristic kindness he showed me.

I suppose it’s a power thing and has something to do with how vicious the fae want to appear to one another.

But in the clearing on the edge of Glenville, the general had looked at me with unmistakable lust in his eyes. Not just lust, but a dark, violent need. He’d also growled, and he’d started to chase me.

My heart sinks. Surely that means he’s not the highborn fae who helped me in Sorsston.

It means he’s just another cruel monster I served drinks and food to during the early days of the fae occupation in my home city.

Which means I really must remain hidden.

I finally pause to catch my breath and get my bearings. The vegetation has thinned just a bit, and dawn has finally arrived, allowing me a better look at my surroundings. Birds chirp and flit happily amongst the trees, and a silver fox darts across my path and disappears in the underbrush.

My heart leaps when I spot what I think is a small opening in a rocky area in the distance. A cave. Maybe I could hide there. Just for a day or two. I can’t keep running myself to exhaustion, especially when I don’t have any water.

My stomach grumbles a moment later, reminding me that I don’t have any food either. Thankfully, the forest is abundant with glowing ussha-blessed fruits and vegetables that are perfectly edible and quite delicious.

I hadn’t been able to fit many provisions in my pack, and during my journey to Glenville, I’d survived on what I could find in the forest. I resolve that I’ll quickly gather some food and then hunker down in the cave. To compensate for my lack of water, I’ll pick the juiciest fruit I can find.

I untuck my shirt and hold it out as a makeshift basket while I start collecting. I pick a few apples, followed by some huge oranges and other items I can’t put a name to—fae fruits and vegetables that have started growing in the human lands.

The best thing about fae fruits and vegetables, I decide as I approach the dark entrance of the cave, is that most of them glimmer and glow, even once they’re plucked from whatever tree or bush they’re growing on.

This means the cave won’t be so dark and scary.

I’ll just have to venture as deep inside as possible so the glow of my harvest doesn’t attract the general’s attention.

How long have I been running through the forest?

At least two hours, I reckon.

Fae are notoriously fast, and they’re great hunters. Highborn fae like the general even more so.

Yet he’s not here. He hasn’t caught me yet.

Maybe it means he’s lost interest. Maybe it means he’s not coming.

Dare I hope?

I hurry to the cave and cast a cautious glance inside, though I can’t see much. Just a dirt floor and rocky walls. I listen but don’t hear any sounds coming from within, and as I finally step inside, I pray I won’t come face to face with a sleeping bear or some other dangerous creature.

To my vast relief, after a quick but thorough exploration, I determine the cave is unoccupied. It’s a small cavern, and it doesn’t take long to reach the back of it, but there’s nothing here. I sigh and take a seat on the dirt floor, allowing the fruits and vegetables to tumble from my shirt.

Thankfully, the glow from the food I collected provides adequate lighting.

Fatigue pulls at me as I lean against the rocky wall. I’d had difficulty falling asleep last night, only to rouse about an hour after I finally drifted off, thrust into wakefulness by the screams and shouts of the Glenville townsfolk under attack by the fae. I suppress a shudder.

I try to relax and get some rest, but my hands start trembling and soon my whole body is shaking. It’s impossible not to consider what almost happened, and as the dark scenarios play through my mind, my trembling deepens.

Gods, I came so close to capture.

If not for those human soldiers, General Dalgaard would’ve surely caught me.

Another shudder affects me as I consider that violent, lustful gleam in his eyes. He’d appeared so perversely pleased when he spotted me.

I suspect he recognized me.

I have a vague memory of meeting his gaze once in the banquet hall of the Sorsston castle, though I can’t quite recall the details of the encounter.

A horrid thought strikes me, and I can’t help but gasp.

What if General Dalgaard was the very danger I needed saving from while at the Sorsston castle?

What if the kind, highborn fae who helped me was saving me from the general?

Maybe the general was about to drag me to his quarters, only for the highborn fae who flew me to my parents’ house and gave me twenty silver coins to intervene?

My heart seizes at the possibility. It makes sense, though it’s beyond frustrating that I can’t piece the memories together, and it doesn’t help that my imagination is so vivid.

While I appreciate the highborn fae who saved me, whoever he might be, I wish he hadn’t felt the need to glamour me. I don’t like that he stole my memories.

Eventually, my fear-induced shaking ceases, and my fatigue expands to the point that my eyes grow heavy. I keep jerking awake each time I almost fall asleep, however, convinced that every little noise coming from outside the cave is General Dalgaard.

Please let me escape him.

The more I consider it, the more I worry he was involved in the dangerous situation at the Sorsston castle, the more I worry he’s the fiend who threatened my safety.

My restless mind runs through countless dark possibilities as I consider what might’ve happened in Sorsston that had resulted in my early dismissal from the castle.

Did General Dalgaard attempt to violate me?

I shiver at the prospect. Did he try to kill me?

Perhaps I spilled a drink or dropped a tray of food and incited his wrath.

Or maybe he simply wanted to torment me just to hear me scream.

I’d witnessed such occurrences in the castle, watched helplessly as fellow servants were pulled aside and tortured in ways that still give me nightmares.

Did General Dalgaard succeed in hurting me before my highborn savior intervened? If so, perhaps that’s another reason I was glamoured and had my memories stolen.

I’m on the verge of drifting off again when something crawls across my feet. I glance down and gasp at the sight of a furry, red-eyed creature with sharp, pointed teeth.

The animal isn’t very big. About the size of a large cat. But in addition to its sharp teeth, it possesses a long tail that’s tipped with a talon. It doesn’t appear friendly.

My mouth goes dry as I wonder if I could defeat this small but dangerous looking beast in a fight.

I stare at the fae animal, even though I’ve heard it’s never smart to make eye contact with a predator. Does the creature hail from the Summer Court? The Summer Court is the closest fae court to the Warrlish Mountains, though I suppose it doesn’t matter from which court the creature hails.

All that matters is that I manage to escape unscathed. The creature looks like it could do some serious damage with its teeth or its tail.

With careful movements, I start scooting away.

The little beast draws back its head and releases an ear-splitting screech. I gasp and scramble further away, but before I can flee the cave, it grabs hold of my leg. I scream as its teeth sink into my flesh.

After I slam my fist into the furry beast’s head, it releases my leg and howls. Despite the throbbing pain in my calf, I make it to my feet and rush out of the cave.

I move as fast as I can through the trees, desperate to put as much space as I can between myself and the sharp-toothed creature. It soon becomes difficult to put weight on my bitten leg, however, and I limp through the forest while praying the animal doesn’t chase me down.

Oh, gods. That was a small fae beast. What will happen if I run into a huge one, particularly one of those dire wolves I’ve heard about?

Or a mangga swarm? I’ve overheard hunters talk about outrunning mangga swarms that are over a hundred strong.

I can’t imagine facing down such a foe, especially in my current condition.

My pack! I left my pack behind in the cave. Not that it contained much. Just some clothes, medicinal herbs, and a few small personal items. Thankfully, the bag of silver is stashed deep in my pocket.

At least I still have the money.

If I can reach another town, I can afford lodging. The funds won’t stretch forever, so I’ll need to find a job, but with my experience working as a castle servant, that shouldn’t be too difficult. I hope.

I pause in a small clearing and pull up my pant leg. A dark green substance oozes from each tooth mark in my calf. Oh no. That can’t be good.

Dizziness grips me, but I lower my pant leg and keep going.

I don’t make it more than a dozen steps before a branch snaps behind me. My stomach flips, and I turn around slowly while praying it’s not the beast from the cave, or something worse.

A gasp catches in my throat.

It’s something worse.

General Dalgaard stands amidst the trees, his dark gaze riveted on me. “Hello, Amelia. I’ve been looking for you.”