Page 34 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)

Now

T o my surprise, the noble led me all the way to the first floor of the manor and out a side doorway, into the grounds themselves.

The air was a soft, warm embrace against my skin, the slightest breeze kissing my face.

Above, the sky was blanketed in wispy clouds that half-concealed the moon, elongating the shadows and casting everything in a dim glow that was strangely ethereal and eerie all at once.

While the welcoming scents of flowers and fresh grass were heavy in the air, bats chittered and darted through the sky, swooping after unseen insects and reminding me of the one that had intruded upon Callista’s and my rooms—or the one, perhaps the same one, I’d seen near Kaede on more than one occasion now.

The night felt like the sort in which clandestine romantic meetings should happen—or in which murderous monsters lurked. I wondered how it could be beautiful and enticing, and chilling and ominous, all at once.

At the edge of this part of the gardens rose a maze, but unlike the manicured hedges on the rest of the grounds, these shrubs looked overgrown and wild.

The path was narrow and uneven, and the branches of the bushes growing on either side arched in such a way as to nearly cover it, effectively blocking out most of the sky and its light.

The remaining contestants, along with Callista, waited at its start, murmuring nervously amongst themselves as they watched Ji and a handful of other fae. Most were clothed in their nightclothes and barefoot, while others appeared a little more put together in robes and shoes.

“Welcome,” Ji said, his eager, uncanny smile adding to my growing apprehension. “Tonight, the first of you to exit the maze will be the winner of this test. Each of you will score based on the order in which you finish.”

Laura frowned. “That seems too simple. A race through a maze? Surely there is some trick or mischief involved.”

“I suppose whether there are dangers within the maze will be for you to discover, will it not?” Ji flashed a wide, unkind smile at her.

Then he clapped his hands together, and I pursed my lips. I was growing quite weary of this habit of his, especially as it always seemed to signal his sadistic glee. “I forgot to mention that anyone who does not exit the maze before dawn will...face consequences.” His grin widened.

“Very well.” Laura was the first to lift her chin and stride toward the maze’s entrance, her curls bouncing loosely around her shoulders and her fists clenched at her sides.

White-faced, Hattie trailed uneasily after her, loath to enter the maze but also clearly hesitant to be parted from her sister.

There was a breathless moment as those of us left behind watched and waited, listening as the sisters vanished out of sight, following a bend in the path and melting into the shadows. Insects chirred and a breeze rustled through the hedgerows, but there were no other sounds.

Straightening, I sought out Callista among the rest of the gathered women, grasped her hand, and silently urged her toward the entrance.

Her fingers trembled in mine as we neared it.

“What if we just...leave?” my sister whispered, hesitating just outside the maze.

“We could slip away unnoticed. You know this land—you could find transportation for us to get back home.”

I tightened my grasp on Callista’s hand and shook my head. “Do you think they don’t have ways of watching us, even within the maze? The fae will never let us simply leave. As you already know, the consequences would be devastating.”

At that moment, Mary did exactly what Callista had been contemplating, though she didn’t even attempt to make it a secret. Instead, she bolted from the group, away from the maze and through the gardens, making for the orchard and the rolling hills in the distance. Toward freedom.

Callista and I froze, mesmerized by the sight, Mary’s nightdress billowing behind her, her golden hair haloed by the starlight.

Ji rolled his eyes, breaking away from the other fae and sighing as if he were terribly inconvenienced by Mary’s desire to escape the terrors that Willowbark was subjecting her to.

He lifted his arms and—just as he had so many times before—he clapped his hands together.

But this time, the earth shook and split open before Mary.

Horror spiked through my veins as a terrible shriek split through the air and she tumbled forward, collapsing into the hole.

It shuddered again and closed up over her.

Silence descended. Everything looked as it had before, without a sign of the chasm that had opened up in the earth only seconds before.

For a terrible moment, I couldn’t breathe.

And then, with a sharp look at Callista, my silent I told you so , I yanked on her arm, pulling her with me into the maze.

Immediately, the shadows consumed us, as if they were living things creeping across our skin, obscuring our vision, and lending weight to the very air, making my every breath feel heavy.

The boughs hanging over our heads seemed too large and leafy to belong to mere hedges.

Maybe there were whole trees hidden within the rows.

There was a wildness to the space, the air damp and cool and the ground uneven and overgrown with weeds.

Next to the beautiful gardens outside the maze, this felt like another world.

In the distance, frogs filled the night with their song, a gentle reminder that there were still lovely things in this world.

But here, it seemed as if we were trapped in a waking nightmare.

I couldn’t stop seeing the vampire tearing into Verity’s throat.

Couldn’t stop seeing Molly’s head sliced clean off, or the earth swallow up Mary as she tried to flee.

There was no escape for us. A part of me was beginning to fear that the only survivor would be the one they chose as their winner.

And that meant I had to ensure that Callista won.

I had to survive long enough to protect her, to help her make it, and then I’d have to accept my fate.

For even if I did survive to the end of the competition—winner or not—I doubted Kaede would ever permit me to go home.

He would announce who I was and order me to be punished. He would have his revenge.

My eyes burned. I wanted to wish for impossible things—to not only survive but to win.

To convince Kaede that I was worth a second chance, even if sometimes I wasn’t sure of that myself.

I had betrayed him in the worst of ways, without ever even trying to confide in him, to give him a chance to help me out of my predicament.

I shook the thoughts away, forcing my mind to ground myself in this moment. I drank in the cool night air, heavy with the scent of damp earth and something sickly sweet, like the maze was rotting somewhere on the inside. The hedgerows themselves appeared green and thick, healthy and strong.

Though I knew Laura was within the maze, and surely others had entered by now, I could hear no signs of them. It was as if Callista and I were in here alone, the only sounds our own steps, our own breath.

Worst of all, I couldn’t shake the sense that we were being watched.

I glanced over my shoulders repeatedly, searching the shadows, but there was no one around.

As Callista and I approached a spot where the way split into three paths, she shivered and clung to my hand. “Auri, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” I strained to listen, but I could hear nothing unusual.

Callista sobbed. “Father!” she cried out, dropping my hand and tearing down the path furthest to the left.

“Wait! Callista!” I raced after her, sending stones skittering as I stumbled over the rugged path.

Roots sprang up before me, though there didn’t appear to be any trees nearby, and the shadows thickened.

My toe struck one of them, tripping me, and I lost my balance, slamming into the earth.

My forehead struck a rock, and I blinked against my pain and disorientation.

When I lifted my head, there was no sign or sound of my sister.

The path lay empty, riddled with rocks and roots—or what I could see of it was.

The darkness was like a living thing, its fingers searching, reaching.

It devoured the path, choking out any bit of light streaming through the leafy canopy.

Murderer.

The unfamiliar voice whispered so close to my ear that I startled.

Pushing to my feet, I whirled around, but I was alone.

Unnerved, I searched the shadows to no avail.

Drawing the blade from my boot, I hurried down the path, hoping Callista wasn’t far ahead and trying to convince myself the dark and my own nerves were playing tricks on me.

But the further I ran, the harder it became to see.

The darkness thickened and the path became overgrown.

Extended branches reached for me like bony fingers, scratching against my skin and tugging at my hair and clothes.

Rocks and roots and other undergrowth sprang up before me, and more than once I collided with a wall of greenery or a wide tree trunk, forcing me to turn and wander deeper into the maze.

A maze that was clearly more than a simple path through hedgerows.

It felt as if I were lost in a tangled wilderness.

When I glanced toward the sky, seeking guidance based on the moon’s position and the constellations I could spot, I found only shadows.

Chills raked over my skin. Unseen things scuttled through the hedges. I fisted the hilt of my knife until my fingers ached.

“Callista?”

Nothing.

By now, I could have taken a dozen wrong turns, traveling in a completely opposite direction from my sister.

Panic threatened to overtake me, warring with my every instinct to puzzle my way out of this new challenge.

Surely there was a solution, a way to avoid staggering through this place all night until dawn’s light warned me it was too late and I faced whatever awful consequences the fae had for me.

With my sight obscured by the shadows, I focused on my other senses, hoping they could guide me.

No new sounds emerged—no footsteps or rustling or anything that would indicate I wasn’t alone or that Callista was nearby.

But I could smell something different in the air: a dampness that made me think a pond or fountain was somewhere close, hidden in a section of the maze.

I concentrated on the scent, winding my way along the increasingly difficult-to-navigate path.

The further I went, the narrower it became.

Branches scratched my cheeks and hands, stinging as they sliced open my skin.

And then, without warning, I stumbled into an open area.

Mud squelched against my boots, and then I slipped, falling to my knees.

My hands splashed into cold, still water, sinking to the elbows before I managed to pull myself up.

Something cold and slimy brushed against my wrist. My heart lurched and I yanked my arms back, praying that a water wraith didn’t lurk in whatever pool I’d stumbled upon.

Wet and trembling with cold, I staggered back and struggled to my feet.

I scanned the area, relieved to find my eyes were adjusting to the dimness—or that there was more light in this space.

Confusingly, though the light had increased and the boughs overhead had thinned, I couldn’t catch a glimpse of the stars.

It was as if the clouds had smothered the sky in a heavy blanket.

I frowned, trying to find something that would give me an indication of where I was.

I thought, somewhere beneath the scents of water and mud and foliage, I detected a hint of cherry blossom.

If I was near the orchard, then I was to the north of the manor.

But did the maze end near the manor, or on the exact opposite end of the entrance, which had faced east?

My head whirled, frustration singing through every fiber of my being. How could the fae call this a challenge, a test to discern the character of their future queen, if they gave us no rules or guidelines? This was chaos. Madness.

As if they were merely throwing us into danger to sacrifice us, without care of the outcome.

A bloodcurdling scream rang through the maze, chilling me to the bone.

“Callista!” I shouted, to no avail. Where was she?

Another shriek. It didn’t sound far ahead. I ran, heart throbbing in my ears, lungs burning, tears muddling my vision.

“Auri.” The whimper was so pathetic, so awful, I choked back a sob.

Like a cloud slithering away to uncover the moon and stars, the shadows that had consumed the maze melted into nothing, moonlight flooding the earth. In seconds, I was able to tell based on the sky that I had been venturing northeastward, moving closer to the orchard as I’d suspected.

I took my surroundings in just as quickly.

The pool glistened as it reflected the night sky, and the foliage around me appeared edged in silver.

I was in what might have once been a courtyard of sorts, but the pool had overflowed onto the dirt, mud overtaking the open space.

Across the way, a narrow opening in the hedge wall showed me where the maze continued eastward.

But all these facts faded into the background as my gaze snapped to a bleeding body lying in a heap on the ground.

“Callista?”