I opened my eyes to light. Despite all my questions of whether or not our world had been plunged into eternal darkness, the sun rose in
the morning. Illuminating the forest with sparkling light, it made the evergreen needles of the canopy around us glimmer.
I resisted the urge to rub the sleep out of my eyes, thanks to the dirt caking my hands. I felt far too tired after the long and arduous effort of falling back asleep after the near encounter with The Hunt.
Moving to my hands and knees, I kept my body low as I crept out of our hiding place beneath the tree roots. Careful not to disturb Brann while he slept, I pushed to my feet in the small clearing and looked around the woods. I hadn’t been able to see a thing the night before, but I’d crawled around in the very dirt beneath my feet. I’d plunged my hands beneath the leaves when looking for Brann and found nothing but decaying foliage and wood rot.
I climbed out of the alcove that had offered us refuge, looking around cautiously as I moved. My steps led me to the center of the meadow, spinning slowly as I looked at the fresh bloom of wildflowers growing from the trunk of the fallen tree we’d taken shelter under.
They couldn’t have existed the night before, with the chilly nights and frost on the horizon, and yet somehow here they were. A verdant trail dotted with marigold and lavender followed the path the Wild Hunt had walked, the new blooms opening for the first time and turning to face the sun while I watched. I tipped my face up to feel the heat on my skin, smiling bitterly at
the realization that the Fae had somehow chased away the threat of winter with the rising sun. The frost that had felt so near in the days leading up to the end of the year harvest was gone, giving me hope that I’d be able to find some kind of shelter and warmer clothes before the snow came.
I turned slowly, taking in the beauty of the woods briefly before I turned my gaze back to Brann’s sleeping form. His chest rose and fell evenly, rhythmic and without a care in the world as he momentarily slept away his worries. I knew the instant he woke, he’d remember all that had happened and all that he’d given up for me.
My bottom lip trembled as I watched him for a beat, my breath shaking as it escaped my lungs, and I turned in the direction I thought we’d been running the night before.
When he woke up, he would hate me for what I’d done, but at least he would be alive.
I put one foot in front of the other, focusing on the only thing I could do when the future seemed impossible. When living was so far away from running and hiding in the woods until the day I died. That one, next step was the only thought in my head, even as the fall of tears wet the front of my cloak.
“You won’t last a day on your own,” he said behind me, making me spin in place to see him sitting up and alert, watching me with a disgruntled scowl as if I’d failed a test he’d presented me with. “For one, you’re going back the way we came. Second, you’re about as quiet as a rock troll.”
“Oh, shut it,” I said, my lungs wheezing with laughter as he pushed to his feet and approached.
He stopped in front of me, wrapping trembling arms around me and pulling me into his chest. I loosed a sigh, sinking into the comforting touch and sniffling back my tears. This felt like goodbye, like he understood there was little choice but to let me continue on my own.
When everything was stacked against me, and my odds of surviving and remaining free were practically nonexistent, the knowledge that maybe Brann and my mother could find a new semblance of normal with the Veil down gave me comfort. The Fae had no interest in them, and they wouldn’t join the ranks of fighters who would get in the Hunt’s way.
“I’m scared,” I admitted, lifting my hands to wrap around his upper arms.
He pulled back enough to nod at me in confirmation. Only a fool wouldn’t be terrified of death or the unknown, and everything we’d been familiar with up until yesterday was gone. Even the humans who hadn’t been marked would never be the same.
Not with the threat of the Fae walking among us.
“I’m afraid, too,” he admitted, giving me a bittersweet smile. “But whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
“Brann,” I objected, shaking my head from side to side. His willingness to follow me was foolish at best, deadly at worst.
“I will not leave you to die alone. Don’t you dare ask that of me.” His face was stern, the intent clear in the lines of his oval face. He shook his head in a final warning, his shaggy hair swaying from side to side.
“Maybe I should have just let them find me,” I said, heaving out a sigh. Even saying the words, there was no doubt that Brann would refuse them. They were also true, the right thing to do. “At least then you would be home with Mom.”
“Listen to me, Estrella. I meant what I said last night. No matter what happens, you must never allow the Fae to take you to Alfheimr. Promise me,” he said, his voice dropping low in something like a plea.
The vehemence in his voice made me pause, staring at him in confusion. Of all the people in Mistfell who cursed the Fae and all that they stood for, Brann had never uttered a word about them. He wasn’t drawn to the Veil in the same way as me, and he now insisted upon keeping a healthy distance from all things related to the monsters beyond the Veil. “What are you—”
“Nothing is ever easy, and nothing is as it seems. If it looks like you’re going to lose the fight, you end it,” he said, pulling a small dagger from his boot. He tore off a strip of cloth from his cloak, shoving the sleeve of my dress up my arm until he could secure the sheath against the inside of my forearm with the torn fabric. “You do not risk losing this using it on anyone else. This is for you.”
“For me?” My brow furrowing as he pulled the fabric of my dress back down to cover the weapon I couldn’t wrap my head around.
Why did my brother have a knife in his boot?
“If I’m gone and I cannot take the burden for you, you have to be the one to do it,” he said, leaning forward to touch his forehead to mine.
“Where is this coming from?” I asked, staring up at him with blurry eyes. The emotion clogging his throat matched mine, his gaze going wet as he touched his lips to my forehead in a brotherly kiss and his hand wrapped around the back of my head. The knowledge that my brother intended to kill me before he allowed the Fae to take me filled me with a conflicting sense of dread and warmth.
I’d been willing to die before I let Lord Byron have me; the same could be said for the Fae, but he wouldn’t have made that choice when the male coming for me was human.
“I love you more than anything. Surely you must know that.” He pulled back far enough to watch my face for a reaction, saying, “Trust that I would not ask this of you if it weren’t important. There will be no light for you in the realm of the Fae. Only darkness and torment, the likes of which you couldn’t even begin to imagine.”
I stared up at him, my mind dancing with so many questions, I thought I would drown in them. But for the moment, I chose to trust my brother, who had only ever wanted to protect me. I nodded, fighting back the tears that stung my throat. He had to know that I would voice the questions that hung between us, but I wasn’t certain I was ready for the answers waiting in his eyes. Still, I asked, even knowing from the steely expression on his face that it would be pointless. “What are you hiding?”
“One day, I will answer all of your questions, but today is not that day.” He shook his head when I opened my mouth to protest, his forehead dropping to mine again as he closed his eyes. “Sometimes ignorance is bliss, little sister. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
He took my hand, guiding me with him as we continued on. We walked together, all the while knowing that the stalemate between us would have to end at some point. When the time came, I would do whatever I could to make sure it was only me staring down the edge of a blade, and Brann would be free from the consequences of what I had become.
When the opportunity presented itself, I would set him free.
He helped me up and out of the hollow of the meadow, the two of us then continuing on through the woods. We set a brisk but sustainable pace, knowing the inevitable reality was that running day in and day out would never last.
Brann paused, swinging his arm to the side to stop in front of me. It struck me in the chest, halting me immediately as he tilted his head to the
side. “Did you hear that?” he asked, spinning to look back from where we’d come.
I froze, a chill sweeping over me as I followed his gaze to the edge of the trees on the other side of the clearing. The gleaming silver of armor shone through them as a horse came into view, the protective metal covering his face and legs like a beacon with the sun on it. The rider atop him bore no expression, no measure of guilt for the terror he’d caused or the violence he would commit if he caught us. He kicked his steed forward, its full height revealed as they stepped onto the path where the Wild Hunt had walked only hours before.
Brann turned to me, his expression filled with fear as he spoke. His words were lost to the sound of the horse’s hooves beating against the ground as it charged toward us, but I read the message loud and clear all the same, and I turned to obey.
“Run.”
