I nodded in understanding, and when the firm hand fell from my face but held my arm tight, I felt like a gods-damned fool. I thought of all the signs and everything I knew and replenished my hatred for Fenlas as the female and I slowly crept around the circle, invisible to the dullahan. I could not see her, but I knew she was there, her magic encompassing us both.
The horseman shifted left and then right atop his steed. Confused as hell, he moved forward to where I had been standing before, and we were able to get behind him. Sure enough, three trees were still marked. I moved quickly to deface them all and then turned to watch the horse whinny as his rider fell to the ground and shook. Tendrils of smoke rose from the creature, carrying with it a putrid stench of rot, death and decay, until the body was gone and only a discarded pile of threadbare clothing was left behind.
The horse bolted from the forest, free of his master, and I said a prayer to the gods that he would find the final death he would likely search for. His own. I watched him for a moment and then jerked my hand from the one that held mine.
“Show yourself,” I demanded.
A beautiful female appeared before me. Her thick, shoulder-length brown hair matched perfectly to the leathers she wore and her soft summer tan. My stalker. She lifted her hands in mock surrender. “Look, before you say anything, just know that I was totally against this whole thing, and I told Fen it was a terrible idea.”
“So, youareone of his lackey’s?” I asked behind gritted teeth. I balled my fists, ready to give her the beating he deserved. The only thing that held me back was that she’d saved me. Twice.
“I’m going to say yes to that because I can’t think of a better term at the moment, but believe me, I’d like to punch him in the face as badly as you would. I mean, I never would do that, but I want to.”
“Oh, I don’t just want to punch him in his pretty face. I want to send him back to the hell he haunts me from.”
She smiled. “I thought I was going to like you as soon as you started drunk singing back in his rooms, but now I know for sure. I’ll hold him down, and you can beat the snot out of him as soon as they catch up to us. I’m Wren, by the way.”
I took a step away from her. “Wait, back up. I gathered a bit too late that you’ve been following me and spying on me since I was in the castle. But what do you mean as soon as they catch up?”
“You didn’t think he’d really just let you leave, did you?” Her cobalt eyes searched the grey of my own.
“Nothing that male has done since the day I met him has ever made sense to me. I don’t need a fucking babysitter.”
She looked at me pointedly and then down to my wrist and back to my face.
“It’s just a scratch.” I lifted a shoulder in a shrug.
“I’ll clean up the blood on the forest floor, you get something tied around that arm.”
Bossy. But she probably had to be if she were the only girl among the rest of them. I decided I would hold my thoughts until she pissed me off and then make my final judgment. Because even though it grated on my nerves, I had to admit, it was my own fault for not catching her sooner. And if I were the prince with a magical fae who could literally disappear, I probably would have done the same thing. You could never learn more about a person than by watching them when they thought they were alone. As I wrapped a bandage around my wrist, I smirked. She had seen way too much of me to not even give her a chance.
“So,” she said, walking back over. “We’ve got some time, wanna mess with the guys?”
“There is not a single thing you could possibly say to convince me to sit around and wait for him to get here. It’s not personal, but I don’t want or need the company. You all clearly don’t trust me, but I don’t trust you either. For obvious damn reasons.”
“You’re two days deep into the maze forest, Ara. You need Kai. He’s an amazing tracker. He doesn’t have magic, but you’d think he did if you watched him. He can have us out of this hell hole sooner than we would ever manage on our own.”
I noticed her use of the word we and cringed. I was confident it was visible, but she ignored it entirely. I shook my head. “Trust me, you don’t want to go where I’m going.”
“Actually, I do. Because like it or not, Fen is like family to me, and it matters to him, so it matters to me.”
“Fine!” I threw my hands in the air, mumbling. “I don’t even know how to get rid of a disappearing fae anyway.”
“Great, so now that we have that squared away, let’s fuck with them.”
“Will it piss the prince off?” I asked.
“A girl can dream.” She rubbed her hands together.
I tried to hide my smirk. “Lead the way.
“Can you climb with that?” She jutted her chin toward my new bandage.
“Yes. It’s just a scratch.”
“It bled. Scratches don’t bleed.”
“How far behind us do you think they are?” I asked, walking away. She joined ... of course.
