The chill increased with the depth of the forest. My breath clouded the air, and when I pressed my nose to the bare skin of my wrist between glove and sleeve, it felt like a rounded icicle.
Another howl.
Closer this time, I was certain.
Honey danced sideways, and I tucked her head firmly, murmuring in what I hoped was a comforting tone. Unfortunately, she’d brought me right to the trunk of a tree, and as I tried to soothe her, one of its branches snaked around my chest, almost pulling me from the saddle.
I shrieked, grabbing for Honey’s mane.
Responding to my loud voice and my fear, Honey reared, loosening the branch’s hold. With my other hand, I swung Ruiner and managed to slice the grasping branch.
There was another shriek—not from me. A sound more creaking wood than voice.
I wheeled Honey away from the tree and watched in wide-eyed amazement as the branch I’d sliced caught fire. It was a slow, meaty burn, like the little ball of flame was a fire demon intent on chewing every bit of bark, savoring the fuel it consumed. The branch whipped back and forth, the wood of the tree groaning and shrieking, and all the while, that fist of flame crept and grew and reached out to grasp other branches.
And then the whole forest woke.
Suddenly, every tree was reaching. The ground rolled with roots rising like ocean waves. Trunks curved and bent as branches grasped for me, for Honey. Honey bellowed in fear, and I gave her free rein. There was no choice and no option for a creeping, careful pace now.
She bolted, winding through the trees like wind itself. I clung to her neck, as low as I could manage. Thin fingers snagged in my cloak, my hair. I slashed with Ruiner when they did, and each time a new fire started, the trees around it reared away.
At any moment, I expected Honey to stumble, expected to be sent crashing to the ground, but she somehow kept her footing on the rolling waves. I remembered that she was enchanted too—a part of the beast’s castle as much as the rose gardens.
“Honey, take me home!” I shouted. “Take me to the castle!”
I held tight, fingers knotted in her mane, trusting her to find her way through the trees. She carried me, and I cleared our path with fire.
And a small part of me—just a corner—felt like a triumphant pirate queen.
Then a snarling shadow leapt at me and caught my cloak. I choked as the bone fastener dragged against my throat until the thin cord holding it snapped. I had to grab with both hands to keep my seat, and my sword fell away into the roiling tree roots.
More snarls echoed around us, somehow keeping pace even as Honey flew.
I felt the second sword bouncing against my leg as we galloped. If I spared a hand to reach for it, I could be knocked from the saddle. But if I did not, the next wolf might leap at Honey rather than me—her legs or her neck.
I untangled my right hand from Honey’s mane and twisted to reach for the sword. As I turned, I saw gleaming red eyes and a sleek silver coat, closer to me than the closest pitching tree.
Just as the wolf leapt, I dragged the sword from the knot that served as a sheath.
And I swung.
The shock of impact almost knocked the weapon from my hand, and my left foot slipped from its stirrup. But the wolf’s fur caught fire just as the trees had. The wolf crashed to the ground with a yelp, and we galloped away.
Then I saw a glimmer of white through the trees ahead, too solid to be snow.
I clung to Honey’s mane with my free hand, dug my left knee into her side when I could not regain the stirrup, and swung the sword at every reaching branch, every snarling shadow. I lit the forest ablaze and kept the wolves at bay and fought with everything I had to buy us that last minute we needed.
Then as abruptly as leaping from a cliff, we burst from the forest.
The trees retreated. The golden gates swung open.
And all at once, it was spring.
Chapter
19
Idropped the second sword in relief as Honey cantered to a stop, both of us heaving for breath. When I swung down from the saddle, my knees gave out, bringing me hard to the ground. Honey nosed my hair, then snorted in my face. I dragged myself up and staggered toward the castle.
