Miri tensed, but the slam of the ground into her body never happened. Instead, the softness of grass cushioned her. She cracked open an eyelid. The black forest surrounded her. Eve! She searched frantically for her and found her unconscious form cradled against the shoulder of the fae creature.

“Are you waiting for night to come? There’ll be plenty of animals on the prowl, ready to feed.” His voice sounded pleased with the prospect of her becoming chow for some animal.

She sat up slowly, not sure how her body would react. Her right shoulder pained her, but that was no surprise. With a gliding slither, the vines of ivy slid off her wrists and waist, disappearing around a tree and out of sight. Gasping, she glanced down at her hands. Not a mark was left on her skin. She touched her wrist, scarcely able to believe it. Wha-what exactly had that been all about? If the ivy had wanted her dead, she had no doubt she’d be so. Maybe like everything else in the forest, it simply had wanted to terrify her.

“Get up. We don’t have hours to dawdle in one place.”

Her head shot up. The fae stood with impatience all but bleeding from his body. That, along with his words, got her up on her feet. He had Eve, so it wasn’t as if she could protest.

Though she’d rather be near a rabid dog, she walked toward him and screwed up her courage. “What is wrong with her?”

He cocked a platinum brow. “How would I know? She is your sister, not mine.”

“I mean why hasn’t she awoke? This woods did something to her.”

He shrugged. “Most likely she’s merely forest struck.”

A bolt of fear poked at her heart. “What’s that? Is it something serious?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” He started walking as if her world wasn’t splintering apart before her eyes.

She hurried after him, suppressing the urge to shake the answer out of him. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. She’ll either wake up on her own or when the forest decides she will.”

Her hands fisted at her sides. “How would the woods wake her?”

He glanced at her before turning his head away. “It has its ways.”

She’d get no more out of him, it seemed. They trudged onward. Well, she did. He strode with a grace that would make any woman envious. Just what was a fae?

The male didn’t attempt to make conversation, which she was grateful for. She needed to find out where they were going. How to get that information from him? And once there, would they be killed, imprisoned? Somehow, it was impossible to imagine not seeing her father and village again. Her throat and chest ached at the mere thought. She may be many things, but unduly naïve wasn’t one of them.

At least she didn’t have to lug her sister through the forest. Miri stifled a groan as the various aches and pains afflicting her body worsened. Though she dreaded their arrival to wherever he was taking them, she’d rejoice in any respite they received.

After what had to be at least an hour of walking, the trees around them seemed to lighten, losing some of their blackness. These were more…gray. What did that signify, though? That they were less poisoned?

“The trees. They’ve changed.”

“So they have.”

She frowned. His noncommittal responses infuriated her, but she couldn’t let it show. She wouldn’t give him that power over her. He had enough as it was, and he seemed the megalomaniac kind to love every little bit he could scrounge up.

Though she was accustomed to speeding over the hills and valley around their village, her body felt like a leaden weight that her legs had to carry. After about the tenth time, she stumbled over a root and nearly face-planted. The movement pulled at her sore shoulder, and she couldn’t keep a gasp in.

As she righted herself, the male snorted. “Clumsy human.”

Irritation itched at her, and the retort blasted out before she could stop it. “Well, sorry, but I’ve had a horrendous day, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll end anytime soon.”

“You have a surprisingly amount of fire for one in your position.”

His mild tone didn’t fool her. Instead, it sent a series of chills speeding down her back. A bucket of ice would feel better. She knew better than to push him too far, but her mouth had a way of hijacking her brain. Silence was the wisest option for now.

The chirp of a bird snagged her attention. There were animals in the forest? He’d said there were ones that came out at night, but maybe those were the fearsome ones? She gazed around, trying to place where the sound had come from. There, in a tree to the left, a bird sat on one of the lower branches. It was clothed in feathers of red and orange and had a blue silky plume on its round head. She’d never seen such a colorful bird. It truly was a beautiful marvel in this less-than-lovely woods.

“Unless you want your eyes pecked out, don’t stare at that bird overlong.”

His voice sounded right to her ear, making her jump. He chuckled. “There are many things more dangerous than me in this forest.”

She glared at him, not sure whether he was joking or not. It was clear, though, he took much enjoyment in her discomfort. She aimed a sour look at him. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“It’s your death, not mine, if you don’t believe me.”

So did that mean he wouldn’t kill them? Then again, there were other things worse than death such as slavery or rape. She hoped they didn’t become intimately acquainted with them.

Still, she snuck a glance at the bird. This time, it opened its brown beak in an awful ear-piercing squawk. Its wings unfurled like the sails of a ship, and the bird launched itself off the limb right toward them. She cowered, frozen in her spot. Its red eyes gleamed with a hellish light, and they were trained on her. She slammed her eyes shut as if that could protect them and belatedly flung herself to the ground with her hands over her head.

A harsh voice rang out, and the whoosh of wings stirred tendrils of hair into her face. She waited for the claw of talons that never came.