Lord Thorne’s ornate carriage stood by the road, the two white horses pulling it giving me cold, calm glares as I passed them. I spotted Sinéad’s pale dress further up the hills. They were walking up the path toward the forest, Lord Thorne’s arm wrapped around her waist. I didn’t want them spotting me quite yet, so I slowed my pace and hid my ax behind my back as I quietly followed them. This dress would be hard to run in. I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

After a short moment, Thorne pulled her closer and they stopped in the middle of the path.

I gritted my teeth. Seeing that man put his hands on her, the way he touched her as if she had no will of her own — it made me shudder.

Sinéad took a step away, kneading her fingers like she did when she was nervous. He reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but she must've finally told him about not wanting to marry him yet, because his hand quickly fell back to his side. He leaned in, towering over her, his hands moving to her neck as if to caress it. She recoiled.

There was a pause. Then he stepped closer.

“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!”

Lord Thorne threw a single glance my way before turning back to Sinéad.

“I’m talking to you!” I shouted. “Sinéad, get away from him!”

If she heard me, she didn’t obey. Instead her body went stiff, then completely slack as her knees buckled. Lord Thorne caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

I watched what happened next without understanding what I was seeing.

Massive wings sprouted from Lord Thorne’s back. White and feathery like a dove’s, they beat once, twice, and lifted them both off the ground. Wind tore at Thorne’s hair when he looked toward me.

The blood on my veins stopped flowing. My body locked itself, limbs turning to stone and vision growing dark. All sound vanished, leaving only the desperate pounding of my heart. Then he turned away, and I stumbled forward as the world spun, suddenly able to breathe again. I looked up just in time to see him turn north, and Sinéad’s lifeless arm fell to the side as he began to fly away.

Somewhere in a distant part of my mind, I realized he was taking her to the Emerald Vast.

“No!"

I gathered my skirts and ran as fast as my legs would carry me. They were too far away to throw the ax, too high up, and disappearing rapidly. Soon, his form vanished among the trees and I lost sight of Sinéad.

But I kept running.

I wouldn’t let him take her.

My own breath and footsteps were the only sounds keeping me company, the image of Sinéad disappearing the only thing I could see in the darkness. The familiar woods stood silent and watching. Everything felt alien. Unreal. My body moved on instinct.

The iron door roared like a war horn as I forced it open, heavier than ever, and shut behind me with an echoing clang.

“Sinéad!”

The sound of my own voice grounded me back in reality as I narrowly avoided slamming into a tree, stumbled over its roots and landed onto a rock with a grunt. I got up and kept on; there was no time for pain.

"Sidra!"

There! Between the trees. Something small and white and fragile. My little sister on the ground, her tiny voice pushing back the fury clouding my vision.

I sprinted across the uneven forest floor and fell to my knees beside her.

“Sinéad! Are you alright?”

“I-I think so?” she said. “I don’t know what happened. I felt dizzy all of a sudden and cold air and then, when you opened the door, he screamed and we fell ...”

She was whole, but trembling as I pulled her against me. I couldn’t remember hugging her this hard before, like my body wanted to become a fortress around hers. I had to remind myself she needed to breathe before I could let her go.

Sinéad grabbed her forehead like she couldn’t believe her own words. She wasn’t crying, but her face kept twisting like she was about to, her eyes wide with fear. I embraced her again to make sure she wouldn’t disappear into thin air.

Darkness made it hard to make out more than the closest tree trunks, but I knew this forest. I’d lead us back to safety even if I couldn’t see the way. It was the silence that worried me more. There were no crickets, no rustling of leaves, nothing.

The forest was holding its breath.

“We need to get out of here, fast,” I said.

Not waiting for an answer, I pulled her up and put my arm around her to make sure she wouldn’t fall behind.

“Did we really fly?” she gasped as we half-ran through the woods. “I think I saw wings …”

“Yes.” That was all I could say.

“I told him I wanted to take some time to think about our relationship. He said I’d promised to be his forever. I thought it was just a saying.”

So did I. Then I remembered Grandmother’s tales of enchanting, dangerous men who looked human but weren’t, how they could seduce you and leave you with nothing. They and their ilk were the reason the iron wall existed.

I pressed Sinéad tighter to my side.

This couldn’t be happening. Why her? Why now?

"It's alright," I breathed, trying to sound calm for her sake. "Everything will be alright."

As I pulled my sister along, her feet moved slower and slower until she stopped altogether. I spun around.

“Sinéad, it’s dangerous out here! Don’t you understand?”

Even in the darkness, the light of the moon reflected in her wide open eyes. The fear on her face turned my blood ice cold.

“I made a promise.” The words came out in splintered whispers. “I must do as I promised.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t break my promise!”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.

“Who cares about your promise? Didn’t you see what he was?”

“You don’t understand.” She choked on her words as they bubbled up in her throat, mixing with her sobs. “I must do what I promised. There is no other choice.”

She took hold of my wrists as if to tear them away from her, but her hands were shaking, and her nails cut into my skin like she feared what would happen if she let go. Her eyes were drowning in desperate tears.

Something was making her body work against her.

I tried to pull Sinéad along, but she dug her heels into the ground, sobbing.

“I’ll have to carry you, then,” I breathed.

Sinéad tried to back away from me while nodding profusely, her mouth too twisted to form words. I stubbornly pulled her closer and reached behind her knees to pick her up, turning my face away to avoid her flailing arms.

“Don’t let him take me!” she screamed while trying to get out of my grip. “Sidra, please!”

"I won't! I promise!"

Her fist landed a strike across my temple. The sudden force of it made me stagger and covered my vision in twitching stars, and Sinéad took this opportunity to push away from my grasp, landing on the ground before my feet.

I blinked rapidly, keeping Sinéad’s form in my sight as I struggled to steady myself and stop the ground from wobbling. Whatever made her do this knew I wouldn’t hurt her, but did everything in its power to hurt me.

“Fight it, Sinéad!” I urged her.

But she’d already gone further into the forest, further north. Something moved toward her across the ground before I could reach out.

Sinéad yelped in terror as thick, twisted roots shot from the earth and wrapped around her legs.

"Sinéad! Hold on!"

I threw myself toward her, hoping to grab hold of something, anything, but caught nothing but handfuls of dead leaves. She was already feet away as the roots pulled her from me and deeper into the ground.

“Sidra! Help me!”

For a moment, the forest floor was a massive mouth, gaping wide open as my sister clawed at its lips to stay above the surface. The next, she slipped down its throat, and the earth swallowed her whole.