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Chapters (55)
  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. World Map
  4. Pronunciations
  5. Author’s Notes
  6. Table of Contents
  7. A Forbidden Fate
  8. Prologue
  9. Chapter One
  10. Chapter Two
  11. Chapter Three
  12. Chapter Four
  13. Chapter Five
  14. Chapter Six
  15. Chapter Seven
  16. Chapter Eight
  17. Chapter Nine
  18. Chapter Ten
  19. Chapter Eleven
  20. Chapter Twelve
  21. Chapter Thirteen
  22. Chapter Fourteen
  23. Chapter Fifteen
  24. Chapter Sixteen
  25. Chapter Seventeen
  26. Chapter Eighteen
  27. Chapter Nineteen
  28. Chapter Twenty
  29. Chapter Twenty-One
  30. Chapter Twenty-Two
  31. Chapter Twenty-Three
  32. Chapter Twenty-Four
  33. Chapter Twenty-Five
  34. Chapter Twenty-Six
  35. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  36. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  37. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  38. Chapter Thirty
  39. Chapter Thirty-One
  40. Chapter Thirty-Two
  41. Chapter Thirty-Three
  42. Chapter Thirty-Four
  43. Chapter Thirty-Five
  44. Chapter Thirty-Six
  45. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  46. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  47. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  48. Chapter Forty
  49. Chapter Forty-One
  50. Chapter Forty-Two
  51. Chapter Forty-Three
  52. Chapter Forty-Four
  53. Chapter Forty-Five
  54. Acknowledgements
  55. About the Author

Too many hands to count are now on me; they pull my arms rigid until I have no choice but to relent.

Horrick laughs and orders the guards to seize Idalia. Two rush her and easily haul her to her feet. She doesn’t even try to fight. The Wood has defeated her, and it’s all my fault.

“Princess Idalia of Verdana, I speak on behalf of King Vaskis and all Baellileans.” Horrick’s eyes cut to me. “Well, all but one at least, when I say you made your final mistake by passing into our territory. You are now a prisoner under Baellilean law, and you will meet your fate at His Majesty’s command.” He whistles, and the men drag her to the cart and toss her in. I wince as she lies lifelessly within it.

“I will kill you all for this,” I grind out. “By the Lady and the Guard, I swear it.”

Horrick’s thin face pulls tight, and he nods his head to one of the guards who hold me. A fist lays into my cheek, and I spit out blood and saliva.

“We are not supposed to swear to the gods, boy. How dare you.”

In the cart, Idalia’s body moves.

“Nonetheless,” Horrick continues, turning his horse to leave. “You’ll have plenty of time to pray for their forgiveness as you wander The Wood alone.”

He makes a clicking noise, and the soldiers shift to retrace their route. “Your father always said you were one for the trees. If you can survive them now, you’ll have earned the right to come home. Of course, by then, your precious Verdanian will be long dead.”

Idalia’s face rises above the side of the cart.

“Braizen?”

I lunge forward. Horrick makes another clicking sound, and my arms feel like they’re being ripped from my body. The larger guard grabs the thick branch I’d tossed aside earlier. His beady brown eyes gleam through the thin holes in his helmet as he smashes the branch against the back of my head.

“Braizen!” I hear her scream before darkness floods my vision.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Braizen

The last time I visited my mother, she sat, as always, facing the single stained glass window in her room. I coaxed her to eat the cakes I’d stolen in Treden, a bustling town known for two things and two things only: outstanding bakeries and even better brothels.

With shaking hands and trembling lips, she refused the food. The nurses I pay to care for her told me that she’d barely eaten in days, and often she wouldn’t even drink water; they usually had to force it down her throat. The acrid smell of ammonia penetrated the room; she regularly soiled herself in the chair she rarely moved from.