“Why? Afraid I might run away into The Wood I know nothing about? Do you think I’m a fool?”

“Yes, actually. I do. I’m so glad we had this talk.” I turn to go.

“Lorna is right over there; she’s making a shrine of sorts. For The Cloaked.” She points to her left.

“See, Sparrow? Is it really so hard to answer simple questions?”

“Is it really so hard to use your own eyes? Tell me, Prince, do you often rely on others to do everything for you?”

I sigh heavily. “I’m finding it extremely difficult to believe you can play nice for even a moment.”

She tucks a curl behind her ear. “I’m finding it extremely difficult to believe you can wipe your own ass.”

A laugh escapes me but stops when I notice her surprise. She now knows she’s brought me an ounce of joy; this is a betrayal to my own that I won’t soon commit again.

“I’m going to retrieve Lorna,” I say. “You stay there and continue to pay homage to The Cloaked while I do so.”

Her head rears back. “I’m not paying homage to those scoundrels. If anything, I should sing to celebrate their deaths! They deserve what happened to them.”

My jaw clenches at her slanderous words.

She sits, crossing her legs as before and doesn’t look at me when she says, “I was paying respect to my fallen, lest you’ve already forgotten the many souls who met their untimely end at the hands of your people.”

I’m tempted to throw a disparaging comment, but I won’t waste time arguing with the enemy. That’s all she is, I remind myself. The enemy—a poison.

If she can’t touch my skin, I won’t give her the satisfaction of getting underneath it.

Chapter Six

Idalia

It’s growing dark, and we haven’t moved. I thank the Guard for the small pond and its water, but my stomach growls violently, desperate for even a crumb. We’ve already eaten the small bit of food that the bandits had in their saddlebags. And Torrent divided up the apples he had between the horses. I’ve scoured the shrubs, the trees, and even the dirt path for anything remotely edible. A berry, a nut, even an insect of some kind. Anything to stop raging hunger, but there’s nothing. The Wood produces nothing good. Its trees harbor no food, only evil. I’m to starve with the robbers. The gods were right; Braizen will be my undoing.

Earlier, when Braizen left in search of Lorna, I considered running. I might have if not for my palms beginning to burn. Heat crawled through my limbs when I thought about taking the first step. When I discarded the thought, the heat faded.

It’s a heat I’m growing all too familiar with.

It was strong when the bandits attacked my carriage and again when the mist attacked. It’s the same heat I felt when we were children, in the aviary when I thought Lachlan was hurt.