Darkness reigned here. Step too deeply beyond, and it would swallow you whole.

“It takes no time for wanderers to lose themselves, fall into the jagged ravines, meet the teeth of hungry fara wolves, or freeze until their skin is blackened and blue. There is a reason elders call these trees draugaskógur,” Emi said, a hidden smile in the corner of her full lips. “The Phantom Forest. War and battles have brought too much death in these trees not to leave them a bit haunted.”

The disorienting lure of the trees, the honeycomb of earthen paths, the tangle of branches and briars, all of it had drawn me in like a doe caught in a hunter’s snare.

“The Sentry managed to find me swiftly.” I turned back into the small room, gathering in my arms the dirty dress I’d worn on the ship.

“Because no one knows these woods like Roark.” Emi stopped in front of the canvas doorway. “It is one reason why he holds his rank. Despicable as you find us Draven folk, we are taught from our first steps how to use signals in the trees to find our way, how to speak to the very soul of the forest. The ravines that divide the kingdoms are heavy with woodlands. It is where we learn to survive, or die.

Emi handed me a leather satchel to hold my old clothes on the rest of the journey. As I secured my dress inside, I lifted my attention back to her. “Do you miss it? Dravenmoor, I mean.”

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I miss the wildness of it, the trust my clan has for the land and the gods. But there was no longer a life for me there.”

“Why not?”

“You trust me so little, yet expect me to give up my whole past?”

Heat flushed my cheeks, and I turned away. “You’re right. Your business is your own.”

I slung the strap of the satchel over my head, securing it on one shoulder. Before I could move for the door, Emi placed a hand on my arm.

“I was born with the wrong craft. Bone craft is not meant to be found in Draven blood. My father believed my mother must’ve been unfaithful, even managed to get her tried as a traitor, calling her a whore. She was banished, and not a full season later one of our hunters found her body half-devoured.”

“All gods.” I gripped the strap of the satchel, fighting the urge to take her hand for reassurance, almost like a brief urge to befriend the woman.