At the end of the trail, she hesitated a moment before walking into the sunlit meadow. A favorite place. A special place where her grandfather had taken her to play and to learn to be a Lady of the Woods—and, later, although she wasn’t aware of it at the time, to be the Green Lord…and the Hunter. He was buried in that meadow, right where he’d fallen after her arrow pierced his heart. A swift death that honored the old Lord of the Woods rather than the lingering, soul-wasting death that the nighthunter bites would have caused him. The Fae put up no markers like humans did, and Ari, Neall’s wife and Bretonwood’s witch, had worked her magic with care, so there was no mound of dirt, no disturbance in the grass and wildflowers. And yet, she could feel a lingering something when she was close to the spot, something she recognized as Kernos even though the Gatherer had taken his spirit to the Shadowed Veil so that he could go on to the Summerland.

What needs to be said and done today…it’s fitting that it’s done here, Ashk thought. I miss you, Kernos. I miss your laughter and your wisdom…. And I hope with all that’s in me that I have the strength and courage you believed me to have.

She walked to the center of the meadow before she set her bow, canteen, and quiver of arrows on the ground. Her woodland eyes, a brown-flecked green, scanned the trees as she ruffled her ash-brown hair with her fingers. The cropped hair felt strange after letting it flow down her back for so many years, but she couldn’t afford to have anything interfere with the smooth, swift movement of drawing an arrow from the quiver and nocking it to the bow. Not where she was going. Not with the enemy she was heading out to meet. It would be better to die a swift death than to fall into the Inquisitors’ hands.

Neall set his things beside hers as he, too, scanned the trees. “I don’t see any sign of the nighthunters.”

“There are a few left, but not many,” Ashk replied. “There’s still a feeling of wrongness in the woods, but it’s fainter now.” She looked at Neall, who was still crouched beside their weapons. “You feel it, too.”

“Yes.”

Ashk nodded. He didn’t understand yet what his being so attuned to the subtleties of the woods meant, but soon he would.

“Ashk.” Neall rose to his feet. He took a deep breath, puffing his cheeks as he exhaled. “With everything that needs to be done, do you really think we should take the time for a lesson?”

For this one, Ashk thought, stepping away from the weapons. Because of what needs to be done, it’s time for this one.