As long as those two are under you, you’ll be safe enough, her father had said. There’s nothing that can outrun them, and they won’t take you anyplace that’s not to their liking.

The two horses swung into an easy trot, apparently having decided their riders had tarried long enough. They moved silently on the wide trail through the woods, their hooves making no sound.

How did two witches end up with Fae horses? Selena wondered, not for the first time. Fox had shown up late last autumn, taken one look at Rhyann and tried to follow her into the house. He wouldn’t leave and wouldn’t let anyone else near him until she loudly announced that he belonged to her. After that, the dark horse with lethal hooves acted like a docile pet.

Mistrunner…She still wasn’t sure about Mistrunner. She’d been out in a clearing three years ago, celebrating the Great Mother and the full moon, playing with the power that swirled inside her. She’d braided the strength of the earth to moonlight, dazzled it with air and drops of water, warmed it with the heat of fire. When she was done, she’d stared at the glittering path that rose from the land and disappeared into the night sky, uncertain if she was delighted or uneasy about what she had done.

And then she heard the desperate, terrified scream, and shouted, “Here!”

A heavy mist poured out of the sky, obscuring the top end of her glittering path. A gray yearling burst out of that mist, galloping down the path she’d created as if it were a solid road, stumbling a little when his hooves touched firm earth. He raced past her, getting as far away from the path as he could without leaving the clearing.

Unnerved that something had come down a path she’d thought led nowhere and had no real substance, she’d unraveled the magic and grounded the power—and her glittering path disappeared. Which left her with a terrified young animal that had decided she was the only safe thing in a strange world. So she ended up taking him home with her and naming him Mistrunner.

She suspected he had come from Tir Alainn, but she still didn’t know what had terrified him or how he’d found her glittering path and recognized it as a way to reach the world…and safety. She never tried to find out who he belonged to—and she admitted to herself that part of her apprehension in meeting the Fae was that someone would recognize him and want him back.

“We’re here,” Rhyann said.

Selena blinked. “Where?”