I had not thought about the consequences of my return. My father was dying; that was enough to compel me, but the fear in her face awoke an answering fear in my own heart. I had been gone for months. Long enough for spring to come and go and winter to come again. Long enough for Aspen to marry, and long enough for my family to mourn me as dead. Long enough for suspicion to take root where joy might once have bloomed.

“Just someone here to see Aspen.” She took a step away from me, her eyes glued to the wolf.

“It’s colder than the Huntress’s tits out there, girl. Shut the goddamn door.” Heavy footsteps approached, and then I was looking up into the blue eyes and bushy beard of one of Avery’s cousins. His glare turned to terror as the wolf growled, and I worried for a moment that he might piss himself. “Avery,” he called over his shoulder. “Someone get Avery.”

The girl slipped away, and I willed her to find my sister before this man thought to put a crossbow bolt through my heart. Behind me I could hear the gathering crowd.

“Rowan!”

I turned, my heart catching in my throat. A girl stood no more than ten feet away from me with her arms full of groceries. She was even taller than I remembered, and she wore her dark hair pulled over one shoulder in a long braid threaded through with ribbons. I took a half step toward her, then another, unsure. “Juniper?”

“It is you.”

My youngest sister looked at me out of a face that had lost the fat of childhood. Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she was in the process of putting down her basket when another familiar voice poured cold dread down my spine.

“Rowan.”

I turned to face my former fiancé, words dying in my throat. He, too, was taller than I remembered, and he had grown a black beard like his cousin’s. It suited him.

“Avery,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. As always, the dread I felt before seeing him had me trembling with doubt at the sight of his face. Beauty was so deceptive. He smiled his easy smile, looking every inch the headman’s son.

“We thought you were dead. Or ran off to your city. Some of us thought you’d run off to your city and died. But,” he said, looking me up and down, “here you are. Alive.”

“Where is my sister?”

“My wife is inside.”

“And my father?”

“I’m afraid your father is not well.”

“Bring me to them.” I dug my hands into the wolf’s fur as Avery’s eyes flashed at my presumption.

“Where have you been, Rowan?” he asked.

“I want to see my father.” I was all too aware of the rising murmur of the watching crowd.