“I was a prisoner.”

“Were you? Then why are you running back to your jailer?”

“Because life isn’t simple, Juniper. Shouldn’t you have figured that out by now? Marriage isn’t simple. Love isn’t simple, no matter what Bjorn may have told you.”

“You don’t get to talk about Bjorn. You want them all dead.”

“I don’t want anybody dead. That’s the point. I don’t want Avery to kill the Huntress, and I don’t want the Huntress to kill Avery. I don’t belong in that village, Juniper, but that doesn’t mean I hate them.”

“You never even tried to belong.”

“I was the price father was willing to pay for your belonging. We’re merchant’s daughters. That means we’re goods, whether we want to be or not. Look at me, Juniper. I never wanted to marry Avery. You know that. He knew that. But Aspen loves him. Who knows? She might find happiness once this is all over, which is something I could never have done with Avery. I didn’t mean to fall in love with the Huntress. I didn’t mean to be happy. I didn’t want to wake up one day and realize that the only time in my life I have ever really felt free was when I was trapped in an enchanted castle.”

“But what about us?” Juniper’s lower lip quivered.

“I missed you every day, Juniper, and if I could have gotten a message to you, I would have. None of this is fair. I wish we didn’t have to make these choices, and now . . .” I trailed off, looking up at the broken slope with barely suppressed panic. “Now I’m too late.”

The shadows on the snow lengthened. The sky had gone from cold blue to a colder pink as we fought, and now the wind rose, carrying with it a mournful howl that I almost recognized.

Juniper placed a mittened hand in mine. “We can still make another mile before nightfall,” she said. “Two, maybe, if we’re lucky.”

I nodded and squeezed her fingers, turning away so that she did not see the tears of frustration freezing on my cheeks.

A branch cracked. Both Juniper and I started, and I reached for my bow before I remembered I’d lost it. The shadows beneath the pines were blacker than night. One detached itself from the trees and loped toward us, and my heart nearly leapt from my throat before I recognized the gleam of eye and teeth. The wolf paused a few feet away, eyeing us. I dropped to my knees, begging her to come to me with open hands. Instead, she looked over her shoulder. Another shape emerged from the shadows, and then another.

“Rowan?” Juniper asked in a shaky voice.