“You know, you two were the ones who attacked us—”

“I wouldn’t have had to steal it in the first place if you hadn’t been trying to take it from my sister!”

“—was trying to explain before you knocked me out—”

“—actually held a knife to my throat!”

Isolde and Olani wear strangely similar stunned expressions, watching us spit back and forth like two alley cats hissing at each other.

Raze also looks stunned, but before he can prepare another retort, Isolde blows a sharp breath out of her nostrils and cuts in. “Listen. The way I see it, we have something you want. You can go after the wagon with us, or my sister and I disappear forever with the compass and no way to get rid of it. You don’t scare me, and you’re not in a position for negotiation. So, everyone. Do we have a deal or not?”

I close my eyes and wipe mud from my face, defeated. I know what I’m about to say, and I don’t like it. Maybe if I say it quickly, I can put all this behind me. “I’m in.”

“Us, too,” Olani says gruffly.

Raze starts to protest, but then she gives him a look, and he sighs. “Fine.”

I take some comfort in the fact that everyone seems equally unhappy with our arrangement.

chapter twelve

“Your name isn’t really Seelie, is it?” Raze asks, even though no one was talking to him.

I’m stretching my arms and rolling my shoulders, but that doesn’t do much to relieve the stiff aching. It’s hard to stomach the thought of walking several hours in the chilly rain when my body already feels like it’s been trampled by a vengeful herd of unicorns.

Seeing the look on my face, Isolde reaches down to help me up.

“It’s short for Iselia,” I snap, trying not to groan in pain as I ease to my feet.

Isolde frowns as her hand slips from mine, looking at me funny. “No one calls you that.”

I grit my teeth. The nickname has always been a problem, but I still like it. I just don’t want to hear the scorn in the way Raze says it. “Well, maybe I’m trying to rebrand.”

“You’d bother going through all that trouble just for me? I’m flattered, Iselia.”

He says it with a smirk and a tone that makes me immediately regret switching to my full name. Either his good spirits bounce back remarkably fast, or he’s provoking me on purpose.

Before I can snap something back, Olani steps between us. “Raze, behave. We can all fit on the horses, but we’ll have to share. It’s a few hours’ ride to the nearest town. We’ll stop for the night, get some supplies...” She looks Isolde and me over. Isolde’s all-black wardrobe won’t stain, but my clothes are ripped and muddied and burned beyond the point of no return. “And maybe some new clothes for the changeling.”

We have to double up on the horses, and of course Raze and Olani are both too large to share one, so—