Page 16 of Stolen

“You?”

Her wry smile flickered. “Women.” She cleared her throat. “It’s just that you bit me and it was…” She shook her head. “I wasn’t expecting that. Now I know why the Sithistrans fear vampires.”

“Feeding isn’t normally quite so intense, but arousal is part of it.”

She tilted her head. “Do you, though? Like women?”

“I…don’t know.” Heat crept up my neck. “I guess I never thought about it until now.” Maybe I just wanted to be touched. I knew what the Brotherhood taught. Women were to be modest, devoted wives and mothers. In the eyes of the Lord of the Mir, a woman who loved another woman was an abomination. But the faith of Sithistra also taught that men should take two wives. Women were expected to share and keep their complaints to themselves, while men enjoyed a double helping of everything without consequences.

Igrith’s smile had faded. Her mouth tightened, and I could almost see walls spring up around her.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I may not know exactly what I want, but I know that wanting a woman isn’t wrong. If anyone made you feel like it is, that person is a fool.”

Her shoulder relaxed under my hand. “I’ve always been this way.” She snorted softly. “My father spent years trying to match me with every eligible young male in our village. But I could never do it. I’d rather be alone than suffer a man in my life.”

I offered a wry smile of my own. “Try two.”

She sobered. “One piece of advice: if you see an elf, don’t look away. They can manipulate the world around you. Make you see things that aren’t there. Staying focused on them blunts the effect of their power. Also, try to picture something impenetrable in your mind. A brick wall should do it.”

I swallowed against a suddenly dry throat. “All right.”

“I wish I could tell you this task of yours has a happy ending. I’ve tried to see it, but the only thing I perceive is mist. However, it’s not unusual for visions to be like this when another person is involved. If the general is strong-willed, he could upset what Fate has in store for him. It makes his future more difficult to see.”

I pictured Varick—his warrior’s body and the uncompromising scowl he often wore. “He is certainly strong-willed,” I murmured.

“All I know is that you’ll leave Eldenvalla alive, and that you and I will meet again.” She sighed. “I wish I could give you more.”

On impulse, I hugged her. “You gave me your power. That’s not a small thing.”

She returned my embrace. When she pulled back, her hazel eyes were shaded with worry. “Let’s hope it’s enough.”

Chapter Five

GIVEN

The Thicket was eerily silent.

But I knew I wasn’t alone. I’d been walking for hours, my horse hobbled at the barrier that divided the Wesyfeddan forest from the towering trees. I hadn’t felt right taking the animal, especially when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to return it. Or keep it alive.

Apprehension tingled through me, making my skin feel like it was stretched too tight over my bones. I’d repeated Igrith’s words over and over in my head. “All I know is that you’ll leave Eldenvalla alive…” I clung to that promise like it was precious treasure. No matter what happened to me in these trees, I wasn’t walking into my death.

Then again, there were worse things than death.

I stopped, one hand braced on a tree trunk as thick and round as a castle tower. The bark was unblemished, with none of the gouges deer left when they smoothed out their antlers. None of the trees I’d passed bore the usual signs of forest life. No woodpecker markings or trails of ants. Even the snow had stopped, leaving nothing but cold air behind. The absence of life was unsettling. I hadn’t realized how loud the world was until I entered the void.

Shadows clustered among the trees. If I didn’t look directly at them, they appeared to shift at the edges of my vision. But when I stopped and peered into them, I saw nothing but black branches and gray leaves. The shapeless, colorless masses reminded me of nights alone as a child, when I lay in my bed and stared at clothes draped over the back of a chair. My child’s mind had conjured up all sorts of monsters, eventually prompting me to cry out. Helen had come running with a candle in hand. “Light chases away fear, Princess,” she’d say. “Especially the light we carry inside us.”

Helen of the Southern Sea, now revealed as Helen of Wesyfedd. In all the years we spent together, she never so much as hinted at her true purpose for being in Beldurn Castle.

And now I’d come full circle, walking through shadows with light inside me. Igrith’s power burned in my veins, offering reassurance. It was like a sword at my back. All I had to do was draw the blade. Although, I hoped I wouldn’t need to.

Snow dusted the ground, making every step I took echo like a giant’s footfall. I’d long since tuned out my heartbeat, which pumped erratically. It didn’t matter how much I told myself I had nothing to fear—that Igrith had seen me emerge from the trees in one of her visions. The only thing I could see right now was an endless expanse of colossal trees staggered across a dark forest floor.

This deep in the Thicket, the roots were treacherous. They bulged from the ground, some reaching as high as my head. Black and twisted, they stretched over the forest floor like gnarled fingers. Several times, I’d had to navigate around them, following the long stretches until the ground grew more even and I could continue forward.

Not that I knew where I was going. I’d told Igrith I hoped I wasn’t being stupid. That hope had long since turned to ash. It was the height of stupidity to venture into the Thicket alone, especially when I knew what lay within it.

But I couldn’t abandon Varick. And I wouldn’t be held against my will in Aberwas. A comfortable prison was still a prison.

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