Page 3 of Burn Bright
The tip of the arrow lowered, and my breath burst out of me. These thoughts weren't myown.
A flock of ravens suddenly screamed and burst into a noisy flutter of shadows through the trees. The moment was lost. The hart's glorious head jerked up, its brown eyes searching the forest, and locking upon me. Muscle rippled through its haunches as it crouched, and then it was gone in a bound, moving as swiftly and silently as a wind through the woods, just asethereal.
Something shook inside me.You fool. I had two sisters to feed, and my father... Sweet Vashta, but they said there was magic within the hart's flesh. Perhaps enough to restore his slowly witheringbody.
But it was long gone now, and so was any chance at the hart. I would have to make do with some lesseranimal.
It felt as though magic sloughed off me, as if I'd broken some sort of spell. The silence of the forest began to intrude, along with the dense, oppressive weight of the trees themselves. This was not a part of the wood Iknew.
What was Idoing?
Where wasI?
Coming awake, I began to turn in slow circles, aware of a faint whisper through the trees, almost as if they were speaking. A face loomed out of the warped wood of an old gnarled oak, and a little pinpricks of icy feet marched down myspine.
I was in the Heart of theForest.
And I was not alone. I could feel it, even if I couldn't seeanything.
"Show yourself," I called, whispers of dread creeping through my veins. Another face sat in the mossy bark of a second oak, like the melted wax face of something you saw when you stared into the candle too long, only to blink and realize there was nothingthere.
"Thereyou are," called a woman's voice behind me, rich with some long-born satisfaction, "I've been waiting many years for you,child."
* * *
I hadthe arrow nocked and ready to loose as I turned, heart hammering in mychest.
Snow whispered under the long red velvet cloak of the creature, as she walked in a steady circle around me. She looked like an old woman with silver hair that hung in knotted snarls down to her waist, and eyes the color oftopaz.
But humans didn't live in the Heart ofGravenwold.
Monstersdid.
"Are you going to shootmeinstead?" she asked, an eyebrow arching. "There's a poor feast on these old bones,girl."
I slowly lowered the tip of the arrow a second time, easing the tension of the bow a fraction, but not entirely releasing it. "The only creatures in the center of the woods are those said to tear the heart from a man's chest. There are monstershere."
She smiled. "But you're not aman."
"Semantics," Imuttered.
"Fear not, child," the old woman whispered. "You passed the test. Only two more tests to see if you're truly worthy. And the trees recognize your blood. Have you not felt them calling toyou?"
"Are you a witch?" I demanded, instead ofanswering.
She laughed. "These names you call me… Monster. Witch. Should I take affront at such? And, as for you, I’m the least of your concerns. Perhaps you should ask yourself why the forest goes to such lengths to keep people out of its core. Did you hear anything whispering to you? Suggesting you walk further? Demanding youenter?"
"No. Nothing whispered, nothing—" Those odd thoughts snagged mine again. The hart’s head mounted on my wall. The sudden urge to go after it was overwhelming, but I shook it awayagain.
"Go on," she breathed. "Tell me what you’reremembering."
"Something wanted me to kill the hart," I said slowly. "I… I felt like it would be an honor to kill it. That my entire village would cheer, and people would celebrate myskills."
"Stronger men have fallen to a weaker enticement than that." Her eyes narrowed. "What stoppedyou?"
"I only hunt for food or furs to sell," I replied bluntly. "My father is ill and my sisters hungry." And the villagers of Densby whispered about my fey gifts, and Eloya’s healing gifts and Averill'sknowing. I’d long grown weary of their censure, or even needed their approval. "I knew the thoughts weren’t myown."
The woman’s mouth twisted. "That old chestnut. You’re lucky your will is strong, and pride not your natural inclination, or it would have hadyou."
