In the fairytales my father used to tell me, the villain was always someone who wanted you dead.

They would chase after me through haunted forests in my nightmares. Their skin was wrinkled, noses hooked, eyes sunken in, teeth yellow and sharp. They were never young or beautiful. They were never kind or warm. They never lured you in with handsome smiles and fleeting touches.

Because a story where a villain can be someone you thought a friend is far too terrifying for a child.

But, still seated in the Torinnian shifter carriage as it jitters beneath my body, I can't help but wish the fairy tales had more adequately prepared me. Perhaps if I'd known, I wouldn't have been so fooled by a charming smile and bonded over stories of broken families. If I'd known, I wouldn't be held hostage, heading towards a Torinnian shifter camp instead of back to Veymaw.

If I'd known, I wouldn't have fallen for the enemy.

I brush a finger across Samu's forehead. His skin is warm, eyelids fluttering at my touch. We travelled along the road for more than a day. I stuck by Samu's side in the turbulent carriage the entire time.

Even now, sitting by the rising flames of the fire Killian lit, my stomach churns. I focus on the rise and fall of Samu's chest, his twitching fingers—observations that keep me from launching myself from back into the dark forest and sprinting as fast as I can through the trees.

Lei sits opposite me, her back facing us as she rifles through one of the luggage bags from the carriage. Killian and Draigh disappeared soon after we stopped travelling to rest overnight, the shadows swallowing them whole. I can't help but wonder if they're sitting just at the perimeter, watching Samu and I in the firelights, awaiting my escape attempt.

The possibility makes my stomach lurch.. I've already had one run-in with one of them—Draigh—when I tried to run earlier. And yet the memory isn't any near as terrifying as the thought of facing Killian again.

After explaining everything and receiving my reluctant compliance, he left me alone. His words roll over in my head—all that he revealed, what he did, what he's known for months. It fights for thought space in my convoluted mind.

They all think I'm descended from a being with magical powers, a Kinjri. The very Kinjri who King Ereon used to create the cloud as a weapon against Torinne during the war. It's only now, when the cloud encroaches on Elel territory and the evocion claims shifters' lives, that King Ereon wants to destroy it.

It feels like a long time before Draigh and Killian reemerge, slinking from the shadows like they were there the whole time. It's a bone-chilling reminder of what they are. A thought I haven't allowed myself to dwell on. Because when I do, fear coils in my stomach.

Shifter.

My entire life has been dictated by their species. My brother was kidnapped, father was killed. And now me, manipulated and taken against my will. They're ruthless, deceptive, and dangerous. Especially those from Torinne.

I haven't seen him since he convinced me to stay with them. And though I tried to banish him from my mind the past 24 hours, Killian wove throughout my thoughts like a relentless weed.

I avert my gaze back to Samu.. Pulling his body closer to mine, I rest his head against my lap, the other hand settling around the hilt of the dagger beneath my grimy skirt.

It brings me a foolish sense of security.

Draigh pays me no attention as he pulls the meat from his stick, shoving it into his mouth.

"You can come closer to the fire," Lei says. "We're not going to bite."

"Speak for yourself," Draigh grumbles. "The little szou punched me."

"Try anything and I'll do it again," I snap.

He mumbles something to Lei beneath his breath that makes her glance at me and smirk. I pretend not to notice.

Killian ignores the exchange, rising to his feet and wandering over to me with one of the hares on the stick. I stare at the stick and back up at his face, keeping my expression blank.

"No thanks."

He frowns. "You should eat something. You must be starving."

"I don't want anything from you."

If the harshness in my tone affects him, he doesn't show it, his expression stoic. It only serves to fuel the burn of his betrayal. What he did threatens to paralyse me, and yet he seems utterly unaffected by what it's done to whatever friendship we had formed. Whatever feelings I'd formed.

Did I really mean so little?

Draigh calls out to Killian in his language. Whatever he says makes Killian frown, but he places the hare down before me and moves back over to sit with the two of them. My stomach rumbles, but my pride is far larger than my hunger.

I avert my gaze to the sky. Stars prick through the thick canopy. If it weren't for the mumbling of Draigh, I could almost believe I'm lying atop Casimir's cabin arguing about the bird calls around us. When we left the Palace, Killian had no doubts Casimir and Elex got out safe, and I haven't allowed myself to consider any other possibility. But in the dark of the night, the fear creeps in.

I have no reason to believe anything Killian says to me. Everything I knew about him was a complete lie, a fabricated story to gain my trust and ensure I was exactly where he needed me. And I played right into his hands. How can I trust him when it comes to Casimir?

Killian rises to his feet after finishing the food, murmuring something to Lei before glancing at me and then disappearing into the trees. I watch him until the darkness swallows his figure.

"Get some sleep," Lei says, hoisting a sac behind her head and stretching her long legs across the ground. She folds her arms across her chest, tilting her head to look at me. "We should arrive before midday tomorrow."

They haven't said anything more about where exactly we're going, and I haven't asked. Back at the Palace, the documents Killian and I found said hundreds of Torinnians had migrated to Elel. But based on what Killian told me, it seems the war has never truly ended like we've been led to believe. I can't imagine that wherever we're headed is somewhere easily accessible.

I brush Samu's hair back, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. "And you think there will be someone who can help him?" I ask. "Where we're headed?"

Draigh raises his brows. "If there is any helping him."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Draigh," Lei scolds before turning back to me. "What he means to say is that his heart is beating, he looks healthy, and from what we can tell, there's no reason why he should be unconscious right now. We haven't seen anything like this before."

"Well, what do you know?"

"Her mother is a healer, she knows quite a lot, actually," Draigh says.

Lei shoots him a look. "He was with Ereon for more than a year. We have no idea what they did to him. My mother will do what she can. But she can't perform miracles."

I look back to Samu, swiping a smudge of dirt from his arm. Her gaze pierces every single movement.

"Did he know he was adopted?" she asks.

"My family is none of your business," I snap.

Unaffected by my tone, she turns back to face Draigh. They talk in low, murmured voices, still in English. I can't help but wonder where Killian went off to. Annoyingly, his presence was the one thing settling my nerves around Draigh and Lei, even though I know it shouldn't anymore. To distract myself, I try to tune into Lei and Draigh's conversation.

"—on the eastern side, yeah," Draigh finishes.

"It's spread considerably since we got here. No wonder Ereon has changed tunes."

"If it weren't for Torinne I'd say kill her and to hell with the whole country," Draigh adds. "Let him suffer through what we did."

"Are you talking about the evocian?" I ask, not being able to help myself.

They both look at me, neither one all too pleased that I've spoken. Eventually, Lei nods. "Did they tell you about it?"

"The King... he thought I'd be able to heal the infected."

"Killian told us," Lei says. It makes me wonder how often they've been in contact. She's already revealed that she was in the forge with him that night I came across them, but after that. It's hard to imagine they could've been in close quarters while Killian was undercover as a deserter.

"Ereon is deluded. You have absolutely no training. The infected would've killed you if Killian hadn't stepped in when he did," Draigh scoffs.

"Then you wouldn't have been able to kidnap me, what a shame."

Draigh glares but Lei just raises an eyebrow. Between us, the fire crackles, smoke curling in the air. "You do realise the cloud is stretching over Elel, too?" she says. "Don't you at least care about that?"

"All I care about is making sure Samu is healthy and getting back home. Whatever you think I can help you with, you're wrong."

She murmurs something in Torinnian, making Draigh laugh.

"I'm tempted to swap out with Killian on watch," he responds.

"If you're so worried about being caught by King Ereon, lighting a fire and sending off a smoke signal wasn't the best idea," I say.

"It isn't Ereon we're worried about."

"Then who?"

A shadow falls across her face as she looks away from me. "Just pray you don't find out."

A shudder crawls down my spine. The forest, a place that has been my refuge since I was just a girl, turns sinister as I glance around. A haunting tune whistles through the breeze.

Draigh shuffles closer to Lei, licking the juice from the meat off his fingers. Watching him makes my stomach stab with hunger. I settle on my side, watching the flames dance in the air, fighting off the darkness.

"Freya?" Lei stares at me from across the clearing. Her hooded eyes seem wider at night. There's an innocence in them that reminds me of Cadence. "I'm sorry for what King Ereon did to your family."

My eyes burn as I stare back, trying to detect any malice beneath her words. Eventually, I turn to face the other way, towards the shadows lurking in the treeline. Her pity is worse than the mocking.

My eyelids weigh heavy, but I try my hardest to keep them open, tracing an intricate spider web slung between the trunk of a tree and a stick half stabbed into the ground.

I tune out Lei and Draigh's voices. For so long I thought that if I could just find Samu everything would feel okay again. No matter what happened next, I truly believed that if we were together, we would be alright. But now, with Samu unconscious and stuck with Torinnian shifters, that ember of hope I kept alive for so long starts to fizzle.

***

I wake with a jolt.

Hands shake my shoulders as my eyes blur into vision. Draigh hangs over me, a scowl marking his face as his shaking gets more vigorous. Panicked, I glance at Samu to my side, but he's just as he was when I fell asleep.

"What're you—"

"Shh," he hisses. "Get up."

Dazed, I shift into a sitting position, staring around. The sky is still dark. Lei darts around the clearing, shoving their belongings back into the sac she'd used as a pillow. She stamps out the remaining embers, burying them with a layer of dirt. There's an urgency to her movements.

I open my mouth to speak again, but Draigh raises his finger to his lips and shakes his head. A shudder crawls down my spine as he leans over to pick Samu up, hoisting him over his shoulders. He points towards me, eyes wide with urgency as he mouths the words "follow me".

I frown, glancing towards Lei, searching for Killian. But he's nowhere to be seen.

When Draigh starts back through the trees, I don't hesitate to follow. A stillness settles over us, the trees turn stagnant, the wildlife asleep. Even the wind dares not to take a breath. We come across the horse before the carriage, its head tilted downwards. Draigh runs a hand across its neck, rousing it from its slumber and leading it with us till we reach the carriage.

"What's going on?" I whisper as he places Samu back in the carriage.

"Wait here."

He steps back towards the forest. "Draigh."

I glance over my shoulder as if King Ereon will be waiting around the corner. But I'm alone by the carriage, the horse flicking its tail as it adjusts to its harness. I step backward till I'm pressed against the carriage, keeping my eyes trained on the treeline.

Snap.

The bushes rustle to my left. "Hello?" I call.

My voice echoes through the silence. The rustling stops. Heart thudding, I take small steps forwards, towards the bush. In the back of my mind fear pulses. Despite being taken against my will, the thought of being left in an unfamiliar place all alone makes my skin prick. They wouldn't just leave me, would they?

A low hissing sound travels through the shrub. I hesitate, stomach dropping as my hand grips the hilt of my dagger. "Who's there?"

I barely get time to scream before my wrists are restrained and a hand slaps over my mouth.

There's no time to brandish my dagger. I squirm against their grip, my scream muffled by their hand. My captor twists me, keeping their hand firm against my mouth until we're face to face.

Killian.

Despite everything, my body floods with momentary relief. His eyes drill into mine, cautious as he slowly removes his hand from my mouth, raising his fingers to his lips. He doesn't release my wrists, pulling me closer until we're standing in the shadow the moon casts over the side of the carriage, crouching down low.

He points to the sheet, brushing it aside. I follow his gaze as he gestures for me to climb in. Out of the shadows, Draigh and Lei appear, stalking backward till they reach the carriage.

I don't waste any more time. Climbing up into the carriage, it lurches forward softly before I'm seated. The only sound is my breath, still uneven from Killian's steadying hold. Nobody outside breathes a word. The wood creaks in the silence, the horse's hooves occasionally snapping a stray log.

Slow and steady. I could probably walk faster. But something tells me not to question it. I'm too afraid to even speak.

My mind replays the events since I awoke. The urgency in Draigh's shaking, the pleading in Killian's gaze, their stances as they backed themselves against the carriage. And perhaps most unusual--that low hissing sound coming from the distant shrub.

We pick up the speed. The horse neighs, the sound echoing through the cracks in the wood. I take several deep breaths, trying to calm the racing of my heart. Shuffling sideways, I go to lean my head outside the carriage entrance.

The carriage stops suddenly. I stumble forward and scrape my head against the opposite wall. Righting myself, I check Samu before reaching my hand up to my head.

Blood dampens the tips of my fingers.

A horrid screech fills the air. The horse. The wooden carriage creaks. Three seconds pass. Then four.

I clutch Samu to my chest just as a weighted force smacks against the side of the carriage, sending it crashing to the side.