Chapter 5
five
Mysthaven .
I was in Mysthaven, land of the sorcerers.
How do you know, you ask?
Well, because plants are fucking moving!!!
My God, I was in Mysthaven, the sorcerer territory, the one place that Rune had gone all the way to the other side of the continent to avoid. The one place that was more dangerous than all the rest, and that’s where I’d ended up.
Which, of course, Nilah. Of course, you did!
The memory of when Rune had carved the map of Verenthia on that tabletop in the Neutral Lands was right there in front of my mind’s eye. Below the Seelie Court was the Mercove, and right next to it was Mysthaven.
Here I thought I’d gotten so fucking lucky to find that carriage and that boy—I’d thought for once I’d caught a break.
But that tunnel through which we came out of the Seelie Court must have been right at the edge of the kingdom because the forest I’d ran into had eventually led me here.
It had led me to a fenced in garden full of plants that looked ordinary enough—until they started to move, bend forward and back, vibrate where they were fucking planted.
Sorcerers.
I’d run for maybe a couple of hours and walked a couple more.
I thought I was moving ahead, thought I was in the Mercove, in the land parts of it, and I had been determined to stay away from water.
I had been determined to stick to land, so I didn’t have to come face to face with a mermaid again, and I’d been sure that eventually I’d make it to Cloakwood, the fomorian territory.
From there, it would be easy to get to Blackwater. Easy, I’d thought.
Look at me now.
Exhausted, starved, so fucking thirsty that it hurt to think about water.
But even so, at the sight of those moving plants, I turned around and I ran again. Stumbled forward, slammed into trees, fell on my face more times than I could count.
Rune, please find me, I thought most of the time, the words repeating in my head like a fucking mantra.
Because I was not fit to survive this place on my own. Not even a little bit. I was not fit to survive in the wilderness—especially not one infused with fucking magic and monsters and creatures that could manipulate me with a single look.
That day, I was convinced that my only option at seeing the end of this alive was Rune. That day, I knew that if he didn’t find me, I wouldn’t make it. There was simply no way.
So, I ran and whispered his name in the wind, and I hoped magic, however it worked, would make him materialize in front of me out of thin air, but it didn’t. It was all in vain.
I was crying, I thought. Sweating. Shaking. And eventually, when the light around me dimmed, my legs gave up, too.
Death and I were no strangers. In the past week since I’d crossed through the Aetherway and into Verenthia, I’d been face to face with it at least a few times, but none had felt as final as this.
None had felt as real, as all-consuming than when I crawled on all fours to try to get somewhere, anywhere at all.
And that was the only reason I noticed the small opening on the forest floor. I’d have missed it if I hadn’t touched it with my bare hands.
It was a small space set into a slight rise like the earth itself had exhaled and caved in.
The thick roots of the trees to its side knotted together to form almost a roof, the limbs stretching like skeletal fingers sheltering the opening below.
Fallen leaves had gathered over them as if on purpose, to shield it from anyone passing by.
With shaking hands, I pushed them aside to see the shallow cave better.
It was small, possibly not even big enough for two grown people, but if I managed to slide through the roots, I’d be perfectly hidden down there—from guards.
From sorcerers. Hopefully from monsters who might want to feast on my flesh, too.
Like a pocket of the woods carved into its floor.
It took me a while to slip past the roots and get down there, but I only broke one in the process. The rest remained like a roof over the cave. The sky had grown dark, the day at its end, and it seemed fitting, I thought.
When I curled up as well as I could against the dry earth, I prayed to God that the dark would be my friend, not another enemy.
Something moved over me.
My eyes opened slowly, and the first thing I noticed was the heavy scent of damp earth curling in the air. The root ceiling above my head dripped in slow, steady beats— rain . It was raining outside.
Every muscle in my body screamed in protest when I tried to move. The memories came back to me—of the dead prince and the carriage and the fae boy with his wide hopeful eyes.
And the memory of myself running in the woods without ever looking back, hoping I was moving in the right direction, thinking I knew where the hell I was going— that memory was still a blur to me. Like it had never really happened. It was never real.
But it was.
I was in Mysthaven, hiding in a pocket of the forest floor, and the sky looked grey from down here as the rain continued to pour softly. Maybe the sun had climbed up again in the sky. Maybe the whole night had passed, and I’d survived.
I was still unfound.
Tears slipped from my eyes when I moved a little, as if they’d been at the corners just waiting to rush out. My body still ached, but I lay on my back and moved a little to the right, opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue to catch the raindrops coming through the web of roots over me.
I drank rain and I cried there for a while because the guards hadn’t found me. But Rune hadn’t found me, either. Through the whole day, and the whole night.
I was on my own .
Cold bit at the edges of my limbs, but it was nothing compared to the weight in my chest caused by the realization that no one was coming to save me. Not Rune, not anyone.
If I was going to get to the other side of this, if I was ever going to see him and my family again, I’d have to do it myself.
The sound of raindrops that was soothing a moment ago now felt like suffocation.
I pressed a palm to the packed soil beside me and sat up slowly, my face wet, both from tears and rainwater.
I was no longer thirsty—just desperate. Enraged. Afraid.
Truly, fully alone.
My clothes were damp, my hands stiff, and my stomach felt like a hollow pit. Hunger growled at me and I couldn’t ignore it no matter how hard I tried.
I’d spent so long being carried through danger—by Rune and his shadows, by luck, by running—but this was different. This wasn’t dramatic or deadly or fast. This wasn’t sudden.
I had all the time in the world as I sat in that cave, to think and to worry and feel the hunger gnawing at my bones.
Yes, I had time, but I also had some place to be. I had a plan, even if it was going to get me killed (this I knew with certainty at that point). But I had an idea of where I was going, a general direction, and that would be enough to silence my anxiety for now, to keep me moving.
So, I breathed in deeply, grounding myself, and then crawled out from under the roots, this time breaking half of them in the process.
The forest was darker than before, slick with wet leaves and glistening bark. Every sound felt sharper, more dangerous, but I walked ahead anyway .
I’d done this before at home. I’d felt utterly defeated and like the world— my world—had come to an end, like the sky was falling down on my head. And I’d taken my time, had cried for five minutes—or ten or an hour. Then I’d gotten my shit together and had showed up for the people I loved.
This time didn’t have to be any different. I’d cried in the rain. Had felt awful about my luck.
Now, I showed up for myself no matter what the day had in store for me. Whether I died or not didn’t really matter, not right now. I would keep moving.
There had to be something I could eat in this forest. Sorcerers had to eat, too, didn’t they?
Berries, maybe. Wild roots if I was lucky.
My boots sank into the damp earth as I moved, leaves sticking to the leather.
I scanned my surrounding with my full attention, and the canopy over my head was thick enough that not a lot of rain made it to me.
That, and it was slowing down, I thought.
The farther I walked, the more the sound of rain splatters against wood and leaves slowed down.
Yes, the sky looked grey and gloomy, and fear wanted my entire attention—but I was a stubborn woman, if nothing else, and I was fucking determined. I was still alive. And so long as I was breathing, I had a chance.
Eventually, the rain stopped altogether, and the woods changed.
Still the same trees, the same bark slick with rain, and soil thick beneath my boots, but the air had turned heavy with something else. Something unnatural.
Magic.
Don’t ask how I knew—I just smelled it in the air. It clung to everything in this part of the forest, and if I stopped to listen, I was sure I’d hear it humming faintly. Right now, it was crawling beneath my skin like a whisper I couldn’t quite catch.
Slowing my steps, I kept my eyes sharp, my ears sharper.
Then I saw the structures half hidden away by the giant trees, and I stopped in my tracks.
The first one was a low stone slab, tucked between two twisted oaks, with bones piled neatly on the top. I didn’t look too long to see— couldn’t if I tried because, at first glance, they did not look like animal bones.
The skull. The ribcage. The discarded bones behind. No.
Flowers had been arranged around them, the petals wilted, as dead as whatever creature had been laid there as if on display.
Every instinct in my body demanded I start running back where I came from, where there were no structures or bones, only trees.