A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows

CHAPTER15

It had been hours since I ran. Hours that my feet had carried me forward and the ache that had set in reminded me of that fact over and over.

Daylight should have shown its face by now. It should have peeked through the trees and greeted me like an old friend, but darkness was the only thing that remained.

I stopped and turned in a small circle. Every tree I passed looked eerily similar to the one I had just left, and I couldn’t make sense of where I was going. Evren’s voice had faded out quickly as the trees welcomed me into them, and the sound of the leaves rustling was the only thing I could hear.

Fear trickled up my spine, and even though I had feared Evren would catch me, the panic of the idea that he wouldn’t gripped at my chest. Because I was completely and utterly lost.

I leaned against one of the dark trees as I tried to tamp down my rising panic. My marks burned against my skin, a warning that I should have heeded.

A cautioning that hardened my stomach and made me jump at every possible noise.

I looked behind me and contemplated turning back in the direction I came from, but I felt so disoriented. There were no tracks from where I had just walked; the forest had consumed them as if I had never been there at all.

That fact could have been my savior but also my foe. The forest had helped me get away, but now, I didn’t know what I was thinking.

My hand clamped down against the bandage on my wrist, and I took a deep breath to harden my resolve. The forest was frightening, but nothing scared me more than being back in Gavril’s control.

Keep walking forward, I repeated over and over in my head as I pushed away from the tree. My body was tired, but I couldn’t afford to rest. Evren was fearful of what lay in this forest, which meant I was to be too.

I couldn’t let my guard down even as my body begged me to lie down just for a moment.

I had made it three steps when I heard a whisper of sound in front of me. My legs trembled as I searched the woods and prayed to the gods that I was alone. I reached for my dagger just as a deep, harsh voice echoed through the trees.

“You won’t need that here, sorceress.” The voice coiled around me as if it was carried on a phantom wind.

I still didn’t see anyone, and I slowly turned as I adjusted my grip on my knife. “Who are you?”

“Osiris. Although no one has called me by my name in a long time.” His voice made my spine straighten and my marks blistered against my skin in warning.

I couldn’t even see this Osiris, but he was a threat.

“Why can’t I see you?”

Laughter fell around me like a song before I caught movement near one of the large trees. Then there they were, stepping out from behind the shadows, and I gasped as my feet faltered and I almost fell to the damp ground.

She looked like she belonged to the trees, or maybe they belonged to her. Moss and bark grew along her torso as if it were a part of her skin, and a long gauzy skirt fell against her legs and trailed along the ground.

But none of that was what drew in my attention. It was her solid black eyes that trapped my breath in my lungs and forced me to stay where I was.

“I could heal your wound.” Her head cocked to the side and those strange eyes studied the bandage on my wrist.

I pulled it against me and tucked it beneath my cloak. She smiled slow and sinister before her gaze slid back to meet mine.

“You are the Starblessed destined, but for what?”

Fear crawled up my spine as she studied me with such an unnatural stillness.

“You are destined for far more than they realize.”

“I don’t understand.” I shook my head and took a step closer to her. “What am I destined for?”

“Your soul.” She spoke slowly as she studied me. “It is irrevocably attached to another.” Her gaze slid back to my wrist, and I shook under her stare even as my heart pleaded for her words to be false.

“What if I don’t want it to be?” Gods, I refused to be bound to Gavril for eternity. Was it because he had fed from me?

“You don’t have a choice, sorceress.” She said it so undoubtedly, but I refused to believe her.