The woman in front took three steps forward. A ponytail swung from side to side, the ends brushing against the ground. Braided, her hair was as thick as Bastian’s leg, but far more dangerous. Sunlight bounced off of the spikes and metal shards woven into her dark brown braid. Her lips curled at the side in a smirk.
“We’ve been waiting for you. Come with us.” She motioned with two fingers.
Tressa didn’t want to follow the strange woman, but Connor needed a healer. She glanced at Bastian. “Should we?”
He didn’t take his eyes off of the braided woman. “Do we have a choice?”
“No, you don’t.” The woman sashayed closer, her hips swaying.
She was dizzyingly intoxicating. Tressa swallowed hard, resting her hand on Bastian’s lower back to steady herself.
“You don’t want to anger me. It would be a most unwise decision.” Her fingertip trailed across Connor’s forehead. A frown replaced the smirk. “He does not have long. If you don’t come with us, he will die.”
Bastian shifted Connor gently in his arms. “Then we’ll follow.”
Tressa put her hand on his arm. “Are you sure?”
“What other choice do we have?” he whispered.
She glanced at the forest, their town lost again in the deep fog. Nerak had flown away with the breaking of the wall of branches. Tressa didn’t know where else to turn.
“You’re right. But as soon as Connor’s healed, we need to leave.”
“And go where?” Bastian asked.
Tressa bit her lip. He didn’t know and now wasn’t the time to tell him. Not with the woman standing so close, eavesdropping on their every word. “Nowhere. I don’t know.”
The woman looked Tressa up and down. Tressa stood firm, tightening her core, attempting to look more powerful than she felt. “Lead the way.”
The woman pivoted, her braid flying out and nicking the hem of Tressa’s breeches. A sliver of fabric fell off in a clean line, floating to the ground
“Stay back a few paces if you don’t want to lose more than that.” She winked at Bastian, leaving her eyelid closed a second longer than was necessary. “I’m Stacia.” She swept an arm out to the side. “This is the battalion under my command. My elite Black Guard, the most feared soldiers in the five kingdoms.”
With a sharp snap of her fingers, the soldiers faced her. “We obey!”
Tressa raised an eyebrow and nudged Bastian. He shot her a severe look, then focused again on Stacia. “If you can help us find a healer for Connor, we will be grateful.”
Stacia smiled, her teeth glinting in the bright sunlight. She reached out a finger, running it along Bastian’s jaw. “I know just how you will repay me.”
Anger welled in Tressa’s chest. She didn’t have a claim over Bastian. In fact, it was still her intention to get him home to his wife and daughter. But watching Stacia feed on him, even if it was only with her eyes, was too much.
Stacia turned her back on them, motioning to her army. They stepped off in formation, marching away from Tressa and Bastian. Stacia didn’t look back at them, only marched beside her warriors.
Bastian leaned over and whispered in Tressa’s ear. “We have to play along if we want to save Connor.”
“How far are you planning on taking it?”
“As far as I have to. Connor’s life is all that matters now.”
She forced herself to face reality. She’d lost Bastian years ago. There would be no going back to what they once had. If he had to give in to another woman to save Connor, then Tressa would have to deal with it the same way she’d coped with Bastian’s marriage to Vinya.
With a heavy heart, she followed Bastian. They’d come too far. They’d escaped the fog that held them. There was nowhere left to go but forward.
Trees towered above them, so tall the world seemed to spin when she looked up at their heights. Dappled sunlight filtered down to them, giving light to the path they walked.
The base of a tree opened up, wider than five men and taller than two stacked Bastians. The army marched through uninterested in the landscape. Tressa paused to marvel at the heartwood inside the bark-covered tunnel. Darkness overtook her, but a light at the other end quickly reminded Tressa she had nothing to fear. At least not from the trees.
Emerging on the other side of the hollow was like entering a new world. Buildings and cottages built into the side of the giant trees cluttered the landscape. A tall building, the tallest of them all, stood in the distance, reaching up into the highest of the treetops. It was a castle. Tressa knew that from Granna’s stories. Perhaps there was a king and a queen. Maybe they would offer help to Tressa and Bastian.