26

They swarmed the banks of the Reyn like a cloud of gray smoke.

The deck felt insubstantial beneath my feet. It was only the roll of the ship on the water. But I knew that all was lost.

I had told myself that out in the woods, the wild itself shielded me from Baba Yaga’s view. How wrong I had been.

Before I could stop myself, I raced down the gangplank, hurtling toward the riverbank. “No!”

Shouts and cries broke out behind me as the Waldleute scattered; it looked like some of them managed to escape. I prayed it was so. I prayed that Fritz and the other girls had made it back to the castle from the ball already, that the resistance would make it away with their weapons.

I prayed that all of this—my months lost and my misery and my father left alone—had not been for nothing.

“No!” I screamed again. I dove for the soldier restraining Leirauh.

I caught him off guard. It was the only reason he stumbled back, releasing her. I pinned the soldier to the ground, awkward in my dress, my hands scrabbling at his wrists.

“GO!” I shouted at Leirauh. “Run!”

She hesitated a moment. Her eyes were terrified.

“Please,” I begged her.

Something good had to come from this nightmare. All this lying, all this betrayal, had to mean something.

Leirauh took the arm of a rebel and ran.

The soldier twisted beneath my limbs and jerked free. When he seized me, his grip was iron, cruel and tight.

I’d only managed to free Leirauh because I’d surprised him so thoroughly. There would be no getting away from him now. But I kept fighting, twisting and snarling when he didn’t let go.

A few feet off, Gretel threw a punch at a thin, gray-clad soldier. He reeled, and she backed away, shouting at one of the Waldleute, who seized the last of the gunpowder barrels and took off. I kept struggling in my soldier’s grip, throwing my elbows into his ribs, kicking.

Gretel turned to look back at me just once.

“Remember what you promised to do!” I screamed at her. “Don’t you dare forget!”

She nodded. And then she ran.

I had fled Asgard in the dark of night, with Aleksei’s aid and Torden’s kiss on my lips and Anya safe at my side. It did not look as though we would be so lucky this time.

Perhaps one daring escape was all anyone could ask for.

The last of the Waldleute had disappeared through the trees. We were alone in the Black Forest.

It would have to be enough that I had been able to help Leirauh. That we had armed the Waldleute, done what we came here to do.

I tried to remember that as the soldiers boarded my ship, seized my crew, and hauled us away.