My escape from the Queen led me into the forest she’d emerged from.
It swallowed me up. Dead branches clattered and moaned around me, whispering sharp and twiggy secrets to the moon.
I startled at every sound, jumping when fallen leaves rustled nearby.
It’s just a small creature, I told myself, pulling my cloak around me, and happy. It’s very happy and very full. It doesn’t want to eat the big noisy creature trudging along the path.
I stopped walking, dust and wind swirling around me, and looked up at the moon sailing through thin clouds. It reminded me of the Queen’s face: beautiful and pale and blank.
She’s not watching me. She can’t be.
But I was too tired to believe my own lies. I tugged my hood over my face so the moon couldn’t see me.
I could never be too far from the Queen.
* * *
I heard the hoofbeats too late.
I dashed off the path and huddled among the shadowy trees.
A single rider. Though even one of the Queen’s wild guard would be enough.
I sank deeper into my hood and prayed he’d ride past.
The rider slowed, then stopped altogether—right where I’d been standing.
I hiked my skirts and—
“Andaryn! Ryn!”
It was Aiden.
He looked so wild in the moonlight that I thought the Queen had enchanted him again.
“What were you thinking?” He dismounted, and a moment later he took me by the shoulders, punctuating every word with a small shake. “What were you thinking, running like that? You scared the life out of us!”
Not enchanted, then. Just furious.
I didn’t care that he was angry. It was so good to see him that I threw my arms around him.
He pulled me close, and hope began to grow inside me. “Father changed his mind?”
Aiden’s arms dropped to his sides and he shook his head.
“Oh.” I realized then that I’d expected Father would change his mind, that something would keep the worst from happening.
“Don’t take me back to the castle, Aiden. I won’t travel with her awful soldiers.”
“I wouldn’t give a dog to those men,” grunted Aiden. “We have a plan: we’re going to hide you until Father comes to his senses.”
“Where? And where is everyone else?”
“Mael and Declan went to your room hours ago to beg your forgiveness, even if they had to talk through the door to do it.”
“Truly?” I asked. “They’re not enchanted anymore?”
Aiden walked his horse to the side of the road. “If one good thing came from the feast, that is it. All of us—even Owain—know the truth about Father’s new bride.”
“Except Father.”
“Yes. Except Father.” Aiden’s shoulders slumped, but he pushed ahead with his news. “When you didn’t answer, we unlocked your door. Gavyn saw your picture for Father and realized you meant to leave for good.”
I turned at the sound of more hoofbeats in the gloom. Aiden stiffened, then drew his sword and stepped between me and the approaching horsemen.
I gripped his cloak with both hands and braced for the worst.
As they came within sight, Aiden relaxed. “It’s Owain and Mael.”
My brothers pulled their horses to a stop. Mael leaped from his charger and swept me into a hug. “I was a fool, Ryn.”
I blinked back tears.
Mael released me and motioned Owain forward. “Your turn.”
Owain dismounted and looked anywhere but me: the ground, the chargers stomping and chewing their bits, my shoulder. “I was—”
Mael rolled his eyes. “—a complete and utter ass, and I’m . . . ?”
“. . . sorry,” finished Owain.
I hugged him too, mostly because I knew it would irritate him. To my surprise, Owain hugged me back and whispered, “I am sorry.”
Mael turned to Aiden. “The others are close by. When we didn’t find Ryn on the road to Roden, we realized our best chance was along this trail. This is good. She’s nearly a third of the way to Roden.”
“I’m not going to Roden,” I said.
Aiden raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“I don’t want the Queen anywhere near Tanwen.”
More horses and riders. It was the triples: Declan, Gavyn, and Cadan.
Declan slipped off his horse and put an arm around my shoulder. “I’ll never forgive myself. I knew there was something different in her songs. But I didn’t let myself care. And now—”
I snuggled into Declan’s side. He was my favorite, he and Cadan, though the two of them couldn’t stand each other. I loved Declan because he loved me, and I loved Cadan because he didn’t care what anyone thought. I needed that too. I could borrow it and wear it like armor sometimes.
“Gather ’round,” said Aiden. “We only have hours. I was telling Ryn we’re taking her to Roden—”
“And I was telling him that I wouldn’t put Tanwen in danger,” I interrupted.
“You won’t stay there,” said Aiden. “We can’t risk that. You’ll stay only a few hours until Tanwen can provision one of our men to take you someplace safe.”
“We’ve provisioned you already,” said Cadan, tucking a bag into my satchel. “There’s food—and a flint and tinder so you’re never lost in the dark.”
“We should hurry,” said Mael. “If the Queen discovers that we’re missing, she’ll try to turn Father against us. She’ll tell him Aiden’s trying to take the throne.”
Owain tried to act brave. “If anyone questions us when we return, Declan will spin a tale that takes them to the Otherworld and back before they can think.”
“There’s no story that would explain us going out for a midnight ride,” said Aiden. “We tell them we discovered Ryn was missing and went searching—and we buy Tanwen time to hide Ryn away.”
“They’ll search Roden,” I cautioned.
“And you won’t be there by the time they reach it,” Aiden replied. “Tanwen will have sent you on your way before search parties leave the castle.”
He looked off to the west, where Roden stood a few leagues away. “I just wish we’d been able to plan so that we don’t look as if we’re defying Father. This is risky.”
“Let me escort her to Roden,” said Cadan. “I’ll get her safely to Tanwen while the rest of you go back to the castle. The crown prince should be at the castle when Ryn’s discovered missing. Let the mean triple be blamed for this, if there’s blame to be given.”
“If any part of this plan fails, it will settle on Aiden’s shoulders—no matter who takes her there,” said Mael.
Aiden bent down a little so I could see him clearly. “I’ll see you safe to Roden tonight, Ryn, and safe every day after that. I vow it. We all do.”
“I vow it,” echoed my brothers—all but Cadan.
“I’m so determined to keep you safe that I don’t need to waste breath vowing it,” he announced. But he smiled at me to show the edge in his words wasn’t for me.
In that moment, with my brothers around me, I felt safe again. They were my own fortress, my castle, my home—all six of them. For the first time since Father had returned from the forest, we were united. Perhaps the worst hadn’t happened, after all.
Cadan helped me up to sit in front of him, and we started for Roden in silence.
As we traveled on, the night pressed so close that I could imagine the Queen watching me. I should have felt safe with my brothers near, but I didn’t.
Declan brought his horse beside us. “Aiden mentioned a dream, Ryn. Tell me about it.”
It was always easy to confide in Declan. So I told him about the feather and the words that stopped the Queen and the fire.
“Mother had dreams,” said Declan.
“It was just a dream,” argued Cadan. “Ryn’s didn’t stop the Queen—though I almost thought she would, standing there, with the Kingstone in the fire. What a sight that was! But she didn’t—so I won’t worry about feathers or fires anytime soon.”
Declan shook his head and grabbed a hank of his curly hair, tugging absently as he thought.
“What burned, Ryn? What part of the castle?”
“Stone doesn’t burn,” argued Cadan.
I ignored him. “The ramparts—the roof along the ramparts, near the turret.”
“Could you tell which side of the castle?”
I closed my eyes. It had hardly been a dream at all, more like images as the strange music tried to pull me into its current.
I looked up, feeling a failure. “I don’t know. It wasn’t what you see from the courtyard. Do you think that’s good?”
“I’ll think it over. It might mean something later,” said Declan. He rode ahead, still tugging on his hair as he thought.
Cadan shook his head. “Or it might mean nothing at all! Sometimes dreams are just dreams.”
He looked over his shoulder at me, serious. “Far more important that Aiden return to the castle as soon as we reach Roden. It’s not wise for him to linger. We shouldn’t have all come, but we worried for you. The forest isn’t safe anymore.”
Fortress Roden lay ahead, its towers black against the starry sky. My heart began to pound so I could feel my pulse in my fingertips.
“Ryn?” asked Cadan.
I’d seen those ramparts in my dream. It had been Roden burning, not the castle.
“Cadan, those walls—”
“What, Ryn?” Cadan stood up in his stirrups to better see the gate.
“We’re here!” announced Aiden. He turned to call back to me. “Perhaps Tanwen sensed you’d be coming. The courtyard is lit.”
We passed through the gate, clattering toward Tanwen, who stood stiffly by Roden’s great oak doors—Tanwen, who always ran to greet Aiden.
A shiver of fear ran up my spine.
“Aiden!” Tanwen called. “Run!”
Aiden didn’t move, but Cadan pulled our horse up and wheeled it around. The gate was only feet away, but the ambassador’s soldiers in Danavirian uniform had already filled the courtyard, circling behind us to cut off escape.
“She’s here,” I whispered.
The Queen stepped out from behind Tanwen, twisting her arm back till she cried out.
“Welcome, children of the King,” the Queen called. “I’ve been expecting you.”