The odd jolting movement slowed and then stopped altogether. There came a murmur of voices, sounding far away, but Sterling’s brain struggled to make sense of what they were saying. She could only make out one word of every three.

Open your eyes, she commanded herself, but it was like they were glued shut.

No matter how much Sterling willed it, the heavy lids would not lift. Her body was not obeying her. She tried to move a hand, wiggle a finger, but nothing seemed to be working.

Suddenly, she was being lifted and then, just as suddenly, dropped.

Sterling tried to cry out as pain lanced through her body when it hit the frozen ground, but no noise escaped her throat.

“Careful.” She heard a voice say from somewhere overhead. “If you damage the goods, we won’t get our full payment, and I will take it out of your half.”

A second voice rumbled in response. “How long do you plan to keep her under?”

“As long as possible. It will be easier without us fighting her every step of the way. We need to make it to the drop-off point, and then she isn’t our problem anymore.”

Drop off point? Who were these people, and what did they want with her?

“Princess is going to make us a pretty penny, aren’t you?”

The sharp toe of a boot nudged at her ribs. Sterling wanted to reach out and grab it—fight back—but her body still wouldn’t move.

This was the second time she had heard them call her Princess.

Who did they think she was? Was it some strange pet name they had decided to call her?

Sterling regretted leaving her father’s stall. She wished now that she had never gotten up from her chair and been content with her boredom.

A shuffling noise brought her out of her thoughts. It sounded like they were moving away from her. Somewhere nearby, a horse snorted.

Sterling struggled again to open her eyes.

This time, she was successful.

She blinked up at a blurry image of trees overhead. The forest, her brain said—they must have taken her into the forest. It made sense. With the mountain pass filled with snow, the only way out of Ratha was through the woods.

She tried to sit up but found that her wrists and ankles were bound with rough rope.

“She’s coming around,” the second voice called from somewhere to her left. He must have noticed her movement.

“Dose her,” the first voice commanded, and that foul-smelling rag descended over her face, blotting out the trees.

Sterling’s last thought before the blackness sucked her under again was that she hoped the man-eating creature Freya had told her about would find them and tear her captors limb from limb.

Their progress was slow. The trees grew close together and, in some places, they brushed their legs on either side, preventing a faster pace. If they were following some kind of path or trail, Seraiah couldn’t tell. She wasn’t even sure which direction they were moving in anymore.

They stopped for a break in a small clearing sometime around midday—or at least Seraiah assumed it was sometime around midday. It could have been much longer than that since they had entered the forest. Along with her sense of direction, she’d also lost her sense of time.

Getting off the horse was almost as hard as getting on. Seraiah struggled to lift her leg up and over the horse’s back, and her knees almost buckled beneath her when her feet touched the ground. Grabbing onto the saddle for support, she stayed leaning against the horse’s side for a moment until she was certain her legs would hold her.

Turning, Seraiah found Kai watching her.

“See something interesting?” she snapped, annoyed that he had seen her in yet another moment of weakness. She was tired and sore and regretting leaving home.

“Not particularly,” Kai said, not embarrassed in the least to have been caught staring at her.

Seraiah frowned. He’d already had to save her from being run over by a cart, complained that she was slow and noisy walking in the woods, and had now seen she couldn’t ride a horse. He probably thought she was entirely useless.

Not that she cared what he thought. He was only a stranger, helping her find her sister.

“Where did Kestrel go?” she asked. The other woman had somehow disappeared after she dismounted, without Seraiah noticing.

“Scouting, most likely. Here.” Kai tossed a round object to her.

Her hands automatically reached up to catch it before it smacked her in the face.

Seraiah was surprised to find it was a piece of fruit.

“Have you never seen an apple before?”

She lifted her gaze to find Kai looking at her quizzically.

“Of course I have. It’s just that fruit is scarce in Ratha.” Lady Zahara had access to them because of her greenhouses, but for the rest of the city, it was a rare treasure. This single apple would sell for more than Seraiah made in a month as a scribe.

“We won’t be stopping long. Eat while you can and walk around a little. It should help with the leg soreness.” Kai pulled a second apple from his bag and bit into it.

Seraiah made quick work of the apple, and then took Kai’s advice and walked laps around the clearing. She circled twice before the cramps worked themselves out of her legs. It wasn’t until after the fourth loop around that she felt like she was walking normally again.

She looked around for Kai, thinking to ask him about his relation to Sterling, and spotted him leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.

As if he felt her gaze on him, his eyes opened, meeting hers.

Before Seraiah could decipher his expression, Kestrel burst through the trees opposite them.

“I think you might want to take a look at this,” Kestrel said, addressing Kai.

He straightened up, pushing off the tree. “What is it?”

Kestrel grimaced and shook her head. “Nothing good.”

“Show me,” he demanded.

Kestrel headed back into the woods in the direction she had come from, with Kai close on her heels. Curious, Seraiah trailed along behind them. Neither of them seemed to notice.

Whatever Kestrel wanted Kai to look at, it wasn’t far from the clearing. They stopped abruptly, and Kestrel pointed at something on the ground.  

Kai crouched to get a closer look, his body blocking Seraiah’s line of sight.

“What is it?” she asked.

Kestrel started, glancing over her shoulder as if surprised to find Seraiah standing there. “I don’t think it’s something you want to see.”

That only piqued her curiosity. “I’m sure I can handle it.”

“Suit yourself.” Kai stood and stepped aside, revealing what they’d been staring at.

It was a dismembered arm, with what looked like bites taken out of it. At least two fingers were missing from a hand so mangled, Seraiah wasn’t sure you could call it a hand anymore. The exposed bone and meat glistened wetly, the blood still fresh.

This had happened recently.

Seraiah wished she had listened to Kestrel as bile burned up her throat. “Excuse me,” she murmured, whirling away.

She made it all of two steps before falling to her knees and heaving up her insides.