Page 2 of Dare

My lips curved into a smile. Finally, it was time to save myself.

I gazed at the pair through watery eyes. “Friends,” I whispered, the word as light as a feather.

My friends. Someday, I would see them again.

Creeping from my hiding spot, I darted into the shadows. My bare feet slapped the cobblestones, skirting around toasted chunks of wood, smoldering ale barrels, and chips of broken glass. I sprinted faster, heeding Briar’s urgent words.

He will find you.

If you stay, he will find you.

The Summer King wasn’t the monarch I needed to worry about. He wasn’t the ruler I needed to flee from. He wasn’t the enemy I needed to fear.

Not anymore. Because he wasn’t the predator hunting for me.

Dashing around market stalls, I swiped an apple and a blackened loaf of bread from the ground. Rounding a corner, I skidded in place, my gaze tripping across a shop window. Golden eyes shone in its reflection, and a picture of shocked features gazed back. Sweat and soot coated the woman’s deep olive face, starvation hollowed her cheeks, and dryness chapped her lips as if they were made of bark.

Me. That was me.

My shaky fingers traced every facet. I hadn’t seen my reflection in nine years. Banked in the firelight, the vision knocked me off balance. A bereft cry slipped across my tongue, as raw as a wound, the noise inaudible to anyone else but me.

Next, my gaze stumbled to the neck tattoo. The collar of black sunbursts wrapped around my throat, the ink permanent and the punishment eternal.

Outrage sparked like cinders across my fingers. The fragile noise I had unleashed now hardened into a growl.

No one owned me. Especially not him.

I veered from my reflection and bolted out of town. Whereas pacing from one end of a space to the other had become second nature, moving this far without hitting a barrier—no jail bars or four solid walls to block my progress—felt like walking toward the edge of the world. Soon, I might fall off.

I might, were it not for Briar’s directions. Her voice played in my head, propelling me forward.

Take the adjacent alley until you reach the beech forest, then head northwest. Eventually, you’ll reach a creek. It will split into four directions and take you wherever on the continent you wish to go.

The dagger Poet had given me thumped against my waist, its fancy hilt tethered with a length of rope. I would find a sheath later. But for now, the cord would hold. My callused fingers knew plenty about tying hearty knots, and flames had never scared me, which was why I’d been able to release the princess from the blaze. With Summer flowing through my blood, I could handle fire.

Ice was a different matter. A different monster.

Run, I told myself. Fast, I urged myself.

Never look back.

Briar’s whisper swept through my mind as I vaulted from the lower town, then down the brick road between the harvest fields. With the castle suffering a blackout but the riot coming to an end, the night watch and parapet sentinels had resumed their posts. Nonetheless, my small frame helped to avoid detection. And blessedly, I had grown used to the darkness long ago. Living in a dungeon had gifted my sight with a nocturnal sharpness, like a sea creature at the bottom of an abyss.

Pumping my arms and legs, I sprinted up the hill and into a woodland laced with gilded leaves. I smashed through the bushes, threads of air sawing through my lungs, my side wincing in pain.

Amid the exposed roots of a tree trunk, I hunkered to the ground and sucked in blasts of oxygen. Dirt caked my feet, and one of my ankles leaked crimson from a tumbleweed that had scraped my flesh. My chest heaved as I waited for the stitches to ebb.

Once they did, I fished out the apple and bread loaf, the succulent aromas weakening my knees. My teeth ripped into the booty, the sweet and yeasty flavors overpowering my senses. Poet and Briar had fed me well, but still. The hunger never waned.

Juice from the apple wetted my tongue. The taste wrought a grateful sob from me, and I gobbled those treasures to the last bite. With a sigh, I wiped my arm across my mouth and dragged myself off the ground.

The hectic flight from the castle with Poet and Briar had distracted me. Then the lower town’s riot overwhelmed me. But with no one around, I stumbled forward in a daze. Craning my head, I blinked—and saw the sky.

So much sky. Beyond the branches, a crescent moon slashed through the heavens like a scythe, its brightness hurting my eyes, agonizing yet blissful. Celestials sparkled like divinities, their brilliance another shock to my vision. It had been eons since I’d seen the firmament this way; I feared it might be a mirage or a cruel trick of light.

Ravenous to see color, color, color, I stretched my trembling arm toward the mural of stars, my quaking fingers sketching them like one of my drawings. My chin wobbled, my lips peeled back into a grin, and two droplets leaked from the corners of my eyes.

Beneath the constellations, tree silhouettes reminded me of …

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