Page 5 of Lily of the Valley

Her loved ones dead. Her people afraid—or siding with Ferdinand and his Wolves. Now she was lost in the woods, woods that were said to be even more dangerous than woods normally were, with no idea what to do except 'find the ruins.' What ruins? How was she supposed to find them?

Lily had never wanted to let out so many unladylike expletives in her life. A queen did not sit around crying and cussing, however. A queen got up and got things done.

First, though, she needed to do something about her poor feet.

Following the faint sound of water, Lily limped her way to what proved to be a sad little trickle of a creek. Sitting down by it, she washed her feet of dirt and blood, then tore off strips of her gown and petticoat to improvise bandages and additional wraps to lend further protection. Hopefully.

The work was… dubious at best, nothing at all how it would look if Josiah or Alice had done the work, but they weren't here, were they? No, they were dead! All dead, because of her!

Angrily wiping away tears, Lily stood and tested her work, made a few adjustments until she was fairly certain everything would stay in place, and then finally turned her attention to the remains of her gown. Making a few more tears, she tied everything up more securely, so they fell around her thighs. Not great for warmth, but the dress wouldn't have been good for that anyway. At least this way she could walk freely.

Her stomach growled for the late lunch she'd never gotten to eat, but for the present, she had bigger concerns than food. Shelter, that was the most important one. Well, not getting found and captured, but then shelter. After that… well, she didn't know how to make a fire, she definitely didn't know how to hunt, so she would have to focus on water and finding the ruins.

In a giant forest that spanned the continent and held more secrets than a gossipy dowager duchess.

Sighing, Lily started walking.

She walked until her feet bled through her bandages and she was forced to stop. Thankfully, she found a little pond and was able to let her feet soak in the cool water while she tore off more of her petticoat for fresh bandages.

There was no way she could go on this way, but what else could she do? Even if she knew where she was, she couldn't go back to the palace, she couldn't go to the city, and she didn't know where else she could go.

Ferdinand knew her father better than anyone, and had betrayed him without a second thought. He'd brought wolves into her home and let them devour where they pleased.

She had to do something, but what?

Pulling her feet out of the water, she wiped them dry with a dress scrap and got them bandaged again.

Shelter, that's what she had to focus on right now. Whatever she did about this problem, it wouldn't happen tonight. She needed to find somewhere warm and dry to shelter for the night. Tomorrow, as her father would have said, would have to take care of itself.

Sniffling, refusing to succumb to outright tears again, Lily resumed walking. Well, limping. If she managed to survive this, the first thing she was doing when she took back her palace was placing emergency kits with all the escape routes and right on top would be a sturdy pair of boots.

Dark crept in, and with it cold, real fear that she wouldn't survive the night settled into her bones.

Eventually, as it grew too dark to see, she came to an enormous tree, nearly as wide across as her dressing room, with roots reached higher than her head, hollows beneath that would make the perfect…

Was that howling?

No, no, no. They couldn't possibly still be following her trail. That wasn't fair.

Another howl came, and this time she could also just hear the voices of people carried on the wind. Not close, yet, she didn't think, but that would change soon.

Ignoring the pain in her feet, spiking up her legs with every step, Lily ran, wending and weaving through the dark, spurred by the encroaching howl of the wolves.

She couldn't run forever. Either she'd pass out or they'd catch up or—

Something hit her. Or she hit something. Either way she couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Her chest felt like it was in pieces. There was blood in her mouth. Whimpering, Lily managed to turn over on her back, then realized she'd choke on her own blood if she stayed like that and forced herself onto her side.

Was it better or worse it was the forest that got her, not the assassins?

Voices. Soft. Urgent.

Lily dragged her eyes open. How long had they been closed? Why was she so cold?

Voices.

Looking up, she stared at the two men crouched in front of her. They… seemed to… shimmer or glow or something. That couldn't be right. Had she hit her head? "Who…"

"Shh," said the smaller of the two men, though it wasn't by much. He was beautiful, with dark hair and vibrant blue eyes, the kind of mouth that probably coaxed men and woman into all sorts of delightful trouble.

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