Page 12 of Song of the Dark Wood

Cade boosted Orla up, and Rowan came to standing. She bent forward slightly so that most of Orla’s weight was on her back.

“Sarai’s vision was correct after all,” Cade said solemnly.

Rowan said nothing, but she’d been thinking the same thing since she realized Orla hadn’t returned from her trip the night before.

Rowan’s steps were heavy as she struggled under Orla’s lifeless weight. Her hood tugged back from her face slightly, and she fumbled to tug it down. A scream erupted near her in the forest.

“Cade?”

“Just go,” he said, turning to face the sound.

Rowan wasn’t entirely sure what being a demon meant in terms of his powers other than his ability to spur on more gossip and increase jealousy and envy. If he thought he could help somehow, she wasn’t about to argue with him. She staggered the last few steps to the edge of the Dark Wood, her hood nearly all the way off of her face. Most of the huntsmen backed away from her, as if death was contagious, but Finn stepped forward and carefully took Orla’s body from her.

Rowan immediately tugged her hood back into place.

“Did you notice anything strange?” one of the huntsmen asked.

“Other than my dead friend?” Rowan retorted bitterly.

“I’ll escort the Red Maiden back to the temple,” Finn said.

The rest of the huntsmen murmured in agreement. They seemed relieved they didn’t have to do it themselves. It was strange to be treated with both reverence and wariness—like a cursed object. Rowan supposed she should get used to it. She was the acting Red Maiden now, even if she hadn’t yet been initiated.

She wordlessly followed behind Finn as he carried Orla’s body up the stairs and into the Temple of the Mother, where the elders were already gathered. He laid her body on the altar and the elders shuffled closer.

“So it’s true,” Elder Falon said.

“Yes, Elder. None of us could cross the border to retrieve the body, but Ro—the new Red Maiden was kind enough to do it for us.” Finn sketched a reverent bow as he settled Orla’s body on the altar.

She looked like a true human sacrifice, which was exactly what she was to them. Orla was a twenty-five-year-old woman who should have had her whole life ahead of her after five years of hard service. She had courage, but to those men, she was an acceptable loss. Rowan was certain every single one of them lacked the fortitude to walk into the Dark Wood alone—to greet the Wolf and make their way back in the darkness with nothing to keep them company but the sounds of the monsters that lurked in the shadows off of the trail.

Rowan turned away and left them, unable to stand the hatred in her heart at the sight of them bent over her dead friend.

She emerged back into the daylight and found Cade waiting on the stairs. He refused to go into the Temple of the Mother. He insisted it wasn’t because he couldn’t, but because he simply didn’t like it in there.

“What did they say?” Cade asked, falling into step beside her.

“I need to be alone,” she mumbled, waving her hand to dismiss him. He disappeared without question.

She trudged toward Maiden’s Tower with leaden limbs and opened the tower door.

“Rowan, wait—” Finn jogged across the cobblestones.

She paused on the threshold until Finn ducked inside.

“You can’t be here,” she muttered as she turned away.

Rowan didn’t want him to see. She didn’t understand what she felt, just that it was too much to bear, and she needed to get it together before Aeoife saw her. The years had made her adept at pushing anything too strong away and processing it when she was alone.

“Please, I just want to be alone,” she pleaded.

Finn placed a hand on her shoulder. “Row, you shouldn’t be alone. I’m so sorry I had to ask you to do that. You shouldn’t have had to. I’m sorry about Orla.”

He pulled her into a tight hug. Her first instinct was to push him away. They were standing in the open great room at the entrance of Maiden’s Tower, but she wanted comfort. After carrying her friend’s corpse out of the Dark Wood, it was the least she deserved.

She let Finn hold her. She buried her face in his chest and sobbed. It felt good to have someone to cling to when her world was crumbling.

It surprised her how easy it was to relax into his touch. His hands were the ones that had saved her from a riptide when they met. The hands that had taught her to hunt with a bow and navigate the woods using the moss on trees and the stars. Finn’s hands were the first hands that dared to reach out and treat her as more than just a sacrifice. She wanted so badly to believe the hope they held, but hope was elusive after such a terrible day.

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