Page 9 of Stolen Thorn Bride

Beware of thorns.

Had the mage seen this moment somehow? Had she known what would happen? Or had it been a warning? And what else had Gianessa warned her about… kings and promises?

At least there was little chance of either of those becoming a problem.

At this moment, Kasia had exactly two options. She could fall deeper into panic, execute a proper maidenly faint, and wait for someone else to get her out of her predicament. Or she could figure out a way to untangle herself before anyone else arrived.

Maybe there was still a way back through the Hedge. It wasn’t as if she would lose anything by looking for it.

“You wretched,wretchedpig,” she suddenly burst out, casting a baleful glance at the sow, who continued to root in the dirt as though she’d discovered something magically delicious. Who knew? Perhaps she had. “Why you had to go wandering over here when you had a perfectly good home, I have no idea!”

“How amusing,” said a voice that Kasia had most certainly never heard before. “I was about to say the same thing to you.”

Chapter 3

It was, Kasia could admit later, not one of her finest moments.

She screamed.

More out of surprise than alarm, but that changed when she jerked her head around to see where the voice could have come from. Not that she should have doubted.

Even without any certain knowledge of what elves ought to look like, she knew in an instant that they’d found her.

Three of them. Two dropped down from the trees with catlike grace, while another strode towards her from nearer the Hedge. Almost as though he’d been there all along, which Kasia knew perfectly well he hadn’t.

Unless, of course, he’d been concealed by magic, which was entirely possible.

She tried to recall exactly what she’d been thinking about elves and their abilities and hoped fervently that she hadn’t done very much of her thinking out loud as she sometimes did.

“I didn’t come to spy on you,” she blurted out, “I just want my pig.”

The nearest of the three stopped within an arm’s length of her and peered down as though he’d never seen anything quite like her before.

And if all elves were like him, he probably hadn’t.

He was, of course, tall. Considerably taller than Kasia, at any rate. His skin was pale, his hair long and auburn, and she didn’t care for the speculation in his light green eyes. But aside from the uncomfortable feeling that he was taking her measure for some nefarious reason, Kasia had to admit that he was easily the most gorgeous person she’d ever laid eyes on. At least until the other two elves drew nearer, when she decided it was a three-way tie. Even though the only thing they had in common was their delicately pointed ears.

One of the other two was a tall, muscular woman with warm brown skin and curling black hair, while the other was stockier and male. His hair was graying at the temples, and his skin, though light, appeared weathered by time or sun.

All three wore dark clothing that seemed to blend into the shadows beneath the trees, and a bright, silvery armor, unlike any Kasia had ever seen. It appeared to be made of multiple tiny scales that bent and flowed with movement, and for some reason, Kasia thought suddenly that her father would have wept over how beautiful it was.

And weapons… The three elves fairly bristled with them.

Which was when Kasia’s tongue got the better of her.

“Peaceful nature lovers, my foot!” she scoffed.

The three exchanged glances.

“What sort of human are you?” the first one asked, his words lightly accented but perfectly understandable.

“An angry one,” Kasia snapped, squelching her fear as she pulled at the vines that entrapped her arms. “What do you all want with me?”

“To protect our borders, of course,” the female elf replied sternly. “Surely you are aware, human, of the penalty for trespassing.”

Kasia winced. “I didn’t think you would mind if I simply darted across for a moment to retrieve my pig. It’s not my fault there was a hole in the Hedge.”

The female’s expression shifted oddly, but she did not answer.

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