Page 10 of Stolen Thorn Bride

“Our laws do not make exceptions.” The younger male’s tone was icy cold. “Humans cannot be permitted to set foot on our lands, no matter their excuses.”

“We must take her to the king,” the older one said. “Only there can her sentence be carried out.”

King?Kasia was going to haveveryfirm words with Gianessa when she got home.

If she ever got home. “So that’s it?” she asked, glaring around at her three captors. “You’re just going to haul me off and kill me without even asking any questions? Without giving me a chance to defend myself?”

“There is no defense,” the younger man said implacably. “You were given warning. The Stone still stands.”

This couldn’t actually be happening.

Maybe it was all just a dream. A very, very strange dream that Kasia would wake up from any moment now. She couldn’t possibly go from hunting down Gianessa’s pig and worrying over Rordyn’s job prospects to being kidnapped by elves and carried off to her execution, all in the space of a morning.

If she were executed, the children would be alone. Gianessa, too, would be lost. The mage woman barely remembered to eat, let alone water her herbs.

None of them would know what to do if Kasia never came back.

As she floundered in desperation for something helpful to say, the elf woman suddenly leaned in and whispered a few words to her younger companion. He rolled his eyes, but addressed Kasia with a question.

“First, I must ask—are you bonded?”

“Am I what?” Kasia asked the question mechanically, still struggling with the realization that they really did intend to kill her.

“Bonded,” the elf said impatiently. “To a human male. With children.”

“What? No!” What an absurd question. Unless…

Maybe they wouldn’t kill her if they thought she had a family!

“But I do have brothers and sisters younger than me that I care for,” she burst out desperately. “They’ll be lost without me. Our parents are gone”—true enough for practical purposes—“and they aren’t old enough to care for themselves.”

The female shrugged, clearly unmoved. “The other humans will have to do it. And you can’t be very good at caring for them if they’re even half as filthy and ragged as you. Now, let’s be on our way. Time is short.”

The elf woman waved a hand, and the vines fell away. Just like that.

In any other time and place, Kasia would have been amazed by the casual use of magic, but here and now?

The moment her boots hit the ground, she took off running.

She wasn’t sure exactly where she would have gone. There was no longer a breach in the Hedge, and there was nothing to be seen but forest, but she couldn’t possibly just stand there and wait for them to haul her off to her death.

Six steps was all she managed before something hit her from behind. Magic again, she decided, as that something wrapped her up in soft darkness, and she suddenly couldn’t tell up from down. Sleep tugged at her, pulling her down into unconsciousness, but she fought it, trying to focus on the voices that made their way dimly through the fog.

“I thought we were trying for the old one.”

“What does it matter? We’re out of time. All we need is a human.”

“He’s not going to like this.”

“I don’t care if he likes it, as long as it works. We can’t lose him. None of us wants to live in a world where the Rian no longer breathes.”

None of their words made sense. Nothing made sense. And Kasia decided then and there that she was definitely dreaming and would soon wake up in a world where elves were still a story, and all the pigs stayed safely at home.

With that happy thought, she surrendered and let the darkness claim her.

* * *

She awakened on a cold,hard floor. When her eyes opened, they saw only a distant, gray ceiling, with bright, crystalline lights hanging down in clusters, like grapes.

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