Page 13 of Spring's Descent

A thin sheen of sweat broke across my brow as Lark wove her fingers through mine, urging me to retreat. My breath was coming in short bursts, my body already preparing for a fight, but Lark was right. Running in the middle of the night with little more than a threadbare gown and a cloak didn’t make for a smart getaway.

“Not us. Me. Korae’s life will be mine to claim?—”

A loud creak sounded from the wooden floorboards as I stepped. I stilled, holding my breath as the conversation in the sitting room silenced. Lark and I were frozen to the spot, stranded in the shadows at the back of the hall.

Light blasted into the corridor as the door crashed open.

My lungs seized, a scream trapped in my throat. Every muscle in my body tensed as Cyrus’s silhouette stepped into the hall with a second person poised behind him. I was rooted to the spot, my knees locked as a chilling smile stretched across his face.

Lark managed one word before they reached us.

“Run.”

8

PERSEPHONE

My heart thunderedin my chest, the frantic beat nearly painful as Lark and I tore through the last stretch of hallway. She was quicker than me, blasting through the door and leading the way into the forest without hesitation.

Branches whipped against my arms and face, drawing blood from my exposed skin as my cloak billowed behind me, but the stinging pain was numbed by the potent fear permeating every inch of my body.

“Shit,” Lark panted as the sound of heavy footsteps behind us grew louder. Her arms pumped as we veered to the north, finding our secret path toward Willowcrest, but the two of them were still gaining.

“We need to reach the village limits,” I huffed, pushing my body to keep pace with hers. “Cyrus won’t attack with witnesses?—”

The underbrush of the forest folded around us. Vines reached for my legs, lashing at my ankles. A shriek tore from my throat as I ripped through them, fully knowing there was no going back. Bushes stretched inward, their thorns jutting forward to block our path. Even the trees seemed to bend, their great trunks curving to slow us down.

“Shit,” Lark repeated, her hazel eyes taking on a red hue as her powers rose.

“Sleep,” she commanded. The power of her voice echoed throughout the trees, able to coax the forest to lessen its grip on us—barely. “I won’t be able to hold this for long. The woman with Cyrus must be a powerful earth witch. One of the best.”

I bit back a scream as I ripped my ankle from the thin vine curling up my calf. The sharp thorns sank into my flesh, tearing through skin and muscle as I yanked my body from their grasp. Another wrapped around my shoulder with the next step, and another along my thigh a few breaths later. I couldn’t stifle the whimper that fell from my lips even as I forced myself to keep going.

I was going to die here, torn apart at Cyrus’s feet.

“We’re not going to make it,” I said, daring a glance behind. The forest was a tangled web of twisting vines and gnarled roots, but it parted for the two figures closing in on us.

“Keep running,” Lark commanded.

And I did. I willed my legs to move faster, forcing myself to not think about the trail of blood and bits of flesh I was leaving behind. But they were only a few feet behind us now, and the edge of the forest was nowhere in sight.

Lark caught my gaze, having come to the same conclusion I had. A dozen emotions flitted through her eyes much too quick for me to decipher, but the sheen of tears and the slight tremble to her lip had worry clawing at my throat.

“At least we won’t be alone,” I breathed.

“Keep running, Rae.” My brows furrowed even as she slowed, not comprehending what she was saying. “No matter what you hear, you keep running.”

The forest grew calmer beneath my feet as the trees turned their attention toward Lark. I reached for her, my hand grippinghers, willing her to keep pace with me. “We get out together, Lark. Together or not at all.”

Wood splintered as the trees bowed to the witch’s power, but I couldn’t leave her. I wouldn’t.

“Demeter has my sister,” Lark said with tears in her eyes.

“What?”

The resounding resignation in her gaze nearly broke me. Her fingers traced the amethyst stone around her neck, my own fire opal necklace warming as hers did. “I was never getting out of here, Rae. But you are.”

Before I could protest, Lark shoved me into the branches, the forest rippling under her command as it pulled me through the trees. The last thing I saw was Lark collapsing beneath Cyrus’s towering form before I was thrust forward with the forest closed in behind me.

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