Page 50 of The Cursed Crown

There also was a chance her father might be here. After all, he'd come to the Wilderness on his last retreat, which was how she'd come to be. The fruit of his dalliance with an inhabitant of these woods.

"We can turn back if you wish."

Rissa shook her head. They'd made it so far.

The path down Treas was long and perilous for the horses. They took their time to ensure none of them slipped."Perhaps we should have left the horses behind," Rissa said.

Khal grunted his assent. "We might have to do so. There's no road. I doubt they'll pass easily in the thick of the forest."

The start of the trek down the other side of the hill proved him right when they had to dismount and lead their horses through sinuous paths barely ever walked. Still, none of them relished the thought of abandoning their rides. There was no guarantee that they'd find them again on the way home, and what then? They may have taken just about four days to reach the Wilderness, but without horses, their return would take weeks. There was no guarantee they could find a ride anywhere, given that most of the courts ought to be traveling south by now.

Strenuous as their slow trudge could be, Rissa relished it. The smells were different here, purer and stronger. She identified a thousand things, and her nose picked up on so many more that she was hard-pressed to name.

She wasn't under the misconception that they were alone. There had been eyes on them everywhere in the last five days: eyes of birds, little folks, prey and predators alike. South of the Wilderness, the things that looked at them had wisely chosen to give them a wide berth. Few creatures were more dangerous than high fae, well-armed and in good shape. Here, the sense of safety Rissa felt—based on what she was—left her. There were things in the shadow of the forest, things that didn't fear them.

"I wonder what'll attack first. Some insane rogue, a pack of shades? Wait, I know! Dragons." Teoran was poorly hiding a healthy dose of fear beneath the sarcasm.

Khal managed a snarl that sounded like a laugh at the same time. "If you're afraid, you're very welcome to run back home, little princeling."

"Was that supposed to be an insult? Rich, coming from a fellow princeling."

"I was leading armies before you were born, boy. We aren't on the same playground."

"Oh, for the sake of everything holy, would you both stop?" If she was forced to deal with their testosterone for another day, she was going to explode. "You should just fuck and get it over with."

Khal glanced at Teoran, taking him in from head to toe, as if seriously considering Rissa's suggestion. He blew a breath. "I doubt he could take it."

"Bend down and find out," Teoran shot back.

Marvelous. Instead of pissing on each other's shoes, they were now engaging in a flirting battle. Rissa made a mental note to offer to take the first watch when they stopped to rest tonight. If what it took for them to play nice was some hate-fucking, she was more than happy to help move things along.

They reached a clearing bathed in sunlight, where dainty flowers were growing in the thick of the winter. "We could stop here for a while," Rissa proposed.

It was almost time to eat. She'd gotten into the habit of taking a few bites every four hours or so, to keep her energy up throughout the day. Who knew when they'd find another convenient stop again?

Khal shook his head slowly, eyes on the forest floor. Following the direction of his gaze, Rissa noticed a bed of mushrooms growing close to their feet. They were white, with bright red teardrops running along their skin like rubies. They formed an almost perfect spiral, too purposeful to be natural. Or harmless.

"Is that—"

"A fairy ring," Khal said.

Designed to trick witless mortals into binding themselves to the world of the fae, they'd long been outlawed, though Rissa had seen drawings in her school books. "Aren't they supposed to be circular?"

"Certainly. If they’re meant for humans," Khal replied.

They carefully threaded around the mushrooms, and returned to the path. Were they even going the right way? From up on the heel, spotting the general direction they should take had been easy enough, but down here, the thick cover of tree branches made her lose all notion of location.

Rissa rummaged through her pack till she found what she was looking for, extricating her old compass. She also had a map of Denarhelm somewhere, but Teoran's presence had rendered it redundant.

The map was useless now; no one had ever mapped the Wilderness. The compass was equally inutile. Its needle, supposed to point north, turned round and round at full speed. Magic could mess with the planet's magnetic signature, and in this place, it was everywhere, clogging the air with too much energy.

She glanced up. "I should climb, to check we're going east."

"We're going east," Teoran assured.

"It wouldn't hurt to be certain," Khal said. "I can make the climb."

"Iamcertain." Teoran glowered.

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