Page 15 of Moonmarked

Something’s wrong.Something felt wrong, heavier on my shoulders than the magic, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was the prince’s Lifebound—I’d proved that when I healed him. Yet he’d died with a knife to the heart, and I’d lived. I was still here.

Something’s very, very wrong…

It wasa long time until I stumbled across a clearing that felt quieter than the rest.

A single house was on the other side of it, less monstrous, bigger, built of dark wood and mossy stones, with smoke curling from a crooked chimney.

I stopped in my tracks, leaning against the tree to my side. Around its back, baskets had been set out—overflowing with vegetables, fruit, bundles of herbs, if I was even seeing clearly.

My stomach growled as if to say,there, there, I want to go there! Feed me, woman!

Fuck, I was so, so weak.

Maybe that’s why my brain was foggy enough that I actually went for it.

I crept forward, sticking to the trees, moving like I’d drank too much for too long. Nobody seemed to be anywhere near me—or in the forest, for that matter. All this walking and I had yet to stumble upon a sorcerer or even an animal.

The back of the house opened into a small garden, simple rows of dark soil and green stalks. Nothing here was moving. None of the plants were dancing with the wind. And ahead, down the narrow path between the stalks, was the food, just like I’d seen it from a distance.

Frozen in place, I waited, counting each beat of my heart until I thought I’d given enough time to whoever lived here to give a sign of life if they were home. They weren’t.

Then I moved slowly, down the path and toward the baskets, reaching out my shaking hands for the vegetables like they were the most dangerous thing in the world.

A carrot, a cucumber, an onion—so many.I couldn’t tell you what I grabbed first, only that I bit into it, and I was eating. I fell to my knees and half hid behind the baskets, and I ate with the grace of a wildcat, Rune would say, until my jaws started to hurt.

Hunger wasnotgoing to kill me in Mysthaven, it seemed.

However, the day wasn’t over yet.

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I foundcelery and bell peppers. I found nuts, too—walnuts and almonds and another kind I didn’t even recognize. I ate it anyway and it didn’t even taste funny.

It occurred to me that this food could be poisoned or laced with magic—Rune had always made sure that the food we ate on our way to the Seelie Court was safe.

Not me, though. Hunger wouldn’t let me even wonder until I was so full of vegetables I risked fucking exploding.

Now I just needed some water.

For a few minutes, I stayed there, sitting on the ground between the baskets, eyes closed, breathing deeply, until my body processed some of the food I’d eaten so fast I was probably done within two minutes.

Slowly, my mind cleared. My ears became sharp again and my hands were no longer shaking. Fucking hell, it was so easy to forget what it was like to be full, to be able to utilize all my senses like this. To be in the moment, to feel the air and my body rather than feeling like I was walking in a dream.

So much easier to calculate risks like this, and tounderstand that I could, in fact, be more screwed than I was when I was starving.

Except the food sat in my stomach now and I wasn’t dead yet. I wasn’t coughing, wasn’t feeling weird. I didn’t feel compelled to do anything for anyone. On the contrary, I felt better by the second.

And I needed to find water and get the hell out of here asap.

Standing up, my legs held me, my knees no longer shaking. Suddenly I felt like I could run all the way to the Neutral Lands if I had to. Icould—my body would hold me.

Taking in a deep breath, I grabbed fistfuls of nuts and put them in the inside pockets of the stolen jacket until more didn’t fit.

Water. I needed it, both to drink and to clean myself up because I was in serious need of a bathroom. Slowly, I crept closer to the edge of the house, back against the old cracked wall, breathing steadily. When I risked a glance at the other side, everything came to a halt.

A spring close to the front of the house, spilling water upward, before it spun around this spiral made of stone and went into a hole in the ground. Dry meat hanging onto these thin ropes that went from one corner of the house to the other, all against the wall. Big and small pieces, and even though I’d just eaten, my mouth watered at the sight of them.

But then I saw the cages.

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