Chapter 3

THREE

Cassia

I'm outside the cart. The chain between my cuffs is gone and my feet are free, but the cuffs are still miserably closed around my wrists. I'm being dragged by two thugs who clearly just want to rest after a long few days of traveling, but we're busy heading toward the Death House. The place I've aptly nicknamed because these monsters will inevitably murder me in some terrible way in this frightening house.

Okay, they probably actually won't. If they wanted to murder me, they could have done it a thousand times already without wasting all the time bringing me here. But, unfortunately, there are worse things than death, and I have no desire to experience them.

So, it's plan time. It might not be a good plan. It might not be a safe plan. It might even get me beaten to a pulp. But… if I keep thinking this way, I'm going to rethink the whole idea and be inside the Death House before I've even had a chance to try to escape .

I'm sticking to the plan now known as: Wimpy Wimpy Plan. And it's go time!

"Oh, my legs are so tired from being cramped in that cart!" I whine as two of the masked men jerk my arms harder.

Otherwise, they ignore me and continue to tug on my arms. I let my legs go limp, and they almost lose their footing when I drop to the ground in an unseemly heap of sweaty clothes and limp limbs. It's weird, the opposite of what I want to do, but this plan was the best one I could come up with, so I'm committed now.

"Get up!" one of them huffs as they change their grips and continue trying to drag me.

I pout. "Can you just carry me? My feet don't seem to be working anymore." I dig my feet into the dirt, disturbing their dragging again.

"Will you shut up and just walk into the house, dammit?" the kidnapper on my right says. He grumbles to himself about whose bright idea this was.

"Oh, my dainty feet are too good for this filthy ground. They deserve a grand entrance. Or at least a paved entrance," I say, lifting my feet up so they don't touch on the ground, making the kidnappers hold my full weight. They're forced to readjust their footing again. The other kidnapper yanks my arm and sneers.

"Can I get a piggyback ride, at least?" I go limp in their arms again, and they struggle to move my dead weight. The men grunt and groan as they try to get a better hold on me.

"Am I too heavy for you? Maybe you should only kidnap petite women. You know, that seems like it'd be easier." I slip one of my arms out of their grasp and half fall on the floor again, while one guy continues to hold my arm helplessly.

I bet they wish they hadn't let the other guys go inside already.

It's hard not to snicker as the one that has my arm says, "Are you going to do something?" to his buddy.

His buddy throws up his arms. "They don't want her hurt, so what the hell do you want me to do?"

Oh, Wimpy Wimpy Plan is working.

I throw my free hand against my forehead like a damsel in distress. "This is the worst kidnapping experience of my life. Did you go to training for this? Am I your first job?" I'm putting my weight on my feet again carefully, becoming more confident that I can escape these men if I time it right.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be," the man on my left says as he squeezes my arms harder.

If he's trying to hurt me, he'll have to be a lot stronger than that. What does this asshole expect me to do? Just walk into this shithole of a house where I'm sure the lot of the Summer Court's criminals reside? Yeah right, buddy.

"If you were any good at this, it wouldn't be so hard." I look around at the forest that surrounds us. It's dense, full of great hiding spots. I consider if I'd climb a tree to hide or just run like hell to lose them.

Run. Always run.

"Is there any way I can request new kidnappers? Maybe a pair with more experience and a better bedside manner? Neither of you has even introduced yourself to me. It's so rude." I turn to look at each of the men. They're all masked faces and focused eyes. They're staring at the back door of the house like their freedom lies just behind it .

"Why'd you stop the cart so far away? If you'd stopped it right up to the house, we'd be in right now." I laugh at myself this time. It's true. Why the hell are we a hundred feet from the house? These guys must be amateurs.

Kidnapper One turns to Kidnapper Two and says, "We should have Etha handle her; this was her bright idea."

Kidnapper Two lowers his voice and leans in closer to his buddy. "Do you have any idea what Etha will do to us if we can't even get her in the house?"

Etha! Finally a name I can use! One that probably belongs to the woman involved in this shitty kidnapping mission.

Then, they're whispering together. Distracted. Only one loose hand on me.

It's time. I need to run west until I reach the Summer Court, no matter how long it takes to get back home. I plant my feet firmly on the ground, try to calm my racing heart, and jerk myself out of his grasps. Then I run as fast as I can. There are no shouts behind me, nothing but the sound of my racing heart in my ears as I dart into the forest, moving faster than I've ever run in my life.

My will to survive kicks in, even harder, and I run with all my might, fear a cloak around me so heavy that it'd suffocate me if I let it. The trees are nothing but a blur. Their low-hanging branches whip across my face, my arms. The colors blending together in a way that almost feels surreal, but I don't slow. I run so far that I can't sense the house anymore... I can't even sense the men behind me. Nothing. There's just the woods rushing around me .

But I know they wouldn't have given me up that easily.

Then I sense it. Movement in the woods. Not around me, but behind me. I don't know how I know that, but I do. I chance a glance behind me and see nothing, yet I know they're there.

Damn it.

I keep going as the minutes fly by, trying to tell myself not to look back, that doing so will only slow me down. My lungs scream for me to stop. My legs burn, and my feet throb. Deep down I know I can't go on like this forever, but I keep pushing myself as the sun makes its way lower in the sky.

The alternative is to lose everything. My safety. My family. Even the princes, in a strange way.

I slow down as I approach some thick bushes. This is the first place I've seen that I can hide in, so I don't hesitate. I leap into the bushes, hitting the ground hard, but I don't slow. I crawl forward into the darkness of the tangled bushes. The thorns scratch my arms and legs, and leaves tangle in my hair as I push deeper, but I focus on staying hidden.

They're close. I don't know where, but I know they are.

Sweat covers my body, and I can't seem to calm my racing heart or my racing mind. I don't know if I should stay here and just hope they don't find me or if I should find a better hiding spot. I'm as deep in the bushes as I can get when I see spots of sunlight hitting my dress. Damn it. If I can see the sunlight, they can see me.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I'm crawling, then running again, slower this time, keeping the sun in sight. Not just running to run. Running to hide. Knowing that I can't run forever.

I'm not sure what I'm searching for until I come across what looks like a huge, dead tree, still mostly upright. There's a hole in the trunk low to the ground, a hole that's partially concealed by bushes… one that I might fit in. I run toward it, then kneel down and peek my head in. To my relief, I see that it's completely hollow and more than big enough to hide in. Thank the gods! Without hesitation, I crawl in and let the briefest moment of relief wash over me.

This place is safe. I'm safe. I got away… unless they saw me. What if they're coming to get me right now?

The instinct to stare out of the entrance of the tree isn't smart, I know it isn't, so I shuffle back deeper into the tree. There's no point in hiding here if I'm going to be that dumb. The problem is that I found this hiding place fairly easily. If anyone searches close by, they'll spot it too. Yet, it was the best spot I could find and I couldn't keep running.

"For now though, I'm safe. I think," I whisper.

I listen, but I only hear the wind, the birds… and buzzing?

Buzzing? How did I not hear it before? It's almost deafening now. But where's it coming from? The cracks in the tree let some sunlight shine in, allowing me to look around the dim space, but I see nothing to explain the sound.

Frowning, knowing I'm missing something, I continue to listen. As goosebumps run down my arms and a strange awareness hits me, I crane my head upward. I'm suddenly looking directly into a massive wasp's nest .

"Fuck," wheezes out of me.

I've got a scream primed and ready, but that's going to get me killed or caught, so I hold it back. Don't freak out. Be calm. The wasps haven't realized I'm here yet. I can still escape unharmed by the wasps, and the men, as long as there's no one outside searching for me.

I scoot slowly toward the opening of the hole and peer out. Over the buzzing, I hear feet stomping on twigs and leaves. Jerking back deeper into the hole, I try to calm my racing heart.

Fuck! They're here, and they're close.

My choices include getting stung to death by wasps or being captured by my kidnappers. The thing is, I haven't pissed off the wasps yet, so I have time with them. Even though the thought of being so close to them makes my skin crawl. I know they can detect my breath, so I force myself to slow my breathing down and exhale away from the raging nest above me. I stay still, waiting. Listening.

A couple of male voices drift over the sound of the buzzing. Then the crunching from the men's feet sounds, so close that a chill rolls down my spine. A wasp lands on my arm. Another on my face. I try to breathe slowly. I try to ignore the way their legs tickle my skin. Most of all, I try not to picture their big stingers and the fact that when one attacks, so do more.

Time passes. Slowly. Painfully slowly. As it does, the sounds of the men move further and further away. It takes a few minutes of holding still as the wasps inspect my sweaty body and the sounds of the men grow silent, but then, I know I can escape. If the wasps let me.

I wait longer. Sweat rolls down my back as wasps buzz in my ears, tangle themselves in my hair, and crawl along my exposed skin and even my face. But my patience pays off as the wasps slowly find something else to do, and I'm free of them, too.

It's now or never.

I duck down and bolt out from under the tree, moving in the opposite direction of the men. I run as fast as I can, in the opposite direction of the men and the Death House. Even though my legs ache with every movement, I don't look back. My whole body trembles as I run, but all I can do is keep going, hoping to find another hiding place. Knowing the men are far too close and my escape plan working becomes less likely.

When the sound of running water comes to me, I switch directions to head toward it. I'll need water to survive. And if I can escape them, I can follow the water to people. My grandmother always said that water leads to people. To civilization. But maybe I'm thinking too far ahead.

"I have to survive that long," I say, panting with each word.

"But can you?"

I freeze in place as the shrill voice rolls down my spine, then slowly turn to the sound. A tree elf rests on a massive branch. His body nearly blends in with the tree he's sitting on. Even the grains of the tree are mirrored on his brown face and brown body. His large nose hooks out in front of him, standing at odds with his dark sunken eyes.

Tree elves can on occasion be helpful, but most of the time they're just dangerous. Very dangerous, if the stories about them are true. A person is more likely to ask one for food and be turned into a chicken then to actually have the creature help them.

This is the last thing I need right now .

"I have to go," I tell him. "I'm sorry." I'm panting the words, eager to keep going, but I know better than to insult a tree elf.

He cocks his head, his thin lip curling in a curl expression. "Go to your death?"

My stomach flips. "No, go to safety."

He shakes his head. "Death and despair cling to you like shadows. They haunt your every step. They are what you are, what you will never escape from. They are the things in the corners of your mind that separate you from the others."

I'm shaking. "Thank you… for the warning."

He bows his head. "May your rule over death be longer than she who birthed you."

"Thank you." I bow, moving backward, my knees practically cracking together as they shake, then I turn and continue running.

Will the men catch me? I move faster. They better not.

Not that I should be focusing on that right now. The sounds of the river are getting closer. I need to start searching for a hiding place. One I'm sure the men can't find.

I can do that. I think.

Suddenly, my foot hits nothing at all, and I'm tumbling, falling, holding back a scream as I'm suddenly rolling down a grassy hill and then plunging straight through the grass, falling and falling until I hit the ground hard . When I manage to pull my heart out of my throat, I look up through the grass. I've fallen several feet through some kind of hole hidden beneath the long grass.

I move, testing my body. Fucking hell. Everything hurts, but nothing is broken.

Starting to crawl, I realize I'm right next to the water given the sound. It's so loud that I'm worried I'm about to crawl out into it. But I don't. Instead, I pop out of the thickest part of the grass and find myself in a dark area that looks almost like a cave. It takes me a long moment of blinking and looking around to realize that the roof of this tiny cave is made up of roots.

"I'm under a tree," I whisper to myself.

Climbing fully under the tree, I realize it's probably another dead tree. A massive dead tree. I gently poke around the tall, thick grass until I see the river just beyond my hiding place. If I crawl carefully enough between the tree and the ground, I can scoot out from beneath the dead tree and emerge onto the riverbank.

I let the briefest moment of relief wash over me. I'm safe for now. This spot is perfect. They'd have to literally fall through the same hole I did to find this spot or decide to shimmy down under a fallen tree. This might be the first bit of good luck I've had since being kidnapped.

Even if it hurt like a bitch to get here.

Sitting back against the dirt, I let my heart rate drop back to normal and let my eyes close. It's nice not to be in that painful cart, even though they left the damn itchy cuffs on my wrists. It's nice to have something close to a safe place to rest.

Grandmother and father pop into my mind, and my chest aches. I hope by some miracle they're oblivious to everything that's going on. I don't want them to worry about me. But more than that, they better be eating well and enjoying themselves. They better not be anywhere but that garden cottage. I'll rip Prince Sulien to shreds if he tossed my family out already.

They deserve better than that.

My family has to be safe. Prince Sulien has to be a kind enough person to give them more time before throwing them out. Right?

I think of him. I don't see any kindness inside him based on our interactions, and yet, my dreams make me feel differently. Even though they logically shouldn't. They're not real, something I know very well. Yet, in my dreams, he touches me. He's gentle. He's patient. Almost… loving.

Even thinking of the dreams makes my heart throb in the strangest way. I like the Prince Sulien from my dreams. Too much. Which is pathetic.

I just wish I could shake the feeling that my dreams are real because they make me so damn confused. Everything I've seen of Prince Sulien paints him in an opposite light from my dreams. Hell, if it was only Prince Sulien waiting for me to return right now, he probably wouldn't even tell anyone that I'd gone missing, just because he'd still be hoping our plan would work out when I returned home. He doesn't care about me. Or my family. He just has his own stupid reasons for wanting our arrangement to happen.

Ass.

So is no one even looking for me? No, someone has to be. The other princes sure as hell better be fighting to find me after all their promises and honeyed touches. And if they're doing that, they're not focusing on my family or restoring them to a life of poverty. They should be tracking the animals who stole me right now, ready to spring out and save me at any moment.

That makes sense, right? When a random human maid becomes the bride to four fae princes, the princes have to be patient and care for her family. A laugh bubbles in my throat because, yeah, this situation happens all the damn time.

"No matter what they're doing, as long as my family is safe, everything will be alright," I whisper, wrapping my arms around myself.

It's too much to worry about right now. All of this.

I also need to stop thinking about the very real possibility that one of those asshole kidnappers will find me here. This hole is safe. For now. Almost. Practically. And then I'll keep moving and find a town and safety.

Glancing away from the entrance to my hideout, I listen, but I only hear the sounds of the forest. There's a symphony of birds' chirps and trills, along with the wind rustling the leaves. I don't hear any branches or leaves crunching under footsteps, and that brings me some comfort. I sigh and sink back, hoping to stay here until it gets dark at least.

"Everything is going to be okay."

But my thoughts circle back to the tree elf's words. My father has told me little about my mother except that she had died giving birth to me. She was young. Perhaps as young as I am now. Was the tree elf saying that I'm meant to die as young as she did?

I don't know. But couldn't he have said my life would be full of butterflies and rainbows? Kisses and smiles? Why the fuck did it have to be death and despair hunting me with all the cruelty of a bad omen? Because that's what the whole thing with the tree elf felt like: a bad omen. And bad omens are seriously shit, for fae and humans alike.

I let my eyes close and shiver against the chill and dampness beneath the tree. My chest aches, and I fight the urge to cry as everything from the past few days seems to hit me at once. I wish I wasn't alone. I wish the guy were here with me.

The thought surprises me, and it truly hits me for the first time that deep down I'm fully expecting the guys to try to rescue me. That's what my heart is telling me. But the notion might be crazy. I have no idea what's going on back at home.

Are they even out looking for me? Or did Prince Sulien tell them the truth after I disappeared and a life with them has already faded away to being nothing but a crazy dream?

I picture each of them. Prince Cobar's beautiful face and hilarious personality would lighten this mood. I bet he'd be a good husband. Someone who I could lay down with at night and all my troubles would melt away. Prince Sulien's darkness and his quiet nature are soothing in a strange way. He's a force to be reckoned with, but not someone I could ever fear, I think. Then there's Prince Zane, with his cold eyes and warm heart. He's balance personified. And Prince Forrest. I smile at the thought of him. He's brave and loud: a protector through and through, even if I have a feeling that he'd drive me crazy.

I'd rather be married to all four princes than where I am now. Nothing would stop them from looking for me if I was their queen… except that I refused them, and I'm not. I don't even know if they're looking for me now.

Not that I'd blame them if they weren't. I was kind of shitty to them, even though I had my reasons. Everything happened so fast; I wasn't even given a chance to think or process what was happening to me. And to be honest, I didn't like that things were happening to me. I want to be in control of my own life .

Even though I'm the furthest from in control right now.

Footsteps interrupt my thoughts. I slam my eyes shut, feeling like I can be smaller and quieter if I can't see. The men are talking, complaining about me. The steps edge closer and closer to where I am.

I hold my breath and wait.