Prologue
I don’t mean to be dramatic, but if I could have remained knocked out for the rest of my life I would have. There was something rather freeing about not having to face whatever fresh hell awaited me when I awoke. And honestly, I was in the middle of a delightful dream—I performed in front of the largest crowd of adoring fans in Aerlyn, wowing them as my fingers expertly danced across the strings of my fiddle. It was the highlight of all my twenty three years in this life as I danced upon a stage before them and rapidly stroked my bow back and forth across the instrument, my magnificent skirts swirling around me in the very picture of beauty and grace.
My adoring crowd chanted my name: Starling! Starling! Starling!
“Starling,” a voice hissed from behind me, followed by an elbow jabbing into my side that roughly dragged me out of my dream. “You awake?”
I groaned in protest as consciousness beckoned me into reality, which tasted of blood and smelled like campfire smoke. My mouth felt thick and dry, like it had been stuffed full of cotton and sand. I rolled my head back to lean against my companion’s, realizing dully that we were both sitting back-to-back, bound together by thick rope.
Well. That was alarming.
My companion's damp, shaggy hair tickled my neck—and I hoped the wetness that touched my skin was just his sweat. I didn’t remember him getting a blow to the head, but who knew what all he had been through while my consciousness took a vacation? Worry at the thought of him being injured fluttered in my gut. I tried to swallow my fear, knowing panic wouldn't serve either of us. Bravado would have to do.
“Yeah,” I croaked back. My throat cracked, like a strip of leather that had been left out in the sun for far too long. “Unfortunately.”
He grunted, his back pushing briefly against mine. “Okay, listen. I have a plan.”
I chuckled humorlessly. I couldn’t help it; it was just so Kaden of him. I had barely regained consciousness and didn't even have a chance to look at my surroundings, but he already had a plan. There had been no, "Hey, here's the situation," or, "Did you sleep well?" No preamble. Just a plan.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, his voice rough with confused irritation.
“You are,” I explained, shaking my head.
“I... wasn’t telling a joke.”
“That’s what’s so funny.” I sighed and turned my head slightly, prying my eyes open for the first time in what felt like days. It was nearly impossible to maneuver in my current state. I tried to move my legs, only to find that those had also been bound by even more rope. What was with these guys and rope? Did they have a supplier? Maybe they bought it in bulk.
I couldn’t see much in the dim light, but I made out the canvas lining of a tarp that made for a rough tent erected around us. At least we weren’t sitting directly on the sticks and bramble that made up the forest floor. I shifted uncomfortably in my bonds and tried unsuccessfully to twist around to look out the tent entrance behind me. Instead, all I got was a face full of Kaden’s sweaty hair.
“Based on my best estimates,” he continued in a low voice, “there’s fifteen of them total. I think we can take them.”
My eyes slid closed and I tried not to groan. “Take them where? To the spring festival?”
He grunted. “Funny. No, I think we can take them in a fight. But we have to be careful or else—”
“I’m gonna stop you right there, sweetheart,” I interrupted with a sigh. ”I can’t. Would love to, really. But there’s no more fight left in me.”
“I can’t fight them on my own,” he said flatly.
My head pounded. “I don’t know if you remember our little swamp battle earlier, but I’m almost completely spent. If we went toe-to-toe with these guys, I'm reasonably certain things won't go in our favor.”
“Then how do you propose we get out of this?” he challenged.
I shrugged, my shoulders rubbing against the stiff muscles of his back. “Maybe we should talk to them, see what they want. I know we just collected that moonstone, but it’s valuable. I’m willing to part ways with it if it’ll make our current hosts leave us alone.”
Kaden hesitated. “Starling, we need that stone. You need that stone. We can’t just give it up.”
I closed my eyes at the desperation in his voice. “I know. But if it means the difference between life or death, I’ll hand it over.”
The silence that stretched between us made me increasingly uncomfortable. I turned my head slightly as if I could catch sight of Kaden and get an idea of what he was thinking. He went still. It sent a nervous shiver through my body.
“I highly doubt that these people,” he finally said, his voice low and cold, “want our stuff. Think about it. If they wanted to rob us, why go through the trouble of tying us up and keeping us in this tent? They'd be done with it by now.”
I swallowed. God, what I wouldn’t do for some water. Or wine. Or whiskey. “And do you happen to know what they do want?”
Again, Kaden was silent for a long, agonizing moment. “People like this have a reason for keeping us alive and out of sight in this tent. It could be a host of things, and none of them pleasant. They could hold us for ransom or sell us for... services," he hedged darkly. "The best and most unlikely scenario is that we have information that they want."
I licked my lips, my bravado slipping in the face of genuine panic. “Great. Any indication as to which one these fine folks have in mind?”
“I haven’t heard much,” Kaden admitted carefully. “But from what I’ve gathered, they think we may be important and are trying to figure out if they can hold us for ransom. I think it has to do with that cloak you were wearing.”
“And when they find out that we’re nobodies from nowhere with no families and no way to pay for a ransom?” I ventured.
“Remember those ‘services’ I referred to earlier?”
My heart thudded painfully in my chest, my imagination twisting around what that could possibly entail. I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. “Okay,” I finally said. “What’s your plan?”
