The Wolf Forsaken - Juliana Haygert

1

Farrah

The landscape outside looked just like my heart.

Cold, harsh, and buried underneath a ton of snow.

I clutched my mug full of steaming hawthorn tea with both hands and brought it to my lips, my eyes fixed on the view—a small valley and beyond it a mountain chain, with the sun dipping below it, staining the sky with rose and orange tints.

I knew I should have stuck to warmer places, where no one would guess a frost fae was hiding. I tried to. First, I hid in Florida, then Alabama, then Texas. I even tried hiding in Mexico. The heat in those places was too much for me to bear. Even northern California could be too warm for me.

So, over two years ago, I ended up moving north, to Montana, where the seasons were more pronounced, though it never got as hot as the south. But it got cold, too cold for the shadow fae. I was confident that here, deep into a frozen forest, hidden in a small cottage in the middle of nowhere, Prince Lark wouldn’t be able to find me.

I let out a long sigh, tired of being alone, of feeling lonely, but without a choice. If I left this cottage, if I tried to live in a normal town, I would be found.

A knock came from the door.

My heart stopped and the mug slipped from my hand, crashing on the crude wooden floor, and spilling hot liquid everywhere.

Channeling my magic, I positioned myself in the middle of the small one-room cottage. Whoever was here, hadn’t come because they were lost in the woods. They were here because they had come for me.

But how the hell had they found me?

“Open the door, Farrah, before I break it down.”

My magic slipped from my veins.

In four large steps, I reached the door and opened it. Eyes wide, I stared at my brother. “Daleigh.”

I hadn’t seen him in so long, but he hadn’t changed much. His fair skin seemed paler than before, and his white hair was longer, almost at his waist, but his blue eyes remained the same—cold and serious. Though his clothes had changed completely. Before, he used to wear his full armor, but now he wore gray pants, a thick white sweater, and a long white coat. At least the colors continued the same.

“I should give you props for hiding so well,” he said, walking past me, and examining the cottage.

I suddenly felt conscious of the tiny placed around us, and the mess I rarely tidied up. Deciding I didn’t care about his opinion, I puffed out my chest and asked, “How did you find me?”

Daleigh stopped, ran a finger over the dusty countertop of the corner kitchen, and raised his eyes at me. “I’ve been trying to find you since you ran away.”

I averted my gaze, remembering when and why I left everyone behind.

If only I hadn’t taken that dagger, if only I hadn’t made that damned deal. I exhaled, telling myself for the hundredth time that I shouldn’t cry for things I couldn’t change.

I just had to keep on walking.

“So what? You’ve come to take me?”

Daleigh’s hand clenched for a moment, before he opened and wiggled his fingers, trying to contain whatever feeling he didn’t want to show me. “Farrah, I don’t think I need you to remind you of your own deal. The three years are almost up. You have to go back now.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” I said.

I took a step back, putting more distance between ourselves. Daleigh was older than me and a true warrior. I might be a powerful fae, but he was stronger than me. If he decided to take me by force, I wouldn’t be able to win against him.

“Farrah, please, you know what is at stake here,” Daleigh said, his voice low, pleading. “If you marry Prince Lark, he’ll forgive us. His father will let us go back to the fae realm. That’s what we all want, right? That’s what we’ve always wanted.” His shoulders lowered one inch. “Can’t you do that for our people?”

My stomach knotted.

He couldn’t put this on me, damn it.

Long ago, our people were banished to the human world with no way of going back. If I went through with the plan, if I stopped running, our people would be able to return.

“You know it isn’t that simple,” I whispered, wishing my brother would stand with me just this once. “You’re asking me to sacrifice myself.”

But he only hardened. “For our people. Believe me,