“No. I’ve never kissed anyone. Ever.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know how foolish I am. Please. Just take me home.”

Lux swallowed painfully. He couldn’t take her back home. Scelestus would find a new way to get rid of her, and Valefor would send someone else after her and after Lux. He definitely couldn’t take her to Valefor. He would eat her alive, probably quite literally.

But Lux had nowhere else to take her. What few consorts he had were nearly as bad as Valefor, and he couldn’t leave a girl like Lily with them. Nor could he go on the run with her. She stood a better chance without him. She was just one stupid girl, but Lux had vowed to serve Valefor. If he went astray, Valefor would send everything after Lux until he was destroyed.

“Damn,” Lux cursed and pulled the horse to a sudden stop. It snorted with irritation, and Lily squeezed onto him tighter to keep from falling off.

“I’m sorry!” Lily said, assuming his anger was with her. “I never meant to bother you!”

“No, no, you’re not. You’re…” Lux trailed off. Once again, he felt the urge to comfort her, but he had no idea how, so he stopped. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Just let me think.”

“Think?” Lily asked, trying not to let his outburst get to her. “About what?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced around, looking at the blur of dark trees around them. “What is that?”

“What?” Lily looked over at the forest next to the road. All the branches hung leafless and bare, the way they always had. “It’s the Necrosilvam.”

“The cursed forest,” he murmured, and slid off the horse.

“What are you doing?” Panic edged into her voice. “Why are you getting off the horse?”

“Do you trust me?” Lux looked up at her seriously. Whenever his eyes met hers like that, he found it hard to think clearly or breathe or do anything that didn’t involve pulling her close to him.

“I know that I shouldn’t,” Lily said quietly.

“True enough,” he allowed, and he held his hand out to her. “Get down.”

“What?” She stared at him without climbing off the horse.

“I need you to trust me on this.”

“What are we doing?” Lily took his hand and let him help her to the ground. The woods behind them echoed and groaned, as if waiting to swallow them up.

“You can’t go home,” Lux told her. “I mean that. You can never go home.”

“Why not?” Lily asked.

“You just can’t.” He was unwilling to explain his role, how he had conspired with her step-mother to kidnap her. “You need to go into the forest and hide out for a few days. Then go. And keep going, but never go home.”

“I can’t go in the forest!” Lily looked appalled. “I’ll be killed.”

“No, it’s your only chance of survival!” Lux told her forcefully.

Valefor was very good at tracking things he wanted, but other magic clouded out his. The Necrosilvam should have enough in it to block Valefor’s usual methods long enough for him to grow bored.

Lux would’ve offered to go with Lily, to try to protect her, but Valefor would grow more suspicious. He’d maintain his interest longer, and Lux would amplify her signal, making them easier for Valefor to find. It’d be far better for her to go it alone.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to upset you so!” By then, Lily had begun crying. She thought that Lux meant to leave her here to die. “I’m sorry! Please don’t make me stay here!”

“Listen to me!” Lux put his hands on her shoulders, steadying her before she got hysterical, and her skin felt like ice under his fingers. Touching her sent a surge of electricity through him, but it seemed to calm and focus her. “Whatever is in that forest is far better than what awaits you if I take you with me. Keep watch at night and sleep during the day. Stay to the ground in the dark and the trees during the light.”

“I don’t understand.” A tear slid down her cheek, nearly breaking his heart, and he let go of her.

“I know.” He slid off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Promise me you won’t go home.”

“Why?” She stared up at him, the moon glinting off the tears in her eyes.

“Promise me,” he repeated.

“I promise,” Lily said.

Even though she’d only known him an hour, and he was abandoning her in the cursed forest in the middle of the night, he knew that she’d follow through with her promise. She trusted him.

Lux watched her a moment longer. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew if he did he would never leave her. He got on his horse without saying a word, and he glanced back at her only once. She stood on the side of the road in her white ball gown with his jacket wrapped tightly around her, and then she turned and disappeared into the forest.

Lily stood a much better chance against some cursed trees than she did against Valefor. Lux raced off into the night, surprised by the ache in his chest that only grew larger the farther he got from Lily. He ignored it, though. He had more important things to worry about.

He didn’t even know what Valefor wanted with her. Lily was just a girl. She wasn’t even a princess. Lux could easily find some other girl and pass her off as Lily. Since Valefor was probably just using her in some kind of ritual or simply for fun, any girl would do. Lux had no problem getting a girl for his boss. Just not Lily.

3

Lily slid her arms through the sleeves of Lux’s jacket, the cuffs hanging over her hands. The dead trees around her seemed to breathe and reach their branches for her.  She crouched low to the ground, trying to escape their grasp and convince herself that it was all in her imagination. Trees didn’t assault and kidnap young girls, no matter what superstitions said.

Her mother had always told her to never be afraid of anything, and while that sounded like good advice, Lily couldn’t help but believe it was that kind of thinking that had gotten her in this mess in the first place. Any reasonable girl would’ve been afraid of a mysterious stranger swooping into a ball and taking her away in the middle of the night. Lux was a very attractive stranger, but that hardly counted for much.

But something about his smile, the way he looked at her, had enchanted her completely. His eyes were the palest shade of blue she’d ever seen, crystal clear and sparkling. As soon as she’d laid eyes on him, something had taken over her. She’d nearly run down the stairs to meet him. And then, despite every convention she’d been taught, she kissed him.