Chapter 16
Ruby sat in a wagon while the hunters drove deep into the woods. The path was rutted and rough, hardly a path at all. Few came through the woods, so it was a wonder that there was a wagon path to begin with.
Only those favored by the king were allowed to travel through the forest. There were old stories of kingdoms beyond the woods, but they were just children’s tales told by grandmothers.
Ruby knew them all and tried to tell herself some of them to keep the panic at bay. There were stories of princes in lands of sunshine and happiness.
Stories of frogs and dwarves and happy endings. None of them helped her tonight. Instead, darker thoughts kept creeping in. Thoughts of poisoned apples, cursed spindles, and evil fairies.
And of course, stories of packs of wolfkin running th
