Prologue 1

I realized that our end was near. Hurdled together inside a gnarled tree I came to accept that we might not see a new day, though few we have seen.

Jinx had stopped shaking beside me, and I tightened my arms around his body and tried to give him the little warmth that was still available. Already I could feel his wounds stop to bleed. I paid them no heed. It was too late. There was no need to cause any more unnecessary pain when the end was already so near.

Ultimately, the cold would shut down our bodies while we hid inside that tree.

That damned tree.

Our damned life.

How fair was it when we fought for our freedom, only to be cursed by death. We escaped our cages. We escaped our torturers. We escaped our destiny.

We had a right for that escape.

They were unstoppable in their search. They came with swords and magic, and tried to put an end to our running.

We had no weapons of our own but ourselves. It wasn’t enough.

And so the cold seeped into us.

I felt small, weak movements from Jinx before his voice reached my ears.

“Nix, we didn’t have our happiness,” the whisper was soft and gentle. “I thought we would have our happiness.”

I knew this. The thought of happiness was what kept us going in our prison. Happiness was what dreams were meant to be made of. It was a goal that we always had. We thought we deserved it for we had done no harm.

I tightened my hold even more.

“Where is it?” he continued. “I want to see it.”

I wanted to see it as well, but I was blind to it.

Or maybe…

“It doesn’t exist,” I found myself whispering back. “It doesn’t exist.”

And in my heart, I knew this.

“Not for us.”

Under that gnarled tree, I realized we would not live to see the new day.

But I was wrong…

…We did.