Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West (100-page Excerpt)

“But you know Patsy doesn’t have the means to purchase my freedom, and the lord and lady aren’t going to pay a thousand aurions for me, or even fifty.”

Hagan shifted my weight on his back, hooking his arms under my knees. His bow dug into my ribs. I didn’t complain for fear that they would force me to walk again on numb feet.

“I know better than to demand a price for the cook’s help.”

Hope left me like a last breath. They didn’t want ransom, and I had ruled out the possibility that they planned to use me for pleasure. Plenty of opportunities for that had passed by now. I could only wonder what fate awaited me.

My kidnappers had seemed so sure of themselves when they snatched me from the kitchen cellar of the manor and hauled me alongside the snowy road leading north. But as we stood at the outskirts of the Forest of the West Fringe, I felt a tremor in their resolve.

Once we plunged into the woods, the snowfall grew so dense, we faced the danger of hitting a tree nose-first before we caught a glimpse of it.

Hagan glanced nervously over his shoulder, his breath puffing out like pipe smoke in my face. “Let’s rest a bit, eh?” he said to the others, who studied their surroundings before nodding their heads. No one, not even hardened men like these, could feel at ease in the Forest of the West Fringe.

“This spot’s as good as any,” said the uncomely, squashfaced fellow with gray teeth, pointing at a cluster of evergreens.

The men unburdened themselves and gathered beneath low branches that dipped under the weight of the thickening snow.

Hagan relinquished me with a relieved sigh. I lost my footing, but he grabbed me by the arm before I fell. “Don’t you b 2 c