wasn’t what worried me most.
“You said you were a maenad. What are you now?” I demanded, my
voice low and tense. Cavra looked fucking maniacal, and if we didn’t need
her help, I might have tried to rip her throat out.
“The Dreamlands made me more.” She turned and said, “I’m a lot like
you, Savannah. I discovered myself in a new world, and it changed me.
Perhaps it will change you, too.”
“You’re not native to the Dreamlands?” Savannah asked. She was much
too calm and trusting of this monster.
“No. I moved to the Vale centuries ago, when my wicked sister ousted
my mother from the throne and exiled me from the Summer Lands.” The
roots and vines that encaged Cavra withered and darkened, turning to ash.
I gently gripped Savannah’s arm, pulling her to a stop. But she was
unbothered, and her voice was tender and full of empathy. “I’m so sorry,
that’s terrible.”
“No, terrible is what I will do to her when the time comes for revenge.”
Like a chameleon, Cavra’s demeanor changed suddenly, and she smiled
graciously at us. “But that’s none of your concern. Tell me, what is it you
want me to do about this sorcerer?”
Up ahead, the forest opened into a clearing that was illuminated by
thousands of glowing lights strung through the trees.
“Can you stop him from entrapping more people? And set those he’s
captured free?”
“Yes,” the maenad mused. “But whether I will remains to be seen.”
No doubt, her price would be steep.
36
Savannah
Cavra moved effortlessly through the dense forest into a brightly lit
clearing. The folds of her long gown hugged her voluptuous curves, and her
hips swayed gracefully. She was mesmerizing to watch, like her body was