Jeez, what was that all about? Bee-yatch.

I glared at her as I backed away and when I was out of her reach, I turned back to my target. I saw she’d stopped concentrating on whatever she was concentrating on and had her eyes on me.

“Hey,” I said quietly when I got to her, her brows drew slightly together, her head tipped a bit to the side and she replied hesitantly,

“Erm… hey.”

“Do you, um… mind talking?” I asked.

“No,” she said softly.

Awesome, she spoke English.

Then I watched a small, weird smile play at her lips. “Especially not since you’re the first person I’ve talked to from Hawkvale since I was taken.”

Oh no.

Taken?

Oh no part two.

Hawkvale?

I was getting the distinct impression she had not woken here from a dream. Not like me.

Her hand came out and captured mine, holding strong, her eyes searching mine, she whispered, “It’ll be good knowing, once we’re claimed, someone close will be from home.”

Um.

On no again.

Claimed?

She’d spoken two sentences and we already had a lot of ground to cover so I prioritized.

“I’m not from Hawkvale,” I told her and her head tipped further to the side.

“Bellebryn?” she asked.

Okay, there it was again. I was thinking she wasn’t like me.

“Um… no, listen –”

Her face changed before she cut me off to say with some surprise,

“Middleland?”

“No, I’m from Seattle.”

This time, her brows shot together and she asked, “Where is that?

Is that across the Green Sea?”

“Yes,” I lied swiftly in order to move things on. Then I asked,

“Where are we?”

Her body started and her face went slack. She stared at me a moment and then her hand in mine squeezed and she pulled me closer to her.

When I was near, she took my other hand and got closer to me, declaring, “You were sheltered.”

“Sheltered?” I asked and she nodded.

“My father travelled, my mother died when I was a child, so he took me with him. He shared with me many things…” she got even closer and her voice dropped to a whisper, “including tales of Korwahk.” Then she looked around and squeezed my hands.

“Korwahk?” I prompted and her eyes came back to me.

“Where we are now.”

Korwahk.

It could not be said I was a geography whiz but I was thinking I had no freaking clue where Korwahk was. Or Hawkvale, Bellebryn, Middleland or the Green Sea.

What I knew was, none of them were home.

I already had a feeling I was screwed, seeing I was in sacrificial virgin attire and in a corral. But now I was thinking I was way screwed.

My attention focused back on her when she went on to say in a dire tone, “The Wife Hunt.”

Uh-oh.

“The what?” I asked, my voice breathy.

She dropped a hand, kept the other one and slid an arm around my waist so we were even closer before she asked, “What’s your name, my lovely?”

“Circe,” I answered.

She gave me her small, weird smile and whispered, “Circe…

that’s pretty.”

“What’s yours?” I asked.

“Narinda. I’m named after my great aunt who, they said, looked like me. Though, I wouldn’t know because I never met her.”

“That’s pretty too,” I told her and her arm at my waist gave a squeeze.

Then she continued in a gentle voice, “So, the tales of the Korwahk Horde were kept from you.”