Alannah clambered over another root. It'd been hours, and the forest looked the same as it had when they left the slavers. If it wasn't for her thread, she'd swear they were going around in circles.

Rose stopped, cupping her arms around her stomach. "I'm hungry. Is there anything we can eat?"

"There are mushrooms," William said, glancing around. "Maybe we could-"

"Absolutely not," Alannah said, drawing level with them. "Those mushrooms are poisonous."

"I'm sure we can find something," he reassured the girl.

Alannah examined the nearest tree. Willow. "There's a river nearby. Once we reach it, we'll be able to set up camp and catch some fish."

Rose nodded and started walking again, but the knight stayed. "Surely we can find something," William whispered. "She's not used to this kind of travel."

"So I gathered." That wasn't a difficult assumption to make. "But there's nothing here we can eat, so we don't exactly have much choice."

William pressed his lips together and stalked after the princess. Alannah sighed, then realised the dragon was standing next to her.

"You're quiet," she told him, falling into line behind William.

"I've never spent this much time with humans," he replied. "It's... different."

"Why not?" asked Alannah, with honest curiously. "You have the power to look human whenever you want. What's stopping you?"

The smirk that touched Dameon's lips was self-deprecating. "Humans aren't too fond of dragons."

"You're not doing yourself any favours by stealing gold and kidnapping princesses," she pointed out.

He snorted. "Semantics."

She had nothing to say to that, and they walked on in silence. The sky above the canopy was marbled with cloud but empty of birds. Or dragons, for that matter. "Why aren't there more of you out here?" she asked. "Don't dragons have... families?"

"Dragons aren't susceptible to intimate relationships," he said, purring the words. "Once we've hatched, we make our own way in the world."

"Sounds like fun," Alannah muttered. "You ever meet, later on?"

"By accident, if our territories overlap. But we rarely recognise other hatchlings." He said it breezily and Alannah wondered if he meant it. "And you?" he asked and she blinked.

"Me? Me what?"

"You and this knight," he said, gesturing ahead to William. "You seem close."

"William and I grew up together. He's... his heart is in the right place," she said, carefully.

"I don't doubt it, but his mind doesn't seem to be there at all." She smothered a grin. A tree had grown over their path and Alannah stopped to climb it. Dameon's hands slipped around her waist. "Although I'm glad to hear that the two of you are not betrothed." He flashed those sharp teeth and lifted her clean over the tree.

Alannah wobbled a little when she landed and frowned, annoyed at herself. Dameon leapt nimbly over the trunk after her and she turned away, spoke over her shoulder. "Well, you've been around here for a while," she said. "You know anything about this forest?"

"Not much," he said. "I don't fly over this place often: there's something at the centre, some kind of dark magic. I'm not skilled enough to tell what it is, but - perhaps you are."

"So the tales are true; dragons do have a silver tongue."

"That's not all our tongues are famous for."

"I want nothing to do with you or your tongue, dragon."

"I'm beginning to see why most witches are old," he replied, a smile in his voice. "The grouchiness must accelerate growth."

"Ha, ha." William and Rose had increased their lead and Alannah quickened her pace.

Why are you so keen to get back to your village? the dragon asked. If not for the knight, then for who?

Why won't you let this go?

Why won't you answer the question?

She suppressed the urge to fling a curse at him. He'd see that as winning. There's no one waiting for me, she thought back, uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation. My grandmother was the only family I had.

So you have no one there, and yet you seem desperate to return, he observed.

It's my home. It was odd, this telepathy thing. She'd never focussed her thoughts like this before, but as they kept 'talking' it got easier. Of course I want to go back to it. Wouldn't you? Then she remembered what he'd said about family and winced.

Home is not a single place, he said, distantly. She glanced back and saw he was staring off through the trees. A house or a cave is merely an empty shell if there is no one to fill it.

She eyed him. Are you sure you're not actually a human who can turn into a dragon?

"Positive," he said aloud.

Alannah stepped out of the tangle of trees into a small clearing. William and Rose had stopped and were sitting underneath a beech tree nearby. They looked exhausted. She untied the thread and recast her location spell. It pointed north, and there was a small hook at the end that indicated their destination was near – she'd cast for the river, this time.

"Nearly there."

"We should stop for a while."

Alannah glanced at William. "It's not far, we can be there in a couple of hours."

"The princess needs rest," he replied, jutting out his chin in that way that meant he was fully prepared for an argument and would do whatever it took to get what he wanted.

"All right," said Alannah, sighing. "Just a few minutes, though." The sooner they got to the river, the better. "Now would be a good time to demonstrate those hunting skills," she told the dragon, who'd stopped so close to her their shoulders were almost touching. That draconic body heat was seriously distracting.

He nodded. "I can go without food for days, sometimes: I forget humans need it so frequently."

"When we get to the river, you could-" Alannah stopped, glanced again at the clearing they stood in. Tiny pearly mushrooms bordered the edge. Slowly, she turned in a circle. Lots of mushrooms. "Oh, bugger."

The dragon looked faintly alarmed. "What is it?"

She pressed her fingers to her temples. "We just walked into a fairy ring."

"Fairies?" asked Rose, standing. "You mean like, wings and gifts and dust?"

"No I do not," snapped Alannah. "I wish I meant wings and gifts and dust. These rings are portals to the sidhe realm - as in the aos si. And the Fair Folk are really not keen on trespassers."

"Then we should leave," said Dameon.

"Too late," Alannah replied, wearily. "We only get out now if they let us."

"That's ridiculous." As if to disprove her theory, William stood and approached the edge of the clearing. "There's no wall; we can just walk away."

Alannah gestured at the line of white-brown mushrooms standing between them and their freedom. "Be my guest."

The knight squared his shoulders and strode towards the forest. When he got to the mushrooms he just - stopped. But his legs kept moving, as if someone was holding him in place. The sight was eerie.

"You see what I mean?" she said. "Useless."

He stopped, frustrated. "But – this is impossible. They're just mushrooms."

"It is magic."

Alannah whirled around. Leaning against the beech tree stood a long-limbed man with cropped pale hair. His eyes were the colour of garnet and his ears were tapered, the length of her hand from her wrist to the tips of her fingers. Fae.

"You're one of the sidhe," said Rose, wide-eyed. She didn't seem the least bit afraid.

"That's correct." The Fae's voice was as frosty and bleak as the north wind. "You should not have stepped into our circle."

William bristled. "How dare you speak to her in that tone."

"It was unintentional," interrupted Alannah. "We weren't concentrating and we didn't realise this was a portal."

"How unfortunate." The Fae's gaze fell on Dameon and darkened. "And yet you brought a dragon into our territory."

Alannah glanced at Dameon, who was giving back glare for glare. "Let me guess; dragons and the sidhe don't get along," she murmured.

"No, we don't."

"It was an accident," Rose pushed past William and blinked those wide eyes at the Fae. "Can't you let us go? Please?"

The Fae unbent. Okay, maybe Rose would come in handy after all.

"The Sidhe do not look kindly on intruders," he said, grudgingly. He was starting to look mollified, though. Alannah held her breath.

"I appreciate that this must be an inconvenience," Rose said, smoothly. "If you release us, we will grace your fairy ring with sacred offerings and, once I reach the palace, I can ensure this part of the forest is left sacred."

"There are few as considerate as you," said the Fae. "Some who enter our forest destroy the mushrooms and rip apart the magic binding them." His eyes glinted. "If you are telling the truth...."

"Of course she's telling the truth," William interrupted heatedly. "A princess would never lie."

The Fae tilted his head and Alannah closed her eyes, praying to be delivered from all idiots. "Princess?" he repeated. "You are the daughter of a king?"

"Because she couldn't be the daughter of a queen," muttered Alannah.

Rose nodded, bemused, and the lanky Fae took a step away from the tree. His gaze travelled over her pink dress – almost as spattered with mud as Alannah's – and back up.

Magic tingled through her skin like a warning. "Rose-"

"Excellent," the Fae said. "You will make a fine addition to my collection."

"Collection?" Rose echoed.

And I really wanted to get home some time this year. "Just great."

"What do you mean?" whispered Dameon, in her ear.

"We're in trouble," she replied.

The Fae held out his hand and Rose, the idiot, took it. Here we go, thought Alannah as the world around them melted into darkness.