Rune didn’t want to freeze to death in some shitty run-down cabin. She was bundled so tightly in a mound of blankets she could barely move, the air as brittle as her breaths, the unnatural cold rattling her lungs too violently for a fourteen-year-old unused to freezing temperatures. Her mother muttered to herself as she tracked a path across the wooden floors, flitting from one window to the next, looking for any signs of life. There was nothing but a blizzard beyond the frosted windowpanes, the floorboards at their feet so frozen they burned to the touch.

But they couldn’t risk a fire. The patrols would know someone was home, and they should’ve left for the Selection with the rest of their village three days before. As newcomers, they just had to pray their absence would go unnoticed.

The immortals had already taken Rune’s father the year before, when she was thirteen.

And her twin brother when she was six.

No more.

Rune ran a thumb along a broken toy of a king, the last remnant she had of her brother. Her mother had buried the rest of his belongings and hadn’t been whole since he was ripped from her arms. And from her father, Rune had only the small bone pendant attached to a necklace she’d never taken off. It was carved like a fishhook, could even be used as one, something he’d learned from his own parents. But he was stolen from her before he ever passed the lesson on. Her thumb traced its curves again and again, as if winding that path would bring him back.

Rune coughed lightly, wrapping the blankets more tightly around herself, missing the warmth of the Isle of Riches more than ever. Her mother shot her a look, reminding her to be silent. Sometimes it felt as if every time her mother looked at her, she only saw the twin that was missing.

Then a knock sounded at the door, stopping Rune’s heart and silencing her breaths. It could only be immortals patrolling the area. Druids.

Terror flooded her veins. She didn’t fully know what the punishment was for not taking part in the Selection. Anyone caught was never heard from again. They’d be killed or taken, and in the end, she wasn’t sure which was worse.