After I had entered the clearing, a long line of women approached us one by one, ferreting us off to a corner in the large circular area. A faerie, Marlais as she had introduced herself, kept glancing around with narrowed eyes as she hurried me off to a corner. 

Her overlarge eyes gleamed as she looked me over, hungry for something I was just beginning to comprehend. Then a frown pulled at her periwinkle lips.

"Sweet Galina, what have you done to your hair."

Everything about her was blue, from her shimmering skin to dark indigo hair that fell in sleek waves down her back. Small little wings flapped with irritation as she lifted a strand of my tangled and matted hair.

"It's no good. You won't get the prince this way."

I stared at her in silence, not sure where to begin. Dirt still caked my toes, and a small pile of leaves and twigs now littered the ground beside me while Marlais muttered around my head. I had danced until my feet nearly fell off me, been knocked out by some kind of faerie magic, and now I was what, getting a makeover?

My head spun as I tried to connect everything at once. My eyes darted around wildly. I needed to escape, but I didn't want to die. If I acted impulsively like the other girl had, I would fail too.

Think, I told myself. Get it together.

I was in Faerie. I had danced until I almost died, and now I was surrounded by fae, getting ready for something. Something big. I could feel the tension and excitement in the air.

What could have the fae so excited?

Marlais looked at me for a moment, then sighed and threw her hands up in the air at my lack of response.

"The prince!" she exclaimed. "His Highness Prince Eirian. He is Queen Deirdre's son, the Crown Prince to the Seelie throne. Don't you know anything?"

"No," I said bluntly. "The last thing I remember is getting stolen on my way home from a bar." I watched her with narrowed, tired eyes. I needed to know more about what was going on, and she didn't seem like she wanted to hurt me.

Not yet, anyway.

Marlais paused, her dark blue lips parted. Then she smiled brightly.

"Oh, lovely, you can speak."

She sighed again and yanked another large twig from where it had bound itself in one of my wild waves. It came free, taking some of my hair with it. I hissed, moving my hand up to my head as I glared at her, but she didn't seem bothered.

"It's fine. I can explain. You mortals are so stupid sometimes. I'm used to it."

 Her voice was high-pitched and absolutely nerve grating. Especially when she poured a bucket of cold water over my head. It was cold as Ice and I sputted as I pushed my hair off my face.

"What the fu--"

She continued talking, cutting me off, "There are two main Courts here in Faerie. The Day Court—where our sweet and handsome Seelie Prince Eirian is from. He hails from Aquania, the Water Court—or Summer Court as some call it. The Seelie are comprised of The Water Court, the Air Court—my home, I'm from the beautiful kingdom of Galina, you would like it there— and the Earth Courts. Then there are the dreadful Night Courts, home of the Unseelie." She puckered her lips with distaste, straightening me up as I shivered, damp under the night air. She held out a long thin fingernail and lifted a layer of my dress. My hands shot up to stop her with alarm.

"You can't cut off my dress!" I gasped out through my chattering teeth. I looked around for some kind of help only to see other humans in various states of undress, faerie attendants treating them like rag dolls as they hurried to get them ready.

"The Unseelie aren't a pleasant topic, but I suppose I should prepare you just in case you well... I do hope it does not come to that. The Unseelie are vile and unpleasant creatures. We used to all live together under the great High Queen but she left and things... changed. If you know what is good for you, you will avoid them," Marlais said as she all but wrestled me out of my dress. Most of what she was saying wasn't entirely new to me. Gran had told me many stories of the fae.

What was new was the reality of it all. The truth that surrounded me. I wasn't cozied up with a book of fairytales by the fire listening to the timbre of Gran's voice. Now I was in Faerie. Talking to a faerie. The Unseelie that had haunted my nightmares shared the same air I breathed.

I shivered, but not from the cold. I now stood in my undergarments in the cool faerie air. It buzzed along my skin unnaturally as warmth flooded back into my veins. I wrapped my arms around myself.

Marlais frowned.

"Don't cover yourself up, silly girl. How else will Eirian see your beauty? Besides—" Another bucket of water appeared, as if from thin air. Another wave hit me before I could protest. "—you are filthy. It's been some time since I have been able to prepare a mortal for the Hunt, and I don't plan on letting the Air Courts down. This is a great opportunity for you, you must try harder. I can't just do all the work, you know."

I scowled at her.

"Maybe I'm filthy because you had me dancing in the forest all night?"

She sighed. "Months."

I frowned, confused. "Months?"

"Yes, dear. You were dancing for months."

"Thats impossible." I wrung out my drenched hair. "I should be dead."

Marlais grinned, that earlier hunger leaking back into he gaze. "Exactly. Only those that survive the test are allowed to participate."

I had no words. I had been dancing for...months?

How was I even still standing?

I remembered another warning my Gran had always spoken, especially when I left her house when visiting her in Ireland. I always thought it was silly.

"If you hear a faerie song—you will know it for how beautiful it is—you make sure you run, dear. If enchanted, you will dance until your legs are reduced to stumps."

If only I had known how right she had been. I was in Faerie. Even with all of Gran's warnings, I didn't know enough.

"Why... was I tested? What for? What is all of this..."

Marlais now held a soft drying cloth. She approached me with it, roughly attacking my dripping hair and using her long blue fingernails to detangle my messy waves. I was about to prod her again, thinking the faerie woman was ignoring me.

"For the Hunt, of course. We can only use the finest mortal women this year since our Prince and... well, just consider yourself fortunate. Many females in Faerie would die to be in your place—if only they could bear children. I know they were particularly thorough this time around while testing you." Marlais's lips tugged to the side, a small frown forming.

"C-Children?" I sputtered out as I took a few steps away from her.

"Yes." She waved her hand and a cold breeze nipped at my backside like a large hand pushing me back into her reach. "That is why you mortals are needed. Fae fertility is unpredictable at the best of times. We need mortal blood in our lines every hundred or so years to continue bearing children, hence why the Hunt is so important. Still, it's rare for one of our Princes to participate. I suppose he's hoping for a bond."

"A what?"

She smiled. "You'll see soon enough. It's almost time."

She padded the cloth over the rest of me and some of the damp chill lifted off my skin, a good amount of dirt and grim going with it.

I looked down and clamped my hands over my chest tighter. Of course, I had worn a sheer lacy bra. I might as well have been completely naked.

Marlais pried my hands away, her strength surprising. She peered at me up and down, nodding in approval.

"It is good that you favor such revealing mortal underclothes. The Hunters will be coming soon."

"Wh—" my voice was drowned out by a loud blaring horn that seemed to originate from deep in the trees. Marlais's face broke into a feral grin. She spun me around and pushed me to the edge of the clearing. Large gaps between the wood provided a view directly out into the trees. She pressed me close, using a hand made of wind to hold me there. New currents held my arms firmly to the side.

"Why are you doing this to me? What do you even get out of it?" I asked. Tears prickled my eyes. I just wanted to go home. My heart raced. Months.

I had already been gone months. Mom and Dad had would have lost it. Were they still looking for me?

Had they already given up?

I couldn't see Marlais, but I could still feel her wind at my back, forcing me into place so I couldn't move. I frowned down at my invisible captors, a wrongness seeping over me. Like if I could just flutter my fingers...

"A favor, sweet little mortal," Marlais said, cutting off my train of throught. "If the Prince chooses you, then I will have attended the bride to the Crown Seelie Prince. You will owe me a debt for such a thing. Or I should say, you will owe the Courts. But never fear, dear. The Air Courts will be your biggest ally. Our girls always fare well. Just give time, you will see."

That was another thing Gran had also warned me about. Never make deals with faeries or allow yourself to be indebted to them.

For there was nothing they loved more than a bargain.

Another, louder blare of the horn sounded. Dark figures starting moving in on either side of the forest.

The Hunters were coming.