Born with a damaged heart, Leanna Weston has lived a sheltered life with little chance at adventure. When she hears that Finvarra's Circus is coming to her small town, she sneaks off to witness the magic first hand, sure that this is her only chan...
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Tightness at her shoulders and then at her waist tugged at Leanna's hazed consciousness. A rough, gritted surface spread behind her. It dug through the thin fabric of her dress and into her back, the discomfort centered at her shoulder blades. She made to move away when a sharp tug at her ankles sent awareness hot and burning through the fog of her thoughts. She'd been kidnapped, and now—she peered down with a groan—she was being bound to a tree.
Sobered by panic, Leanna darted her gaze along this foreign land, through the misty fingers that weaved through towering trees. Forest stretched in every direction, as far as her eyes could see in the pale light that seeped through skeletal branches. Creatures of the night were dead silent, the only sound that of snapping twigs behind her.
"Who's there?" she asked, anxious and hoarse, and knowing. "W-why are you doing this?"
The only reply was the gnarling of the rope as it rubbed into the bark, the binds tightening further. A minute passed. Preceded by the snapping song of breaking twigs and hollow thuds against the earth, Krinard appeared from behind the tree. Leanna sucked in a shuddering breath. She'd known it was him, but to confirm the horrid truth was a nightmare in its own cursed right.
Eyes focused forward, Krinard passed her in silence as if she didn't exist. Lifting a hand at his side, he clenched it to a tight fist. The rope squeezed more and Leanna cried out as it dug into her ribs and stomach. Bile burned her throat and her ribs cracked under the strain, but Krinard just chuckled.
Stopping by his satchel that lay on a log few feet away, he crossed it over his shoulder as one making to leave. Leanna bit her lip to stay its trembling. Surely he meant to leave her there for Machina's taking.
"Krinard," she called to his broad back tentatively. She moistened her lips, the dread at him tightening the rope further drying her mouth. "Please let me go..."
Rolling his shoulders back, Krinard spun at a torturous slow. As if the winter air froze her from within, Leanna's heart panged to a stop. Moving black webs marked Krinard's veins, mapping out their course along his sculpted torso. Their origin was the scar on his chest. Leanna slid her gaze along him, watching the poison creep up toward his shoulders and neck. His golden skin was pale, and dark circles cradled black eyes.
"Y-you've been poisoned..." she breathed glumly. Cold, Leanna shook her head. "This isn't you, Krinard! Listen to me. We must get back to the fairgrounds. Minerva healed me. Surely she can heal you too!" She wiggled, but the rope chafed at her arms. Her skin was sensitive in the icy air, and magnified the pain of the rope. Still, she fought through this, squirming as she said, "I know Finvarra will forgive you once he knows that your wound is the cause of this madness!"
Krinard tilted his head, a blank look in those black eyes. He glanced down to his chest and then lifted thick lashes to her. "You mean this?" He rumbled lowly, brushing a finger along the scars. A grin curled at the left of his lips. "Indeed, I have been poisoned. How else was Machina to be sure I wouldn't fail?"
