She raises a hand to her red-stained mouth, wipes at it, and stares down at the blood painting her fingertips before she gags, spits, and gags again. I’ve placed her too close to the bloodteeth trees, and the roots rise up around her, vying for her flesh. I quickly expel a distend spell, and they’re whipped back. She makes a startled noise of surprise as I haul her into my arms and settle her back against one of the innocuous blackthorn trees.
I draw the symbol to disperse the blood from her mouth and hand before I begin pacing the clearing, trying to think of a solution to get us out of this cursed situation. “Gods. You had to come to the fucking Blood Wood. Even I don’t come to this place,” I snap.
Still obviously grappling with reality, she claps a hand over her mouth. “I was trying to eat you,” she gasps.
I stop pacing and swivel my head in her direction. “You were somewhat successful at that,” I say dryly.
She sticks out her tongue and wipes at it furiously, pulling up her dress to use that to wipe at it, too. A laugh belts out of me, and she gives me an astonished look which only makes me laugh harder despite the royally fucked scenario we’ve been thrown into. “Oh, come on, that’s just insulting. I can’t be that bad.”
Her gaping turns even more dramatic. My laughter clips when she starts to gag until she’s really vomiting. I lean down and pluck her hair back from her face while I wait for her to finish. It’s so white and sleek, like strands of spun moonlight in my hands.
“Sorry,” she rasps. “I don’t know why—I don’t know what happened—“
“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. It was the Bonewalker. I felt it, too.”
“The Bonewalker? I thought it was dead.”
“It’s dead, but the effects of its magic remain in its corpse.” I blow out a breath as she hauls herself to her feet. I’m still holding her hair with no purpose to be doing so anymore whatsoever and promptly drop it. “Your locket was staving it off. We must’ve crossed the boundary where the theurgynate was no longer effective, but the Bonewalker’s magic was still…quite potent.”
“You felt it, too?” I nod. “But…you didn’t…how did you get us out of there?”
I clear my throat, chest-puffing as I shift back on my heels. “Well, I am a bit more practiced at fighting off magic than you are.” I cock my head slightly. “And I have maybe above-average mental fortitude,” I say with a shrug.
She digs at her temples like it’s all too much to grasp. “That Bonewalker’s body…makes people want to eat people?”
“Pretty much. Their magic influences people to eat people, which creates more Bonewalkers, and the cycle repeats itself. Circle of life. Or death…or whatever.”
Her eyes bulge, still glistening with tears from the strain of her retching. “Am I going to turn into that?”
“No…?” I say, shaking my head. I don’tthinkso. “No, you won’t,” I repeat, more firmly this time, though…now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t actually know how it works. “I think you’d have to eat more than that.”
“Did you know this was going to happen?”
“Well…this is my first encounter with a Bonewalker. They’re quite rare nowadays. Might’ve forgotten about the wholemaking you want to eat fleshpart.”
Her eyes narrow. “You…forgot?”
There are blatant accusations in her stare, and I bristle. “Hey. Don’t forget that we wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you running off to the fucking Blood Wood in the first place,princess.” My satisfaction sails when she falls quiet, but then she winces as she stretches out her arms. “Are you okay? I’m sorry that I…threw you,” I say with a grimace. “It was kind of a knee-jerk reaction.”
Her cheeks blossom with color as she dips her head. “I’m fine, and I really don’t blame you. Sorry for…trying to eat you.” The words are so quiet they’re almost indecipherable.
“Not the first time something’s tried to eat me. Won’t be the last.” Her eyes widen slightly. I cast a nervous glance toward her arms. We need to go. She still needs the antidote and now this is going to take us even longer. “Come on,” I command, turning to offer her my back.
“Are we going back out there?”
I let out an impatient sigh. “We’re going back for the locket. Don’t get all excited,” I warn when her eyes gleam. “We’re only retrieving it temporarily.” I flip around. Turning back when she still doesn’t make to move. “Princess…”
Her head is tipped to the ground, hands twisting nervously in front of her. Her eyes dart up and back down in a hurry. “You still want me to get on your back? After I…”
My lip quirks with amusement. “Are you feeling guilty about this? You know it’s not the first time you drew my blood tonight,” I remind her, prowling closer.
“Right…but I didn’t take a bite out of you.”
“Actually, you did. You bit me, clawed me, chucked a knife at my head, and tried to stab mein the face.And, what’s worse is you meant to do all that.”
She rocks back and forth on her heels, and to my astonishment, she graces me with agrin.An actualgrin. Her head dips, hair falling forward to curtain it, and I have the strangest urge to tuck it back so I can see it fully. I’m positive it’s the first time I’ve seen it genuinely because there’s no way I wouldn’t have remembered it. “You didn’t think I would do it,” she says proudly.
“Oh, you are pleased with yourself about that, aren’t you?”
