He stops. Reluctantly, I open my eyes. Killian deposits me unceremoniously on my feet. I glance around to find a rocky outcropping on one side of a pleasant-looking grove.
“You. Stay here until I come back.” He unsheathes the sword and points with the gleaming blade. “Sit. Stay.”
“Arf, arf.”
A reluctant smile tugs at his lips.
Obediently, I perch on the rock and cross my legs, flopping my hands down at the wrist and blinking in imitation of an attentive dog.
He attacks me with a kiss. I’m ready for him.
“You will come back.” I have to cage the next part,and then you’ll take me away, behind my teeth. He hasn’t agreed to that. Yet. But he will. He has to. He’s my only hope.
To be married to Alistair is to remain trapped in this anxious daydream of unmet need for the rest of my life. I cannot allow that to happen.
I wait for a long time. He doesn’t return for me. I snack on the biscuit I stuffed into my pocket at brunch, having learned my lesson about not eating when I have the chance yesterday. I can’t tell whether the harpies are still a threat. I can’t see them through the canopy of leaves.
Bored, I toss a pebble into the underbrush. I watch it bounce in the grass…and find myself looking into the unblinking eyes of a dragon.
24
Killian
Ishouldn’t have left Briar alone.
Despite my words, I did care that people were dying. Alistair’s foolish arrogance cost a lot of people their lives today. The king isn’t blameless; he insisted upon holding this tournament too.
She’ll be safe where I left her. Alistair can’t handle a flock of harpies even with the backing of the royal guards.
Arriving upon the once-peaceful scene, I find two of those monstrous birds tearing at the entrails of a fallen royal guard, their beaks coated red.
My scar aches beneath my sleeve. I put too much strain on it while carrying Briar. Or…it feels different from other wounds. Almost like it’s reacting to the presence of the monsters that scored my flesh.
Eating into me. That harpy marked me. I’ll never forget its beady eye fastened on me as it attacked.
I shove the disturbing thought aside. I’ll figure out what’s happening to me once the danger has passed.
Alistair draws back and sends an arrow straight into one bird’s breast as it dives toward an earl’s young daughter. Feathers fly. He hits it again, and the thing tumbles out of thesky, landing a in a heap a few feet away from the terrified girl. A woman scoops the child up and starts running across the field dotted with bodies.
“Nice work.” I slap the prince on the shoulder and run after the woman, anticipating the harpy that lands in front of them. The lady pulls up short, pushing the girl behind her, but it’s no use. They’re trapped when a second bird lands and they both begin stalking their prey, wings upraised to prevent them from running.
These are not ordinary birds. They are fae and ferocious. Their feathers show a pattern that from a distance looks like a woman’s tits. The wings and tails are an oily gray and black.
I shout and run forward, slicing the head off one raptor as it menaces the girl. Damn thing never saw me coming; it was so intently focused on its prey.
I throw myself between the second bird. Its beady gaze holds mine. I raise my sword…
But I can’t do it. A strange whisper echoes in my mind, vague and indistinct.
It’s looking for something. It wants her. Briar. Feeding is good too, but there’s easier prey to be had. The flock came here looking for?—
Mid-thought, I’m hit by a warm body and crushed to the ground, losing my grip on the sword. The bird’s vicious beak snaps where I was just standing. Alistair kicks its head with his boot, then rolls up, grabbing my sword and slashing its breast. The thing hops backward, glaring. A nonfatal hit. It turns and takes wing. Wind gusts my face as I get up.
“What was that, Kill?” Alistair breathes hard. “What the absolute fuck happened just now?”
I have no answer for him. I don’t know.
“That thing was in my head.”
