It didn’t remove the pain, but it softened the edges enough that I could function.
“Are you okay?”Samael’s voice was a low caress, but I could feel his frustration at not being able to click his fingers and summon a healer.
“I’m fine. Thanks for the pain charms, by the way.”
My vision was still blurry, and I took a few more sips of water. Then I turned and trudged past the chupacabra’s body, in the direction I’d been heading.
I kept my steps as light as possible. Ilis had said I’d know the creature I was supposed to kill when I found it, and now I couldfeelthat I was heading in the right direction.
Dizziness swept over me and I stumbled, leaning against the closest tree. I hadn’t lost enough blood for this level of mental fog. And I hadn’t sweat enough for dehydration to cause it either. What the hell was going on?
“Drugged,”Samael’s voice dripped with cold fury.“You’ve been drugged.”
“That’s impossible,” I said aloud. Then I froze. I pulled the canteen free and opened it, pouring some of the water into my hand.
I sniffed. No scent. No weird taste. I mean, sure, it was a little sweeter than normal water, but I’d figured it was just because it was from the unseelie realm.
And I’d also figured Ilis could be trusted. She’d had no reason to kill me.
I dropped to my knees as the realization swept through me. Kyla was alone with her. And she’d been eating her food, too. Was my friend already dead?
Bile flooded my mouth, and I leaned over, heaving.
I had to get back. I would kill Ilis for this.
The pulling in my chest increased. I ignored it. If Ilis wanted me to go that way, it was likely she had something nasty planned while I was weak and disorientated.
My instincts roared at me, the invisible leash incessant. I could feel the creature, close enough that I should at least check it out.
I deliberated. Samael’s presence was gone, and I had a feeling I knew why. He’d be collecting his strength so he could pour it into me and help me return to Kyla. I needed to prevent that from happening.
I wouldn’t make it back like this. The forest was swimming around me, and strange colors were beginning to fill my vision. There was no way I’d be able to swim back through the swamp to Ilis’s island.
Kyla was a wolf. She would’ve scented poison in her food. I had to trust that she could look after herself. And I had to find somewhere safe to rest—maybe up a tree or something.
I took a hesitant step forward. When the ground didn’t hit me in the face, I took another.
The strange forest was coming to an end. I could see more sun between the trees, and it seemed to glow like a beacon, dragging me forward.
I pushed through the gap and froze.
Creatures filled the huge clearing. Creatures of myth.
They curled up together in groups, some of them wandering the space as they nuzzled at each other. There must have been twenty or thirty of them. I didn’t know what to call them. A herd? A pack? A… pride.
All of them were a stark white, only the word didn’t even come close to describing the pure beauty of their fur, or the gleaming sheen of their feathers. All of them had the body of a lion, with the magnificent wings of an eagle.
Yet some of their heads were eagle, and some of them were lion. As if there was a genetic component, or as if these were two prides formed into one.
Griffins. They were griffins.
And I was supposed to kill one of them.
I tensed at the thought, and a branch broke beneath my foot. As one, the griffins looked at me, then turned their attention away, ignoring me.
All except one. He lay on the other side of the clearing, his head on his paws. His eyes were a dull gold, and they were stuck to my face. There was a… kindness in those eyes. He looked at me almost fondly.
The other griffins had paired up, and I didn’t know if it was the drug in my bloodstream or my own instincts, but I knew they were mates. All except this one.
