‘Raphon,’ Ezer breathed, and pain flared in her face from her broken nose, but Arawn shushed her, and held her still and silent. His breathing mixed with hers, their bodies flush, the first time a man hadeverbeen so close to her.
But there was no desire.
There was only panic.
It couldn’t see them, she realized.
Because they were hidden in a small nook between two boulders, the thick moss and vines concealing them from above.
Arawn rolled away from her slowly, silently, a finger pressed to his lips.
For a moment, she thought,perhaps he knows it’s here, perhaps it’s meant to be here.
But then she saw the shock on his face. And she saw how taut his muscles were, even down to the veins on the back of his hands as he reached for the sword on his hip.
And paused.
Ezer’s eyes widened.
The sword wasn’t there.
He’d taken the entire damned weapons belt off before they’d entered the Aviary, for why in the hell would an aerie rider, a first-in-command – aprince– need to protect himself inside a space that was practically his own home?
And what was a raphon – the Acolyte’s beast – doinghere, inside such a protected place?
Together, they watched the beast as it slunk across the tops of the trees, as if on the hunt for something.
It was smaller than she’d expected, up close, at least half the size of the war eagles.
No larger than a pony. A young one, perhaps.
Its body was lithe, and perfectly honed to be a predator.
The fur was so dark it could have been a shadow, could have been spun from the night. It had a sleek black cat’s tail. But where the panther part of the raphon ended, the raven part began: a seamless transition from furred shoulder blades to feathered black wings. And a beak so sharp and dark – a beak that was so perfectly curved and feathered as to belong to araven –she couldn’t help but be amazed.
The raphon scurried up a tree trunk and disappeared into the canopy, leaving claw marks in the bark.
Ezer could hear her own breathing, her blood thrumming in her ears. She could barelythinkpast the throbbing pain on her face.
‘Where is it?’ she mouthed to Arawn.
He crouched beside her, so utterly still he could have been a statue.
He placed a finger to his lips again.
She nodded.
Then he held up a hand.
‘Stay,’he mouthed.
At that, her eyes widened. She shook her head.No.
There was no way in hell she’d be staying here, aloneinside the woods. With araphonon the loose.
The hybrid beasts hungered only for humans, and she was covered in her own fresh blood.
More shouts came from deep in the woods.
