And pressed its scarred beak against her bloodied hand.
She had only a moment to gasp at how smooth it was, how utterly warm despite the cold in her bones. She had only a moment to feel thezingthat went through her, like she’d just been shocked by a bolt of lightning.
Every part of her body went taut, and the fringes of her eyesight darkened as a strange vision pulled her under.
A midnight feather, floating alone in an endless dark sea.
And that was sorrow she felt. A sorrow so deep it washed over and through her like a rogue wave, filling every part of her body until she felt she would drown in it.
Tears poured down her cheeks as the vision broke.
As the raphon screeched in pain. She felt it like a stab to her own body, a hot flare that began in her neck.
She gasped, thinking she’d been struck by an arrow or a sword.
But there was nothing.
The raphon stumbled away from her, then dropped to its knees in the moss. It toppled sideways, releasing a strangled cry as it fell. Its wings were splayed out behind it. Its catlike tail twitched once before it went still.
A strange, glowing arrow had struck the beast on its side.
An arrow marked in gold runes.
And on the other side of the raphon’s body, standing there with a crossbow in his hands …
Was Kinlear Laroux.
Her knees went out from under her, but he was already moving towards her, his cane abandoned as he reached out. He caught her just before her headhit the ground.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
Arawn arrived just after him. ‘Ezer.’
Their twin faces hovered above her, morphing together like darkness and light, until she wasn’t certain which prince was holding her in his arms.
She could still feel the warmth of the raphon’s breath dancing across her skin as she was lifted up.
She tried to hold on, but darkness embraced her.
The last thing Ezer saw before her eyes closed was the dark shape of the raphon’s body, splayed on the forest floor.
With her bloody handprint on its scarred beak.
11
For the first time in years, Ezer dreamt of something new.
She was standing in a dark and icy labyrinth, a depthless place with frost-covered walls of black stone. Tunnels lined the walls all around her, gaping mouths of shadow that looked the same, no matter which direction she turned.
Ezer shivered, her breath forming in thick white clouds.
‘Hello?’ she whispered.
Only the echo of her own voice answered back.
She looked down, and realized she held a flaming torch in one hand.
And in the other, a black sword.
