Black diamonds shimmered on the pommel. So depthless, their color, yet each one sparkled like they were spun from stars. He scooped it up, ignoring Hux’s warnings, and tucked it into his waistband.
It would be beautiful on her hip.
It would shine like her scars when they caught the glittering light.
“Looks like touching it didn’t change me,” Kinlear said, chuckling as Hux flinched. “Now...where is my beast?”
His strength was waning. The night was damned cold, even with his runed cloak.
Soon he’d have to sit down, to resettle himself from the gravity of a sickness he could not ignore. It was always there with him, a little whisper in the back of his mind.You’re tired,it hissed.You should lay down. You should close your eyes and simply quit.
But he wouldn’t stop. Not until he’d laid eyes on it.
Hux led him further into the woods, around the cluster of evergreens, where more stones glowed with Entrapment runes, each one inscribed just hours ago by the strongest of his father’s Scribes.
And right there in the center of the clearing, amidst piles of broken tree limbs and churned up snow, an obvious sign of a horrid impact...
Kinlear sucked in a breath.
A raphon.
The tip of his cane drove into the snow as he paused, utterly frozen.
“Gods above...” Kinlear breathed. “Itworked.”
A shiver of delight ran through his veins at the sight of the captured beast. Half giant raven, half black panther, it was a perfect mashup of silken fur and sleek black feathers. Claws and beak...and a long, dark cat’s tail twitching as it released a mighty screech into the night.
Years of studying the raphons, years of watching them from the cliffside as they fought by night in the sky, and finally...
Mine,Kinlear thought.You are mine.
She was black as the night above them, fearsome as she growled, deep in her throat. Her massive, dark beak opened, and she released a warning, or perhaps a cry for help as she rose on all four paws. Kinlear couldn’t be sure which, but he felt the soundzingthrough him like a bolt of lightning, setting his edges ablaze.
She was beautiful.
She was deadly.
She was...he raised a dark brow.
Wrong.
Because she had no scar on her beak, not like the raphon in his dreams.
Andshe wasbleeding.
“I said no wounds,” Kinlear growled.
A twinge of familiar fury ran through him at the sight of the blood on the snow as the raphon stood, took one step...and collapsed. He gasped and leaned forward as if he’d run to her. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
The raphon cried out again, the sound laced in pain as she tried to extend her wings and take flight.
They were snapped in two, bent at a horrid angle as she collapsed. More blood gushed from her fur—it was too dark to find an exact wound, but even Kinlear knew the look of dying.
It was one he’d seen far too many times on the war eagles when they were brought back to the Citadel, lucky to be in one piece.
It was one he’d seen in his own mind, when he slayed his monster.
His eyes slid to Hux, who was charged with manning this entire mission. “I asked for a soft landing for the beast. What the hell did your soldiers do?”
