“My beloved.” I run to her and take her in my arms.
“I thought it was going to kill me.” She shivers as I pull her close. “It kept saying it was going to eat me, and I thought I’d never see you again.”
I run my hands down her back. “Where are you hurt?”
“Just some scratches.” She clings to me. “I’ll be okay as long as you get me out of here before it comes back. Did you kill it?”
I pull her away from me. “We have to hurry. The caravan is already moving. We need to catch up.”
“We can make it.” She rubs her arms and gives me a wry smile. “Thanks for rescuing me.”
“I will always come for you.” I cup her cheek and stare down into her brown eyes. “My beloved.”
She nods.
Then I run her through with my sword.
2
Beth
I’m screaming as Gareth puts his arms around the monster—the creature a perfect mimic of me. I take a gulp of air and stare for a moment. Does my butt really look that round? It’s almost … attractive. Huh.
Focus, Beth. I open my mouth to scream again, but the sound goes nowhere. I can’t move—whatever magic the monster threw at me hid me and immobilized me at the same time. I try to yell down the bond, to warn Gareth that the Beth he’s holding isn’t me. But I can’t tell if it’s getting through.
What if he leaves me here? What if I die here? What if I’m never found? What if he walks off with that monster and it eats—oh, hang on. Yes! He just stabbed the Spires out of it, his blade dripping black blood.
The spell disappears, and I fall forward onto my knees as the creature shrieks and writhes on Gareth’s blade. Its teeth reappear, unfurling and snapping as Gareth draws his sword up and cuts it in two. Black blood splashes to the stone floor as it falls apart, teeth and blood and darkness melting into a bubbling pile of rot at my feet.
Gareth rears back and jumps over what’s left of the creature. He rushes to me and lifts me from the floor of the cage, pulling me out into the cavern and wrapping his arms tightly around me.
I try to speak, but only a sob comes out.
He holds me as I work to get a grip on my emotions. Fear is still humming along in my mind—I’ll never forget the way the monster spoke to me, the black of its eyes, the hunger that I could feel almost as if it were a cold wind.
Chill bumps break out along my skin as I hiccup and look up at Gareth. “I thought you believed it, that you thought it was me. I thought it was going to—”
“No one can ever be you.” He kisses me hard, as if his touch can erase the horror that still rattles around in my mind. And after a long moment, when his tongue dances with mine, the chill bumps lessen, the fear recedes, and everything inside me begins to warm.
Too soon, he pulls away and glances around the cave. “We can’t go back the way I came. Do you know how it brought you here?”
I shake my head. “It just jumped. And then it, um …” I clench my eyes shut and try to remember. “It was so cold, and I couldn’t fight it.” Tears well again.
“Shhh, my beloved. It’s gone.”
I’ve faced so many terrors in my life, but that maw of hunger and teeth rattled me more than most. “It wouldn’t have stopped. Not ever. Nothing could satisfy its hunger.” I look over my shoulder at the pile of black mess. “It could eat all of Arin, and it would still want more. How can something like that exist?”
He tilts my chin up so I’m looking into his dark green eyes. “You are safe.” It’s like he wants to force those words into my heart.
“You came for me.” My chin quivers.
“It will take more than a hungry nightmare to keep me from you.”
Something clicks beyond the glow of the green fire. Gareth whirls and puts one hand behind him, holding me steady.
The clicking comes again, but there’s more this time, the sound bouncing all around us.
“What was that?” I peer into the dark but can’t see a thing.
