We were horrible. Horrible, evil folk.
Not as evil as the King and his men, but we had subjected Shade to their whims.
The knights on their horses galloped away faster than should have been possible. Were they aided by magic of their own?
“That was fucking grim,” Fiella mumbled somewhere behind me.
“Veryharsh,” Kizzi agreed.
I practically vibrated with tension. So much fear, anger, confusion welled up inside me and threatened to burst.
Tandor set a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “They won’t be able to kill him,” he said.
“You don’t know that,” I whispered. They hadn’t seen the way he had almost drowned.
He wasn’t invincible.
“The King isn’t a murderer, surely,” Redd added.
“We don’t know that, he might—” Fiella started to explain, but Kizzi slapped a hand over her mouth to shut her up.
I was grateful for the interruption. I had enough fears on my mind, I didn’t need any more.
Tommins paced back and forth, running a hand through his mane of hair and tugging sharply at the ends. He murmured quietly to himself.
A nudge at my leg stole my attention. I glanced down to see the grumpy black cat glaring up at me with knowing green eyes. “Hi, Chicken.” I bent down to stroke his back but he hissed and swatted.
He didn’t want pets, then. He wanted to show me something.
Kizzi noticed. “Were you chosen by a cat, too?” she asked.
“Not really, I think he wants me dead, if I’m being honest. But he keeps turning up.”
“They’re annoyingly smart, those cats. My Sookie saves the day more often than I care to admit,” Fiella added.
“Last time I followed him…” I trailed off, disturbed by the memory.
The cat scurried forward, in the direction of the Barren Lands.
“I know, buddy. We can’t follow him. He had to go,” I said.
The cat growled, low and menacing.
“He’s already gone,” Tandor said to the cat.
The cat spared him only a glance before returning to stare at me intently.
I sighed. “We can’t follow him,” I insisted. “It’s too late. He’ll have to find his own way out.”
Tommins’ head snapped in my direction. “Maybe it’s not too late.”
The cat meowed loudly.
“What do you mean?” I asked. My hopes threatened to flare in my chest, and I squashed them down.
“This was a mistake,” the mayor said vehemently. “We shouldn’t have turned over one of our own.”
“But he’s not one of us,” I argued, but that felt foolish.
