Now she knew better.
It had been real. All of it.
She remembered how the duke had pulled her from the dungeon. Bound her, gagged her, dragged her through the sleeping castle, across the lawn, through a secret gap in the castle wall, and out to the edge of the woods. There they paused in darkness, the moon nothing more than a sliver above them. “I’m doing this for you,” he’d said as he cut her bindings. “I could have let you rot in that cell. Remember that. The king would see you dead for what you’ve done.”
She bared her teeth and scrambled back from him. “I did nothing wrong. It wasyou. I know it.”
He ignored her. “You murdered Queen Linette.”
“You lie.”
“You killed Princess Aveline.”
She froze in place at the name. “What?”
Before she could say a word more, Morkai seized her hand and ran his knife over the center of her palm. Blood welled in a thin red line. She tried to snatch it away, tried to cover the wound, but he held her hand in place. With his other, he trailed a finger through the air. Ribbons of blood appeared out of nowhere, suspended in midair. With another wave of his finger, her own blood rose to meet it, weaving toward the other threads until they merged as one. It was over as quickly as it had begun. One moment, it was as if some gruesome tapestry was forming before her eyes, then the next, it fizzled into air.
That was when she heard the pounding. That was when she saw the dark shadow tearing alongside the castle wall as if it had sprung from shadow.
His lips flicked up then, stretching into a malicious grin. “Better run.”
Valorre nudged her in the shoulder, forcing her back to the present. She trembled from head to toe. Her eyes fell to her palms where her fingers had curled inward. Half moons from her nails had formed there, threaded through the ink.
“I…I’d convinced myself the Beast hadn’t been real,” she said. “After the Forest People found me…I didn’t know what to think. I knew what I’d seen, but…surely the Beast had been a nightmare.” Her dreams had been vivid back then. Constant. Worse than the new ones were. “Have you seen it before tonight?”
No. Never.
“So, you don’t know what it is? It isn’t a fae creature? A chimera, perhaps?”
His surge of indignation was answer enough.No fae creature. Nothing like me or my kind.
Cora frowned. The Beast was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. If it wasn’t fae…what was it?
Vile abomination, Valorre said with a derisive snort. Then, after a pause, he asked,Will you leave now?
Her eyes shot up to Valorre. “Leave?”
Because of the monster. Will you stop trying to help my brethren?
Cora considered her answer. She still felt shaken from what she’d witnessed, from the memories she’d unearthed. But she remembered what Valorre had said when she’d asked if the Beast had killed the unicorns.
“You said it only took the three older unicorns.”
Yes.
“Then one more is still alive. The newest one they captured.”
Yes.
It hadn’t eaten all of them. Only the oldest, hungriest, most fatigued unicorns. Would the Beast come back for the other once it reached a similar state? If so…why? And how did the duke tie into all of this?
The questions sharpened her mind, sent her fear scurrying. In its wake, she knew her work was not done. Yes, she was terrified to learn that the Beast was real. The thought of ever having to face it again sent her pulse racing. At least next time she’d be prepared.
Next time, she wouldn’t run.
She’d shoot.
She’d shoot it again and again until its blood drenched the earth.
