His words dissolved under the sound of trembling earth. Something enormous barreled past Teryn, directly over the place he’d just stood. He heard Lex cry out, turned to find him curled on his side, cradling his arm. When he looked back at whatever had invaded the camp, he realizedthiswas the monster. There was no other name for it. It looked as if two creatures had merged into one, born from flame, its skin raw and red. A ridge of spikes ran down its spine. Teryn scrambled back, but the monster paid him no heed. Its beady eyes were fixed on Helios. In the next moment, it was upon him. The creature opened its giant, salivating maw and closed it over Helios’ head and shoulders. Teryn couldn’t blink as Helios’ muffled screams pierced the air. Blood poured over the monster’s lips and dripped to the ground below. Helios clawed, stabbed, but the monster continued to bury its teeth deeper into his flesh. The unicorn horn blade fell to the ground, and Helios’ body went still. The monster released him, but Teryn knew he was already gone. He held his breath as the creature ran its nose over the earth, as if seeking something. It inched closer and closer to Helios’ discarded blade.
A crash sounded. Teryn’s eyes flew to the cage where the unicorn was bucking madly.
With a roar, the monster charged the cage, slamming it with its enormous front hooves. The iron bars dented but didn’t break. Still, the monster relentlessly struck the cage again and again.
Suddenly, the monster reared back with a roar. An arrow pierced its neck, and Teryn saw another had already gouged its eye. A figure emerged from the trees, bow raised, arrow nocked. The girl from the stream shot the monster again, blinding its other eye. The creature roared and wailed, trampling the lifeless bodies strewn about camp as it tried to shake the arrows free. The woman shot it again, directly between the eyes. Teryn expected the monster to falter, to slow, but it didn’t. Instead, it tore away from its attacker, crashing against tree trunks as it fled into the night.
Teryn’s chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath. His body trembled from head to toe. Something brushed against his temple. Berol. She nipped at him as if to test that he was unharmed. “I’m fine,” he muttered, voice strained. He wasn’t sure when the falcon had landed on his shoulder. He’d been too distracted by the monster.
His eyes drifted to Helios’ maimed body, the blood all around him, the battered earth left in the monster’s wake. Movement drew his gaze, reminding him the threat wasn’t over.
The woman stormed over to him, an arrow aimed at his heart. “Why aren’t you dead?”
24
Cora tried to keep her bow steady as she confronted the prince, but her body was racked with tremors. It had been one thing to watch her carefully laid plans end in a bloodbath as Gringe, Hammond, and Sam turned on the prince and his friends. She’d waited in her tree for the fight to end, knowing she’d have to take down the victor. She hadn’t expected Teryn Alante to battle his friend over the fate of the unicorn, nor had she anticipated the Beast. As soon as it had threatened the unicorn, she had no choice but to act. Now it was gone, but she didn’t know for how long. Her arrows left it wounded. Would that be enough?
Teryn stared at her, his spear still clutched in his hand, forearm stained with blood beneath an open wound at his inner elbow. His falcon watched her with unblinking eyes, daring her to make a single move that would harm the bird’s master. Or was the prince—like Cora was to Valorre—the falcon’sfriend?
Teryn’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who poisoned the rum.”
“And you drank it. So why aren’t you dead?”
She expected terror from him. Or rage. Anything but the weary answer he gave. “I didn’t drink. It only touched my lips.” He gulped. “Will I die?”
She released a sigh and let down her bow halfway. “No, but do you recall the promise you made?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his brow. “That I wouldn’t come near another unicorn.”
“Or else I’d kill you,” she finished for him.
His eyes were unfocused when he opened them. “It seems today is a day for breaking several promises.”
She huffed a laugh. “Do you expect me to break mine?”
“I…I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
His gaze sharpened and slid to the unicorn. “I didn’t know what it took to remove a unicorn’s horn.”
Cora felt the blood leave her face. Before she’d witnessed Prince Teryn’s fight with the man he’d called Helios, she hadn’t known either. She’d assumed the horn had to be severed, not…cut from the unicorn while it was still alive. Did Valorre know?
Teryn met her eyes. “I’ll never do that,” he said, tone laced with conviction. “I’ll never take a unicorn’s horn.”
She considered his words, opened her senses to try and feel if he was lying. Not that she trusted her observations. “You lied when you said you worked for no one.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“I saw the writ your friend had.”
Teryn glanced at the dead man, then winced, as if he’d forgotten the carnage. He shook his head. “I don’t know what that was, but I can only guess it was a forgery. Why would we work for anyone? I’m the Crown Prince of Menah. Helios was the Prince of Norun. Prince Lex—”
Teryn stiffened. His spear slid from his hand as he whirled around. The motion sent the falcon launching off his shoulder to land in a nearby branch. Cora drew her arrow, following Teryn’s every move as he crouched down beside a man Cora hadn’t realized was alive until now. “Lex!”
Cora hesitated, watching the two, before letting down her bow.
The man named Lex lay on his side, his arm pressed to his chest. Blood stained his silk shirt, marring the gold brocade of his frayed waistcoat. “What the bloody hell, what the bloody hell…” Lex repeated over and over. Finally, he met Teryn’s gaze. “What the bloody hell was that thing?”
