“The Beast,” Cora said.
Teryn glanced over his shoulder at her. “You know what it was?”
She nodded. “It…works with the hunters. They feed the unicorns to it.”
“Why did it…” His voice trailed off as his eyes landed on the body of his dead companion. “Why did it attack Helios? It barely spared me a glance, but it went straight for him.”
“I don’t know.” With slow steps, she approached the body. A few feet away, she found a discarded dagger. Gingerly, she picked it up, noting its white spiral blade. All at once, she sensed a dense, murky energy that buzzed against her palms, burning the ink there. The feeling was so strong, her lungs began to contract. Dropping the blade, she launched a step back.
Hide that, Valorre said. Cora startled at his sudden appearance behind one of the trees outside the camp. There he remained, not daring to take a step within the clearing.Sheathe it. Cover the blade. The abomination is drawn to our horns.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. She glanced at the waning campfire.I could feed it to the flames, she said in her mind.
It will not burn.
She considered simply leaving it where it lay or burying it in the ground. But the idea that someone else could find it, wield it…
Worse, she imagined the Beast returning, unearthing it, devouring it. She wasn’t sure why the Beast was drawn to horns, why the hunters fed it starving unicorns. But there had to be a reason. Whatever it was, Cora needed to do whatever it took to keep the Beast from consuming another horn.
Without a second thought, she reached for the white-bladed dagger again and dropped it into her quiver. As soon as it struck the bottom, she felt its dark energy recede. Relief flooded through her. Now she just had to hope that her inability to sense the horn anymore meant the Beast couldn’t either.
She returned her attention to the two men—only to find Teryn removing his shirt. Momentarily shocked by the unexpected sight, she could do nothing but stare at the flex of his shoulder muscles as he drew his tunic over his head and immediately set to tearing it into strips. He tied the first one around the cut on his arm, then crouched by Lex and began to dress his friend’s wound.
We must go, Valorre said.
Cora shook her head to clear it and tore her gaze from the two princes. She knew Valorre was right. It was madness to linger. The Beast could be back at any moment. There was but one thing left to do.
She jogged over to the unicorn’s cage. The creature within trembled as she brought her knife to the ropes and severed the bindings. The front of the cage fell open, but the unicorn did not move. “Go,” Cora said, voice soft. “You’re free.”
A sharp sound pierced the quiet of the camp. Cora startled at the noise, as did the unicorn. In a flash, it darted out of the camp in a blur of gray. She whirled around, finding Teryn behind her, hands pressed together. That was when she understood the sound had been a clap.
Cora glared at him, keeping her eyes anywhere but below his chin. He’d donned his hunting vest again, but he’d only secured the bottommost closures. Which meant he might as well still be topless. “You didn’t have to scare it like that.”
He lifted a shoulder in a fatigued shrug. “Perhaps fear will keep it well out of the monster’s range.” With that, he turned away from her and strode back to his friend.
She watched him walk away, her argument dying on her tongue. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, he was right. The unicorn needed to get far away from here, no matter what. And so did she. Casting a final glare at his back, she made her way to Valorre. He remained in shadow at the edge of the clearing.
The stout one is badly wounded, Valorre said.
Cora followed Valorre’s line of vision and saw Teryn and Lex walking toward three tethered horses. She noted the way Lex continued to cradle his arm to his chest. “Why should I care? Let’s go.” She skirted around him but Valorre remained rooted in place.
The tall one tried to save my brethren from the dead man. He radiated with something like awe. Gratitude.
“Weren’t you the one telling me I should have killed him at the stream?”
Maybe I was wrong, he said with a touch of indignation.Maybe he and I both were.
Cora bit the inside of her cheek, urgency propelling her to leave the men behind. She owed them nothing. If anything, they owed her for warding off the Beast.
Valorre scraped the earth with a hoof.
“Fine,” Cora said between her teeth. She crossed the camp, trying to ignore the dead bodies she stepped over, and approached Teryn and Lex. Teryn was trying to aid his friend into his horse’s saddle, but Lex kept losing his balance. “Let me see the wound.”
Teryn whirled around, brows knitted. “Excuse me?”
She ignored Teryn, addressing Lex directly. “Your arm. Show me.”
He eyed her from head to toe. “Like I’d trust you. Did you not just poison an entire camp?”
