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.
“No, Valorre,” she said with a sigh. “I’m not going anywhere.” She rose to her feet and brushed her hands on her skirts. They’d come untucked sometime between running and sulking by the tree. “Let’s make camp by the stream. We can hide our tracks and I can refill my water skin.”
Valorre snorted.You could use a bath too.
She recognized the teasing in his words, understood his attempt to lighten her mood. It worked. Her lips curled up at the corners. “Fine, a bath too, first thing in the morning. By evening, I’m going back to the camp. Sooner or later, they’ll drink that rum.”
19
The next morning, Teryn Alante gripped his spear in his right hand, relishing its comfort, its familiarity. With his left foot forward, right foot back, he angled his body to the side. In one fluid movement, he raised his spear, rotated his hips, and brought his right arm down in a smooth arc. He released the shaft and sent the spear soaring straight ahead. It landed with a thud in the dirt. He wiped the sweat from his brow and retrieved his weapon, then returned to his previous spot. Set his feet. Angled his body. Threw the spear. Then again. Again.
“Are you going to do that all day?” Lex asked in a bored tone. He sat in the shade at the base of a tree, a novel in hand. The morning sun was warm with only a mild spring breeze to interrupt the heat of its rays.
“Shouldn’t you be practicing as well?” Teryn asked, taking aim for another throw. “We’re close. You heard Helios this morning.”
“Oh, I heard him,” Lex said, then returned his attention to his book. “Mostly, I heard when he told us to wait here because we’re—what was it he’d said? That’s right.Bumbling idiots who he wouldn’t allow to mess things up now that we’re close to our prey.”
Teryn threw his spear with extra gusto this time. It landed several feet farther than the last. Lex was only slightly exaggerating Helios’ parting words when he left them after sunrise. Before that, Helios had spent an hour studying the tracks around the clearing they’d bedded down in for the night. He was certain he’d found additional unicorn tracks, no more than a day old, but was befuddled that they only appeared alongside the smaller set of human footprints, separate from the rest of the hunting party’s tracks. Helios wouldn’t say more than that, only that he’d spend the day scouting, convinced they were closing in on the hunters’ location. That was when he’d told Teryn and Lex to stay put and added some insult over their intelligence and capabilities. It had taken much restraint on Teryn’s part not to throw his spear into the other man’s back as he walked away. Which was why he’d decided to funnel all that pent-up aggression into throwing practice. Spear was his weapon of choice for hunting. If Helios’ observations were correct, he’d have reason to put it to use very soon.
Teryn retrieved his weapon, then stood before Lex. “You do plan on actually helping me, don’t you?”
