“Who sent you to hunt unicorns, then?”
“A spoiled harpy named Princess Mareleau. Do you know her?”
Another flash of confusion crossed the girl’s face. Her grip on the dagger slackened, and he took the opportunity to launch a step back. Before she could react, he struck her wrist and twisted it, forcing her to drop the blade. She unsheathed a smaller knife from her belt and slashed out at him. Her blade sliced his forearm, but he closed in on her anyway. Taking her free hand, he twisted her arm at an angle, wrenching it behind her back and spinning her around until she faced away from him. He tugged her arm close to his chest while she continued to try and slash him with her knife.
“Will you stop trying to stab me?” he growled. As she suddenly froze against him, he realized how close his lips were to her ear. He angled his face away from her, caught off guard by that realization.
“No,” she said with a grunt and slammed her heel into his instep. He winced but didn’t release her. She tried to stomp on him again, but he widened his stance and hooked a foot around her ankle. Her balance gave way, and he assisted her fall to the ground. He pinned her knife hand overhead to keep the weapon’s tip from his face.
“Mind telling me why you’re accosting a prince?” he said through his teeth as he finally pried the knife from her fingers and tossed it a few feet away.
“Like I care about pretty princes.” She lifted her head and slammed it into his nose.
“Seven devils,” he cursed, feeling blood streaming over his lips. He sprang back, hand to his nose. She brought the heel of her palm to his sternum and sent him falling on his back. He rolled onto his side, felt his hand come around the shaft of his spear. Rising to his feet, he swept his weapon out in an arc, then lifted it in preparation to throw. His eyes were glazed from the pain of his probably broken nose. It took a moment for his vision to clear. When it did, he found the woman several paces away, bow drawn, arrow nocked.
Their eyes locked, weapons still. Her chest heaved above her bodice while his rose and fell beneath his vest. “I’m not trying to hurt you,” he bit out.
“Perhaps not, but you tried to kill my friend.”
“Friend?” Realization dawned as he remembered what had happened before the woman had attacked him. “Wait, the unicorn? That’s your…friend?” He saw no sign of it now, nor had he any time during their fight.
“How many unicorns have you killed?” she asked.
“None.”
“But you were going to kill Valorre.”
Valorre. Was that its name? Was this unicorn not a wild creature but a…pet? Teryn recalled Helios’ bewilderment over the tracks they’d found. They’d appeared alongside a small set of footprints—this woman’s footprints. Not a boy’s.
Teryn’s spear arm was starting to ache from holding his position. He needed to de-escalate this situation. Quickly. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I’m sorry I tried to kill your friend.”
“Sorry isn’t enough. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t shoot you where you stand.”
“If you missed the part where I said I was a prince, then you may not have noticed the spear aimed at your heart either. So allow me to point it out.”
“I can shoot faster than you can throw.”
“Want to test that theory? Even if your arrow struck true, you’d have the entire Kingdom of Menah hunting you down in recompense.”
“Only if you lived to tell about it.”
“And only if you survived a spear wound to your most vital organ.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Lower your weapon and I’ll lower mine.”
“Not a chance,” Teryn said. “I’ll stop waltzing when you stop leading. Lower your bow.”
“Count of three, and we both lower our weapons. One. Two. Three.”
Neither of them moved.
She released a frustrated groan. “I’ll lower my bow if you promise me this. Never come near a unicorn again. If you do, I will kill you. I will not spare your life twice, prince or no.”
Teryn almost opened his mouth to make that promise and mean it with his whole heart. He remembered how he’d stood frozen when finally faced with killing his prey. Every inch of his body had rebelled at doing what needed to be done. It was a worrying prospect, but one he didn’t have time to address right now. All that mattered was getting on his attacker’s better side. “I promise,” he said. The words sent something like relief through his body, even as his mind screamed that the vow was a lie. He still had to win the Heart’s Hunt.
She kept her arrow trained on him for several more breaths, then finally let it down. Teryn did the same. Neither severed their gaze.
“I’m going to fetch my things now,” she said, tilting her head toward the weapons that littered the ground between them.
