The night was darker than she’d imagined, and the sound of their brawling made her shiver. Eyes usually adjusted to the dimness and then shapes became clearer. Not tonight, with littlemoon and branches that were thick this deep into the forest, even if they were still leafless.
The wind howled louder than the hounds, and Rain drew her cloak more firmly around her. Spring had come to Leathen, in her way at least, but the air still smelled of her sister, Winter.
And Dawn was taking forever.
Rain had considered taking Soren with her, but she hadn’t wanted to make him choosebetween abandoning her or abandoning his position. If he was to become her personal guard in less than two moons and for the remainder of their lives in Parr, though, perhaps he would have agreed to start sooner.
But Soren had an irritating way of making her see reason, and she hadn’t wanted to be talked out of leaving without Daric. She’d been too angry and hurt to stop herself, and she hadn’twanted Soren to stop her, either.
Now, however, with the chill wind in her face, the hallerhounds at her back, and the night all around her, she wished she’d woken Soren. But he sometimes looked at her in a way that was disconcerting. He wasn’t so old, and he was fit and handsome, but she wanted that same look on Daric’s face, and she’d never had it.
Until tonight.
Rain worried her lower lipbetween her teeth. Daric had looked so torn and desperate. And she’d just left him. Without a word. Without a note. Without anything. That was terrible, in retrospect.
She sighed loudly enough to make Arjun’s ears twitch. At least she’d left the book open to the passage she’d found about the Blood of Braylian. If Daric wanted to, he could join her.
A branch cracked, and Rain stiffened. The soundhadn’t come from overhead but rather from just in front of her. She squinted, watching the narrow roadway, but the first light of day was still weak and gray and scarcely penetrated the darkness.
A figure she could barely see suddenly lunged at her. He waved his arms and shouted, startling Arjun into rearing. Rain kept her balance and lashed out at the man with her whip when he tried to unseather. He frightened Arjun again, hitting her mount in the face, and the poor animal went nearly vertical.
She might have righted herself, but hands tore at her from behind and dragged her backward. Arjun landed on all fours and shied to the side, leaving Rain in a heap on the ground with two men looming over her. The horse raced down the path in the opposite direction, taking her provisions, extraclothing, sword, and bow and arrows with him.
Rain drew the dagger from her belt and swung her arm up, ramming the hilt into the face of the man behind her. He grunted harshly, and the hands gripping her shoulders loosened. She whipped around, bashing him in the head again with the heavy crosspiece. His eyes rolled up, and he went down, unconscious.
She turned to face the first man again. Heleered at her with a rotten-tooth grin that sent a spike of panic through her. Something dangerous and powerful answered the distress inside her. It built beneath her skin, and Rain knew that now was not the time to stop it.
“I like a feisty woman, ’specially one with pretty silver hair and fine clothing. Who’d’a thunk? Fierce for such a small thing.” His eyes glinted and it wasn’t too dark tosee his malice.
Rain had always kept a tight hold on whatever was left of her former self. That existence was gone, and there was no reason to frighten people with it, even horrible little princesses like Astraea. The magic left in her didn’t water Leathen or make crops grow and prosper, so she’d seen no point in showing it. She didn’t want people to fear her—not when she had to live among them.But this man could use some frightening.
“I am not small.” Rain’s words cracked out of her like lightning. “I am the storm you never saw coming.”
He blinked in surprise. She advanced, and he stepped back.
Rain let magic swell in her veins, magic she barely knew how to wield or control since she never used it. Nevertheless, vines grew down her arms at her bidding, feeding on her own moistureand minerals until she felt prickly with thirst. One sturdy tendril of greenery circled her dagger, waiting. The other grew long, snaking toward the bandit.
He flinched in fear and turned to run, but Rain blew him to his knees with a gale that snarled around them. Trees creaked and leaned. Forest debris rose on violent whirlwinds and eddied into him. Whipped on all sides, he cowered, grovelingon the forest path like a beggar before her altar. The good-natured woman she’d been for years stepped aside, making room for something terrifying.
She’d hidden this away, shunning it, but she instinctively knew this powerful being was only a pale version of what she’d been before. In the beginning, for years really, she hadn’t even realized it was still a part of her. And when she did, she hadn’twanted to alarm Daric, or to be so very different from him. Long before that, she’d already wanted to keep him. Love him. She’d wanted him to loveher.
Rain’s head tipped to one side as she contemplated her attacker. She was not innately cruel and would rather nurture life than take it. Spring rain watered. But late frosts also killed new buds with a coating of ice, and sometimes, that was justthe way of it.
The bandit shivered as she weighed her options, feeling her magic stretch and grow powerful. It was wild from disuse and aggressive from its sudden unleashing. It pulled her toward a wider perception than that of one person, where the world around her seemed increasingly distant but also more richly layered.
Rain sent a vine to coil around her attacker, loops upon loops to holdhim in place while she decided. Life. Death. It was a cycle that never ended.
The man drooped and slumped to his side, motionless. Had her vines been too tight? Or was he simply cold and frightened?
She didn’t know. In the end, she willed the vines out of existence, freeing him. She would leave his fate to Chance, who had once been her companion. The two unconscious brigands could live or die.The day might turn warm and save them. Or stay cold and take them. The hallerhounds might scent easy prey and eat them.
A familiar voice called through the forest, distracting her. Or maybe grounding her. Bringing her back to herself. Hooves pounded, but no threat poked at her suddenly heightened senses. In fact, she felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness.
Daric.
Rain threw her hood backand let him see the woman he knew, corralling that other part of her. He galloped toward her, handsome and strong and visibly exploding with worry.
Dawn broke fully around them just as he reached her. He held Arjun’s reins in his hand and brought both horses to a mad halt scant steps from her. Daric vaulted to the ground, grabbed her, and crushed her against him. A warm wave tumbled in Rain’sbelly. All parts of her leaned into him willingly.
