From somewhere ahead comes a deep vibration. Not a sound exactly, more of a feeling. The earth beneath us trembles with it. The horses feel it too. Nox stamps and tosses his head. Even Jack shifts his weight, his nostrils flaring.
Isla’s eyes widen.
“They are extremely dangerous, Isla, and they’re coming this way. We need to get away from here.”
Her face has gone white.
“What are they doing here?” she asks.
I turn Nox toward the source of the sound. For a moment, the land is quiet. Then a roar splits the air. Not from above this time, but from the ground. It rolls across the deadlands, deep and guttural, shaking the earth beneath the horses’ hooves.
There is another answering roar.
“More are coming. On foot, or in whatever forms they’ve chosen,” I yell. “We need to ride.”
“What are they doing here?” she asks again.
I look to the north, where the dragons have all but vanished into the gray sky, and then back to Isla. “I think they’re going after Snow.”
Something passes across Isla’s face. Hope, perhaps. If another army is marching against the queen, surely that’s a good thing?
“If it were any other species, I would ride with them,” I tell her. “But the shifterfae are my enemy. I don’t know what their true agenda is. I don’t trust them any more than I trust Snow herself.” I gather the reins tight. “We need to ride hard. Hold on tight.”
She nods once. Her throat works as she swallows. Then she leans forward in the saddle, grips the reins, and drives her heels into Jack’s flanks.
The gelding explodes into a gallop. The horse moves with a speed I wouldn’t have thought him capable of, his short legs eating up the ground in powerful, driving strides. Isla crouches low over his neck, her body pressed flat against him, her hands buried in his mane. She rides like she was born to it.
This female surprises me at every turn.
I kick Nox after her, and he’s only too happy to run. He stretches out beneath me, his long legs devouring the distance. The wind tears at my hair and clothing. Behind us, another roar shakes the ground. Closer this time.
I don’t look back.
I ride, and I pray to Kakara that we’re fast enough. That the Vashren are too focused on their prize to care about two riders fleeing across the wastes.
And gods help me, beneath the fear, beneath the fury that those murderous bastards are this close to me and I can do nothing about it, there’s a small, treacherous part of me that hopes they succeed. That whatever army they’re bringing northis enough to bring Snow to her knees. I only wish I could be there.
I lean lower over Nox’s neck and ride harder.
26
Isla
I cannot believe that shifterfae are real and that this is actually happening.
I’m starting to think that we’re cursed. We can’t seem to catch a break.
I’m riding as fast as I can away from danger when the first creature appears from behind a low ridge, almost directly ahead of us. Then another appears…and another.
No!
They pour over the ridge like dark water, spreading out across the mud and scrub. For a heartbeat, I think they’re wolves. Then I get a better look, and the comparison falls apart.
I have to blink a few times, my breath coming out in low gasps of horror because they’re much bigger than any wolf I’ve ever seen. Much scarier, too. They’re even bigger than hy-wolves. Their bodies are thick with muscle beneath matted fur so dark it seems to drink in what little gray light there is. One of them snarls, showing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Their eyes are dull orange and seem to glow.
“They’re hy-weres,” Sebastian shouts as he runs Nox abreast of me. “More shifterfae. It looks like they’re coming in from all sides to be sure they intersect Snow.”
Hy-weres.
