“Of course not.”
“There you have it.” I keep the fire burning in my palms.
“I enjoyed our time together. I wish we could have had a little longer.” His voice is soft amidst the chaos.
“Me too.” A thickness lodges in my throat.
“We’re ready, you bastards!” Sebastian yells, holding up his sword.
One of them lunges.
It comes from the right, a dark blur of muscle and teeth aimed at Sebastian. He swings the sword and catches it across the snout. The blade bites deep, drawing a line of black blood. The creature howls and veers away, shaking its immense head.
Two more come from the left. I throw my hand forward, and fire erupts from my palm, bright and fierce. One of the hy-weres takes it full in the chest and tumbles sideways, yelping. The other ducks low and keeps coming.
Sebastian kicks Nox forward. His horse slams his shoulder into the creature, sending it staggering. Sebastian brings the sword down hard across its flank. It screams, a high, awful sound, and retreats, blood streaming from its hind leg.
But the others tighten the circle. They press closer, snapping and snarling, testing us from every angle. Every time Sebastian turns to face one, another darts in from behind. I throw fire again, this time in a wide arc that scorches the ground and forces three of the beasts back. Jack kicks out with his hind legs, catching a hy-were in the jaw with a crack that makes me flinch.
Good boy.
We’re holding them off, but only just.
Then the ground shakes.
It’s a different vibration than before. The earth itself seems to groan under the weight of whatever is approaching.
I turn in the saddle.
Through the gloom, shapes materialize. Three of them, moving abreast, carving furrows through the mud. They look like huge bears that have been wrapped in bone. Jagged protrusions jut from their spines, their shoulders, their skulls. Every surface is covered in ridges and spikes. They move slowlybut with a certainty that is worse than speed. They don’t need to be fast because nothing can stop them.
I can’t remember what they’re called. Only that they’re another shifterfae creature from my mother’s stories.
“Thornbacks,” Sebastian mutters, and shivers run up my spine.
We can’t win against these hy-weres, let alone a couple of thornbacks.
And behind them, weaving between their legs with a serpentine grace, come things I have no name for.
Long, sinuous bodies covered in scales so dark they look wet. Six legs carry them low to the ground, their bellies almost touching the mud. Their heads are flat and wide, with jaws that seem hinged too far back.
One of them opens its mouth, and a black mist billows out. It rolls across the ground like fog, and where it touches the sparse, dead grass, the vegetation disintegrates.
My mouth goes dry.
“We can’t possibly win,” I tell Sebastian, sounding defeated.
Sebastian says nothing. He doesn’t have to. I can see it in the set of his shoulders. He knows.
The hy-weres pull back, giving way to the larger creatures. They’ve done their job. They kept us here long enough for reinforcements to arrive. The thornbacks lumber forward, forming a wall of bone and muscle, while the six-legged serpent creatures slide through the gaps, their ember eyes locked on us.
I look at Sebastian. His jaw is tight. There are tiny wisps of shadow curling from his hands. Dark tendrils lick at his fingers like black smoke.
My stomach drops. If he uses his magic, he might kill us all. Even worse, the queen will feel it. Snow will know exactly where he is. Everything we’ve risked, everything we’ve suffered to get him out of the Shadow Court, will have been for nothing.
I reach across the gap between our horses and close my hand over his wrist. I squeeze once.
His eyes snap to mine.
