“My name is Jessamine,” said the woman riding my wolf while I walked ahead.
Wolf was plenty strong enough to carry us both, but he also had the bundle of hides that I used for my tent and bed strapped behind her.
Besides, I didn’t want to be so close to her. She was a witch, and though she might appear normal in the daylight, I hadn’t forgotten how she’d used her magick to sting me last night. She’d been unconscious, yes, but still, there was wickedness hiding behind that pretty face. I was sure of it. After all, she was running from someone. If she was innocent, she’d have told me who she was running from and why. Females could be conniving, and I’d rather not get too close to this one that wasn’t even of my own kind.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“Yes, yes. Your name is Jessamine. Noted.”
“Someone is awfully grouchy. Even more so than last night.”
“I didn’t sleep last night because I had to keep watch for whoever is chasing you. Though you refuse to tell me who theyare, they might’ve tracked you to my camp, so I wasn’t going to let my guard down. Meaning, I didn’t sleep. So yes, I’m in a shitty mood.”
“Oh,” she said in that simple way of hers. “Sorry.”
Somehow, her apology prickled me more.
“What’s your name?” she finally asked as we picked our way along a snow-covered path near a brook.
The brook was frozen along the edges but the water bubbled around the stones where it was rocky. This path would lead to a cave that I often used on my hunting expeditions.
“Redvyr,” I answered.
“Redvyr,” she repeated. “That sounds rather regal.”
I didn’t bother telling her that’s because it was. It was a name for beast fae royalty. Which is what I was.
“Tell me about the beast fae.”
I hesitated, unsure how much truth to give her. “What do you know of us?”
“I know that you’re descended from one of the sons of Vix, a great, dark fae god. And I know you are the most—” she paused, which drew my attention to her face.
Her cheeks were pink. She was blushing over something.
“The most what?”
“Instinctual,” she finally said, “of the dark fae.”
“Animalistic was the word you were looking for. And you’d be right.”
“Animal senses, you mean?”
“That, yes. Unnatural strength as well.”
“That is your magick?” she asked, genuinely curious.
She must not know much at all about our kind. All fae had some sort of magick. Except the beast fae.
“It is said that we had magick once as well. A gift of speaking to the forests, the trees and plants that live there. Dryads onceprotected our kind, too. We also had a gift for taming the wilder beasts of the woods.”
“Animals like Wolf? You seem to still have that gift.”
“No. Monsters like bargas, nightvyrms, the great cats of the Solgavia Mountains. Dragons.”
“Wow. What happened? You lost this gift?”
I glanced at her over my shoulder. There was no mocking expression on her face.
