Thalia trudged faster, not wanting to get lost.
Scraping echoed behind her, and she froze. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she slowly turned to look over her shoulder.
Her eyes scanned the trees, everything in her screaming that she was being watched.
She crouched down slowly, fingers slipping through the slits of her gown to wrap around her dagger.
Something snapped in the forest, the sound like breaking bone. A flash of gleaming white appeared in her peripheral vision. She whirled, heart in her throat—
A deer lifted its head not twenty paces away, moss hanging from its lips.
Thalia relaxed slightly, straightening.
Another crunch behind her had her whirling again, dagger raised.
Keegan raised his hands, eyes wide, as the deer bolted. “Just me.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” She didn’t lower the blade. Suddenly, she wished she hadn’t fallen so far behind Cassius.
“Cass sent me to get you.”
Thalia stared at him, her stomach twisting tightly at the nickname she hadn’t heard in years.Cass. She and Marcus used to call him that. A name he reserved for the people closest to him. Thalia didn’t want to think about how close he’d gotten to the other Vampyrs if Keegan used his nickname so freely.
Thalia slid her knife back into her dress. “And he didn’t think to find me himself?”
Keegan inclined his head, amusement dancing in his golden eyes. “He said you’d probably be inclined to stab him if he came after you. The camp’s not far off, but we shouldn’t be traveling alone.”
Well, at least Cassius’s caution wasn’t far off.
“And why is that?” Thalia asked.
Keegan studied her again, as if debating his next words. He did a quick glance around, and she could have sworn he shuddered as he said, “This forest is dangerous to those who aren’t familiar. There’s a reason it acts as a barrier between our worlds.”
She shook her head at his cryptic answer, stepping nearer. “Clearly.”
Keegan didn’t say anything more as they made their way along the quiet path.
“Did Cassius really send you to find me?” Thalia asked suddenly.
Keegan pushed aside a heavy branch cautiously, almost as though he were afraid the tree would attack him. “Yes. He didn’t think you’d wish to see him.”
Thalia’s lip curled. He wasn’t wrong.
But perhaps being away from the others loosened Keegan’s tongue, because he asked, “You knew him before, didn’t you?”
Thalia nearly tripped over her own feet. “Yes.”
“When he was human?”
“Yes.” Her heart rate pounded, images of their life before flashing through her mind. Cassius had joined the city watch thirteen years prior, right after his mother had died. It was shortly after she’d lost her own father and sister. He was sixteen while she’d been fourteen. He’d sworn to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves, and she supposed he had, in a way. If only it hadn’t taken becoming a monster to do so.
Keegan nodded, more to himself than to acknowledge her words. “I met him not long after he turned.”
Thalia’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want to think about that night. Didn’t want to think about how he had sold his soul to darkness to become something else.
“He spoke of you often,” Keegan continued, oblivious to her growing rage.
Thalia stopped short. “What?”
