Thalia didn’t want to admit that a small part of her worried she’d done too much—pushed him too far.
Cassius didn’t appear for breakfast, nor later that afternoon. It was nearing evening when Thalia finally found a servant.
“Have you seen Cass—Lord Cassius?” she asked. The servant just shook their head, scurrying off to fulfill whatever task held their attention.
Thalia walked around the quiet castle. It wasn’t like she could ask Camilla, and there was no sign of Keegan, although she wasn’t sure if he even stayed in the castle.
Thalia managed to sneak past the guards at the front and found herself in the stables, the smell of hay drifting to her nostrils. A stable hand mucked out a stall and looked up in surprise when she appeared.
“Have you seen the hand to the prince?” she asked, her fingers picking around the skin of her thumbs.
The stable hand shook his head, glancing at her hands. Thalia stopped and the boy swallowed, meeting her gaze. “He—he took his horse out late last night. He hasn’t returned.”
Thalia’s stomach tightened. “What about Lord Keegan?”
The stable hand just shook his head, confused. “I don’t know.”
“Where did Cassius go?”
The stable hand ran a shaky hand through his hair. “The forest on the east side of town.”
The forest.
Thalia’s heart pounded as she instructed the boy to get Feryena ready.It could be nothing,she told herself as she spurred her horse out of the castle grounds. Cassius had probably gone into Irenbis to ensure no more bitten were being hidden.
But the forest …
Thalia tried to keep the panic from her veins.
The creature causing the madness seemed to stay in Chaménos, but it had managed to breed, and one of its offsprings had been found in a forest far from the one that bordered the realm. Meaning the spawn could travel anywhere. And even the spawn could be just as deadly.
Thalia urged Feryena faster, breaking through the woods that surrounded the castle, and looked toward Irenbis. Then, there—to the east was another set of trees, ones that looked like they’d sprouted from Chaménos itself.
She kicked her horse, and Feryena took off, dirt flying from her hooves.
Thalia only slowed once she’d reached the edge of the trees.
She silently cursed. She should have asked the stable hand where exactly in the forest Cassius said he was going to. Thalia scanned the landscape until she spotted a small trail leading into the woods. She pushed her horse on, slowing as she entered.
The trunks of the trees rose close together like the strings of a harp, the branches laden with thick, crimson leaves. Thalia’s heart pounded, but she willed herself to breathe and think.
Whatever Cassius was doing in the forest, tramping through in a panic would no doubt ruin it, or piss him off further. Thalia took a deep breath.
Feryena moved along the path, and Thalia searched for anything amiss. It wasn’t until she’d gone at least a mile into the forest that she saw something strange.
Deep gouges appeared in some of the tree trunks, branches and underbrush broken from something being dragged.
Thalia grabbed the dagger in her boot, silently cursing herself again for not taking more weapons.
She halted her horse, ears straining. She heard nothing, and the trail of broken ground was old. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and she slowly looked over her shoulder, glancing between the trunks.
Feryena swished her tail, ears flicking back and forth. There was nothing. Not even the scurrying of squirrels above her—
A screech broke through the trees, the sound startling her horse. Thalia fumbled with the reins as Feryena spooked.
She didn’t have time to scream as something slammed into her side and she was knocked clean out of the saddle.
She rolled as she hit the ground, trying to get her feet under her, fighting for breath in her lungs. Whatever had knocked her off had been sent flying a few paces away, and she whirled, dagger drawn.
