Only seconds had elapsed, and the entire scene had changed.
The spectral woman and her horse lay against the far wall, soaked and breathing hard. The wolves were gone. Faun and her partner sat dry against the opposite wall, staring at me.
My eyes searched for Dorian and found him. He lay half in the cave and half on the moonlit path, wet and still.
I got to my feet and rushed to him, knelt at his side and pressed his wet hair from his face. His jerkin was torn in places, blood oozing between the leather.
His chest rose, his eyes opened, and he was looking up at me with an expression I’d never seen from him—never expected to see. Not from him, aimed at me. His eyes were round, startled, almost childlike, and my face reflected back at me in full.
It was Faun who spoke first, from inside the cave.
“Magic.” Faun’s voice was low, hoarse. “The fucking human used magic.”
Dorian’s handcame up and touched my cheek. His finger grazed my skin. He didn’t speak; he didn’t need to.
I set my hand over his. “Are you all right?”
“I’m alive, you’re alive.” He let out a cough-chuckle. “Yes.”
A bitter twist of a smile tugged at me. It disappeared when that voice rattled behind me.
“Light of the forest.” The mistress of the Wild Hunt. My face half-turned; I didn’t want to look at those burned-out eyes. “Paragon of nature. Rise.”
I didn’t move. Didn’t understand.
“She means you,” Dorian said to me in a rasp.
I returned my attention to him. I didn’t want his hand to leave my face. This moment felt important beyond all others?—
His eyebrows lifted at the center. “Stand, Eury.”
If I turned away from him, my partner might disappear again. This time, forever.
“Show me your face,” the deathly voice said, echoing inside the cave.
With a sharp breath in, I forced myself to rise and turn, to look at that eerie face. The fae woman had risen, as had her horse. Padding sounded through the grass beside me, and the sodden wolves trotted past me into the cave. They dripped across the stone to her side.
The mistress took one barefooted step forward, then another. The wolves stayed with her, their dark eyes on me.
She stopped in the center of the cave, and silence fell amongst us all. The thundering of the waterfall became almost deafening as the three creatures—the ancient fae and her two wolves—studied me.
Theadrenaline that had carried me, the fear, the fury, had begun to seep away. My knees wobbled, and I barely kept myself upright. Even so, my heart thrummed under the Wild Hunt’s scrutiny.
Finally, the spectral fae’s hand rose on an unbent arm. It lifted to horizontal, and she closed her hand except for one pale index finger.
She pointed straight at me.
“Worthy.”
I exhaled. Dropped to my knees.
Those ghostly eyes shifted toward Faun and her partner. I felt the change in the air, the intent. “You…”
“No,” I breathed, the words automatic. “Don’t kill them.”
The spectral woman paused, her pitted gaze still on the two fae. “It is the right of the Wild Hunt to cull the unworthy.”
Faun and I met eyes. Hers were wide and questioning. Confused. Probably as confused as I’d been when she had told me to run.
