“No, this ismuchmore fun,” Devil crowed. When the cloud of fireflies faded, I was forced to release Will’s arms so as to stifle my own cry of shock. His entire head, from the collarbones up, had been replaced with the head of an ass. He reached out for me, but I flinched away from the grotesque sight without thinking. Behind me, Devil and Jon were nearly doubled over, roaring with laughter.
“What did you do?” I raged. “Change him back!”
“Oh, get a hold of yourself, May,” chuckled Devil, wiping a tear of mirth from his cheek. “It’s only a trick of the light, like a mask. He can neither see nor hear, but he will be none the worse for wear when I remove it. Besides, it suits him, andyou cannot tell me you don’t agree.” Will’s hand found my arm again, and this time I touched his chest to let him know that I was there.
“You really are a demon,” I said, but that just made Jon roar with glee again. I realized he was still nude, and turned my face away, squeezing Will’s hand tightly.
“I suppose I shan’t get an introduction until I’m clothed, hmm?” said Jon.
“Ah yes,” Devil replied, “May is a bit qualmish when it comes to bodies on display.” He stepped forward and removed Will’s cloak, then tossed it to the bear-man, who tied it like a kilt around his waist. As soon as he was covered, he strode up to me and stuck out a filthy, dirt-stained hand.
“Jon Lytle,” he said with a broad grin. Up close, I could see he was much younger than I’d first taken him for—no more than a decade older than myself, perhaps. A pair of surprisingly kind, sparkling brown eyes watched me closely from beneath unkempt brows.
“Marina,” I said slowly, shaking his hand.
“Of Locksley Abbey,” Devil finished.
Jon’s eyes grew wide and he looked me up and down as if seeing me anew. “Thisis your gardener?”
“Indeed.”
“Then it is my honor,” Jon said, dropping into a low bow. “He speaks of you often.”
I tried to hide my surprise. “Oh, does he?”
“No more than reason,” Devil grumbled, walking away and only stopping to pick up the longbow Will had dropped. “Come along, Mayhem. Arachne will have my head if we’re late for your fitting, and others will have my head if we’re late for the revelry.”
“Hmm,” I mused, pulling on Will’s hand to lead him forward, “perhaps I shall take my time then. I am in just the right mood to see your head mounted on a pike.”
Jon let out a booming laugh, making me jump. “What has he done to earn such venom from you, lady?”
I answered, “Everything,” at the exact same moment Devil cried, “Nothing!”
“Only rescued her from a life of pious tedium,” Devil huffed, “and yet see how she maligns me?” He clutched his chest and staggered, feigning a wounded heart.
“Youcoulddo with a bit more maligning, if we’re giving opinions,” Jon said, his eyes twinkling merrily. I smiled back, enjoying his company far more than I’d imagined I would. Devil scowled at both of us, then plucked an arrow from Will’s quiver and fitted it to his bow. He aimed high and loosed. The shot went straight through a ripe, red apple hanging heavy from a branch, skewering it to the trunk.
“Cover your eyes, May,” said Devil, winking at me. It was too late for me to ask why, because he had already stepped forward and smacked Jon across the back of his thighs with the longbow. Jon roared and whirled, the cloak around his waist falling away as he shifted back into the monstrous bear. He seized Devil, pulling him into a tight embrace and nearly smothering him in the vast expanse of his furry body. Alarm gripped me briefly when he opened his massive jaws and fit them over Devil’s head, but Devil just laughed and tried to fight his way free. It was clearly a good-natured wrestling match.
Once Devil had extricated himself, Jon stood on his two back legs and easily reached up to yank the arrow out between his jaws. Devil took it from him and bit a large chunk from the apple while Jon sat back on his haunches to reach above his head with a paw nearly the size of my entire torso. Deliberately and carefully, he batted at the other apples above him, knocking several more to the ground. I went to retrieve one for myself and placed a second in Will’s hand just as Jon took another swipe at Devil.
“Begone, you foul monster!” he cried with a crowing laugh. Jon heaved onto all four paws and lumbered around the base of the apple tree, eating the fruits whole in single bites. “I really must teach him to bathe.”
“You have the strangest friends,” I remarked, biting into the crisp apple and allowing the juice to dribble down my chin. To my horror, Devil reached out and wiped it away with his thumb. Only when I stopped walking and stared at him did he seem to realize what he’d done, but he merely shrugged and continued leading us through the forest. Silently thanking all the gods that Will was blindfolded, I followed.
“So,” I said after we’d been walking through the Arden for some time in silence, “are you going to offer an explanation?” I was still leading Will along with one hand, but waved my other at the great bear trundling along ahead of us.
“An explanation for Jon?”
I laughed incredulously. “Not all of us have close personal companions who can transform into bears at will, you know!”
“Jon cannot transform at will,” said Devil quietly. “He is not fay, but a human man, cursed by Lord Oberon.” I swallowed and shifted my eyes back to the bear. I hadn’t been able to see Jon’s ears beneath his mass of shaggy hair, but now that I reflected, his face did lack the ethereal beauty of the other fay I’d met.
“What is the nature of his curse?”
Devil gave a long sigh. “When Jon was young and foolish, he came to the Arden to hunt. Not to feed his family or earn coin, mind you, but to prove himself as a man. To return home with a bearskin, claws, teeth—trophiesand symbols of his strength. Unfortunately for Jon, bears are sacred to Oberon. His favored creatures. Before Jon could deliver the killing blow to a bear he’d wounded, Oberon found him and laid down a fearful curse. Now, Jon is controlled by that which drove him to hunt in the first place: his own anger, pride, and bloodlust.”
“So…he cannot decide when he is a man and when he is a beast?”
