And neither would the house.
“We need to leave,” I barked at them. “Grab whatever you can and get out of here. Now!”
The horses screamed from where they were tied to their posts. Before I could stop her, Tessa pulled free of my arms and ran toward the horses. I swore beneath my breath and followed her. Despite my fae speed, she reached them before I did.
With shaking hands, she untied the ropes. She freed Silver first, then the others. The horse started to charge away, but she whispered into the wind. With a wicked scream, he stomped at the ground, eyes wild, teeth bared. But he didn’t run. And neither did the others.
A moment later, the rest of our party reached us. The crack beside the house had widened, the split so vast it could swallow an entire building. And then—there. A long, black talon punched up through the crack, larger than two fae put together. My heart slammed my ribs. Something terrible was coming for us.
“Everyone,” I said with a lethal calm that betrayed none of the raging emotions inside of me, “get on the fucking horses and ride. Ride like your lives depend on it.”
Because they did.
Nellie caught sight of the talon and let out a strangled cry. Fenella glanced over her shoulder, following Nellie’s gaze. Her face didn’t even flinch, but her throat bobbed. Toryn grabbed Nellie’s waist and lifted her onto a horse, and then slapped his hand against the horse’s rump.
Nellie screamed as the horse raced into the night. Tessa, eyes focused on her sister, leapt onto Silver and followed quickly. I made certain Toryn, Fenella, and Caedmon left before I ran back to warn the warriors trapped in the guardhouse. They couldn’t stay in the city if they wanted to survive.
That was when the ground exploded.
Fourteen
Tessa
The ground shook so hard, my horse stumbled, nickering wildly and tossing his head. Nellie hurtled off into the darkness just ahead of me, her form nothing but a smudge amid the gray. I glanced over my shoulder. The others were gaining quickly, the mists thinning around them. But back in the city, a monster the size of a house stalked toward Kalen.
It was unlike any creature I’d ever seen before, unlike anything I could have dreamed of. Six massive black talons punched the ground, the ends sharper than any steel. Its round black body quivered, and a pair of blood-red eyes swirled this way and that, its pincers clicking together.
Just ahead of it, Kalen raced into the guardhouse without even giving the creature a second glance. When he vanished from sight, Boudica darted madly in the skies.
All the blood in my body stilled.
I tried to turn Silver around, but he bucked against me. My hands slipped on the reins, and I flew from his back. The wind whipped around me as I fell. The ground raced up to meet me, my teeth knocking together when my backside hit the dirt.
“What are you doing?” Fenella screamed at me as she approached.
Despite the pain, I shoved up from the ground and started running back toward the city. “Kalen went to save the guards. Look after Nellie. I’m going to help him.”
It seemed stupid—insane, even. But I could not stop my feet from moving in Kalen’s direction. It was as if an invisible rope tugged me forward, despite the danger scuttling closer and closer to the building that Kalen had entered. No one had come out yet. Did they hope to hide from the beast in the guardhouse? It wouldn’t work. The creature was big enough that it could smash down those wooden walls if it wanted to.
I just kept running. A moment later, I heard the thundering of hooves once more. I took my eyes off the beast, just for a brief moment, to catch sight of Fenella’s horse running beside me. Her face was grim, and she kept swearing into the mist, but any time her horse faltered, she urged him onward.
“Stay back,” she called to me. “You’re able to heal from a pooka’s wounds, but I don’t think you can heal from this.”
Without another word, she dug her heels into the horse’s flank and peeled ahead of me. I ground my teeth and pumped my arms, willing myself to move faster. The creature had reached the guardhouse now and was tapping one of the walls with its vicious talons. My heart nearly stopped when it tapped against a window. The glass shattered like it was made of nothing at all.
Fenella charged toward the beast, lifting Toryn’s spear. “Oi! Come get me, you fucking asshole.”
The beast whirled toward Fenella. She slowed to a stop, held the spear aloft, and waited for the inevitable. I kept running, moving as fast as I could, but knowing I wouldn’t make it in time. One swipe, that was all it would take. One punch of a talon, and Fenella would die. With a click of its pincers, the beast lurched toward the silver-haired fae.
I flicked my gaze to the guardhouse just as the front door flung open. Kalen stepped out into the mists, his hands fisted and his expression hard. “Fenella, get out of here now.”
“With all due respect, Your Majesty,” she shouted, leveling the spear as the creature, “not until you do.”
Narrowing his eyes, he stepped forward. “I can kill it, but not if you’re there. Run back to the others. Make sure Tessa is all right.”
He hadn’t seen me yet, then. I was still running, my legs burning and my lungs aching for air.
Suddenly, the beast lifted a talon and shoved it through Fenella’s chest. She tumbled off her horse and fell on the sand. Kalen roared, a sound of pain that slowed my steps. I stumbled, my body shuddering as if his emotions were shattering inside me. My knees hit the dirt.
