HEY.
I whip my head from side to side, scanning the path. Is someone … speaking to me inside my mind?
HEY!
“What? Who—?”
Kaelen, riding next to me, raises an eyebrow but puts a hand on his sword and scans our surroundings. “What is it? Did you hear something?”
“I … thisis going to sound crazy, but somebody is talking to me.Telepathically. Or I’m finally losing it, after all the stress of this—”
I’LL BE DEAD SOON IF YOU DON’T LISTEN TO ME, TWO-LEGS.
“There it is again! Kaelen, what’s happening?” Panic prickles at the back of my neck and shivers down my spine.
“Maybe the aftermath of the battle …” Kaelen begins tentatively, but I don’t hear anything else, because pain sears the skin on my wrist directly above my new tattoo.
I scream and double over, grabbing for my left wrist.
Why am I burning?
I look down at my arm and gasp.
Kaelen guides River beside me, his voice tinged with the promise of violence when he asks, “What is it? What happened?”
I hold out my arm, unable to speak.
The image of a snow leopard is now etched into my skin near the new tattoo of the moon and mountains. The cat crouches as if preparing to race up the slope, leap into the sky, and jump over the moon.
“What is that?” Kaelen whirls from side to side on his horse as if he’s going to find monsters or Zhagarn hiding behind the trees on the side of the road. “Who did that to you?”
“I don’t know! There was a voice in my head, and then the pain, and I don’t know who did it to me!”
I DID IT. BUT YOU DID THE SAME TO ME, LOUD FEMALE.
That’s when one of the famousextinctsnow leopards of the Panterran Mountains leaps into the path in front of us, all grace and power and danger. He’s as huge as Kaelen was when he shifted into a snow leopard inside the temple.
He bares his fangs and looks at Kaelen.
NOT EXTINCT. HUNGRY. CAN I EAT THIS PURPLE-EYED HUMAN?
“No! You can’teathim,” I shout, struggling to be heard over the horses’ nervous whinnies and stomping hooves.
“Soli! Stay back!” Kaelen leaps off his mount and draws his sword in one smooth motion. He stands between me and the snow leopard, and my mind fills with a wordless sensation of feline amusement.
“Kaelen! Stop! This snow leopard is … special!”
FINALLY.
“And kind of a smart mouth,” I mutter.
IF I KILL HIM, YOU WILL BE ANGRY?
“Yes, I will be angry if you kill him!Do notkill the prince.” “What’s happening?” Kaelen says slowly and quietly, as if taking care not to startle the snow leopard, but he still holds his sword at the ready.
I, TOO, NOTICE HE STILL BRANDISHES HIS CLAW, YET MINE ARE SHEATHED. SHALL I SHOW HIM?
The huge cat holds up an enormous paw the size of a meat platter, and his claws spring out. I can’t help my gasp, but Kaelen’s made of stronger mettle. He only narrows his eyes and tightens his grip on his sword hilt.
