The same instant I released my spell, an explosion rang through the woods—no, agunshot.
The bullet lodged through the shrieking harpy’s wing. Its face bloomed with blood from my attack. Two more shots rang out. One bullet hissed past me in a flash of silver while the other struck the harpy directly through its forehead. It choked, uttering a rasp before dropping out of the air and thudding into the fresh snow below.
I let out a slow breath that pooled like smoke before me. Veering lower, I held a spell at the ready, frost prickling up to my elbows.
But the harpy did not move again.
A shadow peeled itself from the trees across the grove, moving too slowly and stealthily for an ordinary human. When Jon spotted me, he lowered his gun in relief.
I offered a weak smile. “I should have known you’d come stalking me eventually.”
“And it’s a damn good thing I did,” he answered, his voice carefully restrained. “What the hell are you doing out here alone?” His eyes skated over my hovering form, appraising for any blood staining my clothes.
I muscled down a wince, thinking of the peaceful state I’d left him in. “I felt it out there again. Like it was calling my name. I had to come check.”
“A gem?” Jon asked, some of the intensity in his gaze softening. “You still should have woken me. This thing could’ve torn you apart.” He crouched by the body, already preparing a small bottle of gasoline and a lighter that he always kept on him. His brow furrowed. “What’s a harpy doing out here in the middle of winter?”
“They stick to tropical areas, don’t they?” Although I shivered at the sight of the talons, deep gouges in the harpy’s legs caught my eye. “Wait, do you see that?”
Leaning closer, Jon pushed feathers away to make the marks more visible. “Looks like it was restrained.”
The Louisiana hunting outpost sliced across my mind's eye—those cages at the dock we'd glimpsed last month, deep in the misty bayous. Captive monsters gathered strategically at Rhett Iverson's command for stars only knew what purpose.
But that was hundreds of miles from here. And Rhett had dropped off the face of the earth—presumed dead, from the ghastly way Jon had strung him up for the sirens to feast on. It was difficult to pity such a wicked man, even if picturing his fate made me queasy. With any luck, that wretched operation he'd been running withered in his absence.
Jon and I shared an uneasy look, the silent question burning between us—because if not Rhett Iverson, then who the hell would be keeping a bloodthirsty creature likethiscaptive around here?
The two of us remained silent until the moment the harpy’s body was alight. Jon must have noticed the way I kept peering into the trees—not with the fear of getting attacked again but the hope of catching the gemstone’s call again.
“Can you still feel it?” he asked.
I schooled my expression and shrugged. “Not right now. Sometimes, it’s a whisper. Other times, a roar, but…” I trailed off. The area around us was sparse. Painfully ordinary trees, shrubs, and rocky soil as far as the eye could see. None of the tell-tale signs of altered flora and fauna, like those outside of Veloria. “It’s too far away.”
My hands trembled, yearning to hold the gemstone. I wasready. The memory of losing the previous one over a month ago still crushed my spirit: the satchel slipping from my arms underwater when that siren had dragged Jon away from the surface. We were lucky to make it out with our lives, but I couldn’t forget the golden opportunity I had lost forever to the depths. Was it sitting there now in the mud and silt, or had Velorian survivors salvaged and returned it to the Starforged Sanctum deep in their fortress?
Part of me felt deranged enough to consider finding out, but I could never suggest such a thing to the boys. We were lucky to have made it out aliveoncefrom that twisted village. Tempting fate a second time was reckless beyond even me.
“Anyway, it doesn’t matter right now,” I said. “I shouldn’t have come out here to begin with. Aelthorin is the priority.”
“I’m sure we’re getting close.” Jon’s encouraging voice was still steeped with concern. “The two spots we marked for tomorrow look promising.”
The idea of hunters learning to hone in on fairy villages should have horrified me, but warmth surged through my chest instead. The amount of care Jon and Cliff had put into analyzing natural terrain and available resources was dizzying.
“And if we’re right, I’ll be able to sense the glamour trying to keep nosy humans like you away,” I said lightly.
He cracked a smile. “You love to bring that up.”
“It’s good news in the long run. You’re lucky to have me.” I batted my lashes as I flew past him, leaving the harpy to finish smoldering.
When Jon didn’t immediately follow, I checked over my shoulder. His eyes were closed, but his brow unknitted. I wondered if he was trying to sense the gemstone’s aura with me,for me.
My heart gave a squeeze when I realized he was listening to the faint birdsong and sounds of the forest carried on the breeze. He was coming down from the harpy's unexpected ambush, savoring the peace and the biting sharpness of the evergreen trees. I’d seen him like this before while deep in nature, but the winter somehow suited him especially—the slight flush to his olive skin, the snowflakes peppering his unruly locks of dark hair.
I had lost track of whether I’d had that effect on him, teaching him to be more attuned to nature’s simple pleasures, or whether that was part of the reason I had fallen for him in the first place.
After we set off together through the trees, leaving the smell of the burning harpy behind, Jon gave a small hum.
“What was that you said before about mestalkingyou?” Jon's deep voice smoothed out, replacing tension with a playful, lingering warmth. “Last I checked, you were into that sort of thing.”
