Page 171 of Ravenrose

They scared my mother.

They scare me.

Ayer hasn’t moved. He’s just standing on the edge of the cliff, staring down at me like a dark shadow.

My chest heaves as I meet his eye.

Shock… confusion… realization.

My stomach drops when he reaches for the bow at his back.

Move. MOVE!

A tear leaks out as I force myself upright, ignoring the agony screaming between my knee and my shoulder.

My wings flare out behind me, throwing me off balance before a burning pain erupts between my shoulders. And just as soon as they appeared, they’re gone.

Gone—as though they never existed.

My shock costs me several seconds, and by the time I look up, Ayer’s already got an arrow nocked. He draws the bowstring back, his dark eyes locked on me.

I dive forward.

The black arrow whizzes past, right where my head had been only seconds earlier.

Ayer’s already reaching for another arrow, and I don’t dare look back as I haul myself up, stumbling as my knee gives out in blinding pain as I half-sprint, half-limp for the cover of the tree line.

I’ve nearly made it.

I flinch when a sharp pain rips my ear, the arrow splitting the oak to my left.

He missed.

Darkness swallows me as I disappear into the tree line, collapsing only seconds later.

And though I realize he could still pursue me, perhaps those shadowy powers of his could carry him across the ravine. I don’t move. Shaking violently where I landed at the base of a tree.

Ayer missed.

I sit in stunned silence, until my own heartbeat, from inside my knee, drags me back to the present.

I don’t know how long it’s been, but Ayer hasn’t followed.

Night has fully fallen now, and I prop myself up better, resting my back against the nearest tree before rolling up my pant leg to inspect the injury.

My knee is already swollen; deep purple and blue bloom already from where it hit.

Perfect.

But not life threatening.

I let my head fall back against the tree trunk. And with no one around to see, I let the tears fall. Hot, messy—draining. They continue to soak my cheeks and the dirt when I curl up on the ground below, falling until there’s nothing left inside me except cold and exhaustion.

Sleep comes, but it’s no mercy.

Nightmares of the Raven plague every precious second. Watching the way his shadows stream out, swallowing soldiers, destroying my home. And when I look into the monster’s face⁠—

I see Ayer staring back at me.