Page 261 of Lethal King

“Over here, quick!” she responds.

I follow her voice until I hear the sound of running water.

“Where are you?” I ask, reaching down for my gun.

“This way.”

Beside a modest stream rises a giant weeping willow. Roz’s voice comes from the darkness beneath the hanging leaves.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, joining her in the darkness.

Instead of answering, Rozalia presses a finger to her lips. Her big green eyes shine through the darkness.

My hackles rise.

When I hear a commotion in the branches above, my instinct is to attack. Tearing my gun out, I lift it to the sky, but before I can fire, Roz jumps on my arm, knocking the weapon from my hand.

“No!” she pleads.

A split-second later, something jumps from the branches. It lands on the leafy ground by the trunk, then flashes across the stream, following a spotted bridge of stones.

By the time the black figure disappears into the woods on the other side of the water, I understand what’s happening.

“A cat,” I mumble, picking up my gun.

“Not just any cat,” Roz whispers. “Willow…”

“Roz, I… listen,” I’m not sure what to say.

There’s no way that was Willow.

“Do you think that’s why Tytus brought us here?” Roz asks, the hope in her voice is so innocent it carves a hole in my chest.

“No,” I grunt, shaking my head. “Tytus doesn’t know about Willow. No one does. Don’t you remember?”

“I… I…” Now it’s Roz’s turn to stumble. “I wanted your help getting me up into the tree,” she finally says. “But I think I scared her away.”

“I don’t think that was Willow,” I carefully remark.

“How do you know?”

“Wouldn’t she be almost sixteen years old by now?”

“So what?”

“How is an old cat going to move that quickly?”

I can see the realization dawn over Rozalia’s pretty green eyes. But before her hopes are dashed, a brightness flickers in her gaze.

“Maybe she had kittens,” Roz says.

“Maybe,” I mutter. “But that’s not why we’re here. Roz, we need to—”

“Rian, please.”

When Rozalia squeezes onto my hand, I know I can’t refuse.

Her emerald green eyes glisten against the moonlight. My heart flutters.