I search the cave, gasping when I find the face of a silver-eyed wolf sneering back at me from her painting. A shudder snakes down my spine.
That’s what she had been painting all this time? And here I was, thinking she was painting at random.
My heart rings through my ears as I rush down the tunnel, and I stumble upon a handwritten note on the kitchen table. She’s left her necklace, too.
Shaking my head, I snatch up the note, reading quickly.
I’m sorry. If I don’t survive the hunt, then I want you to have it, Tegwyn. Find the happiness you deserve. Maybe you can finally find that island…
My hands tremble.
No. I already found my happiness, and I can’t let her go through with this.
She’s going after the wolf that chased her all the way to the north. When she’d described the beast to me, I knew it without a doubt in my mind.
That wolf was Fae. Most likely a member of the king’s court.
If I have to kill that creature to save her, so be it. I will taint my soul once again, killing another member of my kind just to keep her safe. She’s my family now, and I will protect her at all costs.
My eyes find my rack of knives. The hunting knife has gone.
Grabbing my bow and quiver, I don my cloak, making my descent into the early dawn.
Iwillcatch up with her.
35
Ivy
Themiserablegreylightof dawn filters through the trees, bringing with it a fine mist, but I keep on marching, determined to hunt down the one thing that has held me back all these months.
The wolf.
I know that vicious lupine is in league with the king. And I know that it was never a wolf in the first place, but a member of his court.
A Fae.
For Belle, I will kill it.
And for my parents, I will kill the king.
It’s time to fight back. My mind is stuck. Somewhere inside, there is a smart girl banging on the glass, begging me to see reason and not to do anything rash.
But grief has taken over. The abyss sucked me right back into its cruel, black mouth, and now the creature has become me, its eyes searing deep into my soul.
My fingers grip the knife as I finally find the clearing where Belle and the wolf fought. It barely ended in bloodshed.
I don’t even know what became of the horse; she just vanished with a blast of light, and I still don’t fully understand what happened that day.
The clearing is overgrown with snowdrops, even though the winter frost has long since settled. But I don’t question the peculiarity further as I focus on the surrounding trees, knowing that the wolf’s out there.
I may not survive today, but at least I will die in a beautiful place. The snowdrops glisten with what can only be described as liquid diamonds. They drip from the petals, collecting inside the veins of each leaf, and the effect almost resembles magic.
Tegwyn would love this place.
Leaving him was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I hope he understands that I do love him. He will just have to find his happiness without me. This will be the hill upon which I die. I’ve made my choice.
The hair pricks at the back of my neck, and I grasp the knife tighter. I’m not alone. Someone watches.
