People.Bodies.
A chorus of growls sounds behind me, blood-chillingly close.
I spin around and my mouth goes dry as I see a huge black panther lowering its heads—plural, because it has three of them—as it prowls toward me.
Chapter 10
Leah
Three dark muzzles sniffing the air. Six acid-green eyes. And…exactly how many teeth in the monster’s open jaws? Funnily enough, I can’t manage the math right now.
I edge a foot back toward the lake, which only makes the animal snarl. All three heads do the same thing in unison, which would be impressive if it didn’t set my heart hammering out of my chest.
Still, in that moment, something breaks through my terror, a sensation moving across my skin so quickly it feels like being grabbed by the throat.
“Don’t go near the water!”
The Lord of Malice has found me, and I wince at the edge of anger in his voice as it digs into my mind.
So what, I’m supposed to stand here and get mauled? Tempting, but no.I try to shift my feet further back from the beast, only to find them glued to the ground.
“You won’t get mauled,”the voice says, calmer this time, curling around my mind in a way that almost feels like a caress. It’s not enough to distract me from the fact I must’ve spoken my thoughts too loudly again. Or from the panther still staring me down.
But, like me, it hasn’t moved in the last twenty seconds.
Wingbeats sound overhead, and I jerk my neck up to see Syrus gliding toward me. The black membrane of his wings flexes as they carry him earthward, a breeze ruffling through the waves of his dark hair. When he lands, he touches down on the shore as easily and as gracefully as someone descending the last step on a staircase.
“Call it off,” I demand, pointing at the panther as Syrus strides toward us both.
He gives me a curious look.“What makes you think I can do that?”
I try not to shiver from him speaking so casually into my mind, his words sweeping past my ears like they’ve been whispered right into my consciousness. I answer out loud, not wanting to encourage his careless invasions.
“The fact that you’re getting anywhere within biting distance of that creature was my first clue.”
It’s only part of the truth. I also noticed the way the animal relaxed as soon as Syrus arrived, its stance settling back and its eyes leaving me for the first time.
His lips tighten into a straight line, but he turns, raising an eyebrow at the big cat. It promptly sits back on its haunches. The head on the far left yawns, setting off the other two.
“Triya was trying to keep you safe from the Morphos,”Syrus says, the wordsafebrushing softly against the inside of my head.
“She’s a pet?” I ask weakly.
“As much as a hellcat can be.Perhaps more of a companion. But make no mistake, Rose Radley. Triya would happily drag you back up to the castle by tooth or claw if necessary. You are lucky she is all you encountered on your excursion. Infernum is no place for a human to roam alone.”
No place for a human.I stifle the bitter laughter bubbling up in my chest at the irony.You’re telling me,I think quietly, so Syrus doesn’t hear.
But I can’t argue with him, not without finding out what that hellcat’s jaws feel like wrapped around my neck, so I ask a question instead.
“The Morphos is the lake? Is it poisonous? Is that how all those bodies got in there?”
Okay, three questions. I have that number on my mind for some reason.
He straightens his cuff as he looks out to the water, seeming to debate something. He’s wearing the same clothes as earlier, minus the cloak, and I can see them more clearly now. What I thought was a tunic is more like a gray, fitted kind of doublet, the cuffs and collar of his white shirt peeking out from underneath. It suddenly occurs to me the clothes I found in the wardrobe—the shirt I’m wearing now—might be his, which makes me oddly aware of the feel of the cotton fabric against my skin.
I’m relieved when he answers me out loud for a change.
“Yes, the Morphos is the name of this lake,” he says, his red-ringed eyes still on the surface of the water. “It’s not poisonous, but it’s powerful—one of the most magical places in Infernum. If a human swallows the water, they risk binding their soul to be reborn in Infernum.”
