Page 60 of When Ashes Fall

I had the absurd realization he was a very well-trained horse, considering he’d stayed through all of that. Then the loud chatter of the dead filled my ears again.

“What did he shift into? What was that?”

“Who is this man?”

“He’s like no shifter I’ve ever seen before.”

“What is he?”

“And what did the dragon release on the eagle?”

I’d like to know the answer to that too.

“Wha… what…” I swallowed to moisten my dry throat before speaking again. “What did the shadow dragon unleash on it?”

“Despair.”

Knox’s voice was more guttural and distorted than usual. His fangs remained extended even though they weren’t visible.

I jogged to keep up with his brisk pace. “What?”

“Despair. The sorrow of this land created him, and that is his weapon.”

“That’s… That’s…” I craned my head to look back at where the shadow dragon was devouring its prey. This creature was truly something that never existed in the kingdoms before my mother created it. “That’s unheard of.”

“Maybe at one time, but not anymore.”

His clipped words drew my attention back to him as we stopped beside Magnazius. Gizzi scurried up my leg to perch on my shoulder.

Knox’s claws bit into my waist, but I didn’t complain as the rain came down harder, washing away more of the blood covering him. When he lifted me off the ground and plopped me on the saddle, I recalled he’d lost all his clothes when he shifted just before he swung up behind me.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Briar

When he settled behind me, his breath sucked in. “You’re freezing.”

So, it wasn’t just my imagination about the phantoms being icy; they really did make me colder. Though I was sure the attack from the eagles, rain, and wind didn’t help at all.

“The wind got a little chilly,” I said.

“Why didn’t you say something?” he demanded.

His voice sounded more like it normally did, but that didn’t fool me into thinking he was calming down. His body remained rigid against mine, and tension hummed through him. Fur lined the back of his clawed hands as he gripped the reins before me.

I huddled into myself and regretted it when Knox snarled. “Fucking eagles. I almost scented them too late.”

“You… you scented them?” I asked through my chattering teeth.

“They almost killed you,” he spat, seeming not to have heard me.

The veins and muscles in his forearms bulged when they tightened around me. His hands cracked as they started shifting toward a paw before he regained control… but not all of it.

“…lost you.”

The wind tore most of his words away as it ripped the last of my hair free from its knot. I didn’t know what he’d said, but fur spread up his arms before rippling away again.

I didn’t dare move; it might cause the beast to unleash.