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I jumped and glanced over as Quilla returned to us.
When she saw the unicorn, she stopped short, blinked, then frowned at it a moment before she glanced toward her aunt. “So he attracts unicorns now?”
Melaina seemed amused as she answered, “Apparently.”
“Swell,” Quilla muttered in disgust, turning back to frown at the beast. “It was parading as the cat, I presume.”
“Yep.”
“And you didn’t think to warn me about that?”
“And ruin the surprise?” Melaina trilled out a laugh. “Never.”
“Figures.”
My mate sent the unicorn a repulsed sneer as she studied it a minute longer. All the while, the unicorn butted her head at me, urging me to stroke her hide in a new spot.
When I did, giving the animal whatever loving scratches she wanted, Quilla snorted and turned away with a dismissive, “Whatever. Just don’t lag behind.”
The unicorn hissed at her, flicking out a forked serpentine tongue.
“Whoa.” I leaped a step away. Is that really what their tongues looked like? I had not been expecting that.
As if reading my mind, the unicorn turned back to me and opened her mouth, displaying what looked like the inside of every other horse’s mouth with a normal horse tongue.
“Okay, then,” I decided. “So, not only can you change fully from one animal to another, but you can change one body part at a time, too. Right. Good to know.”
The unicorn immediately changed back into the cat, only to flicker back into the unicorn.
I laughed. “Cool trick.”
“Show-off,” Melaina muttered.
The unicorn hissed at her too.
Which made me realize. “Wait. You can totally understand everything we say, can’t you? I knew it!”
The unicorn bowed her head to me. And then suddenly, a saddle appeared on her back.
“Uh...”
As I ogled the reins, Melaina nudged my shoulder again. “Well, stop standing there with your mouth hanging open, drawing flies. The most powerful magical beast in the Outer Realms just invited you to ride her. You don’t turn that shit down unless you want to insult her and end up with a nasty curse that follows you and your family for generations to come, now do you?”
No, I really didn’t.
I hastened to mount the unicorn. It was clumsy going, getting onto her with my hands bound, but once I was seated, the unicorn was surprisingly the most comfortable equine I’d ever ridden.
With a grin, I turned toward Melaina to share my success, only to remember she wasn’t my friend, but my captor. And a freaking horse thief.
My smile died.
“Is that how the Graykey family curse began?” I asked a thoughtful moment later as I set my pace alongside her. “Someone pissed off a unicorn?”
Melaina ignored the question, but the horse under me shook its head back and forth, answering no.
“Oh, hmm.” We reached the main road then. As soon as we exited the forest, I spotted Quilla up ahead, still ignoring us, but otherwise safe.
A family in a wagon was headed our way.
