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“Come, Lady Thing,” he said and nothing more.
My face was hot with shame, made worse with the knowledge that someone had witnessed my failure. My eyes fell to my hand, and I wrapped it in the skirt of my dress before rising to my feet. The raven was gracious and bowed low so I could mount his back. While he flew, I did my best to keep the emotions mixing in my chest at a distance, but they raged, threatening and volatile.
When we were within view of the pond, I knew I was in trouble because Casamir waited at the edge of the water. He was a dark and foreboding figure, haloed in black thorns and shadow. In one hand, he held the selkie’s sealskin. In the other, he held the selkie’s severed head.
Wolf croaked, circling once before landing on the bank near Casamir’s feet. I tipped my head up at him, a giant from where I stood, and slid off Wolf’s back. As I took a drink from the pond and grew, the raven bowed to the prince, but Casamir did not seem at all concerned with the raven. His eyes did not move from mine.
“How did you know?” I asked after I had grown tall.
“You called and I came,” he said.
Neither of us spoke for a moment, and then all of a sudden, I rested my head against his chest and burst into tears.
Chapter Eleven
A Daring Rescue
I did not know what to do when my creature placed her head against my chest and began to cry, but her tears were like knives, tearing at my heart, feeding a desire to avenge her pain. I was not used to these feelings, mine or hers.
Bewildered, I looked at the raven, who circled his wings before him.
“What?” I mouthed.
The raven stretched his wings and repeated the movement.
I shrugged, confused.
“Comfort her, you idiot!” the raven said in a half whisper.
I let my magic recede and dropped the selkie’s head to place my arm around her, but before I could, she pushed away.
“I hate this place,” she said, glaring at me. I felt the full force of her fury as if she had slapped me. “I hateyou.”
“I told you not to return,” I said. My body grew hot, my hands tightening in the selkie’s sealskin. She had no right to rage at me. She was here because she killed my brother, and she was here now because she had ignored my warning. “I told you he was dangerous.”
“As if you are any better,” she spat.
“Oh, vicious creature, you do not want me tobebetter. I am the only thing that can protect you here.”
Her gaze fell to the sealskin in my hand, and then her eyes shifted to the selkie’s head, which looked up at her from the ground.
Her eyes still glistened with unshed tears, like emeralds shining in the earth. I hated that I had missed the chance to take her into my arms. No doubt I would hear about it later from the mirror, who was likely watching this exchange with Naeve.
The raven was right. I was an idiot.
And now she hated me, though I supposed she’d never stopped.
I studied her, noticing the blood on her dress.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, uncertain if she had just brushed against the selkie’s bloodied head, but then I noticed how she held her hand in her dress. I took a step forward, discarding the selkie’s skin. “Let me see your hand.”
“I’m fine,” she said, taking a step back.
“Let me see it,” I said, the words slow and deliberate. Something in my voice must have convinced her to obey because she lifted her bloodied hand to show her missing finger. “Where is it? Your finger?”
“The mountains took it,” she said.
“The mountains have your blood?”
