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Her favorite jeweled dagger glints from her hand. I frown at the thin, delicate blade. It’s her favorite because it can be easily hidden, and when used by someone with her particular set of skills, can end someone’s life quickly, without much blood or mess.
But I’m not sure how finesse will help in this situation. Against selkies and larger, winged predators like the griffin, it’s way too small to do much damage . . . but, no. She’s bending the blade so that the sapphire in the middle of the hilt catches the sun and sends blue jewels of light skipping across the lake.
Do selkies like shiny things? I get my answer when the rest of the slippery creatures turn their terrifying hunger from me to the sparkly shards dancing around them.
The water vibrates with their strange purring sounds as they slowly begin to circle this new temptation. They pounce on the lights, snarling their frustration when the sparkles move just out of reach.
The trick works. Slowly, Eclipsa draws them away from me.
While Eclipsa and the professor work to keep the selkies’ attention, Hellebore has meandered his way around the other side. He stops a healthy distance from the griffin. I can tell by the way he stares at the beast that he feels the same admiration for it that I do.
Which is why, when he tosses the loaded crossbow at me, I stare at the weapon in confusion. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
He lifts a honey-gold eyebrow, that lazy irreverence oozing from his every move. “Whatever you want. Pick your teeth with it, for all I care. But if you desire to actually leave the watery grave you stand in, you’ll send a bolt through that glorious creature’s heart.”
“The hell I will,” I snap, glaring at him.
Hellebore flashes his teeth in a bored smile. “Fine. Watching a griffin slaughter you or one of your classmates will be entertaining, at least.”
“I’ll swim to the other side.”
His focus slides to the selkies and back to me; the arrogance inside those turquoise depths make me want to carve them out and feed them to the selkies. “You will be dead before you make it ten feet, but good luck with that.”
I flick a sideways glance at the griffin, relieved to see its focus is still very much on me. “And how do you know it won’t kill you?”
“Griffins are highly intelligent creatures. They don’t prey on other apex predators unless defending themselves.”
Other apex predators? This guy takes the arrogant Fae stereotype to a whole new level of douchery.
He runs a hand over the cropped side of his silky blond hair. Probably habit from staring into the mirror for hours on end. “Besides, last I checked, I can fly. Can you? How about any of your mortal friends?”
Fly? I briefly wonder what shifter type allows him that ability before honing in on his statement. My friends.
Clutching the handle of the crossbow, I glance at the shadows on the embankment. Like the idiot tourists at the game parks that leave the safety of their cars to take selfies with grizzly bears, the mortal students keep coming. Drawn in by the promise of watching my humiliation unfold, they’ve completely ignored the wild griffin’s presence.
A few extra-special ones throw pebbles at the griffin, trying to agitate it.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” I mutter. “This is Darwinism at its finest.”
The griffin’s head jerks to stare at the crowd. That’s when I spot Mack running across the lawn, Ruby in tow.
Oh, hell. A fresh wave of panic grips me. My brain supplies unhelpful images of her being dropped from hundreds of feet above.
“Order them to leave,” I plead. I hate how whiny my voice sounds, how weak, but I’m out of options.
“Why? There’s a lesson here.”
“A lesson? On what? Asshole Fae princes?”
“No, natural selection.” His lips are still curved upward, but his blue eyes darken to storm clouds. “Although, I am beginning to think you need a lesson on how to behave when speaking to an Evermore, little pet.”
This is going nowhere, and any minute, the selkies will tire of chasing Eclipsa’s sparkles and turn their attention back to me.
I pivot to face the griffin. Don’t eat them, I silently command, but the certainty from before is gone.
Am I really going to risk lives over an imagined connection with a wild predator? Any moment, he could pick one of them off. Maybe Mack.
Nausea heats my belly at the thought of having to explain to her dads why I hesitated.
