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“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.
My hands tremble as I lift the crossbow. I rest a finger on the trigger. Please, I mentally whisper. Don’t make me hurt you.
The griffin’s wings unfurl, sending sprays of sand and water into the air. The air shrivels in my chest. I stumble back, tracking the center of its thick white chest as it lifts into the air—
And comes straight for me.
Shoot it. My trigger finger tenses, the wicked bolt tip glittering in front of my face. Pull the trigger!
I can’t. I just can’t kill it.
Shielding my face with my free hand, I lurch sideways, expecting those long talons to close around me any second.
Only . . . with an ear-splitting shriek, the griffin slams into the lake behind me. I whirl in time to see it lifting back into the air. Water droplets explode around the creature’s legs.
Caught inside its merciless talons, writhing and screaming, is a selkie.
The selkie’s fishlike lower end thrashes, its dark green and teal scales catching the light and refracting rainbow sparkles. The water creature’s too-large eyes are dark and filled with ravenous hunger, and they’re directed at me.
Me.
The griffin saved me. And I almost killed it.
Three powerful flaps of its huge wings and its arcing through the air and into the clouds. The caught selkie’s enraged screech grows dimmer and dimmer before abruptly cutting off.
Still clenching the crossbow, I slog to the shore, grateful I listened to my heart and didn’t release my projectile.
In the distance, Eclipsa sheaths her dagger and sprints toward us.
Water pours from my clothes and darkens the white sand as I march to the Spring Prince and toss the weapon at his feet. “You can have this back.”
He doesn’t even glance at the crossbow. His eyes are riveted to mine. One look at his intense expression and my triumph fades, although I can’t determine why.
I shift on my feet. “What? Aren’t you glad I didn’t have to hurt it? Now it’s free. It can find its mate—”
I don’t see him create the portal until it’s too late.
The dark hole warbles in front of me. He twists his fingers, drawing a sudden wind that slams into my back, and I careen head-first into the portal.
