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It was late in the day, but I needed to know how Ativan was getting on. “Can you check on Ativan for me, Iro? And ensure that Lamen’s body is on its way home?”
“I fear that’s a terrible idea. It will take me a long time to get there and back.”
“I know, but making sure my friend is safe is more important than having you check my surroundings. He means far too much to me, and I cannot lose another person, Iro.”
He made a screeching call and took off in a flutter of feathers. His wing slid up my cheek. He was angry about what I had asked him to do, but I needed to ensure.
My journey wore on. I tried to ignore my surroundings because I couldn’t deny that without Iro, I was unnerved. It was a quiet road with a lack of travelers and wildlife. The forest pressed in on each side, and now I realized why we had such a tough time getting couriers to go to the north. It was a little terrifying. Demora needed a safer route away from the forest. At least the western side of the forest seemed brighter and less frightening. I had seen a squirrel or two scurrying near the tree line.
My thoughts circled back to Gregoire, despite my attempts not to think about him. How selfish was I to believe I could control Gregoire’s future and that he would wait around for me? I had been so foolish for so long. This trip taught me many things. One of which was that I was a sheltered, spoiled girl. Despite my need for freedom and my wistfulness for adventure, I didn't have what it took to do this alone.
With a groan, I stopped Tavere. I needed to pee. I hated to stop, but I had been holding it for far too long, and the ache was starting to be painful. After tying Tavere to a tree limb, I pushed through the branches and brambles to get to a spot far from the road. Not that there were any travelers to see my bare ass. I could have emptied my bladder right in the middle of the damn road, but my mother would have be scandalized, and her hand in coaching me to be a lady took over. Although I wasn’t a lady, I hadsomestandards.
Thinking of my mother made me a little homesick, and then guilt and pain wrenched through me with thoughts of Lamen. My heart ached from losing him. I had asked him to come. His death was on my shoulders.
My thoughts were interrupted by the snap of a branch nearby. My head whipped up, my body tensed, and my hand went to my bow around my shoulder. I gripped it quickly as I slowly inched back towards my horse, where I could flee if necessary. As I watched in horrified awe, a man stepped from the shadows. He was huge, imposing, and a hood covered his face. I only knew that he was male from the structure of his body, but before I could dwell on who he was, something else captured my attention—a swift feeling against my bones, a thread of darkness against my mind. The man singularly focused on me, and it was apparent he didn't know a more significant threat lurked in the shadows.
I inched backward farther and farther as he stalked me. Then the shiver of dread and whisper of darkness increased.
Something terrible was about to happen.
I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but before I could, a dark, looming creature barreled from the forest undergrowth and launched itself at the large man. When his eyes finally reached the colossal wolf descending on him, it was too late. The wolf leaped, pinning him against a tree. Its teeth were at the man's throat, tearing out his life, all in a matter of a heartbeat. I had barely taken a breath. It had happened all so fast.
Sometimes life presents you with a decision. One that is so precedent, so split second, that you have no time to think ahead or behind. A decision so paramount to the moment, sopresent, that it stopped time. A decision that affected the fabric of the world entirely.
Thiswas that time, that moment—and the decision was mine to make.
I sucked in a calming breath, shakily pushed it out, and then released the arrow I had nocked on instinct. It struck true through the demon wolf’s heart, stopping the animal’s attack. Its body went slack against the man, sending them both tumbling to the forest floor. Despite the man’s menacing approach, and the dark magic whispering against me, I couldn’t be sure was the wolf, the man, or a mixture of the two; I saved him. At least for the moment. He could still die from the inflicted wounds.
A shiver rushed through me that felt more like dread than adrenaline. I had the disturbing feeling that by saving this man, I had done something I knew nothing about nor would understand if I did. The shift of fate intervention shattered my soul, but I didn’t have time to think about it now.
I rushed to the man’s side and pulled the massive wolf off him. Blood leaked to the forest floor; black and red twined together and sunk into the soil. The wolf had patches of fur at its neck, but most of its hide was smooth and warm. The beast was nearly double the size of a normal wolf, and all black, with depthless, lackluster eyes. I tried not to think of the animal of the Underworld as I looked up the man’s broad chest, over the ruined flesh of his throat, to his face. The hood had fallen off, and his startling misty blue eyes were on mine. He had a strong jawline and dark blond hair now sprinkled with blood. He seemed serene in the face of death.
I shuddered. This was a man who dealt with death head-on without concern. Being on its threshold did not consume him with fear as it would most others, including me.
He was dangerous—even more so than the demon wolf.
So, who was he?
I held my dagger casually to discover how close to death he was. With the blood and strip of ruined flesh at his throat, it was hard to tell if the wolf had gotten an artery, but I was sure it had not—what a lucky bastard.
“Who in the Under realm are you?” The tremble in my voice took away a fraction of the threat.
I would have to let my blade do the talking that my voice could not.
“No one,” he choked out against the gargle of blood.
I snarled in annoyance. “Are you one of the assholes that attacked us in Cashore?”
His brow twitched. I didn’t know what that meant, but it didn’t seem to secure guilt.
“I am not.” He shifted, and blood ran more freely.
I knew he might die if I didn’t get him to a healer. Of course, saving him could have been futile, but I wanted to make sure the prick wasn’t going to kill me when he got the chance.
“Who are you?”
A moment ticked by with no response. I’m sure talking wasn’t going to be easy for the man, but I needed to know.
