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“Hey Jax.” Killian glanced over before tearing at another vine. The horse-sized wolf sat down beside him, his inky black coat only interrupted by electric green eyes that stood as high as Killian’s. His shoulders came up to Killian’s chest and lowered only a few inches as he sat back on his haunches. Jax licked his lips with a fast flip of his tail as he watched Killian’s progress.
The mare stared wide-eyed before she yanked out of Killian’s loose knots and raced back toward the castle. Killian sighed. Apparently, he’d be walking back today. Unless … He glanced at the wolf.
Don’t even think about it. I’m not your pony.
Killian chuckled.
By the smell of your excitement, this is going to be stupid. And you thought to go by yourself?He looked around before he shook his whole body as if to prepare.So where are we going? And where are your human supplies? Food stores? No matter. I shall hunt for you.
Killian rolled his eyes. “I’m not running away, Jax.”
You are running … toward something?
“Kind of.”
Hmm.The wolf shook his head and stretched out his back legs a few times.I’m a good runner either way.
The latch turned, but the gate held taut, so Killian had to pull it with his whole weight. The roughened weathered handle bit into his palms as the gate resisted. A low moan seeped from the slight opening. Jax clenched his teeth around Killian’s cloak and belt, yanking backward jerkily and nearly suspending Killian in the air. The hinges screeched, an icy wind screamed past, and all at once, the remaining small vines snapped. The gate heaved open, sending the unbalanced prince and wolf sprawling hard onto the dry ground.
“Ow. Sorry, Jax.”
Humans have the pointiest extremities. Gangly featherless storks.The wolf snorted and huffed a breath.You are naught but astarved, skeletal deer.You need more meat.
Killian nodded at Jax’s usual complaints against his humanity, but his attention was fixed on the opening. The other side of the gate was nearly pitch black and absorbed any sunlight that might otherwise have shone down on his back. A harrowing wind whistled. The forest floor that he could see just past the entrance was a bed of blackened pine needles and sparce of any other growth. Within mere feet, everything disappeared in sappy, inky shadows. He glanced behind him. The meadow glittered as bright and peaceful as before.
Goosebumps prickled Killian’s skin. The world on the other side of the gate seemed held in tension, and a deep sense of foreboding filled his veins. Killian stepped back but felt the tug in his chest again, coaxing him forward into the darkness.
Jax lifted his snout.Smells okay.
“If you say so.” The wind bit his cheeks again, and Killian felt foolish. He was a prince, not a child. He had things to do. Princely, responsible things. He should turn back. He was supposed to uphold the laws of—
The wolf used his massive head and shoved Killian across the threshold.
The silence of the forest acted like a physical force, similar to jumping deep into a lake—silent and suppressive. The light was hazy, but not pitch black, yet the boughs above let no beams of light through to the forest floor. No bird sang. No squirrel shuffled. The wind from the other side was completely absent. The whole forest felt muffled, but more like a blanket than a dangerous presence. His sense of doom lightened a fraction. Piney, earthen scents drifted up from the forest floor.
It was too quiet. “Eerie,”Killian muttered as he set his hand on the pommel of his sword.
Jax paced after him, his nose constantly twitching as he explored the world by scent.A bit. Still smells okay. No death. You need a better nose.
The prince rolled his eyes at the wolf who had tried from Killian’s youth to make him more wolf-like. His attempts had—to Jax’s great disappointment—failed. Killian was still fully human.
The wolf padded ahead, scratching intermittently at the blackened soil. Turning back, his tongue lolled out of his mouth in a feral grin.Come on. Let’s explore. I haven’t felt this much magic in decades.
“We can’t be too long. I have that ball tonight. In fact, maybe we should head back. We can’t risk getting lost.” Killian’s nail picked at the tip of the pommel.
Seeing through his cowardice, the wolf blinked disdainfully. Padding to the edge of the path, Jax lifted his leg and marked a tree.Now we won’t get lost. Let’s go.
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Well, at least, you could smell our way out.” Without any other excuses, Killian stepped ahead. Signs of an old path faded as the trees grew more thickly. He had never seen a forest so dense that no sky was visible through the limbs. The forest floor around them was an endless array of warm pine needles, soft to step on and mostly quiet. As they moved deeper into the forest, Killian couldn’t avoid the minute clicks of the needles as they broke beneath his weight. He ignored the wolf’s repeated glances and frustrated huffing at his noisy steps.
The wolf’s ears pricked, and he leaned his nose forward, sniffing.
Can you hear it? The magic …
Killian strained and listened, but he couldn’t hear anything besides his own breathing and the susurrus of his clothing.
Ahead, a single strand of light as wide as Killian’s two palms together, pierced through the forest canopy to the floor below. Motes of dust lifted and shifted through the solid beam. Like sunlight breaking through a thunderous cloud, the light was nearly blinding amid the darkened, shadowed pines. Killian’s skin prickled as he approached and slipped around it, choosing the shadows at first. But surely, it was only light, right? In a fit of impulse, Killian stuck his hand straight into the beam.
The light froze his hand in place as if trapping it in a solid trunk of wood as tingles surged up his arm and through his body. In a moment, a thousand memories from Killian’s childhood flashed in random order through his mind. His mother’s sacrifice. The battle with Phineas at ten. His father’s rant after last year’s tournament. His public embarrassment. The horse’s broken ankle in the race. Tallen’s ambassadors storming out and the choking disappointment of his father. Zalina’s friendship. His mother’s soft caress as she pushed back his hair. Phineas’s encompassing hug.
