Not a man, love, I thought. A dragon.
With a growl, she spun away from me. The water sloshed around her waist and dripped from her hair. “How long do I have to stay in here anyway? The water is freezing.”
I was tempted to tell her it would take an hour, just to mess with her. But the weariness in her voice gave me pause. “You only need to take a short dip in these waters for it to wash your scent away.”
She brushed her chin against her shoulder in turning back to glance at me. “These waters are magical, too, aren’t they?”
“Most of what you’ll find in Inishfall is.”
Nodding, she flicked her fingers at me. “You’ll need to turn around again.”
I smirked. “Don’t trust yourself with my eyes on you?”
“Just turn around,” she snapped.
I chuckled, shifting on my boots to face the trees. Cocking my head, I listened to her movements. A splash as she edged toward shore. A slight gasp as the coolness of the water caressed her skin. The pad of her footsteps on the ground.
“If you run, I will catch you, Aradia. Please don’t waste your energy.”
“Maybe I could pick up this rock and knock you out.”
Whirling on my feet, I faced her. In fact, she had leaned over a particularly large boulder and had placed her hand on top of it. Anger flashed in her narrowed eyes, water dripping down her sleek skin.
“If you can pick up that rock, then go right ahead and try,” I said.
“I can pick up this rock,” she said hotly. “And once I do, you’re dead.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and rocked back on my heels. “So, pick it up. Kill me.”
She growled and wrapped both palms around the rock.
A branch cracked. I stiffened, flicking my ear toward the sound.
“Aradia,” I said slowly as she struggled to grasp the boulder. “I need you not to panic.”
Her eyes went round, and instinctively, she shifted a little closer, her boulder forgotten. “What do you mean, don’t panic? Tell me what’s going on.”
Her voice was calm and smooth. There wasn’t even the hint of a warble. My lips twitched with the threat of a smile, but I forced it away. Bravery in the face of danger was well and good, but that did not erase her thieving ways. I had to keep my guard up around her. Or else I might find myself free of the few things I had left in this world.
Until I took them back, of course. It was only a matter of fucking time.
“We’re being followed,” I said quietly. “I’m not certain who it is yet, but we’ll know soon enough.”
Her throat bobbed. “If you don’t know who it is, what makes you think they’ll show themselves? And I thought you said washing in the stream would stop this from happening.”
I gave her a ghost of a smile. Unfortunately for Aradia, she had not yet come to understand the full weight of life in Inishfall. Its outward beauty was mesmerizing. I’d come to believe that was intentional. One could easily forget where they were. The beauty could lull you into a sense of complacency. Nothing terrible could happen in a world full of sparkling streams, glorious sunsets, and air thick with the scent of flowers and spring.
It was all a lie.
“Nothing good lives in Inishfall,” I merely said.
She gave me a pointed look. “So, you’re admitting it then. You aren’t good.”
“I never said I was, little métoikos. From what I can see, I’ve bound your wrists in rope, and I’ve dragged you halfway to a burnt shell of a castle. That is not something a good male would do.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You say it so casually, like you do this kind of thing all the time.”
“Maybe I do,” I said with a smile.
Truth was, I didn’t. But I preferred Aradia to think of me as a monster. The more fearful she was, the less likely she was to try and run. The forest was dangerous, especially at night. She might deserve to be locked up for her crimes, but she did not deserve to die.
As much as I despised thieves, a necklace was only a necklace. It wasn’t a dragon. It wasn’t an entire damn kingdom. A family.
A child.
Another branch cracked. The sound was closer now. With narrowed eyes, I withdrew my spear. “Stay behind me, Aradia. We wouldn’t want you to get eaten, now would we?”
6
Aradia
My heartbeat thrummed in my neck as I hastily yanked my dress over my head. Yuto stalked around the clearing, his muscles taut, his spine tense. He weaved his spear this way and that as if unseen attackers would sprout from the forest at any moment.
From the sound of the crackling leaves and limbs, I suspected he was right.
“Stay back,” he growled over his shoulder. “They’re coming.”
He didn’t need to tell me twice. My trembling hands landed on the boulder I’d planned on hurtling at Yuto’s face, and I ducked down behind it. I hated hiding, and I really, really hated fear. But I didn’t know what else I could do. It wasn’t like I was trained in combat.
“What are they?” I hissed at his back. No answer. Nothing but the thunder of at least a dozen heavy feet on dirt.
The creatures sprang into the clearing. They were unlike anything I’d ever seen in the twenty-five years of my mortal life. Larger than wolves, they stalked toward us, their sharp, talon-like claws punching the dirt. Their orange fur was matted and rough. Bright yellow eyes gleamed above long snouts snuffling at the air. There were at least six of them, maybe more. The closest creature opened its jaw wide and roared.
Terror screamed down my spine. I clutched at the rock, my heartbeat rocketing in my chest like a runaway horse. Yuto lifted his gold-tipped spear and charged. His blade slammed into the creature’s neck, and a blackish blood painted the ground. With a growl, Yuto ripped his spear out of the creature and turned to the next, moving with a speed and grace that stole my breath away.
He knocked his spear against the next creature’s head, and then whirled to face another in a dance of blood and death. His spear shot forward, sliding easily through the matted fur and straight into the creature’s heart. That was three down. But there were still many more left.
I itched to help. Hiding was cowardly and too much like my father. This was exactly what he would have done. That or run.
And as desperate as I was to get away from Yuto, I couldn’t run now, not like this.
My fingers curled around the nearest rock. It was a tiny thing, but it would do. As Yuto battled another beast, I pushed up onto shaky legs and threw the rock with all my might. It slammed into a creature’s face with a sickening crunch.
Heart hammering, I dropped behind the boulder again, desperately hoping I hadn’t been seen.
Two thick paws punched the boulder, and a terrifying jaw leaned over the side. Saliva dripped onto my face, hot and slimy. Shuddering, I scurried back toward the river. The creature hissed, slowly stalking toward me. My fingers curled in the dirt. I had nowhere to run. I could launch myself into the water, but the thing would only follow me there.
Fear blinded me. I couldn’t even move. My legs and arms were frozen to the ground. The creature stalked closer, the light of the moon glinting off its bared teeth. They were as big as my head.