CHAPTER 9
TearsIdidn’tknowhow to stop flowed freely. Stupidly, I said in a long sob, “The poor beast is going to die and it’s my fault.” I’d stabbed it in the eye.Oh, witchlights.
The prince’s feet shuffled as he faced me. “What? Do you mean thedecayana?”
I pulled at my hair and continued sobbing.
“It was going to kill you, Ms. Sunder. You had to fight for your life. It’s just natural.”
I resisted the urge to throw up, wiped my tears clean, and slowly stood. I turned to face the dunes and watched the animal. The decayana, as the prince had called it, buried itself in the sand, its shrieks becoming muffled until they completely stopped, and there was no sign left of it, except for a slight disturbance in the sand.
Dunes upon dunes stretched before us. I scanned them, searching for the wolf beast, but there was no sign of it. Had it been devoured by the sands? Something told me it had escaped. I peered warily at the forest behind us.
“Thank you,” I said, the words nearly choking me.
I expected the prince to yell, to tell me what a foolish thing I’d done and how, if I’d stayed put, none of this would’ve happened. I thought he would blame me for delaying their journey and say that I deserved almost being devoured, first, by a wolf, and then, by a giant crab.
But he only inclined his head with the grace of a prince. “You’re welcome.”
His hands flexed as he stretched out his fingers. I noticed the angry welts that covered them, some blistering, as if he’d dipped his hands in boiling water. The decayana’s blood had done that. It must have been like acid.
I took a step forward. “Your hands.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “They’ll be fine. They’re already healing.”
And indeed, they were. The smaller welts were closing, red, tender skin knitting over them, but the bigger ones would take some time to repair themselves.
“Allow me.” I reached for his left hand and held it gently in mine. Rough calluses scraped against my palm. His hand was large and made mine look almost like a child’s. I hovered my free fingers over the welts, releasing my healing magic. I watched as the injuries disappeared, leaving smooth skin behind.
I did the same for his other hand, then quickly released it. He flexed his fingers, turning them this way and that.
“Now it is I who needs to thank you.” His azure eyes met mine and held them. For a moment, it felt like gravity pulling me down. There was something hypnotic about him, a certain power that seemed to erase every thought from my head, perhaps a skill of the many the Fae were known to possess.
I took a step back, not without difficulty. “There was a beast that chased me,” I found myself saying. “It could still be here.”
“A beast?” he echoed, narrowing his eyes. “Other than the decayana?”
I nodded.
“I didn’t see it.”
I glanced all around. “Where is your horse?”
“I… didn’t have time to tie it down. He must’ve wandered off.”
“Where are the others?”
“I rode… harder and faster than them. I’m sure they’ll catch up soon, but we should head toward the plains.”
He pulled his sword from the ground and, after carefully cleaning the blade in a patch of grass, sheathed it behind his back. He started walking, heading east. He ran a hand through his hair, which was in disarray. Feeling self-conscious, I pulled my own hair out of its ponytail holder and ran my fingers through it, too.
As I lingered back, the prince turned. “C’mon, we need to…”
He halted and scanned my face and the length of my hair. His scrutiny made me even more self-conscious, and I quickly gathered my long hair into a knot so tight that it made me wince.
“I’m coming.” I marched in his direction and walked past him. I felt his eyes on me, but didn’t glance back.
We walked in silence as he set a clipped pace. He stopped a few times as I lagged behind and asked me if I was all right. I was exhausted—I hadn’t slept all night, and I’d fought for my life against two monsters—but I didn’t complain. I just nodded and kept going, marveling at how gentle and different the prince seemed from the male who fought Kryn yesterday.