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I stilled on the path. I hadn’t made it even a few feet when I heard the sickening crunch. It happened so quickly. But I watched as Lorik made a quick twist of his hands around the Sever’s neck, popped off its head like it was a doll’s stuffed with feathers. The Sever’s body slumped to the earth, and it lay still on the edge of the forest. The wet plop of its decapitated head joined it.
Lorik’s sharp breath seemed to reach me, even from a distance away. His eyes were glowing in the darkness, like one of the glowflies’ hives at midnight.
In the quiet, I watched as Peek investigated the remains, sniffing the cloak before he was satisfied, sitting at Lorik’s feet. The quiver and the bow felt entirely too useless in my hands.
“Go back inside, Marion,” came Lorik’s voice. Soft and incredibly gentle for someone who had just decapitated a monstrous creature with his bare hands.
And it had been easy for him,I thought.
I approached, ignoring his words.
“You’re still recovering, Lorik,” I said slowly, eyeing the Sever on the ground, avoiding looking at its head that had rolled near Peek. I felt oddly…calm. Was I in shock?
Lorik crouched down by the Sever, shifting its cloak so that he took hold of its arm. He pulled back the fabric, exposing the wrist.
Scars.
No…brands.
There were symbols etched into its skin, and Lorik huffed out a breath looking at them before he tossed the arm back to the ground with more force than necessary.
“What…what are those?”
“Crimes,” Lorik answered, standing. “Marion, go back inside. I need to get rid of the body before it draws others to the area.”
“Others?” I rasped. “Other Severs?”
Lorik scoffed. “This isn’t a Sever. Not anymore. Or maybe he is the truest Sever, at least according to the Allavari. Get back inside and take yourbrayduswith you. I’ll be back soon.”
Without waiting for me to respond, Lorik gathered up the Sever’s limp body and its head…and shot up into the sky, the powerful gust of his wings awe-inspiring.
He disappeared overhead, the only memory of the Sever was a line of dark blood on the forest floor, which I kicked some dirt and leaves over to erase it from view. The truest Sever? Or not a Sever at all? What had he meant by that?
Peek nudged up against my leg, his big, luminous eyes staring up at me. I looked to the sky again but didn’t see any sign of Lorik. I looked around the clearing of my cottage, to the darkness of the Black Veil, which I’d never been truly frightened of before.
Now? There was an ominous feeling I couldn’t help but shake. That Sever might draw others?
Hurrying back into the cottage, I made certain Peek was inside before I bolted the door. There was restless energy building in my gut. I’d been in a silent daze for most of the day, emotionally drained, and now this had happened. I paced the floor of my cottage, Peek watching me from the window sill where the glass was still open, as if he were standing guard.
It didn’t take long until I heard the familiar gust of wings, until I heard a heavy weight land on the cobblestones outside my door.
“Marion,” came his voice. Relief made me dizzy, and I rushed to the door, unlocking it, before Lorik stepped inside.
He smelled like the Sever, his chest smeared with its dark blood from when he’d carried it away. I didn’t know what he’d done with the body. I didn’twantto know, truthfully. Whatever he’d done, he’d done it quickly.
“Are you okay?” I rushed out, seeing a bloom of blood beneath the bandage at his shoulder. He’d torn the sutures.
“Fine,” he said, tone gruff. “Are you?”
He was studying me carefully. Was he worried that I’d be frightened of him now? After what I’d seen him do?
My mind latched on to his wound. I looked at his blood-slicked chest.
“You should bathe,” I told him, seeing a streak of the Sever’s blood a little too close to the bandage’s edge. I didn’t want another infection taking root. “I’ll…I’ll draw a bath. And then I’ll look at your shoulder.”
“Marion.”
“Let’s get you clean, all right? You’re bleeding. Then we can talk.”
