Page 87 of Season Warriors & Wolves

“The Prince of Ustrina. I promised him a life he cannot take and now I can feel Vas’s presence. Sometimes even visions.”

Gods help me. “Love.”

“Please don’t be mad.”

My eyes drew shut. “Snowlin.”

“Please, Kil.” She hurriedly began searching the room for clothes. “Why is he looking to enter my lands?” she asked herself more than me, dressing haphazardly.

“Someone must have seen us.”

Once we both were somewhat dressed, I faded the two of us to the edge of the village, right where the white of winter separated against the warm soil of old Olympia.

There were no beasts. There was just one beast. Far inside the coniferous forest just slightly over the old Olympian border, a pair of glowing green eyes stared at the distance—a protected distance of dark magic stinking of mint and rot.

“Well, well,” Snow shouted, her voice booming around the stretch of silence. “Why is the little mouse hiding? Afraid?” She stepped forward, her feet sinking into the snow, every move she made, my shadows followed, creating a shield of protection around her. “What are you so afraid of, Vas? Why are you always so afraid?” A few more steps as if to lure him towards her. “Doesn’t it suffocate you, to live in fear? Must be terrifying.”

The glow of green eyes grew closer to her. “Sometimes,” he drawled, voice hoarse and breathy. “It is good to be afraid, Snowlin.”

Night melted onto the ground, the moon above hiding entirely. As I’d thought, he was well shielded from my magic, and had expected it even. He’d learnt much from our last encounters. Considering he’d barely healed in places, he’d learnt well.

Her smile was wicked. “Nonsense. Why should I be afraid when you can be afraid for me, too.”

He stood tall, no longer hiding behind the forest shade. “Arrogance is the death of many. It shall be the death of you.”

“How funny is that coming out of you,” Snow said, stepping further forward, almost taunting him to step just outside Melanthe’s protection. “Look where you stand.”

A howl called in the distance. A forewarning.

He stepped forward, but not outside the invisible craft halo that was protecting him. “In plain sight, where better to hide, is it not? You would not say where they hide, so I will have to just slaughter them all. Olympians or not. This will all be on you. Every death tonight will be on you.”

Fuck.

A trap.

Snow’s movements were feline, predatory. “I like this. Watching you so afraid of my people. Picturing you gathered in the middle of the night, discussing and worrying about…a few Olympians gets me all giggly.”

Almost lured, he dared step forward and then retreated as if he had caught himself. “What about the fact that I knew you were exactly here tonight, does that excite you? I knew where to hunt you. It was no hunt at all.”

Of course they had thought of trying to get rid of us before raising Aurora, but tonight it was not about us it seemed, because when night darkened, shadows doubled and thickened behind us. An unnatural shift in the village behind caught my attention. Bodies moved hurriedly, my shadows following them along. They hopped from one house to the other. Humans, not beasts.

“Like old times,” Vas growled, his fangs gleaming when screams and flames broke through the night.

Snow shed my jacket, throwing it to the side, her fists glowing with thunder whilst mine summoned every thick shadow cast by the moon.

“They’re in the village,” I said to her in Darsan and her whole body tensed. “Go. I have him.”

The ground beneath our feet began vibrating, the forest behind him suddenly disturbing, creatures fleeing from all sides. All sorts of terrifying sounds pealed the night silence.

Snow hesitated. One step ready to take off towards the village and the other bracing for what was coming towards us. “Not leaving you.”

“I’ve got this. Your people need you. Save as many as you can. Go, my love.”

Reluctantly, she nodded, her steps still heavy when she backed away and bolted towards the village.

The smell of rot seeped the crisp night air. Then they were there, pushing and crawling all over each other, some launching in the air and others running directly for me. Including Vas.

The man stopped when Caiden portalled right between us, both his hands raised forward, pulling them apart as did Vas’s body, without even touching him at all. The Olympian general twisted two daggers in his hands and stalked to Vas’s remains, tearing through beasts one after the other, my shadows forming a protection space around him while I held back the massive hoard aiming for the village.