Page 69 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

“A little?” I lied.

She rolled her eyes and adjusted her hood, shielding her face from the thickening snow. “I don’t remember ever hitting your head.”

A gust of wind blew and knocked her hood back. One minute I had all of her attention, the next she whipped her head to the forest surrounding the old city wall ruins, staring into the tall tree shadows. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Just then, something made its way out of the forest. Not a creature I’d ever seen before. The body had the shape of a horse, and the head was the shape of a bull, its horns deformed and way too big for its body. With every step it took towards us, its body twisted, bones with no flesh flopping everywhere.

The hells. “What is an Isline creature doing down here?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think they could come down here,” she said, slowly kneeling to the ground, a hand resting flush on the snow and the other held forward to the animal.

Frowning, I asked, “Since when have you become an animal lover?”

She didn’t answer me, nor blink at all. Her gaze was fixed on the animal ahead that was reaching closer to her.

“Thora,” I called, “Sweetheart, that isn’t some lost puppy.”

There was a string of magic floating from her hand in the animal's direction, almost tying them together. Nothing sinister. Only a tangent of power connecting the two. Similar power. Almost identical. Strange.

“Rora,” I warned as the creature neared her even more, calling a few creeping shadows to surround her.

The animal stopped when my shadows formed a circle around her, sniffing at the black dark tentacles that were ready to latch on any unwanted move. The creature then looked at me and began rearing away from her.

Dropping before Thora, I searched her focus first before touching her face, looking for the usual signs on her features when she went into a catatonic state and finding none. “Hey.”

Her gaze snapped back. “It’s gone.”

“I might have scared it.”

“It wouldn’t do anything to us. They don’t get close to humans. Not these ones.”

“Why was it even down here?”

Her brows pulled to a scowl. “Iskyla is not supposed to have any sort of control over them, so it can’t be because of her.”

“Why were you calling it to you?”

“What?”

“Your magic was calling for it. You had tethered yourself to the animal.”

She blinked between the forest and me. “I–I didn’t think…I didn’t realise I was doing that.” She held onto my arm as she stood. “I just need some rest.”

I faded us to her room. “Lay down. I will call for a Medi-healer. Just in case.”

Chapter eighteen

Black Hellebore

Malik

It had been one hell of a shit day scouring around near the northern Isjordian villages to find any sign of more Isline creatures. On top of it, Rain was now curled into herself in the middle of the Adriatian training grounds, sobbing because she’d killed yet another flower during our training. If you could call what we did training. Rain’s magic resembled her father’s and mine, but only in its surface. Darkness fed from our surroundings, it drew power from spiritual mana. Rain’s however, it fostered from deep within, her body only acted like its confine. She didn’t only need to learn how to control it, she needed to learn to contain it. In that sense, she was entirely her mother.

“Up, baby doll,” I said, picking her up. “Me and you are going to see an old uncle.”

She shook her head, her pigtails flying everywhere. “No.”