Page 83 of Ravenous

A bear reared up on two legs, towering.

Arctos had never warned her aboutactualbears. She drew her sword, predicting reach and angles. Twice her height. Claws the size of a dagger. Berserkers revered these beasts; if she managed to harm it, would they hunt her?

The bear snarled at the weapon.

Lia dropped her pack, yanked the loaf free, and flung both aside, hoping to distract the creature so she could speed past.

It charged. Forher. No time to think. She jogged backward toward the frozen shore, darting out onto a shelf of ice. “Back!” She raised her sword. “Goaway!”

But the bear stalked toward her and stepped onto the shelf. A fracture shot toward her like lightning.

“Leave me alone!” How many times had she screamed this at Co?tin? Boots skidding across the ice, she swung. Missed by inches. It reared again in a rage.

When it drops, the ice goes.

She’d waited too long to strike. Should’ve fought on land. Should’ve fought Co?tin.

If I get through this, I’ll never not fight again—

The bear came down. The ice split open with a deafening crack. The shelf lurched beneath her feet, and she pinwheeled her arms.

She fell.

Frigid water stole her breath and crushed her chest, the current spinning her. The sword tore from her hand. She surfaced in a froth of white, the current shooting her like an arrow down rapids.

Spray dimmed her vision.I’m going to drown!Underwater again.Can’t see!The river spat her up one more time. She burned her breath on a single word, raw and instinctive:

“Arctos!”

Chapter 34Arctos

Breathy words brushed his ear, obscuring some distant sound. A call? His name?

Arctos stilled, listening hard.

Probably just a reveler still roaring down at the banquet. He’d been the topic tonight.

“What is it, lover?” Undara’s gaze was watchful, her bare skin hot against his. “You were coiled tight all through dinner. And we’ve never been this slow to undress on our first night back together.” She’d just been outlining exactly what she planned to treat him to this eve.

He should have been overjoyed with anticipation. Instead, taut. Because of Emilia. “Nothing. Thought I heard something.”

“Or maybe your musings are with your new wife?” Undara asked without bite. Nymphs rarely got possessive of a lover, one of the benefits of bedding them. “You wouldn’t be alone. Everyone chattered about you two. So much speculation.”

Yrsa’s face when she’d spotted Undara on his arm had been unreadable, Dagny’s eloquent:Uh, men. Prying looks had followed him all evening. He’d barely tasted the food.

I am wed.The thought had looped like a curse. Wed to an enemy, not by his choosing—but wed. For the first time, another thought had cut through:What if Emilia doesn’t mean harm to us?

He kept picturing her when he’d left. A tight smile on a too-pale face, those amber eyes unblinking.

Not jealous.Defeated. Yet he hadn’t once seen that look in all her harsh training.

He lurched to his feet, toppling Undara onto the bed. “Apologies.” He searched for his clothing.

“You are in a state, aren’t you?” She smoothed her flaxen hair from her face. “She’s a vampire, Arctos.”

“Yes.”Pants? There.

“A bloodthief by birth.”