Page 133 of A Touch of Poison
I urged my stag towards the sound.
Faolán loped beside me, claws elongating. “We’re all worried about Kat, and she clearly cares about you.” He shot me a look, brows drawn low. “But you need to make a decision—dosomething. Because at the moment she’s still—”
“If you’re about to mention her marital status, Faolán, we’re going to have a problem. Should I not care if she dies because she’s married to someone else?”
“No,” he growled. “It’s just… be careful, Bastian. You’re on the edge of something here.”
“Yes, I’m on the edge of fucking reason because you’re lecturing me about the fact Kat is marriedwhen there are Horrors in our city.”
“I thought you needed the reminder.”
Like I didn’t remember it every single day.
I bared my teeth at Faolán, every part of me tight and sharp. “I didn’t expect you to be so invested in rules handed down by the same people who consider you an abomination.”
At once, I hated myself for saying it. But I hated the world more for this situation.
And a Horror rose ahead.
No time for apologies, I spurred my stag onward and rode to face it.
50
Kat
Down one alley, darting into the next, I ran and ran and ran. My legs burned as breaths tore through me.
It hadn’t worked. The carapace must’ve protected the Horror from my poison as it protected it from weapons. Shit.
I turned again and again, trying to lose the skittering sound of the Horror’s feet.
The fact I’d drawn it away from the woman and her children was the faintest glimmer of a silver lining.
The next corner brought me to a long lane with no turnings and a wide set of gates at the end. If those gates didn’t lead out onto a road, I had just found the cloud for that silver lining.
A thick, black dead end of a cloud.
I pushed, sprinting with every ounce of energy I had.
Questioning clicks echoed from behind me as the dank stink grew, invading every sharp gasp for air.
I didn’t dare turn. If I did, I’d trip or just plain lose my nerve in the face of those flat, void-like eyes.
Just a little further. Just a little faster.
Acidic spit sizzled on the stone behind me.
Then my hands were on the gate, shoving it open.
Once I was through, I flung my body against it and dropped the bar. Not that it would keep the thing out for long—not when it could climb over.
A stable yard. Stalls with upper doors open, deer snorting as they scented the monster running up the lane towards us.
Not long. Not long at all.
I slammed shut the nearest stalls, but they wouldn’t last if the thing tried to get in. I needed something sturdy or small—somewhere to hide.
In a corner, I found a shelter full of tack and hunting weapons, but one side was open to the yard. Still, soft magic hummed over my skin. Some of the saddles and spears had to be enchanted. That would attract the Horror and give it something to feed on. It might also mask my scent.
