Page 85 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
Morning dew and pears my ass.
“I had a rough morning.” Arm still outstretched, I tramped nearer. The hybrid crept to meet me until my hand hovered just above its forehead.
Holding my breath, I caressed a patch—glossier than chenille—between the animal’s feline eyes. It purred as loudly as Kell ever had, nuzzling into my palm. “Do you like having your ears scratched? My cats always—”
I didn’t even hear the arrow until it ripped through the creature’s neck. Its tip protruded just spaces from my chin. Blood splattered my face.
Shrieking, I floundered away from the gurgling animal, choking on my heart. The animal’s eyes blazed, the look in them burning into my brain. They shone with great surprise. And betrayal.
Longbow in hand, Pete emerged from the shadows, grinning. He might as well have strangled a bunny before me!
Sionna sat at his heels, smiling skyward for approval. Pete clucked and bent to pet her head, merciless with cheer. “Good work.” He dropped his bow and unsheathed the sword at his right hip. “You snared us a delicious supper.”
“What are you doing?” I shrieked, flapping like a bird when Pete brought down his sword, decapitating the twitching creature. Carnage stained the leaves.
I trembled as Pete knelt before me, inserting his blade under the creature’s furry jowl, revealing a set of long, needlelike fangs—sharp, transparent, and glistening like a rattlesnake’s.
I sucked in a harsh breath, wrenching back.
“You see those teeth?” Pete no longer smiled. The heartless hunter had vanished. “Do you reckon any animal with teeth like that won’t use them?”
Shuddering, I shook my head.
“This beast is known as a cantir—one of the most charming, most deadly predators in all the fae realm. Its venom is potent enough to paralyze a beyn of your stature in several heartbeats. They usually don’t wait that long before they start devouring their prey, of course.”
Why are we traveling through places with predators likethataround?
“You were about to become its breakfast.” Pete shifted to wipe his blade on a stained wool cloth tucked into his belt. “You’re damn lucky Sionna scented the thing, that I found you in time. Be more mindful of your surroundings, would you? And don’t make to befriend wildlife until you ken their nature. It’d be a crying shame if you were to die before I collected my bounty.”
Glaring, I wiped my cheeks and stomped away. Back to the wagon. What was the use in trying to go anywhere else?
Darknesshavingfallen,Isat across from Pete in a cherry-tree copse off the path, hating life as the cantir roasted in chunks on a spit over a roaring fire. The animal’s blood coated my captor’s giant hands. Thescianhe’d used to butcher it sat on a stone to his right.
Sionna lay to his left, crunching on a leg bone while the donkey, whose name I’d learned was Bob, grazed on buttercups and grass, intermittently swishing his tail and braying like—well, like an ass.
“What’s your real name?” Pete broke the silence that had stretched after he’d murdered the cantir. He waited for my answer, turning the spit. Grease dripped off the meat, sizzling on coals.
A chill breeze mussed the hair at my back, and I yanked my hood over my head. “I told you last night—it’s Rose.”
“We’ve already established I don’t believe that, so why don’t you try a different lie?”
I huddled into my cloak, denying him reply.
“Have it your way. Since a long journey together is in our future, I’d prefer to call you something other than,You there.“ He raked my length, and I flashed back to middle school, where even my minor flaws were fodder for crows. “So, how about—Shorty?”
I had a visceral reaction to that nickname. Which he’d intended, his smirk a stick and my scowl the circus sideshow.
I fixed my gaze on the fire, refusing to play his game. “Whatever.”
Pete chuckled deep in his throat, stirring the glow within his fire ring. Another silence spread before he pulled a crispy morsel of meat off the spit. “Here.” He held it out to me. “Have the first bite.”
My stomach turned, and I shook my head.
He withdrew. “Where is it that your meat on earth came from? Thin air, was it?”
“Hardy har har. It came from dead animals, just like it does here. I’ve just never been present when one was killed.”
Never wanted to be either.
