Page 51 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

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SCION

THE QUARRY, INBETWIXT

“This is a miserable place to hold the hunts,” Bael said, clambering over a group of jagged rocks, and stepping gingerly onto the mud on the opposite side. “There are more spirits here than even in the woods by the palace.”

Glancing back at him, I rolled my eyes. “You never cared what the hunting grounds looked like before.”

“There are a lot of things I never cared about until recently.”

I paused, refusing to indulge the conversation he was clearly trying to trap me into having. “True enough.”

It was nearing nightfall when we left the inn and arrived in the forest near the quarry to hunt for one of the old ones.

The obsidian quarry in Inbetwixt had been exhausted and abandoned for over a hundred years, leaving behind a massive crater that gradually filled with rainwater to become a seemingly bottomless lake. The lake was home to many monsters, including the enormous serpent that guarded the surrounding woods.

I hadn’t met the snake myself, but from Bael’s description, I agreed that it was one of the old ones—the ancient creatures that had protected this land long before the Fae ever arrived. We might be the dominant race in Elsewhere, but we were far from the oldest, or even the most powerful. There were things in the depths of the Waywoods, the high mountains of Nevermore, and the swampland of the Wanderlust that even I feared.

“What do you plan to do when we find it,” Bael asked, his tone unnaturally cheerful.

“Ask our questions, then kill it before it kills us first.”

“I’m not sure it’s possible to kill one of the old ones.”

I didn’t look back at him, this time keeping my gaze on the steep, muddy ground so as not to slip. “Anything can be killed with enough effort.”

I fell silent again as we trudged closer and closer to the murky, algae-covered edge of the lake, my boots sinking slightly into the muck with each step. My mind raced with half-formed ideas on how to lure the monster out of hiding and toward us.

“Forget killing it,” I commented. “How do you suggest we find it?”

Even without looking, I could tell Bael was grinning from his tone. “We could use your bird as bait. It would be like killing two birds with one snake.”

I kicked a stray rock at him. “Fuck off, be serious.”

“I was,” he replied. “I’d be perfectly happy to be rid of that cursed creature. But in truth, I expect it won’t matter. We will not have to do the finding.”

“What do you mean?”

He nodded toward the water through the trees. “From the looks of that,itwill findus.”

Frowning, I followed his gaze, squinting at the amorphous shapes floating over the surface ahead. We were still some fifty paces away from the edge of the water, and for a long moment, I couldn’t tell what I was looking at. Then, as realization dawned, I turned away swallowing the bile rising in my throat.

Rotting bodies, bloated and practically unrecognizable, floated over the surface of the water. I could only assume they’d been here since the second hunt, which meant well over a fortnight. Anything that disposed of its prey like that was a creature I had no desire to ever meet.

For her, though, I would face any number of murderous creatures.

Waking up this morning to find Lonnie gone had caused a torrent of mixed emotions. I was livid, and more importantly, terrified of what might have happened to her. But also, somewhere in the back of my mind, I was relieved.

Guilt ate at me for feeling that way, but I’d spent every waking moment of the night before dreading the inevitable conversation of the morning. She’d expect some kind of explanation and I couldn’t give that to her.

I knew Bael believed Lonnie to be my mate as well—he’d done everything to make that clear but scrawl the words across my forehead—but still, I couldn’t agree with him. I didn’t feel it.

He was right about one thing though: mate or not, I loved her.

I loved her enough that I hadn’t been able to stay away when somehow I felt the pain of her flesh being pierced by the arrow. I loved her enough that I’d been unable to let her die, even when it meant deepening the connection that was already driving me insane. And I loved her enough that if she asked me directly, I wouldn’t be able to lie.

So I could never let her ask.

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