Page 95 of A Kingdom of Monsters

It was a beacon, as if someone had lit a fire on the very top of the mountain to guide me to the boundary. Unfortunately I had absolutely no intention of aiming for that boundary tonight.

“They’ll blow the horn again, and then you run, rebel,” Scion said. “When you hear the horn a third time you’ll know we’re right behind you.”

I nodded, feeling truly nervous now.

Scion bent to kiss me, but I pushed him back. “Don’t. There’s no goodbye kisses. I’ll see you in ten minutes.” I glanced at Ambrose. “Both of you.”

Ambrose opened his mouth to say something—I had no idea what. But then the horn blew a second time, and I turned and sprinted toward the road.

I’d run for a few short minutes when I had to stop and catch my breath. Despite my movement, the cold was unbearable. My muscles felt sore and stiff, and I couldn’t feel my fingers or my face.

I didn’t even want to know what not being able to feel my hands might do to my magic, and prayed I wouldn’t have to find out.

Glancing behind me at the castle, I began to run again. It was only once I saw lights again, that I realized I was heading into the village we’d passed on our way in. Quickly, I veered to the right into a patch of dense trees.

The rules had been simple—no shadow walking, don’t enter the village or the keep, stay alive until morning. Still, I had absolutely no qualms about breaking them if it meant I got out of this alive. I wouldn’t shadow walk yet, but if things became truly dire the game was not nearly so important as my life.

Distantly, I realized this must be how the hunts felt for every other past ruler. They weren’t afraid of dying so much as they were concerned about their image, their petty grievances, and holding on to power. How strange to realize I had similar concerns, and while I was far from comfortable sprinting alone through the cold, dark woods I wasn’t frightened.

At least, not yet.

Several long minuteslater I heard the third horn.

It was distant, making me wonder if I’d run further than I’d realized, but it was clearly audible over the howling wind and rustling trees.

I stopped in my tracks, panting from the long run. I felt somehow even colder now after all the running, my own sweat having turned to ice crystals against my skin.

The trees here were just as dense as the ones that Ambrose and I had run through near the rocky coast, but with the added difficulty that the ground between them was covered in snow and ice.

For the first time, I wondered how Scion and Ambrose would find me before anyone else did. We hadn’t discussed a plan or anywhere to meet. Now, that seemed like a grave oversight.

I turned to look back at the castle looming in the distance, its tall spires reaching towards the darkening sky. My eyes strained to make out any signs of movement and I thought I saw figures darting down the hill and disappearing into the shadows. They were all headed toward me.

Suddenly, a deafening chorus of screams pierced the air. At first, I thought it was the sound of the afflicted returning to haunt me

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as their cries echoed through the trees, seeming to double on itself, echoing back at me louder and louder.

This had to be Scion’s illusion of pain.

The sound was familiar, the same one I would have heard if I had been in the dining room. It was the one Scion had talked about hearing on the battlefield for many years. And, I realized with a sickening lurch, it was the same sound the afflicted mimicked every time they appeared.

Apparently I need not have worried about saving the lives of the winter court. They were all going to die anyway, trapped in an endless cycle of pain.

I supposed I no longer needed to wonder where Scion was, nor about all the Fae chasing me. Still, I would need to find a hiding place, just in case anyone avoided the massacre.

I covered my ears as I ran, making myself keep going. Making myself put as much distance between me and the castle as possible before I stopped to hide.

Without warning, a deafening roar ripped through the air. I whipped my head around, eyes wide. My gaze fell upon one of the towering pine trees just in time to witness its trunk splitting in half and toppling towards me like an enormous falling sword.

Panic surged through my veins as an ear-shattering cacophony of cracking and splintering filled the air. The tall trees surrounding me started to split and sway, their trunks bowing towards me with alarming speed. Each crashing tree sounded like a thunderous drumbeat, closing in on me from all sides. I stumbled backwards, frantically trying to evade the crashing limbs and dove out of the way, covering my head.

It seemed like the forest itself was turning against me.

With a quick glance, I caught sight of a large boulder jutting out from the snowy ground. Without hesitation, I began to crawl towards it on my stomach, feeling the icy flakes seeping through my clothing and chilling my skin still further.

I reached the boulder and crouched behind it, cowering. I shook with cold, and for the briefest second I felt like the girl I’d been before. Hiding under a bush during the first hunt, praying that no one would find me. Praying that I wouldn’t die here.

And then it stopped.

---