Page 75 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

Before I can reach my knapsack, Tòrr rears up from the middle of the stream. Water pours off his iron hooves as hepaws the air, letting out another one of his unnatural shrieks. He lifts his massive head toward the sun, and a strange ringing sound starts.

Bands of shadow ripple across the ground as the air grows cold. The hair on my arms lifts like lightning is about to strike.

Then, a burst of light explodes across my eyes.

Crying out, I roll away, throwing an arm over my face. Intense heat licks at the back of my neck. When I ease my eyelids open, my vision slowly refocuses.

Where the wolf had been is now a pile of ash on burned grass.

I fall back on my elbows, eyes wide as I take in Tòrr.

He lowers to all fours in the stream, shakes himself, then trots over to rest his chin on Myst’s neck.

“Okay.” I smooth a shaky hand over my face. “Okay. Right. I guess youcanstill use your powers.”

Myst nuzzles Tòrr as I go to inspect the wolf’s remains. Other than some singed tufts of fur, there isn’t so much as a claw left.

Curious, I point to the ruins of an old, abandoned shed on the far side of the stream. “Show me again what you can do. I want to see.” Tòrr swings his head to peer at the shed. “Go ahead. As long as it isn’tmeyou’re crispifying.”

Tòrr tips his head to the left, into a beam of sunlight pouring through the trees, and another fireball instantly incinerates the shed.

“Fuck!Yes.” I bark an awe-inspired laugh. “Oh, murder horse, the things I would burn if I had your power.”

Tòrr prances in the stream, excited by my tone. He swings his head around again until he spots a bustlingsheep barn about three hundred paces away. His eyes widen gleefully, flashing the whites.

My grin falls. “Wait?—”

A burst of light has me turning my face away. When I look up, the barn is nothing but a few smoking corner posts. Bleating sheep run panicked across the pasture.

A dog starts barking.

I wipe a hand over my face. “Uh, I think it’s time for us to keep moving.”

But Tòrr prances again, kicking up water in his excitement. A wicked gleam flashes in his eyes. He keeps tossing his head. Shrieking.

Fear runs backward up my throat.

Myst nips him on the neck, but he only snorts and nips back at her. His hooves dance over the sun-dappled river rocks. His ears swing forward as he hones in on a farmhouse about a quarter mile away.

That dog must belong to the family inside. Because already, I can hear a mother’s concerned voice coming from the building. Two children’s anxious questions. A father’s heavy boot steps as he heads for the door.

“Tòrr, no!” I shout, crashing into the stream. He throws his head so violently that I can’t grab him by the mane. “Tòrr, there are people in there! A family! Innocent people, you understand? Not kindling!”

I hold up my hands, trying to herd him back into the trees’ shadows away from sunlight, but he blows an angry burst of steam at my face.

It scalds me, but I grimace and try again. “Hey! You’re better than this. You’re fae, aren’t you? It’s in your damn silver blood? You’re supposed to be superior to humans. Illustrious. Exalted. Well, with your gift comes duty. So, takesome fucking responsibility. You can’t go around burning down the world because it hurt you.”

Myst nips at him again, this time deep enough to draw blood.

He finally calms down, his lungs heaving as he fights for steady breath, the vengeful glee fading out of his eyes.

My shoulders sink, my own tension melting away.

Tòrr lifts his front foot and stomps right on my boot.

“Ow!” I double over, growling now, ready to punch this damn horse in the muzzle. “Hey! Listen, you fucker?—”

Tòrr ignores me as he tromps to the streambed and writes out with his hoof in the mud:

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