Page 136 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

Bird-talker,they whisper.Bird-talker.Bird-talker.

As if speaking my name is some kind of a prayer. Like I’m a god to them instead of a desperate girl with thorns in her hair.

The smell of smoke fades behind us, and for a disoriented few minutes, the air is replaced with the smell of pine. Then, I get a whiff of the unmistakable, strong fae scent of myrrh that can only mean a fae is close.

My heart tumbles into a freefall.

To the southern gate, hurry!I tell the buck.

He stumbles, exhausted, as he finally emerges from the trees by the covered pavilion.

It’s empty. No sign of Woudix or Artain or Iyre.

At the sound of hoofbeats, however, Hawk bursts out of the Woodland Garden, snarling. Woudix strides up behindher, his head swinging toward our sound as he splays his hands, readying his deadly power.

“Hold,” he commands Hawk. “Who’s there? It isn’t sunset for eight more hours.”

Samaur runs out of the gate behind him, staring in incredulity. Iyre stumbles after him, fingers tangled in her long red braid, quickly finishing it with shaking hands.

“What are you doing here?” she demands as she ties off the braid. “Where is Artain?”

Exhaustion eats at my bones as I slide off the buck and signal for him to lower himself.

Iyre paces in a tight circle around us, her cheeks blazing red, toe-tapping anxiously, but I couldn’t care less about supplying her answers.

Carefully, I roll Basten’s body off the buck’s back and feel for a pulse.

Come on. Please, Basten. Please still be with me.

There! It’s faint, but the tiny flutter fills me with hope. Urgently, I rip the sleeve off my shirt and tie it as a bandage around the deepest wound in Basten’s chest.

“I asked where Artain is, human!” Iyre shouts, tugging her braid in frustration.

“In the woods!” My voice bursts out of me like a flock of crows. I can’t swallow back my burning anger as I spit, “Where the hell do you think? He’s out there.Losingthis damn game of yours!”

Samaur shoves past Iyre, clutching his scabbard strap hard, blinking his golden eyes fast. “Wait. Wait, the human huntsman won? That’s impossible.”

The high note of disbelief in his voice sounds like a rooster at dawn.

Unlike the other two, Woudix remains calm. He slowly crouches, touching the ground as though sensing something. “No—he’s dying. He hasn’t won anything.”

“Dying? How? Artain wasn’t allowed to kill him,” Samaur sputters.

“Artain did not do this.” Woudix stands and slowly tilts his head in my direction.

“Ha!” Iyre smirks so hard that her left eye twitches. She can’t seem to stand still as she paces around us. “Youkilled your lover, princess? Nowthatis a twist!” She cackles. “So, Artain wins by default.”

“No,” I say steadily. “The game isn’t over.”

I curl my blood-soaked fingers inward, marshaling my anger, squeezing so hard that Basten’s blood drips onto the grass.

Go, I say to the buck.With my thanks.

As he hobbles back into the woods, I can sense his exhaustion. His pain. The last thing I want is for another innocent animal to get further caught up in this twisted game of gods.

Iyre cries, “Of course, it’s over! There’s only one competitor left!”

I run my bloodstained hands down my wrinkled grown. “Neither competitor caught me. I came back here on my own. Even if one of them had, the Night Hunt doesn’t end until dusk. A lot could happen before then.”

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