Page 5 of Land of Monsters

“Az istenfáját!” Oh, the God’s tree!I mumbled under my breath, my attention zipping around, catching shouts from down the cave path. By the pitch, I knew they had discovered our hideout, the broken lock and muddy footprints on the stone floor. They would beeline this way, hoping we were still within reach.

The frame of the MTV dotted through the line of trees, only a dozen yards away from arriving here. We were trapped on both sides, and going down the hill meant heading right into enemy territory.

We needed a place to hide. Somewhere no one could find us.

Seizing Raven’s hand, I tugged her into the woods behind us. Navigating the steep, rough terrain, deep with untouched snow, felt like slogging through thick tar. “Come on!” I pulled Raven’s arm so hard I was practically dragging her, needing to get us safely away from view.

“Gaseste-i!” Find them!“Trebuie sa fie aproape.” They must be close. The order ricocheted off the canopy of trees, slamming right into my spine, and my nerves buzzed with terror. We were both too fatigued to run fast, to think as clearly as we needed to. Survival was our only goal.

Raven tripped and stumbled, trying to keep up with me. Desperation was bitter on my tongue, and adrenaline pumpedthrough my veins, moving my legs over the terrain, leading us away from peril.

“Where are we going?” Raven finally asked when we were far out of earshot, surrounded only by the sounds of birds and wood creaking under the weight of the snow.

“To the only place I know we’ll be safe.” I turned to look at her.

Raven’s eyes met mine, her throat swallowing as she nodded, lethargy already shaking her muscles. She understood the trek there would be difficult, treacherous, and bone-aching.

Her hand stayed clasped in mine and without the bracelet blocking her powers, blocking me, I realized for the first time how much I could feel her. Like the snow seeping into my clothes, she soaked into my system. Not her emotions or anything, but her presence. Even without her power and magic, I could feel her force. Her aura. The same as I felt the earth and the life around me.

Wildness under a royal mask.

The beast behind the woman.

Chapter 2

Raven

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Sweat dripped down the back of my neck at the same time my body shook with cold and fatigue. My legs ached, each step getting harder to take while wrestling through the rugged terrain. The gluttonous clouds eagerly dropped more snow on us. The endless patter on my face and head never seemed to stop. Another thing tapping at an exposed nerve.

My whole body was raw and tender, my strength waning as we silently hiked over the mountains. The snow clung to my lashes, and I took in the back of Ash’s physique. His shoulders rolled forward, his body tense, trekking forward without pause.

He had barely looked at me. Not in the eyes, anyway. My throat tightened, tears pricking at the frozen ducts.

It was exactly what I feared. What I knew would happen. It was how most who learned what I was responded. Fear. Horror. Disgust. It was why my parents kept quiet about me and my brother after we were born. Only close family and personal royal guards knew what we were capable of.

The world, of course, knew my brother and I came from a dark dweller and a Druid, but most didn’t know my mother was a natural obscurer. ThatIcould inherit it from her. Be all the “evil” parts of my parents’ union.

My brother was far luckier.

Fear rose when my brother and I were born. Rumors swirled about what my parents could produce, but as the years went by and we grew, the talk died away. It was purposeful. An image we had to maintain. Little did they know the very thing they were so afraid of was even worse than they thought. Or at least for me.

My brother, Rook, was the perfect one. I was the problem.

“Just over that range.” Ash flicked his chin at the mountains ahead of us, his attention gliding over me clinically, no emotion escaping him. When he held my hand, I swear I could feel him, the blood in his system, the beat of his heart, his aura giving me strength.

Now he let nothing show, while I felt exposed and thin as parchment.

I nodded, my fingers searching for the cuff like a security blanket. To despise and miss something equally left me more unsettled in my body. Like a convict who escaped jail but realized they enjoyed the security of the cage.

My powers were empty, a side effect of my glitch, but I still wanted to run back to the protected pen of my cuff, scared of what I could do. It had been almost a year since I put it on, the spelled metal containing my magic, and I had grown accustomed to it. To being without my powers.

Part of me had wanted it off, to feel the wildness roar back in, to be free. The other wished I had walked away from the cave, telling Ash the truth.

I might be half of myself, but nobody would die.

The taste of the man’s blood still coated my tongue, the sound of my teeth tearing into his flesh echoing in my ears. Maybe it horrified me, but the beast enjoyed it, and the obscurer craved it. Natural obscurers were banished for a reason among Druids. We weren’t the healers and protectors; we were the killers and the darkness. We were born of black magic and went against everything of the Druids’ white magic.

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