Page 17 of Fate and Fury

KATERINA

The trees edged close on either side, hemming them in, as Katerina and her Shadow rode hard through the darkening woods.

“Maybe we should have waited until morning to leave Rivki, after all,” Niko said as they rounded a bend in the path and were forced to slow, his shoulders tensing beneath his black leather gear. Above, the waxing Bone Moon hung low, glinting against the star-pocked vault of the sky, and Niko gave it an uneasy glance. “Kniaz or no Kniaz, this doesn’t bode well.”

They’d made their excuses to Kniaz Sergey, claiming Niko was needed at home to prepare for his betrothal. It was a poor explanation, but the Kniaz had accepted it reluctantly, saying only that he regretted seeing them go and extracting a promise that they’d come to deliver the tithe next month. Next to him, Dimi Zakharova had given a small, self-satisfied smile, which Katerina had wanted to smack right off her face. Instead, they’d packed, retrieved their horses, and ridden over the bridge that separated the island from the mainland. Now here they were, picking their way along a moonlit path that cut throughCherkasy Forest, with Niko insisting he could sense Grigori lurking in the woods.

“Enough,” Katerina snapped. “We’ll make it to Drezna tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go home.”

But she wasn’t so sure. Maybe it was just Niko’s nagging, but she could swear she felt the weight of the demons’ eyes peering at her from the treeline, forming a cold spot between her shoulder blades.

Damn her Shadow. And damn her overactive imagination. Theyweregoing home; she willed it to be true. They would reach it in one piece, make their confession to Baba Petrova, and deal with the consequences. Anything was better than staying in Rivki for one more second.

Niko sighed, glancing over his shoulder back the way they’d come. “I’d defend your virtue, my Dimi. The Kniaz would never lay a finger on you unwanted, nor would that bitch of a Dimi speak a word. You have it on my honor. It’s not too late to go back.”

“Yes, it is.” They’d been riding for hours. What was the point of turning around now?

“It’s not.” The blades at his waist clinked, and he put a hand down to settle them in their holster. “Better to face the devil we know than to be alone in the woods with Saints knows what, still miles from Drezna.”

Katerina made a low sound of disagreement, but Niko didn’t give up. “Blini with caviar,” he coaxed, his voice honey-smooth. “Borscht with sour cream, all you can eat.”

She coaxed her mare, Mika, next to his stallion as the path widened. “Naming my favorite foods won’t help. We have to get back to warn Baba. And whatever might be in these woods, together the two of us are more dangerous than it could dream of being.”

“Thereissomething in the woods,” Niko said, raising his face to the wind. He breathed deep, tasting the air. There was a wildness to the gesture, and for a moment Katerina saw not the man who had been her friend since childhood, before he’d taken a blood vow to stand by her side, but the black dog that lived inside him. “I know you feel it.”

Indeed, Katerina could. The air trembled, heavy with the portent of things to come. An edge of hunger rode the breeze, sentient and waiting.

Beneath her, Mika whickered uneasily, and Katerina gripped the reins, peering ahead. They were picking their way carefully now, the light of the moon all that illuminated their path. “Whatever’s here,” she said, raising her voice, “it will not dare cross us. The spirits of the forest should take heed, for they seek to wound us at their peril.” Bracing herself, she sent her gift out through the earth and into the trees, seeking, but found nothing in return.

Next to her, Niko shivered as a tendril of her magic ran through him. “Katya,” he said quietly. “I see that look on your face. But be reasonable. We can go back to the island, wait until morning.”

Katerina wasnottrotting back to Rivki with her tail between her legs, especially if Dimi Zakharova had opened her big mouth. Edging her horse closer to Niko’s, she grinned up at him—her razor-sharp grin, the one she wore before crumbling a demon to dust—and leveraged the one subject she was sure would distract him, no matter how little she herself cared for it.

“Surely you’re eager to get back to Elena,” she said, batting her lashes. “Wouldn’t you rather be with her than penned up on an island with me, a water spirit, and a tyrant? We’ll reach Drezna, and you’ll be that much closer to having her in your arms.”

He shot her an aggravated look out of the corner of his eye. “Leave Elena out of this.”

“How can I?” Katerina said, her voice as insouciant as she could make it. “She’s soon to be your betrothed, my Shadow. To bear your children. That’s something to look forward to, is it not?” She winked at him, as if the answer didn’t have the potential to break her heart.

Niko growled, a low sound more at home in the throat of the black dog than the man. “I’m looking forward to a warm bed without the evil that roams this forest breathing down my neck, Katerina. At this rate, I won’t live long enough to have a Shadowchild with Elena. I’m telling you, something’s not right.”

As if it had heard him speak, the darkness deepened; the trees loomed taller. The silence that fell was absolute, even the small creatures of the forest growing quiet.

Katerina ignored the roiling sensation inside her, her magic rising to the call of whatever lurked in the woods, that told her he was likely right. Instead, she kicked her mare up to a canter, heedless of the darkness and the narrow path.

“I amnotgoing to ride back over that bridge,” she told him over her shoulder. “I’m not going to hide and cower. If there is a threat out here, we should face it, before it poses harm to the people of Drezna.”

“Certainly,” Niko said from behind her, his voice dry. “It has nothing to do with the fact that you’ll bow for no one. Saints forbid you ask for help, or that you show caution?—”

“Caution is for people who are weaker than we, Niko Alekhin. We are the ones that the creatures of the Dark should fear.”

Katerina never heard his reply, if he made one at all. Because that was when a deafening crack split the air, her Shadow was ripped from her side, and the world was swallowed by an unrelenting black.

11

KATERINA

Her mare reared, letting out an unearthly cry. She struggled to hold on to the reins, but it was no use. Mika bolted from beneath her, fleeing, and Katerina fell to the ground with a thud that rattled her bones.

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