Page 92 of A Hunter for Luna

But what if she had? She stirred the glowing embers of the fire, the sun catching on the red veil twisted in her auburn braid.

Memories of our intimate moments flashed through my mind. The softness of her touch, the vulnerability in her striking eyes. But Francesco's warning was louder, drowning them out. Was she playing me? Did she feel trapped in this arranged marriage?

Why did these thoughts come to me every morning? Was it some outside influence, like Moonshifter?

I summoned my magic, and reached out, sensing and searching for the feel of any other’s magic on myself or Luna. A few long moments later, I admitted defeat. There was no magic on us that I could sense, which meant that these thoughts were mine.

We packed up camp in tense silence and continued our journey through the dense forest covering the hills leading to the pass. The woods here weren’t harvested, were said to be haunted by the northern tribes.

The governor of the province focused on the lucrative amber mines further to the south rather than ordering lumber harvested from these woods. I’d met him.

Not a foolish man, he was well aware ordering woodsmen to cut down these trees would lead to disobedience and him looking like a fool.

The ancient trees surrounded us, some bowed by their own weight, and creaked and groaned in the wind, their leaves whispering secrets. As we rode along the dirt path, an eerie quiet descended, broken only by the occasional rustle of unseen creatures in the undergrowth.

Like the Drakewood, magical animals made their home here.

Midafternoon, the trees thinned as we skirted a small lake. Grass and bushes rolled to its edge and the water appeared to be pure and clear.

“Do you want to refresh the water bags?” I asked.

Luna nodded, and we turned and rode closer to the lake. The open sky above us and the warmth of the sun felt welcome on my face after the gloom of the forest.

The lake reflected the ski like a mirror, shining blue.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling wail cut the quiet like a razor, raw and unearthly. It slashed at my ears, a sound of grief, of betrayal, the cry of a swan whose mate abandoned it in death, the scream of a widow bereaved.

Biter stopped in his tracks and reared.

A figure stepped from the thick green reeds by the water’s edge, trailing mist that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

She was very young, and beautiful in an eerie way that made my chest clench—long, dripping black hair clinging to her pale face, her thin peasant dress floating around her like it had a life of its own. As if it were underwater.

Those eyes…

Her eyes were blank and blue, empty as the lake behind her.

A Rusalka. A woman abandoned, or a maid who died by drowning, or maybe a spirit. No one knew exactly what they were, only that they were deadly.

I tried to move, spur Biter away but my body wouldn’t listen. Instead, I dismounted and walked forward.

Her voice wrapped around me, a whisper of sorrow and promises, a chain soft as silk and unyielding as iron. The chill of it seeped into my bones, pulling me forward, step by step, toward the dark water lapping hungrily at the shore.

Somewhere behind me, Pip shrieked. Distantly, I heard Luna’s voice, but it was like listening through thick ice. Nothing mattered except the woman calling me home.

The water swirled at my ankles.

Then her hands were on my wrists. Cold. Bony. Her fingers curled tightened, her nails like splintered glass digging into my skin. I barely felt the pain. I barely felt anything except the need for the weight of the water, the need to sink, to let go?—

A sharp pain burned through my chest. My breath hitched. My vision flickered.

Deep in my mind, Luna’s name burned.

Something slammed into me, knocking me sideways, breaking the Rusalka’s hold. I hit the grassy shore hard, my breath rushing back in a painful gasp.

The Rusalka let out a shriek of fury, the water surging toward us. Luna didn’t hesitate—she lunged, her dagger shrouded in black ribbons of her magic. The blade sank deep into the Rusalka’s shoulder, eroding the substance that gave her life.

The creature didn’t fall. She turned on Luna with impossible speed, her wide eyes unblinking.

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