Page 33 of The Winter Prince

The question felt foolish. This boy was not the one to ask about that, and Revi’s steward was surely in contact with the villages, but he had to offersomething. What he had done so far was too paltry. It didn’t measure up to the gleam of joy in this boy’s eyes, to the loyalty he espoused toward Revi.

The boy shook his head violently. “Oh, no, my prince. We’ve got plenty. Well, not plenty, but we can manage with what we have. Freezing some Winter back into the place was more than enough. I—”

Something brushed against Revi’s senses, and his hackles rose. He cut off the boy’s rambling. “Get inside. Now.”

The boy froze for half a second.

“Now,” Revi snarled.

The boy vanished without another word. Revi spared him one last glance before he turned in the direction of the threat. In a leap, he was back in the tree, bounding across branches. The farther he could get from the village, the better.

The forest could have been dead for how quiet it had gone. No birds sang, no wind even stirred the branches.

He breathed deeply, picking out individual scents as he neared his prey. There were at least half a dozen, smelling of sulfur and rotten vegetation. He withheld the growl that rose in his chest.

How had sixzruyedsgotten so close to a village without anyone noticing? He’d been to the border before this. His men there had seen the breach, but they’d thought it wastwo. Not six.

The answer came unbidden. He was the one who should have noticed, but his magic was too weak to stretch that far. Revi pushed away the claws of guilt sinking into his heart. He shifted to one last tree, and the beasts came into view. They looked like bears, though their bodies were lanky and thin. Their fur hung off them in greasy strings and their claws were blade-sharp and twice as long as a normal bear’s. They prowled through the forest as iftheywere the hunters today. Revi bared his fangs. He would enjoy disabusing them of that notion. He dropped from the tree onto the back of one, claws extended in silent death.

The others were already moving toward him as he rose from the corpse of their fallen comrade. A base hunger flashed in all their eyes. They were little more than dumb beasts, but they were dumb beasts controlled by something else, and each of them harbored a savagery that would easily wipe out the more peaceful members of his Court.

Revi leaped forward. He didn’t use magic in this fight. He had learned long ago that doing so would only aid his enemy as they sucked it from him to strengthen their own bodies.

No, this was a fight of monsters. In these moments, he was only a beast, like them. Teeth and claws, speed and death. He gave himself over almost entirely to his bloodthirsty instincts. He fell into the familiar dance, tearing apart his prey, dodging their poisonous claws and fangs. One by one, he took them down.

Until, at last, the clearing was still. He stood among the carnage, body shaking, aching for something else to fight.

The threat was over. He wrestled himself under control, repeating those words to himself. Slowly, normal sounds filtered back into the forest around him. Birds chirping, the distant rustling of woodland creatures.

When he felt mostly back to himself, he looked around the small battlefield. He had torn through the sixzruyeds; his own body was covered in the evidence. He took a step forward and winced at the twinge in his side. He looked back. With all the blood on him, it took a moment to pinpoint the source.

It seemed he had not successfully avoided every attack like he had hoped. He grimaced, resisting the instinct to yelp at the pain as he continued forward. He didn’t know if it was a bite or from thezruyeds’ claws. One would almost certainly get infected and the other would leak venom throughout his body.

Either way, he needed to return home as quickly as possible.

Chapter 21

Enlo

Dayspassed,andEnlospent every single one of them with Kienna.

She laughed with him, her eyes lighting up, but in the quiet moments when he would look over at her, sometimes he would catch her staring at him with her brow furrowed. And still she avoided any physical overtures from him whenever he tested to see if she was warming to his presence, his touch. It baffled him—and felt like a challenge. He’d never encountered a woman who didn’t want to touch him. Perhaps it was her prudish human nature coming out. But he heeded her subtle clues, keeping to her boundaries so she’d stay comfortable. He’d settle with winning her heart from a distance if that was what it took. It was only a matter of time.

They spent their first few days in the library or a drawing room, reading or playingvyna—an Elyri strategy game Kienna mastered surprisingly quickly. He hadn’t expected her human mind to be quite so keen.

But a week after Revi had left, Kienna’s restlessness was making it remarkably hard for Enlo to concentrate.

He sighed at her quiet shifting for the dozenth time and pushed away from their game board. “You are not made forvynatoday, I think.”

She looked up at him, her expression somewhere between startled and guilty. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I can return to my room.”

“No,” Enlo said quickly. He didn’t have long before Revi returned. He would not waste the time by sending her back to her rooms. A plan formed in his thoughts. “No, let’s go for a walk, work out some of your restless energy.” He said this with a smile fixed into place, one that had melted many Elyri women’s hearts. Kienna blushed and looked down.

She was not unaffected by his charms; he just had to figure out how to get past her walls.

“Come.” He took her hand and drew her up.

She didn’t protest, though she tugged her hand away quickly. He allowed it; this was not the time to push a boundary.

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