Page 3 of Wicked Prince of Carnage
Sterling knew that the journey to her grandmother’s would have dangers, but she’d had no choice. She couldn’t raise her brother when she was still a child herself. While her mother had taught her to be self-sufficient, she didn’t know how she could earn coin just yet. Besides that, she knewnothingabout babies. She’d thought once she arrived here that they would be safe.
Her grandmother riffled through her cupboards, and Sterling’s body trembled as the adrenaline of the journey faded. She practically fell onto the settee.
“I-I saw the prince. He spoke to me,” Sterling stuttered and set Cyan’s basket on the table in front of her.
“And you’re only telling me this now?” she hissed, whipping around. “Did you tell him where you were going?”
“No. He warned me to leave the forest. Him and his wolves are scouting for a prize.”
Her grandmother inhaled a deep breath, her palm clutching her skirt. “It’s fine. We’ll wait a week before leaving. Stay in the cottage until then.”
Sterling nodded, and her grandmother peeked inside the basket, then lifted Cyan into her arms.
“Mama named him Cyan,” Sterling said.
“He has your mother’s eyes.” She smiled as she brushed a hand down his cheek. “I take it you don’t know who his father is?” A disapproving look crossed her face. There were times when Sterling would hear arguments between her mother and grandmother over how she was being raised. How her grandmother said she could take care of them, but her mother always refused.
“No.”
Her grandmother heaved a sigh. “Your mother and I didn’t agree on a lot of things, but I loved her. Just as I love you.”
The door cracked open, and Sterling jolted forward.
“Go back to sleep,” her grandmother whispered. “I’m just retrieving milk from the goat and then I can make you breakfast. We can’t hunt at the moment, but I’m going to teach you how to properly use that bow.”
“I’d like that.” Sterling yawned, then closed her eyes. She lay back on the settee, the basket still beside her on the table.There was only one bed and she’d refused to take that from her grandmother.
She slowly drifted back into darkness when a scream pierced the air. Sterling bolted upward and tossed off the blankets just as wolves howled outside. She glanced down at her sleeping brother and a fierce protectiveness washed over her. He needed to be hidden—to be kept safe. She carried the basket into the kitchen and placed him into one of the cabinets that only held a line of glass jars.
Grabbing her bow and quiver, she went outside into the morning light. Chickens shuffled frantically within their cages, but nothing else moved. She listened closely and stepped forward, reaching back to grab an arrow from her quiver.
Something heavy slammed into her from behind. Her body struck the ground, ripping the breath from her. She flipped over to lift her bow when a large auburn-furred wolf knocked the weapon from her with a massive paw. Another shout tore through the forest from her grandmother. Sterling shook, her pulse hammering. She had to dosomething, but she felt frozen. Another howl sounded and her body reacted on its own. She pushed upward just as the wolf’s claws soared toward her.
An agonizing scream echoed around her, and it took Sterling a moment to realize it was coming from her while hot blood poured from a wound over her left eye. Her vision went black before pain exploded from the slashes across her eye and chest.
Sterling stumbled in the direction of where her grandmother’s cries had come from, but the wolf’s teeth clamped around her ankle. She cried out as the beast dragged her onto the ground while she clawed at the dirt. The wolf released her, but before she could escape, it pinned her down by the shoulders where she could do nothing but writhe. It growled in her ear, and she stilled, its hot breath creeping up her neck.
Sterling’s gaze landed on her slaughtered goat and a large pack of various colored wolves. Then on the body beside them. Her grandmother’s arm and leg were torn clean off, her eyes rolling back into her head. Sterling panicked, knowing her brother was inside and would easily be sniffed out by these vicious beasts.
A familiar face slipped into view between two trees, his deep blue eyes settling on hers.Prince Winter.
“We meet again,” he drawled as he stopped in front of Sterling, his expression neutral. “I didn’t realize you were acquainted with this traitor.”
“Let her go,” Sterling’s grandmother pleaded. “She’s innocent. She doesn’t know anything.”
Prince Winter narrowed his eyes at her grandmother. “I don’t particularly care what sheknows, only that she associates with the likes of you.”
“Don’t hurt her.” Sterling sobbed. “My grandmother is all my brother and I have left. Do what you wish to me. I don’t care.”
He looked at Sterling, a furrow settling between his brows. “Your grandmother’s life is forfeited. And you? You had the chance to escape once already, and you chose not to listen.”
“My brother and I … we had nowhere else to go,” she whispered.
Prince Winter crouched in front of her and tilted his head thoughtfully. “I’m not interested in killing a newborn child, and no shifter here will want to take in an orphaned human. If I let you go, you’ll take the child and disappear.”
Sterling hated herself for nodding, but there was nothing left she could do. Not in the position she was in.
Claws seeped out from Prince Winter’s flesh, a wet snout protruding from his face, fangs sharper than razorblades appearing as he howled toward the sky. Black fur spread across his skin, and his clothing ripped when his body altered. The packhowled in return and tore into her grandmother while Sterling watched in horror. Blood splashed as her two remaining limbs were thrown in opposite directions. The prince did nothing but watch the sight before him, his flat expression akin to one of boredom.
