Page 61 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

He wasn’t lying,she thought.I know it!

She walked along the street, thinking that maybe he was at a store. Maybe he was tired of waiting on his makeshift throne. She looked into the coffee shop, the used bookstore, the gem and mineral store, a pawn shop. Nothing but strangers staring back at her.

The closest she came to a clue was Gina, Urian’s friend. They’d talked, texted a bit, but she was still Urian’s friend first.

“Hey,” Katherine said, feeling like the dumbest sort of woman. “Have you seen Uri around?”

“Uri, huh?” Gina grinned. “Uh huh. So, I guess you weren’t immune to falling for that charm after all?”

“Guess not.” Katherine didn’t feel even a flicker of shame. She felt lucky.

Gina motioned to the hilt sticking up over Katherine’s shoulder. “Any reason you’re walking around with a big assed sword on your back?”

“Helps with posture?” Katherine said lightly.

Gina laughed. “Uh huh. Expecting trouble?”

“Not really . . .? I don’t know, but I have an overprotective mom,” Katherine started. Her words died when Callisto strolled into the store. She was still wearing a skirt of dead things, bits of flesh and fur clinging to them in patches.

“Ummm. . . hi?” Gina said.

Callisto ignored her and stared at Katherine.

“He’s gone,” Callisto said. Her voice was gravel and rage, as if there was something she might break if only she could figure out what it was.

“We had plans,” Katherine objected, feeling the fool for trusting any man. “He said we were going away. He—”

“It wasn’t his choice, girl!” Callisto’s hands were balled into fists. “They came for him.”

“Who?” Gina asked.

“The Hunt.” Callisto stared into the distance, but there was nothing out there but scrub and cactus as far as Katherine could see. “And if you stay here, Katherine, they’ll come for you next.”

Katherine shook her head. No one knew her; no one knew anything about her. Until Urian, she’d successfully avoided the world of faeries. One day and night with him, and everything was changing.

“They have your scent.” Callisto seemed to be struggling with words. “On him. You marked scent all over him. You can’t hide from them if they have your scent.”

At first Katherine couldn’t follow, but then Callisto made several crude gestures and said, “The sexing? You did that with him. He smells of you.”

It was obvious that the words weren’t quite right, but Katherine understood all the same—and so did Gina, who was giving her an appraising look. Katherine ignored that for now and said, “And so the Hunt knows my, err,scent,but why would they come after me?”

“To break Urian? To take you as the captive? You are a halfsie.” Callisto scowled. “We must hide you.”

“I thought youjustsaid you couldn’t hide from the Hunt?” Katherine tried not to think about what it would mean to be taken by them or what Urian was suffering.

Katherine shot a look at Gina, who was clearly trying to follow the odd conversation. “Gina, I think I need to go with her.”

“Do you need me to do anything?” Gina asked.

Katherine shook her head. “I think this one is on me. The Hunt . . . they’re the things thatfaeriesfear, so I don’t think exposing you to them is a great idea. Just stay away from any strangers that show up in town, I guess. And keep a phone handy in case he calls you . . . ? Maybe he’ll escape.”

Callisto snorted.

“We go to Faerie.” Callisto shifted into a great winged beast before the word was fully out.

Gina gaped at her. And Katherine was fairly sure she looked as stunned as Gina.

Callisto wasn’t precisely adragon, but more of a nightmare of what a dragon could be. Skeletal ribs were exposed, bits of furred flesh stretched over the bottom of the rib cage like a patchy rug. Her tail was a spiked thing flicking anxiously. The monster’s face, though, was the thing that stole all of Katherine’s words. Lizard eyes, lidless and black, stared at Katherine, and Callisto’s mouth was that of a smiling serpent. Fangs the size of a human’s leg jutted down over her lower jaw, and something pearl-white dripped from her teeth.

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