Page 142 of A Cage of Crystal

She was still blinking in confusion at the dagger when he fled the tent. As soon as he stepped outside, he was nearly bowled over by a charging horse—hishorse. The palfrey paid him no heed as she darted past, disappearing into the trees behind another horse. The first must have been what he’d heard galloping by. He glanced down the other side of the meadow. He expected more chaos than a few fleeing horses. At the very least, he thought others would be out to investigate the sound. But the camp was too quiet. Too empty. He saw no other horses to suggest his brother’s party had returned. And where were the guards Verdian had left behind? Who had made the muffled shouts he’d heard? Who’d screamed?

He strained his ears for the slightest sound…

Shuffling movement had him whirling to the side. He reached for his sword, unsheathing it before pointing its tip at the cluster of shadows that hovered by the nearest tent.

A whine keened from the shadows. He blinked into the night, stepping closer, and finally made out the faces of Mareleau’s three maids. Relief uncoiled the knots in his stomach. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

The three were shaking, clinging to each other. “We heard that roar,” Ann said, voice quavering. “We left our tent to go to our queen, and then…and then we saw a body.”

Hair rose on the back of his neck. “A body?”

“A guard, I think,” Ann said. “There was…blood.”

His heart beat faster, and his sword arm began to tremble. “Do you know if the hunting party returned?”

Breah shook her head. “Not even the servants have come back. Only a few of us were left behind in the first place, but we haven’t seen anyone in hours.”

Seven devils, none of this was good. He pointed at Mareleau’s pavilion and filled his voice with the command of a king. “Hide with the queen. Do not leave until I return.”

With hasty nods, they shuffled away.

Larylis proceeded forward, eyes cast over the moonlit meadow. There was no sign of the creature who had made the noise. It would have been a comfort were it not for the missing hunting party and the body Ann claimed to have seen. He crept forth along the row of tents, seeking any sign—

A dark form was sprawled in the grass up ahead, and he suspected it was a body. He took a step forward, but the ground rocked beneath his feet.

One thud rumbled nearby. Then another. It was heavy and rhythmic like footfalls, but far too slow and deep to belong to a human or a horse. He turned in a half circle, trying to ascertain where it was coming from. It sounded like it was somewhere behind the tents. But as he faced the direction of the rumbling beat, a figure emerged from between the nearest pavilions, striding straight for him. The moon illuminated dark hair streaked with white, hollow cheeks, and a face as familiar to him as his own.

Teryn.

He stopped before Larylis. “Greetings, brother. Are you ready to join me on that hunt now?”

* * *

Mareleau’s eyesdarted between the tent flap and the dagger in her hand. What was she supposed to do with a dagger? And why the hell had Larylis left her alone like this? Her legs trembled, torn between running after him and darting under the nearest piece of furniture. With the tent so sparse, the only thing she could hide under was a table.

Before she could do anything, the tent flap flew open. Her heart leaped into her throat, half with panic, half with hope, but neither danger nor salvation entered the pavilion. Instead, Ann, Breah, and Sera charged inside, uttering incoherent words as they closed in around Mareleau.

“Did you hear it?” Sera asked. “The roar?”

Now that her ladies were here, she felt some lessening of her terror. Stronger than her comfort, though, was the urge to contrast their fraying composures. She was queen. She couldn’t act like them. Without intending to, she straightened her spine and threw her shoulders back. Tightening her fingers around the hilt of her blade, she lowered the dagger to her side. “Larylis said it’s probably just a bear. There’s nothing to get worked up about.”

“Then what isthat?” Breah’s question hung in the air as a heavy thud shook the ground beneath them. With every trembling pulse, the sound drew nearer. Nearer.

“It could still be a bear,” Mareleau said, but there was less conviction in her tone. Why the seven devils should she be comforted about a bear in the first place?

The thudding was so close now, the walls of the tent rippled with every beat. It was coming from the back end of the pavilion.

The three girls crowded around Mareleau, clinging to her arms, her robe. Together they took a step back, then another. The thud stopped just behind the tent. What followed was a distinct snuffling, then something heavy rubbing against the canvas, scraping the other side of the cloth wall with an ear-splitting scratch.

Mareleau flung out the hand holding the dagger, then motioned for her ladies to retreat toward the tent flap.

They took one step back, then another, as the creature continued to rub against the back of the tent.

Something pierced the canvas, a sharp tine that protruded inside.

Sera smothered a scream behind her hand, and Mareleau had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out as well.

This creature wasn’t a bear. A stag then? That wasn’t encouraging either. Mareleau had no direct experience with any animals but her mother’s lapdogs. When they misbehaved, her mother summoned their trainers. What the hell was she to do with an angry stag?

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