Page 43 of Trick

Trick me, and I shall trick you back.

None of this meant I wasn’t scared. Down to the marrow of my bones, I was petrified, but I was also cranky. I had too much to live for, to tolerate this horseshit.

I inclined my head to the fine specimen of a cat and then snapped my fingers to keep its attention. The moment shattered like glass shards—sudden and explosive.

The cat launched toward me with a savage growl, its claws lashing the air. I dove out of the leenix’s path, rolled across the ground, and shot to my feet whilst whipping out the blade.

The animal flew at me again, a liquid beam of gray.

It struck. I ducked.

It pounced. I spun.

It gave chase. I ran toward a tree, planted a foot on the trunk, and flung myself into a backflip over the creature’s head. The cat was still scraping the bark when I landed behind it and took advantage, striking with the blade and slitting a hind leg.

Crimson spritzed from the gash and sprayed my clothes. The animal yowled and pivoted, the flat of its paw smacking my wrist. Its claws missed my flesh, but the force nearly wrenched my arm out of its socket, and the impact knocked the weapon from my grasp. The blade flashed and catapulted into the darkness.

A whistle cut through the woods, the shrill noise distracting the cat. At the same time, I pivoted and parried around the creature, disorientating the animal and dodging a series of enraged swipes.

Another whistle. Pebbles thwacked against the leenix’s skull, punctuated by a feminine “Hey!”

The seething animal vaulted around and bared its canines. Instinctively, it swatted at a mahogany wool skirt, but not before the princess used her hoof pick to stab its shoulder.

More blood spurted from the second wound, pouring in rivulets down the leenix’s fur. The injured cat howled, hobbled backward, and dashed into the thicket. The animal would live, but it would hurt for a while.

On a groan, I staggered in place. Then my body tipped forward. I hunched over, clasping my thighs and wheezing.

Wicked fucking hell. I’d told that princess to leave. She could have gotten torn to shreds.

Raising my head, I opened my mouth to flay the woman for her stupidity, but her piercing cries stopped me cold. The princess lay sprawled on the grass. Her body spasmed, puddles of red seeping through her gown and pooling into the earth.

My heart stuttered. I charged ahead, my knees slamming into the dirt beside her. Snatching the hem of her skirt, I wrenched up the fabric and went still.

Her bare thighs quivered. A slash carved through her flesh, the trench leaking blood.

“Fuck,” I spat in horror. “Briar.”

In a thrice, the choice was stolen from me. The gash on her thigh was neither small, nor shallow. We needed help, and the only place to find it was the last place I wanted to take her.

The place I’d originally been heading to before this chaos began.

11

Briar

Branches swam above me, thick limbs of bark twisting and gnarling together. Dark clusters of trees passed in and out of my vision like moving shadows, the canopies dense with shingled foliage. Several leaves detached from the boughs and fell, raining on me like flakes of ash.

My eyes hooded with a terrible weight. A chilled draft swept through my dress and rustled my hair. I seemed to be floating midair, drifting through a strange forest, the sky beyond an oily black. Exposed tree roots plaited, stocky and stitched in filaments of moss.

They seemed familiar.

I tried to suck in air, but my lungs chafed, roasting me from the inside. A desperate noise sawed through the eventide air. I scraped at my throat to ward off the burn, then realized the frantic mewls were coming from me.

My thigh throbbed like a drum. The agony worsened each time I shifted, each time the fabric of my skirt abraded my flesh.

As another whimper curled from my throat, a strong hand cupped my face. A velveteen timbre whispered for me tobreathe, it’sall right.

I clung to that voice, my lungs relaxing and filling with fresh oxygen. My nostrils drew in the earthy scents of perspiration and soil, along with notes of amber and vetiver.

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