I can’t register what it looks like. It’s huge and glittering in the sunlight. Jake is screaming my name. Will is rearing. I’m falling.

Grey seizes hold of my arm and drags me onto his horse behind him. I grab him around the waist automatically and he cries out.

“I’m sorry!” I cry. “I’m sorry.”

He’s already driving heels into his horse’s side.

“Take the reins,” he says, breathless as he all but presses them against my hand before letting go to seize his knives.

I steer the horse toward the creature. I keep seeing it in flashes of terror from under Grey’s arm as the horse moves. A massive four-legged body that must be ten feet tall, towering above us. A somewhat horselike head—but with black eyes and with fanged teeth that hang several inches below its mouth. Iridescent scales glitter along its hide, shifting into white feathers that sprout above its massive shoulders. One wing is tucked tight against its body, while the other drags alongside it. The front legs end in silver talons. The creature runs at us determinedly, screeching again when Grey shows no sign of slowing.

It’s terrible and beautiful and somehow entirely Rhen … yet not at all.

When we near, it rears up over top of us, and I’m sure those taloned feet are going to come tearing down.

Grey is too quick. Snick snick snick, his throwing knives snap free of his hand. One bounces off the scales, but the other two stick true, driving into the skin at the base of a wing. I see dried blood under its wingspan and realize Grey was right.

The creature screams and throws itself back.

“Rhen!” I cry. “Rhen, please!”

“The wings,” Grey breathes. “That’s where he’s vulnerable.”

Rhen—the monster—crashes to the ground and scrambles for purchase. It’s going to charge us again. I fight to get the reins in order.

I can’t see—

I can’t steer—

I can’t—

This is too fast—

Jake grabs hold of our reins from the back of his horse. “Come on!” he yells. “I thought we were going to lead it away.” He slams his heels into the sides of his horse, and then I’m nearly jerked off the back of Grey’s as our animals bolt forward.

The monster’s feet shake the ground as it runs after us. We tear through the woods, the horses side by side, hooves pounding into the turf. Grey has the reins again, and I cling tight to his armor.

“It’s running,” Grey says, almost panting. “It can’t fly in the woods.”

“It’s still fast,” yells Jake. His legs are swinging against his horse’s sides, and he’s got a fistful of mane. It’s not going to take much to get him off the horse.

The monster shrieks again, the sound close enough to be right on top of us. I’m afraid to look. Grey’s horse tucks its rump and springs forward. I grip tighter.

“It’s going to catch us,” says Grey. He’s right. I duck my head and see flashes of white directly behind us.

“Hide her,” yells Jake. “Get her to safety.”

Before I can say a word in protest, Jake hauls hard on the horse’s reins and loops back around to face the creature bearing down on us.

“Come on!” I hear him yell. “Come after me!”

“No!” It’ll kill him. Rhen will kill my brother. “Grey—no! You can’t—”

He makes no move to slow.

“Please,” I cry. I try to fight him for the reins. “Please, Grey. Please—”

A clawed talon locks into the armor buckled around my rib cage. I’m lifted right off the back of the horse.

I scream. The horse disappears below us. Wind swirls around me. The talons are like steel against my back. One quick snap and my armor will be sliced in half.

Grey was wrong. It might be hurt—but it can fly.

“Please,” I cry. “Please, Rhen. Please know me.”

The creature screams and dives out of the air. I see Grey below us, driving his horse for more speed.

I have one arm free. I pull a dagger. I can’t reach its wings, but I can reach the fleshy skin connecting the talons to its front legs.

“No!” I call. I stab with the blade.

The monster falters in the air and beats its wings against the current. I stab again. The talon loosens, just for a fraction of a second.

Then it tightens right up. The armor presses into me. I can barely feel my left arm.

“Damn it, Rhen!” I call. “Listen to me!”

We swoop and dive again, heading for Jake. My brother has a dagger in each hand, and he turns, ready to—

We slam into him. I’m wrapped in Rhen’s talons, but I feel the impact. Jake and his horse go crashing into the ground.

Rhen rides the air current and we sweep upward, high into the sky. Suddenly, the ground is a blur, my brother and his horse a tiny motionless lump between the trees.

“No!” I scream. My voice is breaking. The wind freezes my cheeks. “No. Rhen. Please. I love you. I love you. I’ll say whatever you want. Please just stop.”

He doesn’t stop. We dive again.

“Remember!” I cry. “You taught me how to hold a bow. You saved my life at Silvermoon. You taught me to dance on the cliff.”

He doesn’t hesitate. We send Grey into the ground. I hear him cry out. I feel him try to grab on to me, to pull me free.

It doesn’t work. I’m in the air again.

“Please, Rhen.” Despite my plea, I drive my dagger into the fleshy skin again. The talon slips and he screams, but he doesn’t let go. “Remember me. Remember. Please. Remember when I came after you in the snow. After Lilith? Remember how we swayed?”

I’m choking on my own fear. Nothing changes.

Or maybe it does. It takes me a minute to realize he’s been looping over the trees, diving down to threaten Jake and Grey, but then lifting high when they don’t threaten him.

And he hasn’t crushed me.

I stop stabbing at him. “Rhen?” My voice is broken. “Rhen. Please.”

The air seems to pause.

Then Jake yells from below. “Hey! Let go of my sister!”

Rhen screams and dives. He doesn’t know Jake. His fangs glitter in the sunlight.

“No!” I call.

He doesn’t listen. The moment of recognition is gone. We’re plummeting through the air. He’s going to tear my brother apart.

“Please,” I cry. “You said you would give me anything in your power to give. Please stop. Please.”

This last word is a desperate scream.

Rhen soars past my brother without touching him.

My breath almost stops. It worked. It worked.

We swoop low again—but without the speed this time. My feet drag against the ground.

He lets me go.

I stumble and fall and try to roll to my feet, but my body won’t move that quickly. My shoulder feels like his talon is still embedded in my armor. I stagger and find my footing just as he lands a short distance away.

He’s breathing hard, too. But he’s still.

As before, he’s beautiful and terrible. Part dragon, part horse, part something I can’t even name. I can’t stop staring at how fearsome he is. At how much damage he could cause. I have no idea how to break this curse. I have no idea how to save him.

But at least he’s on the ground. He’s not attacking.

From the corner of my eye, I catch motion. Jake is approaching, a dagger in each hand. His eyes are wide and determined.

Rhen drops to a crouch and screeches at him. His legs look primed to leap into the air again. Blood coats the underside of one wing, fresh from where Grey’s knives drove into his skin and held fast.

“No!” I call. “Jake!” Then I get in front of Rhen and lift my hands harmlessly. “Stop. Rhen. Stop.”

He blows out a long breath and paws at the ground. A talon digs a trench six feet long.

“It’s okay,” I say quietly. My voice shakes. I take a step toward him.

He screeches at me and I stop. I put a hand out. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “Rhen. It’s me. It’s okay.”

He takes a dragging step forward. Grey is a short distance away, behind him, but he’s absolutely still. His sword hangs in his hand, ready to attack if necessary.

When the creature draws close, I swallow. His fangs are the length of my forearm. His head is half the length of my body.

“Rhen,” I whisper.

He takes another step. I look into the monster’s black eyes and I see nothing familiar.

But I can almost feel him.

I move my hand forward slowly, like he’s a dog and I want to let him catch my scent.

I say a prayer that he won’t bite my hand off at the wrist.

He lowers his head, but he doesn’t stop at my hand. I freeze. I stop breathing.

His face presses into my chest. He blows warm air against my knees.

I lift a hand and press it to his cheek, just below his eye. My other hand lifts to stroke the underside of his jaw. The scales feel like silk.

He leans his face against me and breathes a sigh.

I lean against him and do the same thing.

“Oh, Rhen,” I say, and I realize I’m crying. He’s here. He’s not hurting anyone.

But he’s still a monster.

The curse isn’t broken.