CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

MONSTER

Ah, Harper.

You’ve come back.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

HARPER

As long as I stand there talking to him, Rhen-the-monster is as docile as a lapdog.

If Grey or Jake approach, he snakes his massive neck and screeches at them, but they’ve been keeping their distance, so he’s settled. He drops to the ground at my urging so I can pull Grey’s throwing knives from the base of his wing.

My fingers tremble with the aftereffects of adrenaline, and I nick my skin on the edge of his scales, but the knives come free. Blood streams down his body in narrow rivulets, but he doesn’t seem bothered. He’s so big that maybe these were more of an annoyance than anything else.

Rhen turns his head and presses his face against my body again.

Every time he does that, a wave of sadness washes over me.

He doesn’t want this. I can’t fix it. I can’t kill him, either. Not like this.

I look up and call to Grey. “What do we do?”

The guardsman is pale again, leaning against his horse a short distance off. I wonder if he’s reopened his stitches.

“I’ve never seen the creature settle,” he says. “Not this season. Nor any others.” He hesitates. “We do not know how long it will last.”

“Well, we can’t sit here in the woods forever.” I’m scared to move away from him as it is, as if whatever keeps him at my side is a spell that can be broken by distance.

“In truth, my lady, I do not know what our next move should be.” Grey sighs and straightens.

As soon as Grey takes a step toward me, Rhen-the-monster lifts from the ground and whirls to face him. A low growl rolls out of his throat, ending in that hair-raising screech.

The horses jump and shy back, prancing against the reins that keep them tied to the trees. Grey does not. He puts his hands up. “If a fraction of your mind exists inside this creature, you know I mean you no harm.”

The low growl again, but without the same intensity.

“Harper just pulled your knives out of his wing,” calls Jake from where he stands near the horses. “Might not believe you.”

Grey doesn’t look away from the creature. “I have a hundred stitches holding my chest together, so perhaps we are even.”

Rhen paws at the ground, then takes a step back.

I have no idea whether that’s a truce or what.

A loud sound echoes in the distance, like trumpets, but lower. Rhen’s head snaps up and swivels in the direction of the sound.

“What’s that noise?”

“The soldiers from Syhl Shallow,” says Grey. “Their battle horns. They are advancing.”

We have no way to know if everyone has been evacuated from the castle. We’ve stopped the monster, but we haven’t stopped Karis Luran’s men.

The horns sound again.

“We have to go back,” I say. “We have to make sure. Can you tell how long we have?”

“If we ride fast, we could possibly beat them by half an hour. It takes time to move troops.”

“What do we do with that thing?” calls Jake.

“I do not know.” Grey hesitates, and there’s an element of sadness to his voice that mirrors what I feel when Rhen presses his head against my chest. Grey looks up at the creature. “Do you wish to return to Ironrose? Do you wish to go home?”

Rhen crouches and leaps into the air, catching the wind with his wings, soaring high above before turning west. The scales glitter in a shimmering array of pinks and blues and greens in the sunlight. From here, he’s all beauty. It’s only up close that you see the danger.

“Hurry,” says Grey. He turns for his horse and yanks the reins free. “If anyone is left, they may attack him.”

Or Rhen may attack them.

I don’t say it. I just limp across the small clearing and whistle for Will.

We ride hard and make good time. Rhen is faster, but he tracks with us, flying ahead before looping back to stay near. I keep worrying this docile tether is going to snap and he’s going to pass over Ironrose, to find the people making their way toward Silvermoon and the waiting ships. He’s large enough that he could easily destroy boats, crushing masts and sails. With his ability to fly, he could drown them all.

I need to stop thinking like this.

Especially when we near the lands surrounding the castle and he glides down to the ground to travel with us on foot. It’s hard not to flinch away.

He towers over our horses. Will prances underneath me, and I keep a tight hold on the reins, but Rhen walks beside us like it’s nothing.

I glance over at Grey. “What are we going to do with him at the castle?”

“Let him hide in the courtyard and wait for Karis Luran to drive us out, I suppose.” He pauses. “Forgive me, my lady. I see no path to victory here.”

The horns blow in the distance again. Rhen growls.

I glance back at him, and before I’m ready for it, emotion fills my chest. “I shouldn’t have left, Grey. He needed me, and I was falling for him. But—my family—” I press my hand to my eyes.

Grey’s voice is anguished. “He knows, my lady. I promise you. He knows.”

“But he still let me go.”

“Yes, of course.”

When I look across into Grey’s eyes, I realize.

Rhen fell for me.

I think of his voice when we stood on the cliff at Silvermoon. I want to know it’s real, too.

It was real. For him, it was real.

He was waiting for me.

“I’m the one who failed here,” I say, and my voice breaks. “It was me. Not him.”

“No.” Grey is stunned. “No. You have failed at nothing.”

“I did—”

“No,” says Jake, speaking for the first time in a while. “Harper, you didn’t do this.”

“But I could have stopped it. I couldn’t get out of my own way—”

“No,” he snaps. “And damn it, for once would you listen to me? You didn’t curse him. You didn’t bring yourself here.” He takes a long breath. “You didn’t—you didn’t give Mom cancer. You didn’t force Dad to borrow money from the wrong people—”

“You didn’t, either,” I say to him. “But you still went to work for Lawrence.”

“I did what I had to do,” he says. “To give Mom time. To protect you.”

“Me too,” I say.

We ride into the woods, and Rhen’s creature drops back to follow. I should have known. I should have realized. Now we’re going to ride back to an empty castle. Grey will return Jake and Noah to Washington, DC.

I don’t know what I’ll do.

As we ride through the trees, motion flickers ahead. Voices echo in the distance.

I draw up my horse. “Grey. Is it Karis Luran’s army?” Have they gotten ahead of us somehow? But then the gold and red of Rhen’s army’s uniforms becomes clear through the trees.

“They didn’t leave!” Confusion takes over the lump in my chest and squishes it into a new form. “They’re still here! What happened? What’s—”

“The monster!” a man cries. “The monster is in the forest!”

Men swarm forward. Shouts are all around us. I see bows raised. Horses trample the ground.

With a shriek, Rhen’s monster unfurls his wings and tries to lift from the ground—but the trees are too dense here, and he’s too large. They’re going to attack him. He’s going to fight back.

“No!” I yell. “Hold your charge!” Will prances, and I give him some rein so I can ride in front of the men who are leading the attack. “Stand down! Where is your general?”

Behind me, Rhen shrieks. Many of the soldiers fall back. Horses rear and prance in a barely contained formation. A few others push forward.

“Enough!” I call. “I said hold your charge.”

Rhen’s army stops. Grey is behind us, blocking the creature. I hope he’s convincing Rhen to hold as well. We’re trapped in a tense circle of fear and vicious loathing. Everyone wants to attack.

“My lady.” Zo rides through the soldiers. Her face is fierce and lined with tension. She gives a worried glance at the monster behind Grey. “You have … captured the creature?”

Rhen’s talons scrape at the ground. A low growl rolls through the woods. A nervous murmur goes up among the soldiers behind her.

“You were to evacuate,” I say to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Everyone who was willing has evacuated.”

“Everyone who was willing?” Several hundred men and women stand behind her. “Our orders were to evacuate all.”

A man steps forward. His name is General Landon, a man who once served Rhen’s father. He stops his horse beside Zo. “My lady, if you are willing to risk your life to save us, we are willing to risk ours to save Emberfall. We did not form this army to run.”

I’m not sure what to say. “General—the army from Disi has not been able to move.” I feel tears form in my eyes and worry this will be seen as weakness. “Our numbers are not great enough to stop Karis Luran’s soldiers. They are already advancing.”

“If we can hold them until reinforcements arrive …”