Perhaps if the griffin were more like a lion and less like a squawking bird I’d have more of a chance in close quarters. But there was little I could do with its wings beating on either side and its claws tearing at me. And the smell… Its stench was that of a rotting corpse.
The griffin screeched and gave one final squeeze of its talons, breaking my shield. Wood went everywhere, and I struggled to breathe through the panic and darkness in my lungs. I’d been through dozens of nests before, felt the Sense weigh heavily on me, but this time was different—I was alone with no sign of my partner. I didn’t even have the strength or reflexes to launch a counterattack. I could only throw myself backward, against the trunk of a dead oak.
The griffin let loose another squawk and dove, its beak going straight for my chest, and I had no energy to stop it. At the last possible moment, Zach emerged from the foliage, blocking the griffin’s beak with his sword. Bronze and metal clashed, the sound ringing through the forest.
In his haste to get to me, Zach had slid with one knee on the ground and was now struggling under the griffin at an awkward angle. The monster slashed at Zach with its talons and delivered fresh, deep scratches down his arm. Zach let out a roar as the bird jerked its head back, and knocked the sword out of his grip.
The sword skidded over dead leaves. Recovering, I unsheathed a dagger from my thigh and leaped forward, driving it deep into one of the griffin’s red eyes. It screamed in rage and reared up on its hind legs. Too late, I realized its talons were coming right down on my throat.
Before it could tear into my neck, Zach pushed off the ground in a whirl of leaves and feathers and shoved me back into the tree, hard. The talons…the talons found his chest instead.
Bronze claws tore into Zach’s chest, and I screamed.
“NO!”
I sprang upward and drove the dagger into the breast of the bird, catching Zach as he began to fall back. It wouldn’t kill the griffin, but maybe it would buy me a moment or two.
My arms were already slick with blood pouring from Zach’s wounds, and every inch of me screamed in pain and deep, overwhelming despair. His blood was too warm. Too full of life. This couldn’t be happening. Not another one.
Only this time, it wasn’t because of me. It was for me.
His body slumped against mine, and his head fell back over my arm, hazel eyes growing darker by the second.
“No, no, no,” I whispered as I cradled his face, my hand trembling.
Lips coated in blood, Zach tried to open his mouth but couldn’t do so more than a slit. His eyes focused on mine for only a moment before they fluttered closed.
I couldn’t breathe—couldn’t think. “Zach, Zach, Zach.”
As my body moved on its own, bringing him slowly to my lap, the griffin and its nest burst into orbs of golden light. Like a star had exploded in the forest, illuminating the dark crevices and chasing out the shadows.
I yelled and buried my face into Zach’s shoulder at the sudden brilliance.
When I raised my head, the gold glow from the griffin’s body had descended on Zach’s mangled chest and covered it like a liquid gold salve. It shone with the blinding radiance of the sun. I shielded my eyes against the onslaught of light and struggled to blink against the miniature supernova.
Zach shuddered and rolled to the side, on his hands and knees, breathing hard as the golden orbs drifted up into the trees.
I scrambled forward, pressing my hand on his bare chest.
His chest that was completely healed.
He stared at me, pale and gasping for breath—but alive.
Impossibly alive.
What in the name of the Royal Sisters had just happened?
Chapter
Fifteen
Birth of a Heretic
As the gold light dissolved, revealing the normal shadows of a thick forest, we stared at each other in shock. I brought a hand to his face, felt his breath on my palm and the stubble on his jaw, then let my fingers stroke his neck, noting his strong, pounding pulse.
Alive. He was completely alive. Relieved knowing this one truth, I took a shuddering breath then grabbed his tattered shirt in my fists. “What was that? Has that ever happened to you before?”
My movement made Zach fall back on his elbows, bringing me down with him. “No—it’s never—no!”
Halfway on top of him, a million things ran through my mind. It had been magic—but caused by what? There was no mage. No Kiss. I’d never even thought a spell.
“You’ve never seen it before? Merciful Queen, what did you do?”
Zach’s shocked face suddenly hardened. He took my shoulders and moved me off him. “I saved your life.”
“Yes, but—”
“Don’t I deserve a thank-you?” He stood, brushing dead leaves off his pants.
“Hey!” I leaped to my feet. “I wouldn’t have needed saving if you hadn’t left me, or at the very least, included me in your plan, if you even had one. I’m your partner, you can’t—”
Just then, Brom crashed through the branches and bent over, resting his hands on his knees, gasping. “There—you—are—gold—explosion.”
I grabbed Brom’s shoulder. “That was the griffin.” Then I launched into an explanation.
With every word Brom’s eyes grew wider, but as soon as I was done, Zach nudged both of us forward. “C’mon, plenty of time to discuss this later. Let’s get out of this bloody forest.”
Brom shot me a look, and I merely shook my head. If Zach cared so little about the mysterious gold magic, I’d talk to Bromley about it later.
Escaping the shadows of the forest and feeling the sun and wind on my clammy skin felt good. When we retrieved the horses from Lynel and his comrades, the men immediately began asking questions about the mysterious gold light. Apparently it had been so bright, so powerful, that they’d seen it even at the edge of the woods. Instead of admitting we had no idea what had caused it, I ended up telling them it was a rare form of magic that destroyed the griffin, which wasn’t a lie.
The men all bowed, overjoyed, and kissed my hands in gratitude. Zach just nodded and shook their hands.
Once they were gone, Zach pulled a spare tunic from his bags, reminding me that I should change my bloodied shirt as well. I grabbed a clean one out of my pack and stepped behind Lorena to change. As I shed the ruined tunic, I called to Zach, “Are you really all right? The talons…they went deep.”
“See for yourself.”
Peeking over my horse, I watched Zach lift the shredded shirt above his head, revealing his bare chest and defined abs.
It felt like my whole face went up in flames. Luckily his shirt was covering his face, so he didn’t see how badly I blushed. Beyond his muscled torso, I couldn’t help but notice the remnants of dried blood on his chest that hadn’t come off when the magic—whatever it was—healed him. I remembered him standing, intercepting the talons that had been meant for me…
Forgetting I was half dressed, in only a thin chemise, I crossed to him, clutching the clean tunic to my chest as my other hand traced the dried blood on his bare chest. While I’d had princes save me before, they’d always worn my magic, a protective shell. None had ever sacrificed their life for me.
The very idea of it was overwhelming. There were many scars under the dried blood. Scars that could’ve been so easily prevented by Kisses. Yet he chose to endure the long and painful process of natural healing. Why? For what? His belief in something that didn’t exist?
Zach removed his shirt entirely.
I glanced up at him. He was staring at my bare shoulders, then he dropped his gaze to my hand on his chest, the hand that bore his mark.
Realizing how inappropriate this was, I swallowed and started to withdraw my hand.
He caught my fingers and wrapped them in his hand. “Stop.”
Now, even my ears were hot. “Stop what?”
“Thinking what you’re thinking.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“Don’t I? I made my choice, and I don’t regret it.”
My gaze shot upward. “Yes, because by some miracle you’re still alive.”
“Then let us be thankful for the miracle.”
“What you did was stupid and reckless,” I muttered, squeezing the hand that wrapped around my own. “But…thank you. For saving my life.”