Aerity slowed her breathing, garnering her strength and concentration. She slid the lower half of her body over the edge, pressing her stomach against the beam. Her feet wound around the rope. It was thicker and rougher than her silks, but the concept was the same. She winced and grasped the rope, lowering herself slowly, with ease and care. She glanced over her shoulder, certain she’d be noticed midair, but nobody looked her way. Wyneth must have spotted her by now, and Aerity was proud of her cousin’s cool demeanor in not giving her away. Aerity blessedly arrived at the dirty floor. Without hesitation, she hastened through old cabinets and crates toward the front of the room until she was close enough. She crouched behind a broken crate and pulled the rock from her pocket.
The woman continued talking. “Let me tell you what we are going to do now, Lady Wavecrest. I will send a letter to the king, letting him know I have you . . .”
Aerity had no plans to let her finish. She stepped out from behind the crate, her arm cocked back. Aerity felt momentarily stunned as she faced the black-haired beauty, whose bright blue eyes widened at the sight of the princess. Before the woman had a chance to wake the beast with her call, Aerity threw the rock with all her might. The rock flew, hitting hard, bashing the woman’s collarbone.
All at once the woman fell to her knees with a shrill scream of pain and anger. Aerity scrambled to the ground, yanking at the bow. The beast snorted, its glassy eyes cracking open before drooping closed again. Wyneth gave a cry and rushed to help, pulling up the guard’s shoulder so Aerity could withdraw the bow and snatch out an arrow. Still on her knees, the princess had the arrow nocked and the bow drawn straight at the woman, who stared at her from the floor, shock and hatred in her blazing, light eyes.
“Do not make a single sound,” Aerity warned her. “Or I swear I will pierce you without thought.”
The woman’s full, red lips pursed. One hand was raised across her chest, holding her wound as her eyes darted toward the snoozing beast.
“Not. One. Sound.” Aerity’s eyes were trained on the woman as she spoke to her cousin. “Wyn, open the door. Help will be here soon.”
But when Wyneth wrenched the sliding door open, what they found was Vixie, sitting, her back against the outer wall. “She’s passed out!” Wyneth said. Aerity’s stomach sank.
Wyneth crouched at Vixie’s side and cupped the girl’s face. Her eyes fluttered open and Aerity let out a breath.
“Go,” Aerity urged Wyneth. “Swim for help.”
Wyneth’s voice shook as she stood and glared at the woman. “Don’t hesitate to shoot her, Aer.”
“I won’t.”
At this, Wyneth ran. Aerity stared down the Kalorian beauty, whose ice-blue eyes darted around with calculated desperation.
Aerity had never been face-to-face with a killer. This woman, in her bright red dress, seemed like some harmless, exotic jewel. But it was she who was at the center of the kingdom’s sorrow. At the heart of the evil they’d endured. The people of the land had feared and suffered—the king, Wyneth, Aerity herself . . . all because of this person . . . and this beast she and her father had created, with its strange matted hair and rows of scales. It didn’t seem possible. But then Aerity recalled the room of animal carcasses, what seemed like dark experiments, of beasts being cut apart and pieced together with the wrong parts to make something bigger, stronger, unnatural. Oceans deep . . . it was disturbing.
The woman glowered on her knees, as the gigantic creature gave a loud huff. And then the Rocato woman opened her mouth to whisper.
“There are more, you know—”
As promised, Aerity let the arrow fly, filled with anger.
The woman howled in pain and fury as the arrow skimmed her upper arm, tearing through the fabric and gouging her with a deep cut. An injuring shot, dark blood staining her dress, just as Aerity had intended, .
Vixie crawled into the room, weakened. She crouched next to the guard, grabbing the bunch of arrows from his quiver and thrusting them toward Aerity. She gave Vixie a grateful glance as she nocked the next arrow, pulling tightly on the bow. Her sister sat back on her haunches, keeping the injured limb straight in front of her.
The woman’s words suddenly hit Aerity. More? More of these monsters? She must have meant the ones in the other room. Aerity swallowed hard, trying to think straight.
The Rocato woman . . . Rozaria . . . surveyed the wound on her arm, her face taut. She let out a wail of anger and the beast stirred, whimpering.
“Shut up,” Aerity growled.
Aerity and Vixie both watched the beast with bated breath, but it didn’t rise or show any aggression. Its massive head lay on its paws. It was hard to believe how much destruction this sleepy creature had caused.
Aerity had so many questions, but she was afraid to allow Rozaria to speak, afraid she’d make that clicking sound again.
They sat in silence, Aerity’s muscles twitching from holding her position, Rozaria staring, her mind obviously plotting.
The sounds of legs splashing through shallow waters drifted into the room. Aerity tensed and the woman’s eyes grew large.
“The hunters!” Vixie exclaimed. This word made something click inside Rozaria. She looked around wildly, panicked, then let out another guttural sound of pain.
“Quiet!” Aerity shouted, but the woman continued crying out in garbled mutterings. The beast raised its head. Kalorian. Aerity realized Rozaria was speaking in Kalorian through her cries. She couldn’t make them out.
“I said shut up!”
But the woman cried out again as Aerity’s face went pale. “Rise and go!”
“Enough!” Aerity yelled, just as the woman shouted again, louder now. “Aliment!” she said.