Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
A fine tremor works its way through her body, but I don’t have time to worry about her fear right now. I’ll have to time this carefully. The creature will pounce and there will be one moment to get out of the way. These animals have the ability to partially shift planes of existence, which allows them to dodge attacks both physical and magical.
How do I know that?
We’ve stopped at Yaltia a handful of times over the years, but I’ve never once ventured out of the village itself. I took one look at the houses in the trees and any curiosity I felt shriveled up. Up until this moment, I would have sworn I have no idea what resides in this forest.
The eyes shift, sinking a few spare inches. The beast is about to pounce. I shove Evelyn toward the village. “Run!” I draw my magic forth even as I pull my largest knife from my boot. Not bringing my sword was a foolish thing to do, but I hadn’t expected to do more than gather up a wayward witch. Fighting for my life wasn’t on the agenda.
I get my first clear look at the creature as it stalks out of the darkness, a giant black cat with a startling patch of white on its chest. Its shoulders are massive, likely coming up to my chest if it stood still long enough, and its claws are easily as long as my hands. The glowing eyes hold an intelligence that is hardly animal. There’s menace there, hate even.
The beast launches itself at me. I throw up a shield, and it blinks out of existence. There one moment and gone the next. It reappears on the other side of my shield, far too close. The damn thing teleported. I knew it could do it, but seeing it verified is something else entirely.
Holding a shield around my body is all but impossible in a fight, and it won’t do any good against an enemy like this. Instead, I go on the offense. I strike with a concentrated blast of magic aimed directly at its head.
The damned thing dodges, leaping straight up so my magic passes harmlessly below it. “Fuck.” It obviously has experience fighting magical humans. I’m in trouble. If I can’t strike and I can’t defend … this might be it for me.
I barely have time to process that thought and the conflicting emotions it brings when a ball of violently purple fire smashes into the cat’s side. It howls in agony as the fire wraps around it, freakishly fast. The beast blinks out of existence, but when it reappears, the fire is still spreading through its fur.
With a cry that makes my skin prickle, the cat turns and flees deeper into the trees. Instantly, the fire goes out. It doesn’t stop running, though. I watch it disappear before I turn to where Evelyn crouches.
Her fingertips are filthy from carving the rough circle she occupies, and she’s breathing just as hard as I am. She looks up at me, her green eyes glowing nearly as brightly as the cat’s had. “I didn’t want to hurt it.”
I blink. “What?”
“I couldn’t let it kill you.” She weaves a little and plants her hand on the ground. Her hair falls forward to hide her face from me. “And it’s too close to the village. A child could have wandered this deep into the woods. It’s not like we walked far to get here. It’s only a matter of time before it kills someone.” Her voice is clogged as if she’s fighting back tears.
I move closer on pure instinct. “You saved me.”
“It’s not right to kill animals just because they’re dangerous. By that logic, both you and I should be killed, too.”
Gods above and below, my thieving witch has a bleeding heart.
I don’t stop to think. I scoop her into my arms. “You didn’t kill it, and it’s smart enough to move on to an easier territory to hunt. You saved my life and probably the lives of at least one villager.” I press a kiss to her temple on pure instinct. “And the villagers would have killed it after it took one of their own. You did a good thing, little witch.”
She gives a sad little laugh. “I know what you must think. It’s a silly thing to be sad about. But we humans fuck up too much shit, you know? It’s not the wild’s fault that we’re so determined to show up where we’re not wanted.”
I hug her even tighter to me. “Are you going to ask me to track down the beast and heal it?”
“What?” This time, her laugh sounds a little bit closer to the woman I’m coming to know. “Of course not. There might be others, and while I’m sad at the thought of hurting it, I don’t want to die. Or for you to die.” She tilts her head back and looks at me. Her brows draw together. “You really would do it, wouldn’t you?”