Page 53 of A Hunt Bound in Blood
“Nothing more serious than you might get being out in the sun too long.”
The crease between her eyebrows radiated skepticism, and I turned in a slow circle to allow her a better view of the damage. Only when she hissed through her teeth did I know it was worse than I’d realized.
“Let’s get away from here in case Tersey set up any secondary fireballs, and we’ll see what we can do about those burns. Will your feathers grow back?”
I recognized the forced calm in her voice and was driven to reassure her there was no need to panic. With a gentle flex of my muscles, I gave my wings a shake. Black, charred feathers tumbled to the ground like fallen leaves, and I frowned. “I can only imagine the mess they look right now. But yes, my wings will be fine in a few days. Let’s hope we don’t have any more giants to run from until then.”
I retracted my wings, keeping my expression carefully schooled to cover the agony of moving them, and Glory pressed her lips together. “Hmm.”
Her expression remained serious, the brightness of her joy extinguished, as we left the cave behind in search of safer ground to call it a night.
I opened my mouth to try to draw her out, to convince her once more that I was fine, but my gaze landed on tracks in the dirt. Fresh tracks by the look of them, less than an hour old. More mutts, stalking towards the cave, then fleeing.
Again, they’d come so close to us and left us alone. Had the fire chased them away? If so, we’d have to be prepared for them to return.
I balled my fists at my sides and scanned the area, searching for any sign that they were close and finding nothing. Their behaviour didn’t make sense. Mutts didn’t have the ability to strategize. Their minds were too trapped between human and animal, split between rationality and instinct. In all my years, my only experiences with the creatures had proved their feral, vicious natures.
Beyond that, there was no way someone in the palace would have told the mutts about the amulet. Anyone higher up the ranks would have had better resources, and anyone lower wouldn’t have had access. No, we had to be looking at someone who couldn’t reach official channels but who had enough strength and cunning to wield these creatures as a weapon—but in that case, why the wait?
Well, whatever they wanted, they wouldn’t get it. I hoped they came for us so I could tear them apart and get them off our backs.
“Cammon?”
Glory’s concern pulled me out of my worrying, and I grimaced. The temptation was strong to say nothing. After the ups and downs of the last few days, while she was still recovering from our fight with the shifters and the loss of her books, I didn’t want to add more stress, but I reminded myself that she was far from a weak and defenceless academic, long skirt and habitual tight hair aside.
“Mutt tracks. More of them are coming in.”
She frowned and scanned the area, her hazel eyes sharp. “And still no direct sign of them.”
“I’m thinking they didn’t want to get grilled by those flames. We’ll set traps around camp tonight. I think it would be smart.”
She nodded and returned her attention to the road as we plodded on, but I caught the slump in her perfect posture and the slight drag of her feet. Whatever her expectations had been for this mission, they obviously hadn’t included being hunted and attacked and carried over waterfalls.
The sun was setting by the time we found a spot to put up the tent, and I eyed the dark clouds rolling in. So far we’d been lucky with the weather, but a low hum in my bones warned me that was about to change. Obviously we hadn’t faced enough challenges today and the environment wanted to get its kicks in as well.
Glory’s frequent glances at the sky told me I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
“We should look to your wings now,” she said. “How are they? Any pain?”
I pulled off the charred remains of yet another shirt and tossed the bundle into the firepit to deal with later, then flexed my back and brought my wings out. The process made me hiss at the sting of irritated flesh, but structurally everything felt sound. I gave them an experimental flap, lifting myself a few metres into the air, and told myself it wasn’t to catch Glory’s gaze.
“I think we’re good,” I said after returning to the ground.
She walked behind me, made a few noises of consideration, then came back with that adorable—yes, dammit, adorable—crease between her brows. “That’s hardly fair, is it? I get torn apart by a few shifters, and my bruises are still visible. You should have been incinerated, and all you have are a few singed feathers and a sunburn.”
“We won’t argue superior genetics this close to dinner.” I winked at her and grinned when she rolled her eyes. “So I pass inspection?”
“I don’t think I need to waste any salves on you, no. Good thing, too, because we lost that particular kit. I would have had to make them from scratch, and the quality would certainly have depended on how sweet you were. So far, you wouldn’t have earned my best work.”
The words I could be as sweet as you want me to be tumbled towards my lips, but I swallowed them and gave myself a mental pat on the back for being so mature.
“Good thing, indeed,” I said instead, and shrugged my wings away. “I’d hate to have wound up with another rash.”
We worked together to create a few simple noisemakers to warn us if anything approached camp, then had the tent up before unloading anything else. It was luck we’d started with shelter. The moment the flap fell into place, the first raindrops spattered against the fabric.
“We’ll keep the bags inside,” Glory said. “Everything should fit.”
A few breaths later, the light rainfall turned into a deluge that obscured the trees only a few metres away from us. We shoved our dripping packs through the flap, and I stood outside, making sure Glory was able to get comfortable around our few remaining belongings. Once I was sure she had everything she needed, I set about securing the tent to keep the water out. She noticed what I was doing, rolled her eyes, and stuck her arm through to stop me.