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Nerys wasn’t sure what it was Adelyna heard in the woods—much less what Adelyna saw since there was barely any light—but a hunter’s instincts were not to be ignored.

Following Adelyna’s lead, Nerys reached for her crossbow that was already loaded with an arrow, and then leaned forward in their makeshift blind.

After a few moments Nerys saw it, the blurry shape making its way towards them—a deer on a morning walk.

Seeing something this early was a stroke of miraculous good fortune, and Nerys praised whichever of the Living Gods was the goddess of deer.

And if there wasn’t one, why, Nerys would create one.

All hail Deeradite. Nerys would eat venison in her honor. May the hunt be done with soon.

Nerys smiled as Adelyna lifted the crossbow and took aim—the hunt was almost over!

—but her smile faded as an uneasiness swept over her, a prickle down her spine.

Vine? No…he made her feel many things, but he no longer created that exact sensation.

Secure in the fact that Adelyna was distracted by the deer, Nerys called her eyes of stone.

And then she froze like the poor deer in Adelyna’s sights.

What the fuck ?

The creature—demon—standing before them was humanoid like Vine.

And unlike Vine, this demon seemed to be a “woman.” She walked along the frozen ground, her ankles wobbling back and forth—broken—her body jolting like a child’s puppet on a string.

Her long black hair was draped over her face and down her back, and Nerys could barely make sense of her features.

The woman was missing her nose, and instead of eyes, she had lights that glowed out of her sockets like little suns.

Around and through her wrists were manacles without chains, much like Vine’s.

Perhaps this demon was just passing through. Surely, there were horrendous things in the world and they had just happened to cross paths with the wrong one. Maybe there was nothing to worry about—

The demon woman stopped. Slowly, she opened her mouth revealing multiple rows of teeth, and then she screamed a screeching yowl that ripped through Nerys’s body. Nerys covered her ears, dropping the bow, and opened her mouth in a silent scream of pain. The deer, startled, took off into the woods.

Adelyna whipped her attention to Nerys. “You fool—” Then she saw something in Nerys’s face that made her pause.

Adelyna saw her stone eyes.

“Vine,” Nerys called out, her voice trembling under the onslaught of the demon’s scream. “Vine!”

Too late—the demon woman lunged towards them, clawed hands outstretched.

Without thinking, Nerys lunged herself at Adelyn, and knocked the Kor’yitz down and out of the demon’s way.

A black blur passed over them, leaving an unnatural chill in its wake.

“Callidora!” Adelyna called out from underneath her.

Nerys pushed herself off the tackled Kor’yitz to find Vine tearing the creature to shreds, sending blood raining on Nerys and Adelyna.

Devouring her. The “woman” screamed as he ripped off limb after limb, taking his time to…

suckle at the ends. 161 Blood ran down Vine’s face as he lapped at the revealed bone like a dog sucking on a roasted rib.

Then he made his way to the flesh, teasing it with his tongue before ripping it off in strips and then finally consuming it.

This was what Vine was truly capable of.

Nerys gagged and sent away her stone eyes. She was safe. That’s what mattered. Panting, she moved off the Kor’yitz and helped her stand. The Kor’yitz was covered in snow and mud, but otherwise unharmed.

“Is it gone?” Adelyna asked, apparently having been around Sight Bearers enough that she had guessed what had happened.

“Yes. My…it’s being taken care of.” Nerys relaxed against the tree, and Adelyna noticed and seemingly trusted Nerys’s posture more than her words.

Adelyna picked her bow off the ground and looked around, frowning.

That was right—Adelyna didn’t have the sight.

Nerys the peasant never gave it much thought, but for a royal of Ca’mail, or any of the royal houses not to have their magical gifts, that was…

it must’ve been difficult for Adelyna to keep her place as heir without it.

Nerys had to begrudgingly give the R?ll credit—he had a son who was a Sight Bearer and decided to keep Adelyna, a magic-less woman, in her role.

But that credit faded fast in the memory of what the R?ll had done to countless othe r fathers and daughters.

Did the R?ll’s demon consume the sacrifices like how Vine ate the attacker?

How Adelyna seemed to be so different from the R?ll was beyond her… 162

“Let’s go,” Adelyna said, brushing herself off and walking out of the blind. “There might be more. We have to go back.”

“Yes,” Nerys said, following and trying to dig the snow out of her boots.

While her sense of self-preservation wanted to make sure that Vine was rendering the demon well and truly dead, ignorance was the bliss of those who sought to keep their breakfast. And it would be easier to pretend this never happened when she saw him later.

If he did that to the demon…what could he do to her?

The two of them marched through the snow in uneasy silence, the laborious steps accenting her exhausted heart.

Good. Nerys needed a moment to collect her thoughts.

What was Nerys supposed to say to the Kor’yitz?

Sorry that I tackled you? Good thing my demon was there to save the day, right?

Gee, that was a good pastry I had for breakfast, before we almost got eaten?

“Why do you hide that you have the sight?” Adelyna asked, suddenly breaking the silence. “Qiana told me you have it and gave a reason, but I want to hear from you. You have that power—why are you choosing to hide?”

Qiana told Adelyna and didn’t think to warn Nerys? With all the spirits flying around court like the feathers from a pillow? Either Qiana wanted to trap Nerys in a mistake, or Qiana never expected the sight to be revealed. 163 Nerys had to be careful. One wrong answer, and she’d ruin everything.

“I received my gift recently,” Nerys said. “Just after my father’s death. We—Qiana—didn’t want me to be overwhelmed at court. Not until I have gotten used to it.” True enough. Easily explainable. Hopefully.

“Hmmm. I’d have thought Qiana would be happy to parade a Sight Bearer of her own around.”

“Is that what she told you?”

“Not quite. But Qiana’s a courtier at heart and always looking forward. ”

Nerys nodded, improvising a response. Whatever games Qiana would have wanted to play for Callidora, Nerys was going to be gone long before they became an issue.

“She does want to show me off, I think. She mentioned she was going to announce it at some point. But she wanted to give me a chance to adjust without…other complications.”

Adelyna turned to her and said without pausing her steps, “Your having the sight turned out lucky for me, though. What was it? What attacked us?”

“I…I’m not sure. I don’t know what things are called.” Nerys quickly described the ghoulish lady. Sure, “demon” seemed to be a good guess, but there were also liches, wraiths, and worse.

“That bitch,” 164 Adelyna muttered and clenched her fists.

“I’m sorry?”

Adelyna huffed. “I can thank Nerine for this one. That was her demon, one that another Sight Bearer arranged for her. She likely didn’t know you have the sight and expected—fuck, who knows what she expected.” Adelyna’s eyes narrowed. “But I’m going to find out.”

Nerine? Adelyna’s lover? The angry woman from last night?

Nerine wanted to kill the heir? Or harm her, or…

From what she had seen, Adelyna was the most tolerable courtier in this whole damn place, except for Idris, but he didn’t count at the moment.

What would Nerine want to kill the Kor’yitz for?

Nerys had no idea what was going on, and all of this would do nothing but complicate her becoming close to the R?ll.

A R?ll whom she had not even seen yet. And it was a tiny bit difficult to murder someone without being in their presence.

“I’m sorry, Adelyna.” Nerys was sorry—how could she not be sad for the woman whose former lover had tried to kill her? Cefin had pretty much done the same to her, after all.

“Don’t be sorry—this isn’t your fault. Thank you, Callidora,” Adelyna said, her face turning stoic as the courtier returned. “Whatever happens next, know that I’m in your debt. I never forget my friends.”

Despite how Adelyna’s words made her heart swell, Nerys groaned to herself. Whatever came next, now that she had the Kor’yitz’s attention, she wouldn’t be ignored at court.