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I’m not sure how long it’s going to take for the poison of the blood roots to take effect. Not sure how long until it takes someone down. Seeing as she’s not very big, I imagine the time frame will be even shorter for her.

Get her back and hope the antidote doesn’t take long to brew.

She is not fighting me and allowing me to bring her back, at the least. I suck in a deep breath, muscles loosening the further we get from the piece of the theurgynate. “How did you get out, anyway?”

“You don’t know?” she asks, sounding slightly surprised.

“No…but I’m going to find out.”

“Couldn’t you turn into a dragon and fly us back?”

“Unfortunately, no. It’s a potion and it was the last of my stores,” I grumble, not looking forward the lengths I’ll have to go through in order to retrieve more.

“So, they’re real? Dragons?”

“Yes, they’re real.” He pauses. “Did you think they weren’t?"

“I…” She shifts, hand grazing up my chest. It comes to a sudden still like she’s suddenly noticed what it is she’s doing. “I didn’t think anything that was rumored outside the Wall was real. I thought it was all made up to keep us trapped in there.” She’s quiet for a beat before admitting in a sheepish voice. “I didn’t think you were real.”

“Bit of a rude awakening,” I admit.

“Most definitely… rude ,” she mutters.

“ Me? ” I ask in feigned shock. The barest of hoarse laughs spills out of her and my entire body seems to jolt. That’s new.

“You probably think that’s stupid.”

A little bit…nah, it’s not her fault. “What? No, I don’t think it’s stupid.”

“You don’t?”

“I mean, you’ve lived behind the Wall your entire life. It’s a bit unnatural, isn’t it? Living like that? Isolated from the rest of the world?” Completely freakish. I’m surprised she’s as coherent as she is.

“It is,” she agrees quietly.

We slip into silence. With the dread of the theurgynate fading in the distance a different feeling takes root in me. Hunger. I suppose it has been a while since I’ve eaten. Hunger is a normal effect of dispensing a lot of magic like I had to alter my state. Yet somehow this feels different. Sharp, overbearing.

Carnal.

Her grip around me suddenly tightens, nails digging into my chest. “Are you alrig—“ I break off with a grunt as a sharp, slicing pain lances me. What the fuck. I palm at my neck to find her—the nought there. She’s biting me.

Again?

My magic wells and dispels, launching her off of me in an instant. She smacks roughly into a tree and slumps to the ground.

As soon as she starts to stir, I feel it, too.

Her skin looks supple…soft. I want to lick the salt from her neck and then sink my teeth there, imagining the way her flesh will break apart around me.

She’s right there.

All I have to do is tread forward…and take it.

I shake my head to dispel this overwhelming want compelling me to take, eat.

It’s the effects of the Bonewalker, I realize. But why is it only affecting us now? She scrambles to her feet and her head snaps in my direction, eyes wide and wild. Fuck . She starts forward. “No!” I say, pointing a finger back in warning. She lowers herself into a crouch, watching me. I don’t even trust myself if she gets too close. She lunges. “Divine fucking mother!”

I grab her by the shoulders and whip her back, holding her as far away from me as possible as she continues to snarl and thrash. Even now, my body is screaming at me to bring her forward and bite . I shake my head vigorously.

The locket. It must’ve been staving the effects of the Bonewalker, but we crossed the boundary. I sprint back the way we came as she continues jerking in my grip. Thank the Gods, she’s small, or this might be difficult. No sooner than the thought crosses my mind, her teeth clamp around my arm. And she fucking means it.

The effect of the Bonewalker’s magic wanes and I stop. She’s still clamped tight around my arm. I fling her off of me for the second time. She takes the chunk of my arm with her.

She hits the ground and rolls, and I immediately feel guilty for tossing her so hard. But damn, that hurt. “Princess?” I ask cautiously, breathing still ragged. She rustles with a moan before righting herself on the ground. She comes to, blinking wide, dazed eyes. “I’m sorry. Are you alright?” I seal the missing chunk from my arm and neck to stop the bleeding.

She raises a hand to her red-stained mouth, wipes at it, and stares down at the blood painting her fingertips before she gags, spits, and gags again. I’ve placed her too close to the bloodteeth trees, and the roots rise up around her, vying for her flesh. I quickly expel a distend spell, and they’re whipped back. She makes a startled noise of surprise as I haul her into my arms and settle her back against one of the innocuous blackthorn trees.

I draw the symbol to disperse the blood from her mouth and hand before I begin pacing the clearing, trying to think of a solution to get us out of this cursed situation. “Gods. You had to come to the fucking Blood Wood. Even I don’t come to this place,” I snap.

Still obviously grappling with reality, she claps a hand over her mouth. “I was trying to eat you,” she gasps.

I stop pacing and swivel my head in her direction. “You were somewhat successful at that,” I say dryly.

She sticks out her tongue and wipes at it furiously, pulling up her dress to use that to wipe at it, too. A laugh belts out of me, and she gives me an astonished look which only makes me laugh harder despite the royally fucked scenario we’ve been thrown into. “Oh, come on, that’s just insulting. I can’t be that bad.”

Her gaping turns even more dramatic. My laughter clips when she starts to gag until she’s really vomiting. I lean down and pluck her hair back from her face while I wait for her to finish. It’s so white and sleek, like strands of spun moonlight in my hands.

“Sorry,” she rasps. “I don’t know why—I don’t know what happened—“

“It’s alright. It’s not your fault. It was the Bonewalker. I felt it, too.”

“The Bonewalker? I thought it was dead.”

“It’s dead, but the effects of its magic remain in its corpse.” I blow out a breath as she hauls herself to her feet. I’m still holding her hair with no purpose to be doing so anymore whatsoever and promptly drop it. “Your locket was staving it off. We must’ve crossed the boundary where the theurgynate was no longer effective, but the Bonewalker’s magic was still… quite potent. ”

“You felt it, too?” I nod. “But…you didn’t…how did you get us out of there?”

I clear my throat, chest-puffing as I shift back on my heels. “Well, I am a bit more practiced at fighting off magic than you are.” I cock my head slightly. “And I have maybe above-average mental fortitude,” I say with a shrug.

She digs at her temples like it’s all too much to grasp. “That Bonewalker’s body…makes people want to eat people?”

“Pretty much. Their magic influences people to eat people, which creates more Bonewalkers, and the cycle repeats itself. Circle of life. Or death…or whatever.”

Her eyes bulge, still glistening with tears from the strain of her retching. “Am I going to turn into that?”

“No…?” I say, shaking my head. I don’t think so. “No, you won’t,” I repeat, more firmly this time, though…now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t actually know how it works. “I think you’d have to eat more than that.”

“Did you know this was going to happen?”

“Well…this is my first encounter with a Bonewalker. They’re quite rare nowadays. Might’ve forgotten about the whole making you want to eat flesh part.”

Her eyes narrow. “You…forgot?”

There are blatant accusations in her stare, and I bristle. “Hey. Don’t forget that we wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you running off to the fucking Blood Wood in the first place, princess. ” My satisfaction sails when she falls quiet, but then she winces as she stretches out her arms. “Are you okay? I’m sorry that I…threw you,” I say with a grimace. “It was kind of a knee-jerk reaction.”

Her cheeks blossom with color as she dips her head. “I’m fine, and I really don’t blame you. Sorry for…trying to eat you.” The words are so quiet they’re almost indecipherable.

“Not the first time something’s tried to eat me. Won’t be the last.” Her eyes widen slightly. I cast a nervous glance toward her arms. We need to go. She still needs the antidote and now this is going to take us even longer. “Come on,” I command, turning to offer her my back.

“Are we going back out there?”

I let out an impatient sigh. “We’re going back for the locket. Don’t get all excited,” I warn when her eyes gleam. “We’re only retrieving it temporarily.” I flip around. Turning back when she still doesn’t make to move. “Princess…”

Her head is tipped to the ground, hands twisting nervously in front of her. Her eyes dart up and back down in a hurry. “You still want me to get on your back? After I…”

My lip quirks with amusement. “Are you feeling guilty about this? You know it’s not the first time you drew my blood tonight,” I remind her, prowling closer.

“Right…but I didn’t take a bite out of you.”

“Actually, you did. You bit me, clawed me, chucked a knife at my head, and tried to stab me in the face. And, what’s worse is you meant to do all that .”

She rocks back and forth on her heels, and to my astonishment, she graces me with a grin. An actual grin . Her head dips, hair falling forward to curtain it, and I have the strangest urge to tuck it back so I can see it fully. I’m positive it’s the first time I’ve seen it genuinely because there’s no way I wouldn’t have remembered it. “You didn’t think I would do it,” she says proudly.

“Oh, you are pleased with yourself about that, aren’t you?”

“Only because you didn’t believe that I would,” she says, pacing a step back. “Are you going to lock the knives up now?”

“No,” I murmur, inching forward to close the distance.

“Really? You’re not worried I’ll try to—“

“I already told you I would appreciate that. As long as you make it quick, and just for the record, I’m not opposed to biting, but do try not to break the skin next time.” I lift her good arm before she can shuffle away and use my magic to propel her onto my back in one fluid movement. We need to move. I brace my hands around her legs and tug her tighter against me before heading back in the direction of the locket.

A small choking sound slips out of her, and it takes me a moment to figure out what it is she’s reacting to. She’s just realized the implications of my last statement—about the biting. I turn my head in her direction with a chuckle so she knows I know exactly what that noise is about.