Chapter 5 Bylur
She blinked. Twice. And then she rubbed her cold forearms, up and down. When she finally spoke, her voice shook. I still couldn’t tell if it was from cold or emotions. “Finding a wife is a strange way to break a curse.”
“Yes.” It was a terrible way to break a curse.
“The queen who placed the condition felt insulted by me, and wanted to insult me back. The conditions are more complicated, but part of the timeline will begin tonight. If I’m not married by sundown, I will be a bear forever.
” I’d come to this grotto today, the most magical place I knew, to hope for a last-minute solution.
Could that solution be standing in front of me with pursed lips, shivering from cold exposure?
No, certainly not. It was too cruel a proposal. Surely she’d be satisfied with my explanation. “Now will you let me take you to a human community?”
“Yes.” The words tumbled out of her trembling jaw. “But only because I cannot think while I am freezing. Don’t think we’re done discussing this—” She waved a hand at my body. “Situation.”
So she was not satisfied. Strange. But I refused to watch her drop and die from exposure in my grotto. I bent one of my front legs and lumbered forward into an awkward crouch so she could reach my shoulder. “Climb onto my back.”
“Your back?” she squeaked. Her head whipped around the grotto. “There isn’t another way—”
“No.” I would not waste any time with a futile discussion. “You already agreed.”
“I agreed to go. I didn’t agree to ride on you.
” Her teeth chattered, and she clenched them together.
A flash of anger heated my skin. I was practically groveling in front of her—a human!
—and she was too proud to accept a ride.
A snarl rolled in the back of my throat, but it cut off when a bird crashed into my cheek.
The little thing hit me with the force of a rock flying from a slingshot and then fell to the ground. My frustrations with the human turned to fury at the animal. Did it not recognize a predator? I lifted a paw to swat at it, but the human rushed at me.
“No!” she cried, scooping the little white thing up off the ground and cradling it to her chest. She raised her wide eyes up to mine and whispered, “Please don’t hurt him.”
As her green eyes latched onto mine, I saw the fear behind them. And I smelled it. She wasn’t proud, she was terrified. She talked big and stood tall, but she knew I could crush her with no effort. And the bird—
A bird was nothing to a bear my size.
None of the nobles I worked with would dare argue, much less importune, a monster like myself. Most of them were too afraid of my magic to even argue with me in my fae form. But this human, with her little bird and no magic, challenged me and asked me to stay my hand. Or paw.
I heaved a sigh. “Bring him with us, if you can hold him while you climb up my back.”
She didn’t argue this time, and I tracked her climb as she tugged on different handfuls of fur. After a few short moments, she settled between my shoulder blades and called out, “Is this… Will this work?”
“It is fine,” I answered, hating how my voice always sounded angry in this form.
She breathed a soft, “No fear,” under her breath, but my cursed ears heard the words easily. And just as easily, I heard her heart beating out a rush of fear as I stepped into the shadows.