Chapter 4
A tyger.
There was an enormous tyger between me and the door, eyes illuminated in the darkened night. My firewood and lantern clattered to the ground.
I’d never seen one so close before. Its size was shocking, its power and menace unmistakable.
This tyger was a living blaze, its fur like hammered copper and gold striped with black, every strand catching the moonlight.
Enormous, almost as tall as a horse and twice as wide, packed with muscle.
Its head dwarfed mine, fangs as long as my hand glinting wet under the moonlight as it sniffed the air, saliva trailing from its jaws.
Its piercing, molten-gold eyes burned with intensity.
Its gaze was alive with ancient, unyielding magic.
It was devastatingly beautiful, a force both capable of destruction and worthy of reverence.
The tyger was unaccompanied—uncontrolled—no saddle or royal paraphernalia to be seen, which made fear bloom cold in my belly.
A light humming carried by the wind hung in the air. Edith.
I needed to get between this tyger and our home.
Impaled by its gaze, I held still, then flinched as its golden eyes suddenly flared a glowing silver, as if lit from within. Something was very wrong with this beast. I slowly reached for my dagger.
A male voice cut through the night. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Head turning slowly over my shoulder, I moved my eyes briefly from the monster before me.
Blake Axefire stepped out of the woods, moonlight catching the silver trim of his armor. Of course it was him. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified.
“Why is it you are at the center of every problem I’ve had tonight?” Blake asked, his eyes bright against the dark of night, just as infuriating as before.
I wanted to roll my eyes, but I was too scared to miss a single movement of the tyger. I kept my hand on the hilt of my blade but didn’t draw it.
“Come here, Flame,” he called, his voice a low rumble.
Flame didn’t move, animal gaze locked on me, steady and sharp. I took a step back, boots slipping in the snow. The tyger bared his teeth, muscles tensing beneath that glimmering hide.
Blake spoke to me then. “By Guan Yu, don’t run.” That clipped Silver accent was wrapped in arrogance.
I risked a disdainful look at the Ambush Master. “I’m not a fool.”
“That remains to be seen. Don’t move,” he ordered.
He stepped toward me, silent despite the weight of the midnight armor he now wore in place of his falsely tattered clothing.
The silver veins across the onyx steel glinted in the moonlight, and the sigil on his chest—a coiled tyger in a diamond—gleamed.
His fine cloak was fastened with a real tyger fang, a symbol of his favored status.
Even from yards away, his power rolled off him, thick and metallic. I’d never felt magic like it before. As if a hurricane were bearing down on me. I swallowed, and I could taste it in the back of my throat.
I had to force myself not to recoil.
His ice blue eyes were fixed on the tyger.
Flame crept within a few steps of me. The tyger’s eyes were still glowing with an eerie silver light, as if he were possessed. He loomed above me. It took everything in me not to stumble back, heart hammering.
“You’re the Ambush Master. Can’t you do something?”
“This one isn’t mine,” he said, eyes still locked on the monster. “Tygers don’t follow orders from others. They barely take them from their own riders. And then only when they feel like it.”
I shot him a glare. “Then what good are you?”
His mouth twisted into a smirk. “If it weren’t for me, you’d have run and would be shredded to pieces by now.”
I snorted.
The door to our hut creaked open and my stomach dropped.
“Did you hear some…” Edith’s voice trailed off as she caught sight of the tyger before her gaze shot to me.
“Close the door and hide. Save yourself, Edith.” I kept my voice calm, although my fingers were trembling. I stretched out a hand as if I could protect her. “Go.”
Edith didn’t hesitate. But she didn’t do as I said. Snatching the broom from beside the door, she charged toward the tyger like a woman half her age.
“Rubi, get inside!” she shouted.
Flame turned to face her and roared, shaking the cold air. The tyger gathered his haunches, ready to attack.
“No!” I cried. “Stay away from her!”
To my shock, Flame swung his head toward me and froze.
“You won’t hurt her!” Edith yelled. She swung the broom, its bristles cracking against his nose with a dull thwack.
The tyger let out a guttural roar, shaking his head violently, but Edith was already moving.
Before the beast could retaliate, she darted to the side, faster than I’d thought possible, her boots barely skimming the frozen ground.
The tyger lunged, but Edith twisted, ducking low beneath the swinging claws. Their shadows shifted in the moonlight.
In one fluid motion, she vaulted up his broad back, using the thick ruff of his fur as leverage.
Blake’s eyes narrowed. Just watching.
The tyger bucked, trying to shake her off, but she leapt again, pushing off his shoulders and flipping over his head with agility.
She landed in a crouch, spinning the broom and striking the beast’s knee joint in a sharp, decisive blow.
The tyger recoiled, snarling, lips peeled away from knife-long fangs.
“Edith—” I lurched forward, but I was too late.
The tyger’s giant paw lashed out.
A sickening crack rang through the air as she went flying backward, crashing into the wall of the well and crumpling to the ground, unmoving. I screamed as Flame stalked toward Edith.
I skidded in front of her, my arms thrown wide, heart slamming in my chest.
“You want someone?” I said, voice steadier than it had any right to be. “Take me.”