9
Not Born Evil
Melody
“What the hells happened?” I ask Aris over the bond as we put as much distance as possible between us and that treacherous forest.
“I went back and scorched most of the Nefarians. And then I came to find you, but it took me a very long time.”
“How did you?”
“A kelpie was kind enough to tell me about the dome.”
I nod, keeping my fingers curled tightly around the spikes protruding from his back—partly to hold on, but also to make sure he’s real and won’t be going anywhere.
The attachment I feel to him because we bonded is insane, but it feels so natural, I might as well have been born with it.
Which makes another thought hit me straight in the jaw. Caryan.
I instinctively search the horizon for black, angelic wings, and a part of my heart sighs with relief when I spot none. Another part, though….
“I told Caryan that we’re in the Black Forest.”
“What? How?” Worry tinges the bond and I quickly fill Aris in on the strange mind connection between Caryan and me. He stays quiet until I’ve finished.
“Do we have a mental connection as well? I mean, is it normal for bonds?”
“No, we don’t. And there is no ‘normal’ when it comes to bonding. Every bond is unique,” Aris muses, sounding thoughtful. “Although the intensity of that bond is unusual.”
“Why?”
“Because only the strongest bonds show that kind of ability—to form a place between their minds.”
“But I can talk to you mind to mind,” I point out.
“Yes. This is also not common, but not rare either,” he confirms. “Especially if both parties decide to bond with each other rather than just one party accepting the bond. But a room created by your minds…” He scoffs and suddenly loses a bit of altitude.
Panic blooms in my chest as I feel his strength faltering and fading.
The blue fire he unleashed, the battle, the flight…
it’s been too much. He won’t make it much longer.
I glance down over the side at the sky below.
The night is vast, uncaring about our fate.
The Black Forest beneath us stretches like a sea of shadows, its twisted canopy ink-dark, even under the stars.
Beyond, the jagged line of the high mountains looms, bordering the elven kingdom of Palisandre, each peak crowned in silver mist and veiled danger.
“We need to land, Aris!” I whisper down our bond, gripping even tighter the thick, almost obsidian, spikes that protrude from his spine.
He groans in response, trying to stabilize his massive body, his wings dragging air like tattered sails.
He should’ve shifted back to a smaller form—I know it—but he stayed like this in case he had to protect us. And it’s killing him.
But Caryan…he’s out there. He’s hunting us. I can feel it like a storm building in my veins.
The world lurches as Aris finally slams down onto a plateau high in the mountains.
I lose my grip on the spikes and slide off him inelegantly.
My whole body jars with the impact as I hit the ground.
Aris gives me a weak, apologetic look before he hisses—then begins to shrink.
Wings curl inward. Scales smooth and pull tight as his hulking form collapses into itself.
A heartbeat later, he’s a tiny dragon, with a round snout, scales dotted with golden sprinkles, and wings the same color.
I stare. He’s no larger than a golden retriever, looking so tiny and vulnerable that tears well in my eyes.
I drop to my knees beside him, cupping his tiny, scaled face in my hands. His eyes flutter shut. Exhausted. Empty. “Thank you,” I whisper. “Thank you for saving me.”
He just blinks. He needs food. Water. Rest. I don’t know much about demons, but in this shape, he won’t be able to hunt. I turn to look at Blair. She lies in the grass where Aris dropped her a moment ago, still unconscious. Utterly naked. And also so vulnerable.
Shit. I let out a shuddering breath, shivering in my thin excuse for a dress.
Maybe pummeling her unconscious wasn’t the best of ideas, but in that moment I was just so angry at her, and leaving her behind had not been an option.
And honestly, after she betrayed me, knocking her out felt oddly good.
Maybe I am more fae than I want to admit after all… .
I tear my mind back to reality and look around. We can’t stay here like this, exposed and out in the open, but there is nowhere to hide. Panic claws at me. Damn. Caryan is going to find us. We need to move. Get farther away—but with Aris this weak, we’re stuck here.
Focus, Melody. First, I need food for him. Then we take it from there.
I grab the black Nefarian sword and take off down the rocky slope, moving fast despite the ache in my limbs reminding me how tired I am. Everything hurts. Every breath is cloudy. The air is thinner up here, cutting and cunning and cold.
After what feels like forever, I find a stream, glittering with deep-blue water. And fish. Fat, glimmering trout moving in the shallow river.
I kneel, setting the black blade gently in the grass next to me. I don’t hesitate. My reflexes have sharpened since I arrived in the fae world. I’ve become fae-fast, and I catch the first trout before it even realizes I’m there, holding onto its slippery skin with my nails.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper before I use the sword to behead it. Then I catch the next one. I kill five trout in total, wrapping them in my dress before heading back down the tiny path through windswept trees. It’s not remotely enough food for Aris to replenish his strength, I know, but it’s a start.
When I finally make it back, Blair’s awake—sitting stiffly, glowering at Aris. Aris, still small, is curled into a ball, but his lips are peeled back in a warning hiss. Blair has her fangs bared at him in response.
“Someone’s gotta tell me what the hells is going on. You two look like dogs, ready to rip each other to shreds.”
“He growled at me as soon as I woke up.” Blair pouts, defiantly crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“She wanted to sell you.”
“She didn’t, per se, want to sell me,” I correct.
“Don’t defend her. I could feel your panic and fury—and she was the reason for it.”
“Maybe I overreacted,” I say, and for a second, grief about what I did threatens to swallow me before I push it down.
Maybe I did, indeed, overreact. Maybe my confusion got the better of me, and then Caryan’s magic started to go ballistic.
I swallow. I killed about, what, twenty people?
I’ll never forgive myself for it, but now’s not the time to beat myself up.
“You two, stop that weird mind connection you have going on. It’s rude!” Blair snaps.
I roll my eyes at both of them. “And, you, stop it now. We need to get along, so both of you suck it up,” I say, unwrapping my dress and laying the trout out on the ground.
“Look who grew some balls.” Blair clicks her tongue. “You know, if anyone dared speak to me like that, I used to tear his head from the rest of his body with my bare hands.”
Aris growls anew and I roll my eyes again.
“Gorgeous. Must feel terrible that you suddenly have to behave civil.” I look at Aris. “Please ignore her and eat, Aris. She won’t try anything.”
His eyes flick to mine; unconvinced.
“If she does, I’ll roast her myself. I promise,” I mutter under my breath, knowing Blair can hear me.
“I heard that, human,” Blair hisses.
Aris and I snarl at her in perfect unison.
“Good. Because honestly, you’re only alive because I saw something good in you,” I tell her. “But I’m beginning to wonder if I was wrong.”
I turn to her while Aris devours the fish, swallowing them whole, one after another.
Blair stands, staring me down, her eyes never leaving mine.
Proud. Unashamed. Her nakedness doesn’t bother her in the least, it seems. Gods, she’s still looking at me down her nose.
Honestly, she’s intimidating as fuck—and I kind of secretly admire her for that.
“I’m a witch,” she finally states with a snarl, showing her silver fangs. “We’re not supposed to be nice.”
“You really believe that?” I ask, looking at the bloodstains on my white dress from the trout. Hells, I look like I tried to stab someone. Instead you deep-fried twenty wolves . “That you were born evil?”
Her glare sharpens, and I see the warning flicker in her eyes before I say it—but I say it anyway.
“Maybe your Aunt Gatilla twisted you.”
“You think you know me?” she snaps. “Because of some bullshit about my aunt you picked up in Caryan’s castle?”
“Do you know yourself, Blair?” I ask back, crossing my arms defiantly—too late realizing I’m mimicking her posture. There’s a pause. A dangerous gleam in her gaze—then she turns her head, jaw clenched.
“Shit,” she whispers, but her attention is no longer on me.
The air changes suddenly, sending a prickling sensation down my spine that makes the magic in my veins twist.
Then the sky splits.