Spellbound (Tales of Afeyra #3)

1. Kit Finding the Girl

Kit: Finding the Girl

“You’re nothing but a monster.” Kit growled the words at his reflection in the stream.

Most of the time, the reminder wasn’t necessary.

He was all-too-aware of the scales that rippled across his body, of the claws that had replaced his nails, of the horns that caught in the trees, culminating in a horrifying combination of man and dragon.

But there were moments when he had to admonish himself.

Like today, when a bird had landed on his shoulder.

He wasn’t sure what type of bird it was.

Despite living out in the wilderness for almost a year and a half now, he had gotten no better at wildlife identification.

It had vaguely reminded him of his favorite bird back in Hopka, Ember.

It had the same indescribable blur of red, yellow, and orange feathers, its feathers flickering like a flame, with a small spurt of feathers on its head and a long plume of scarlet feathers for a tail.

If he didn’t know better, he’d think that it was Ember, the bird he’d trained to come with a whistle.

His time and patience with the creature had surprised his brother, Robert—or Robin, as he preferred people to call him now.

Kit gave a wry smile as he pictured his little brother. Christopher and Robert. Kit and Robin. The two of them had chosen distinctly un-regal names. The knowledge would have horrified their mother, Queen Nessa.

The thought of his mother drove the smile into a scowl. Though she’d been dead for over two decades, her memory was still like a bucket of ice water over him. Remembering how she’d poisoned his father, how she’d looked when he’d?—

Soft sobs interrupted his train of thought.

He peered around him in the dim light of dusk, trying to find the source.

At first, he saw nothing. He saw well enough in the dark, better than he had in his humanoid form anyway, but the tall grass and the looming trees made the investigation a little more difficult.

Eventually, however, he caught sight of a tow-headed little girl dressed in thin rags. He had very little experience with children, but to his eyes, she couldn’t have been over three or four years old. What was she doing out in the forest alone?

He creeped toward her, but she didn’t look at him. She rested her chin on her knees, whimpering from time to time. Even when he was less than a few feet away, she didn’t seem to register his approach.

Kit hesitated a moment, then knelt next to her. “Hello.”

The little girl jumped. “Who’s there?” she squeaked.

Kit frowned, then noted the clouding of her icy blue eyes.

This child is blind, he realized. He muttered a prayer to the Maker under his breath, then said, “Hi. I’m not here to hurt you.

I’m a friend. My name is Kit,” stumbling over the unfamiliar words a bit.

How long had it been since he’d spoken to another person?

Perhaps a year? He’d spoken to his brother and that royal guard when he’d fought off the wargs the year before, but he didn’t think he’d said a word to anyone in the time between.

He’d been too afraid that they’d mistake him for a monster.

Who are you kidding, Christopher? You are a monster. He shook the unhelpful thought away.

Unaware of his internal debate, the little girl looked up at him, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Like a baby fox?” she asked, cocking her head.

Kit gave a rumbling laugh, the sound of it strange to his own ears. “Something like that,” he murmured, his mind flying to his step-mother, Lady Quinn. He was one of a few who knew about her Kitsune heritage. He studied the little girl before he continued, “What’s your name?”

“Gretyl,” the little girl said. “Can you help me? Nelle telled me and Hansel to stay close to camp, but Hansel wanted to go play with Jack and he said no girls allowed and they ran away. I can’t hear him no more and I think I got losted.

” More tears spilled out of her eyes. “Nelle’s gonna be so mad at me. ”

Kit cocked his head, frowning. “Is Nelle your sister?”

Gretyl giggled through her tears. “No. She’s just Nelle.”

Kit frowned. Well, that explained almost nothing. “Okay,” he drawled. “Well, can I help you back to camp? Maybe if we go now, we can make it back before Nelle realizes you’re gone.”

Gretyl sniffled and got to her feet. “Okay.” She reached for him expectantly.

Kit drew away from her. If she didn’t realize that he wasn’t quite human from his voice, she certainly would if she touched him. “What are you doing?” His words came out with more of a bite than he meant them to.

“Reaching for your hand,” Gretyl said in a voice that said, Well, duh.

“Er, do we have to?—”

“Please?” Gretyl asked, tilting her chin up pleadingly. “I promise I won’t scratch you. It’s just easier.” Kit hesitated, then took her tiny hand in his own large one. He cringed, expecting her to cry out at the strange sensation, but she merely ran her fingers over his scales. “You’re so big!”

Kit gave a rumbling laugh. “I suppose I am.” After another moment’s hesitation, he patted Gretyl’s head with the hand she wasn’t clutching. “Don’t worry, though. I won’t hurt you.”

“I know,” Gretyl said, a blissful smile on her bright face. “Nelle says I’m an excellent judge of character.” The posh accent she used as she quoted her made Kit suspect she was mimicking the mysterious woman.

“Er…okay,” he said, his brow furrowing. “That’s good…I suppose.”

“I don’t know if she’s right, though,” Gretyl continued, blissfully unaware of his confusion. “Because she is friends with Will, and Will isn’t very nice. He says mean things about her when he thinks she can’t hear him.”

“Who’s Will?” Kit asked before he could stop himself. He barely prevented a curse from following the question. He wasn’t supposed to care who was in his brother’s camp. It didn’t matter. He needed to find a way to break his curse. That was his first priority.

“Will is one of the new lieutenants. Papa says he’s friends with Friar Tuck and step-mama, but he’s not friends with Papa.

Papa says it’s because he’s not important enough to attract Will’s attention, but I don’t think that’s true, because Papa is very important.

Nelle says he maked sure there’s always enough food for everyone to eat, and that’s a very important job,” Gretyl said.

“Nelle is right,” Kit mumbled as he realized that the child’s father must be one of the camp’s foragers who went out each day searching for food.

But that fit with the unknown man’s assessment of the ranks.

A dozen hunters and twice as many gatherers left the confines of the camp each day to forage for food in the forest, but Robin’s so-called lieutenants were never part of that group.

Well, that wasn’t true, Kit amended. Robin and John Little, Robin’s best friend and right-hand man, went out at least once a week, sometimes more.

But John had followed Robin back to Hopka on his last journey, and the remaining lieutenants wouldn’t deign to do the manual work needed to feed the many people in the camp.

The only reason Kit knew them on sight was because they’d taken to meeting in some of the nearby caves to avoid the camp residents overhearing their discussions.

Unfortunately for them, the caves in question weren’t far from the abandoned castle he’d called home for the past year and a half.

“Nelle has an important job too,” Gretyl continued, oblivious to the lost prince’s wonderings on the inner workings of the Sherwood Company’s leadership.

“She watches over all the kids. She even watches over me and makes sure I don’t get too near the fire or go into the river.

And she’s real smart, even though she doesn’t memember where she comes from. ”

Kit frowned. “She doesn’t remember where she comes from?

” he repeated. As he spoke, the wind whispered through the trees, sending shivers through the prince’s body, despite his scales.

He’d been a half-dragon for nearly a year and a half now, and he still wasn’t used to it.

He yearned for the soft, breakable skin that he’d once worn.

Before he’d met the sorceress. Before she’d cast the curse meant to protect him…

“Nope!” The little girl made the ‘P’ pop, the excitement in her voice palpable. “She could be a former dragon tamer or a lost princess or a cursed?—”

The soft snap of a twig breaking startled Kit out of his dreary thoughts. A soft musical voice interrupted the little girl’s diatribe. “Gretyl!”

A shiver ran down Kit’s spine. I know that voice.

He’d heard it only a few times in his 25 years of life, but it haunted him in each of his nightmares.

Reluctantly, he released the child’s hand and melted back into the darkness of Sherwood Forest, not willing for the newcomer to see him and drive him from his hiding place.

“Nelle! Nelle, where are you?” Gretyl called into the diminishing light.

Moments later, the newcomer stepped into view, and Kit’s blood froze.

It was her…the sorceress. Her clothes were a little more threadbare and her face a little more worn, but he’d never forget those luscious curves and her dark, frizzy hair trying to escape from the braid she’d pulled over her shoulder.

Her beauty called to him now, just as it had called to him that day…

the day she’d cursed him. What was she doing here? Had she followed him?

“I’m here, Gretyl!” the sorceress called, unaware of her audience as she rushed toward the little girl. “It’s okay. I’m here now.”

Gretyl gave a squeal of delight. “You found me! And now you can meet my new friend.”

Kit watched as the woman looked around, a frown on her anxious face. “What friend?” she asked. “There’s no one here, love bug.”

Gretyl frowned. “He was just here. He finded me in the forest and brought me back to camp. We should find him, Nelle. Maybe he needs a place to stay.”

This was Nelle. Kit frowned. When the little girl had been describing the woman who looked after the children in the camp, he hadn’t been expecting her to be the one who’d placed the curse on him.

Nelle shook her head. “Maybe so, love, but we can’t stay out here to search for him. We’re still far away from camp, and it’s getting dark. Your papa is worried about you.”

“But what if Kit is hurt?” Gretyl wondered.

“Kit? Oh, you mean your new friend?” Nelle bit her lip. “I’ll come out with your father tomorrow and search for him myself,” she promised the child. “But we can’t stay out here. It’s not safe.”

Gretyl frowned, clearly not happy with the explanation. “But?—”

“If we go now, there will probably still be cookies back at camp. I hid a few for when we get back,” Nelle wheedled. “But if we tarry too long, I’m positive that your brother will find them. And then there will be no cookies for either of us.”

Gretyl’s brow settled in determination. “Hansel can’t have all the cookies. That’s not fair,” she grumbled.

“No, it’s not,” Nelle agreed. “Come along and let’s go back to camp for dinner and cookies. Then we’ll see if we can find your mysterious friend tomorrow. Alright?”

Gretyl sighed. “Alright. But you can’t forget, okay?”

“Fair enough,” Nelle laughed, lifting the little girl onto one of her curvy hips. “Come along, love bug.”

Kit watched her go before he slowly creeped out of his hiding place to follow her. He’d found her at last. And this time…this time, he wasn’t letting her get away. If there was one person who knew how to break the spell, it would be her.