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Without waiting for a response, he sprung up from where he crouched and sprinted toward the forest.

Men hollered.

I notched my bow and stood to shoot. I kept drawing arrows from my quiver, notching and releasing, notching and releasing. Hitting target after target, their cries of alarm and the sound of their bodies hitting the ground became a highlight note to the crackling fire burning down Paul’s cabin behind me.

My magic wound around me, tight and demanding.

More, it whispered. Kill them all.

I had three arrows left.

Then two.

Then one.

Orion joined me to shoot at the hunters, taking down enough to keep any of them from shooting at me.

I stepped toward the path leading to my cabin, and sharp pain slammed into me. I looked down to find an arrow protruding from my arm. I snarled, turned, and fired off a shot, killing the last of the hunters. With clenched teeth, I pulled out the arrow and bit back a cry.

Magic from the arrowhead spread through my body. Seeping into my bones. I winced and waited for the poison to take hold.

Nothing happened.

The poison mingled with the magic already inside my body, with the poison that already ran through my veins—a poison that my body had eventually accepted after the initial reaction.

I chucked the arrow to the ground and turned to Orion. “Come on.”

We raced to my cabin, the smoke in the air burning my lungs.

Ace barged out of the front entrance of my cabin with Nala in his arms as we exited the path. Steam and smoke rose around him. Nala’s eyes were closed, and she lay limp in his arms.

“She’s alive,” Ace said.

Shouts rose from the centre of the village.

I glanced down the path. “There might be more.”

“We need to run.” Orion nodded at me. “Get as far away from here as we can before that poison hits you.”

“Poison?” Ace stiffened, his gaze raking my body.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“But you won’t be,” Orion said.

“I don’t think it was laced,” I said.

“Poison?” Ace repeated, his voice dropping low, vibrating with danger.

“She got hit with another arrow,” Orion explained.

“I’m fine,” I insisted.

Orion’s words from what seemed like a millennia ago echoed along my memories. Her body will acclimatize and absorb it.

“We’re not risking it. Let’s go.” Ace took off around the side of the cabin toward my workshop and I followed.

“I need arrows.” I ducked into the back entrance to my workshop and grabbed an armful of finished arrows. The flames licked the walls and travelled toward me. Billowy smoke gathered along the roof. I coughed as it surrounded me.

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