Page 14 of Her Dark Promise

I calmed my racing mind. “The only apex predator in these woods is me. I am the one to fear. No one would dare enter these woods so close to the Reaping.”

I could hear her scoff behind my ear.And yet…two arrived last night. Who is to say that it won’t happen again?

“You’re wrong.” And even to my own ears, I could tell that I was lying. I didn’t know anything about the couple or where they came from. She was right, but I would never admit that to her. I sucked in a fast breath.

I could almost feel her shrugging as her voice faded.Maybe you’re right. Though you know what happened the last time you believed you were right.And then she was gone.

I tried for another moment to focus back on the task in front of me, but she had won. I couldn’t stay in there any longer as my beating heart wouldn’t cease its erratic rhythm.

Ever since that day, the sun could never fully penetrate the overcast sky, but I could tell that it was well on its way to its descent for the night. I tried to take a few calming breaths and center myself. And when that didn’t work, I cursed into the sky and stormed to the front of the castle. He should have returned by now, the pest.

Why wasn’t he back? Did something happen?

I shook my head at the absurdity of that thought. Of course, he was fine; he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

But…itwouldn’t hurt to go see.If I went to the gate, I would see the moment he returned and I could release some of this pent-up anger right there in the forest.

I strode through the rose garden and over the long, winding bridge that was now covered in vines and leaves that had fallen from the forest. It was dense, having overgrown throughout the centuries. Though for me, it was so familiar, I could walk it blindfolded.

I made my way through the forest until I reached the rundown gate that had one of the sides ripped off a hinge and rested on the ground. The other side of the gate had fallen to the ground long ago, vines growing around it all, threatening to consume it entirely.

I walked forward until I could feel the buzzing energy of the barrier, I lifted my hand toward it and tapped. The force of the magic zapped my finger, causing it to burn my skin. I rolled my eyes at the predictability of the curse. At the beginning, I’d run into this barrier about a hundred times, burning my body, screaming through the pain. I wasn’t going to stop until I found a weak spot.

There wasn’t one.

I dropped my hand and took a step back, stared out into the distance, and loathed Callum for a moment, for the ability to travel beyond the barrier. If I had to kill every single human in the world to be able to walk off of these grounds, I would without a second thought.

I heard a rustle not far from the gate, and I disappeared into the shadows of the woods. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was back, safe. I stalked the shadows, wishing to scare Callum, loving the squeal he made whenever I caught him off guard. I let out a breath, my muscles relaxing at the sound. I smirked, ready to see the look on his face when I emerged behind him, and see how high he would jump this time.

The rustling got closer, but the movements didn’t match Callum’s footsteps. No, Callum’s were loud, and he would have walked the main path straight up to the gate. These footsteps were soft, and I could barely hear them. They stalked like I stalked, as if they didn’t want to be seen or heard. A hunter?

Was he with the others that had come? Or sent to find them?

I stepped back further into the darkness, becoming one with my surroundings, and waited for the human to appear, to see if my assumptions were true.

No matter how much they wanted to avoid the path, they had to walk through the gate to come onto my land. I could hear their footsteps pause before finally taking the first step out of the thicket of trees.

I narrowed my eyes at the sight before me. The human turned out to be a man studying the path. There were multiple blades strapped around his body and another larger weapon tightly around his hip. He was too far away to make out his face, but that didn’t matter. The moment he stepped foot onto my land, I would attack. I would find out if he was an accomplice with the couple from last night.

He slowly made his way over to the gate, but before he stepped over the threshold, he stopped. I cocked my head, wondering what was going on in his mind.

Just one more step, human, then you’ll be mine.

His curly black hair covered his face while he stood, assessing his surroundings. He was alert, quiet.

Finally, he took a single step over that invisible line. I was about to attack, but before I could make a move, he threw a blade toward me. The blade lodged into my shoulder, and the pain from it fueled my rising anger. I yelped, startled by the action.

He was quick, quicker than any human I had encountered before. To catch me off guard was a testament to his skill, but I would make sure it didn’t happen again.

I ground my teeth together and pulled the blade out, gripping the handle so tightly that my knuckles had turned white. I wanted to rip him to shreds, but I refrained and slowly walked out of the thicket of trees and watched his eyes go wide. He stood staring at me, mouth agape, in utter disbelief that it was not an animal he attacked.

His eyes were a bright emerald green scattered with flecks of gold around the irises, so piercing that I would have been drawn into them if they weren’t attached to a leech of a male.

I stopped a few feet from him. “What did you wish to accomplish with that stunt?”

If he wasn’t confused before, he was now. I could see he was at a loss for words until his eyes looked over to the blood dripping down my arm. Unbeknownst to him, the wound healed the moment I pulled the blade out of my shoulder.

Instead of saying anything, he quickly threw his bag onto the ground and bent over it, searching for something. I prepared for another attack when he pulled out a few supplies that had me puzzled.

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