Page 90 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Once she was satisfied, she swung the crossbow over her shoulder. “We should take their bridles off so they don’t get caught on anything.”

I nodded and slipped the bridle off the mare, who had stood here patiently this whole time. House Salvatore was known for breeding and training some of the best horses—I suspected it was where Zosa had originally come from. How Samara had managed to get her hands on such an incredible horse, I had no idea. These ones might not be as stunning as Zosa, but I had no doubt they were trained to return home. With no riders slowing them down, they could make it before the sun set.

Roth passed the reins of the chestnut horse they’d ridden with Draven to Samara, who patted the horse’s head before slipping off its bridle. A minute later, all three horses were cantering away in the direction of home. A few rangers had volunteered to stay behind at House Salvatore to keep watch, so they’d be able to let the horses in—if they made it.

There were no guarantees in Lunaria. Although I suspected the horses were going to have a better trip than us.

I pulled my sword free and jerked my head towards where Rynn waited for us in her wolf form. “Let’s get on with it.”

Alaric and Kieran both pulled swords similar to mine free and started walking. They both trained regularly with my rangers and were pretty good. Roth’s ropes unwound a little from their forearms and dangled at their sides as they followed after the other two.

A low, husky laugh spilt from Samara’s lips as Draven whispered something in her ear before pulling the whip coiled at his side free. I still thought a whip was a stupid weapon, even if the prince did wield it well.

By the time we reached Rynn, Cali had taken to the sky above us, and we fell into a single file line. Draven had sped up to be at the front behind Rynn, with me at the end. Nobody spoke as Rynn found us a path through the traps. First one mile. Then another.

An hour ticked by, and I was still spotting trapdoors. How fucking big was this colony?

I spotted some hoof tracks here and there from the deer who cut through the badlands to avoid all the predators that roamed the forests. The trappers were converging where the prey was.

Lucky us.

More than once, Rynn made us backtrack to find an alternate route. I trusted her judgment, but the fourth time she did it, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing up at the sun that was rapidly moving across the sky. We still had at least two hours until sunset, but we were also a solid five miles from the temple, if not more. If we didn’t get out of trapper territory soon, we would be in serious trouble.

“Wait,” Draven said harshly. Everyone froze. “Something’s coming. A lot of somethings.”

Cali shot higher into the sky.

“It’s a deer herd,” she called out. “And unless they alter their course . . . they’re going to run straight into us.”

“Fuck,” I growled. “Can you scare them in a different direction?”

“Doubtful.” Cali darted down to hover above the ground a few feet away from us. “There are too many of them. I’d be lucky to get half to switch direction.”

“So let’s use it to our advantage,” Samara said quickly. “The trappers will converge on the deer. We wait until they do, then we run like hell.”

“The deer are going to trample anything in their path,” I argued. “Or impale it.”

A crazy light flared in Samara’s eyes, and she grinned at Cali. “Remember that time we got drunk on your twentieth birthday?”

The Furie laughed darkly. “Hard to forget waking up naked in a tree covered in sticky berry juice and wearing your panties as a hat.”

“Did you threeeverstudy at Drudonia?” Alaric gave Samara an incredulous look.

“Cali definitely didn’t,” Roth muttered.

“Before the tree, we made a bet over who could hold out the longest against stampeding deer,” Samara said smugly. “You lost, Cali, but you split the herd.”

“We need to discuss fun ways to celebrate a birthday.” Kieran shook his head. “I’ll give you a hint . . . it should involve too much wine and sweet treats. Not rampaging, horned monsters.”

“Don’t tell me how to celebrate my birthdays, pretty boy.” Cali shrugged.

Faint vibrations started to rumble through the ground, and we all looked towards where a dust cloud was rising into the sky. The deer were still far enough away that I couldn’t make out individuals, but Cali wasn’t wrong; the herd was massive.

One-on-one, Lunarian deer weren’t dangerous. True, they were large—about the size of an average horse—and the twisted horns that rose from their skulls were as sharp as any dagger,but generally, they avoided conflict. It made them hard to hunt because at the first hint of danger, the entire herd took off. Exactly like they were doing now, with their heads lowered so they could spear or trample anything in their way.

We had the unfortunate luck of being in their path. We’d never outrun them, and if we tried, the trapper spiders would be on us immediately.

I knew what Samara was suggesting. It was absolutely crazy . . . but it could work. Maybe. Like a fifty-fifty chance. Honestly, we had no other options because that fucking herd would be on us in minutes.

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