Page 43 of Burn Bright
10
NOOOO!"
The pain and rage on Cas’s face made my heart catch in mychest.
"Evaron?" I asked, taking a half step towardthem.
Cas looked up from where he laid the gasping prince on the ground, his eyes glittering with an intense fury when they lit upon Hussar. "Murderer!"
His eyes became a molten yellow, the pupils changing shape until it was no longer a man looking out at the world, but a wolf. Cas threw his head back, screaming his rage into the night. The sound changed, hollow and full of the sort of echoes that made a chill run down myspine.
The wolf within him wasunleashed.
Teeth tore through his bloodied gums, and his spine bowed as the change flowed over him. Without his fur, he could not complete the full shift, but when he reared up, his body had morphed into a hideous meld of beast and man. A face full of teeth and yellow eyes, with Cas’s thick dark hair andlashes.
Hussar tore another arrow from the guard beside him; a shocked young man who looked like he didn’t know what to do. Before Hussar could set it to bow, however, Cas slammed into him. Claws and teeth slashing, the pair of them tumbled over and over in the snow, neither of them gaining the upperhand.
"Nev…a…"
Theprince.
I slid to my knees at Evaron’s side. Blood drenched his shirt. I didn’t even know where to start, or how to help. Ellie would have known. She thrived on growing herbs in our garden, and often helped the local Wise Woman. But there was the arrow… Buried so deep in his body I feared it had pierced him cleanthrough.
And the only person here who might be able to help wasme.
"Don’t move," I warned sharply, looking around. "You! Fetch thepacks."
One of the soldiers lurched into action, and then they were all scrambling to help. I used my knife to cut the shirt from around Evaron’s wound. Blood spilled, and I tried to press my hands there to stop the flow, until someone handed me theirshirt.
A howl of pain tore my attention away from theprince.
Cas slammed into a tree, crumpling into the snow beneath it. The only man who had any sort of chance against him was Hussar, and Hussar wore the mantle of the Darkness now. Indecision tore through me. Then Hussar lurched to his feet, his throat and chest bloodied, and an enormous gaping wound in his abdomen. I recognized a dying man when I saw one, but that didn’t make him any lessdangerous.
And Cas wasn'tmoving.
"Cas!" I grabbed a soldier’s hand and slammed it over the shirt soaking with the prince’s blood. "Holdhere."
Then I scrambled for the nearest sword, knowing I’d be too late. Knowing Hussar could kill my friend before I ever had a chance to get tohim.
No!
Hussar hefted his spear, standing over Cas with it raised. "You should have been slaughtered when we first caught you, you littlemongrel."
I scrambled forward, as he drove the speardown—
Into a writhing mess of flame and red cloak, as Galina suddenly appeared and threw herself between them. The spear drove straight through her chest, the sharp metal tip narrowly missing Cas. A wash of pure fire burst up over Hussar, incinerating the spear and catching hold in his cloak. Hussar screamed as his entire body was engulfed in flames and I staggered back from the heat, one hand thrown over my face to protectit.
Hussar went down, rolling and screaming in the snow, but this was one fire that would not be putout.
A whirlwind of flame swept in front of me, and I couldn’t see any sign of Galina orCas.
"Cas!" I yelled, trying to avoid the burningsparks.
"The moment of your choice is here," Galina whispered. "Without you, the world will darken. Without you, the forest—and all who live in its shadows—will belost."
One spark bit my skin, and the pain was indescribable. I caught sight of Cas on the ground beneath the tree, groaning as he tried to crawl onto his hands and knees. His wolfish aspect was subsiding, leaving just the man, clad only in his trousers. Burn marks scored his back, but he was alive.Whole.
Another spark seared my arm as I slid to my knees beside him. Light lit up beneath my skin, golden fire streaking through my veins. The bonfire behind me blistered the air, and I could barely look athim.
