Page 114 of Thief of Souls
I ease the chest open, and my breath catches as I find the horn, nestled in a bed of red velvet.
The Horn of Shadows is cast of ancient brass, and you can almost see the marks where someone has lovingly polished it in the past.
I stroke the smooth curve of the horn. It was created by the same dwarf who crafted the cauldron. They say a single blow of the horn will bring the ghostly hunt to life, the hounds who guard the cauldron riding at the bidding of the horn blower.
But the horn can only be blown by one.
Your life will be tied to it forever—or at least, until death.
“Well,” says a voice behind me. “It’s all starting to make sense now. You’ve grown a little more ruthless, dearest sister. You lied right to my face. We were supposed to retrieve the horntogether,but imagine my surprise when I came across that brainless little apparition that’s perched on Keir’s lap, eating sweetmeats.”
Leaves rustle as if something enormous is moving behind them. I slash a hand through the air in desperation as Soraya stalks into the clearing, trying to urge her to shut up.
It’s too late.
I finally realize where the bloody beast is.
It’s not hiding behind the bloodstar trees.
It’s been there all along, right in plain sight, the scales on its body rippling into a patterned background that matches the maze as it moves. Dapples of its hide appear. It has the body of a leopard, the head and neck of a serpent, and the legs and feet of a hart—though I didn’t know it could camouflage itself like that.
It’s also three times as tall as me and can spit poison that can sear the skin from your bones.
“Run!” I scream as the questing beast suddenly appears against the trees, a reptilian eye blinking open and locking upon me. Snatching the horn, I tuck it under my arm. “Run!”
* * *
“What in theblighted lands are you doing here?” I demand as we sprint through the maze. “You were supposed to be taking care of Mistmark!”
“I did take care of Mistmark! I married the bastard, after all! And then I managed to slip him and his nursemaid,” Soraya yells. “I didn’t realize the ceremony was real and binding!”
I shoot her a glance.
She slams me into the hedge just as an enormous green spitball hisses past us. It cuts right through the bloodstar, eating its way into the hedge as though it doesn’t exist.
“You knew.” Soraya can obviously see it on my face, and she’s furious. “You said ‘you’ll thank me later.’ That’s what you meant, isn’t it?”
I push off from her and drag her through the newly opened hole in the maze. It’s too small for the questing beast. It might hold it for a moment. “This way! And yes, I knew.” I haul her to the right. “You’ve only been pining after him for three years.”
“Pining?”
“Don’t think I don’t know you,” I snap at her as the entire hedge to our right shudders. I throw a glance over my shoulder as the beast simply forces its way through the tightly bound trees.Curse it. Guess that wasn’t going to slow it down at all. “‘I’m fine,’ you used to say. ‘He’ll get his comeuppance one day soon.’ ‘His heart has my name on it, and I’m going to shove my fucking blade so deep inside it that you’ll hear his scream from here.’”
“What part ofthathas anything to do with pining?”
“He’s the one who got away, Soraya.” We reach a T-intersection and I take two seconds to decide which way to go before hurling her toward the left. “You don’t miss when Father sends you after a target. But for some reason, you couldn’t kill Mistmark, and I don’t think it’s got anything to do with Falion, and everything to do with those pretty blue eyes.”
“Goddess, I hate you!”
I grin at her. “I knew it!”
Soraya makes a frustrated screaming sound. “Well, don’t get too excited. He’s sent Falion after you. I managed to escape and led that fucking prick on a merry chase before I came here, but I think he’ll realize where we are the second he hears that huge furry bastard rampaging behind us.” She looks over her shoulder. “Down!”
I dive, and another enormous, sizzling spitball burns a hole through the hedge in front of us.
“How do we kill it?” she snaps as we both scramble to our feet.
Teeth clash as I leap halfway up the hedge and snatch a hold of one of the branches. The questing beast misses me by an inch, and I’m dangerously close to where its spitball is eating its way outward in the hedge.
