Page 37 of Realm of Wind and Vines
I whip my head in Orion’s direction, and my mouth drops open. A massive black panther has slammed right into a thick sheet of ice that Isera raised beside Orion. The Unseelie King is also gaping. But not at the panther that almost killed him. Instead, he stares from Isera to the ice that saved him from the animal attack and then back again.
Isera, however, isn’t looking at him. Dropping the sheet of ice, she instead summons a sharp spear and shoves it towards the panther.
Before it can connect, Draven slams his palm down on Isera’s arm, shoving it downwards. The ice spear buries itself in the rich soil instead.
“What the fuck did I just say?” Draven growls at her. “Defense only.” Exasperation blows across his face as he gives her an incredulous look. “It’s like being surrounded by children.”
Low, animalistic growling echoes from all around us. I flick my gaze from side to side, and my stomach drops.
“Uhm… Draven?” I begin.
That massive black panther wasn’t alone. An entire pack of them has crept out of the vegetation and now surrounds us in an impenetrable circle. The animals bare their teeth and let out low snarls.
“You killed my people,” a hard voice suddenly cuts through the rumbling growls.
Spinning around, I find a tall woman with brown hair and green eyes striding out from the shadows. Her purple dragon scale armor sports faint carvings that depict a variety of lethal-looking animals. She tosses her thick, wavy hair back behind her shoulder as she comes to a halt outside the ring of snarling panthers.
“That’s pretty rich, Diana,” Draven replies, giving her aknowing look. “Even for you. Considering that you sent them to that mountainside to killme.”
She clicks her tongue but doesn’t argue. Instead, her suspicious eyes slide over me, Isera, and Orion. “You certainly keep strange company.”
Draven flicks a pointed glance at the panthers around us. “I could say the same about you.”
The animals growl in response but don’t attack. Diana cocks her head.
“You’ve grown pretty big balls lately, Shadow of Death,” she says. “First, you betray the Icehearts. And now you’ve wandered into my woods of your own free will. Why?”
“Because we need to talk.”
“No, I meant, why did you betray the Icehearts?”
“Because someone finally figured out that they have been controlling me with dragon steel for two hundred years and cut it out of my arm.”
Her eyes widen.
Draven flashes her a knowing smile. “Yeah? That make you curious enough to have a conversation like adults?”
For another few seconds, she just watches us with an unreadable expression on her face. Then she clicks her tongue again.
“Come with me.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The Purple Dragon Clan doesn’t live in one city. Or even a handful of cities. Instead, their homeland seems to span this entire forest. Beautiful wooden houses are nestled between the trees in what feels like an entirely random pattern, and some have even been built on the branches above. The only places where there are never any buildings are the open glens that are scattered across the woods. That surprises me, since they would seem like ideal locations, until I realize that those are probably left open intentionally so that they can use them when they shift into dragons.
A low snarl rumbles from my left. I glance down at the panther that is prowling there. Other jaguars have joined as well, though they’re sticking more to the edges. Their yellow eyes watch us intently, but after that first lunge at Orion, they haven’t done anything to attack us. I assume it’s on Diana’s orders, since her clan magic is the ability to control animals.
I study her where she walks ahead of us. She carries herself with effortless pride, her spine straight and her chin raised, and she moves through the woods like a predator. Since she rarely visited the Seelie Court, I’ve had very few opportunities to studyher before now. But based on this limited interaction, and the fact that she sent twelve people to assassinate Draven on the mountainside outside the Ice Palace last year, I get a feeling that Diana Artemisia is an incredibly dangerous person.
Taking a right, she strides towards a building that has become visible between the trees. It’s a long one-story building with warm firelight dancing in the windows. Smoke rises up from a chimney on one end. It drifts up towards the canopy in swirling rivulets.
The jaguars and panthers trail to a halt.
I glance at them over my shoulder, but Diana just walks up to the door of the long building and pulls it open. The sounds of chatter and laughter spill out from the room inside.
Holding the door open, she at last turns back to us. “I have things I need to finish first. You can wait in here.”
Draven gives her a nod. “Alright.”
