Page 101 of The Beast King's Bride

“But Sire, she says she was a servant, what would she know about such things?”

“Do not anger me,” he snarls. “The wise men I called over the years to advise me never managed anything, so let us try it her way. What do we have to lose now?”

The guards mutter among themselves.

“The riddle brought her,” one of them says. “She can save us.”

“See?” I grin at him. “Stories.”

He huffs and dismounts, reaching for me to help me down. “I told you that these people blame me for the Decay. I bet that they will throw stones at us while I try to fend off the monsters and work the magic. Or feed me to the monsters to appease them. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

“And I bet you that they will do no such thing.”

“Well, only one way to find out,” he mutters as townspeople start gathering—at a safe distance from the river, having probably lost people to the monsters already, so I can’t blame them.

My stomach churns. I hope I’m right. What if I’m not? What if I’m taking chances with Talen’s life?

I am just a servant, royal blood coursing through my veins or not. What do I know about any of this?

“Talen,” I begin, “wait—”

But he’s already limped over to stand at the edge of the black water, hands lifted before him, eyes closed. With those gleaming horns, the black leathers and the cape, he looks like a statue cut from the dark glass of his palace, perfect and calm, strong and still.

The guards have dismounted and drawn their swords, facing the river. The water bubbles and boils as if something huge is trying to rise.

And through the horror rising in me, I hear the townspeople shouting what sounds like curses at us.

Indeed, when I turn around, I find them bending and actually grabbing stones to throw at us. Gods below, Talen was right.

“Stop!” I turn and hurry toward them. “He’s trying to help you, trying to stop this curse, and you’d attack him? I said stop!”

But they only sneer, and a stone whizzes past my ear. “Human witch!” they shout at me. “Go back where you came from. And take this accursed king with you!”

Anger is a storm inside of me. “He’s fighting to save you!” I yell at them.

“He brought the curse on us!” one of them yells back.

“Don’t you see that he’s using his magic, his life force to keep the Decay at bay, exhausting himself to control it? That he has been looking for a cure all this time? That he brought me—”

“She is the human they say will cure us!”

“She is a witch! She will lift the curse!”

Well… I wasn’t going to say anything like that but this works, too, and indeed one by one, the townspeople fall back, dropping the rocks they held.

Relieved, I’m about to approach them, talk to them some more, when the shouts of the guards behind me catch my attention. I turn toward the river where the guards are fighting with the monsters and see a long neck rising over them, the head flat and long, rows of razor teeth shining in it.

“Look out!” I have to stop it, do something…

Rocks, I think. I have no weapons but…

Grabbing a rock from the ground, letting the same anger flow through me, I throw it at the great mouth opening over one of the guards.

It snaps shut, the creature jerking back.

The townspeople cheer.

Another stone for another serpentine neck rising from the river, heading for the king. The creature hisses when the stone hits its snout and sinks back into the water.

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