I blinked a few times to see in the sudden darkness. “Prime Beta?” I had to be dreaming.
“I have a horse,” he said. “Can you stand?”
“Am I dead?” I asked.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he replied and leaned, reaching for me.
I must have blacked out. When I came back to myself, I was sitting atop a horse, swaying gently as we moved forward. Beside the horse, walked Prime Beta, who dragged the corpse of the boar I had killed behind me. He also had both of my weapons, the broken rifle strapped over one shoulder and the ill-functioning pistol in his belt.
“I tried to… shoot it…” I said.
Don’t talk,” Prime Beta said. “Save your strength. You are going to need it to claim your trophy.”
“What trophy?” I asked, blinking.
“You’ll see.”
Eventually, we reached the edge of the forest, and then went out into the field. There, I could see everyone else gathered around a small stage where the other game were displayed.
A few dear. Some rabbits. Even a squirrel.
No one else had a boar.
Prime Beta led the horse closer, then dropped the reins. He dragged the boar carcass up the stairs of the stage, then threw it down, right in front of the Queen. The Queen, who had been about to award Ophelia.
“Where did this come from?” the Queen asked him.
He gestured toward me. “The Luna Princess made the kill.”
Surprised murmurs chattered around me, people openly gaping at me, at the boar carcass.
Kou can vouch for her?” the Queen asked. “She did this.”
“She did,” Prime Beta confirmed.
The Queen looked over to me. She pulled the ribbon away from Ophelia, where she had been about to pin it to Ophelia’s lapel.
“You did this?” she asked me.
“Yes,” I said.
“Then you are the winner, Luna Princess,” the Queen said.
The crowd looked at each other. Only a few started to cheer.
My vision grew dark once more and I swayed on the horse’s saddle. Between one long blink and the next, I started to fall.
I blacked out before I hit the ground.
Grayson’s POV
Yes, I was pacing the length of my bedroom, but I was not anxious. I was simply curious about how the hunt was proceeding. Ophelia usually brought home the prize, and likely would again.
Though it wasn’t a curiosity over the winner that had me send Prime Beta back to the forest to check on Lillian. I was unwilling to give a name to the feeling that drove me to make that command.
Perhaps I simply felt responsible for the girl who had become my surrogate. Yes, that must have been it.
My wolf, from the bed, gave me a disbelieving look before whining, low and pathetic.
“We don’t make noises like that,” I told him, but he chuffed at me, making it clear he would do whatever he wanted, whether I approved or not. “It’s your fault she’s even here. I would have sent her away.”
The wolf chuffed again.
Before I could scold him a second time, the door burst open.
“Forgive the intrusion,” Prime Beta said. Lillian was limp in his arms, blood pouring down her leg. The doctor was behind them. He closed the door, locked it, and then hurried to follow.
Prime Beta moved as if to put Lillian on the desk.
“Put her on the bed,” I said.
“She’s bleeding.”
“Sheets can be changed,” I said, an uncomfortable dark feeling taking hold of my stomach. “What is this? What happened?”
“She killed a boar,” Prime Beta said. “But not before it gored her.”
“She just needs some stitches,” the doctor said, “Look. Her wolf is already hard at work healing the wound. Poor thing is likely just so exhausted from all she has endured recently that things are moving a bit slower than we would like.”
“Help her,” I commanded. es, Prince. Some stitches and a small boost to her wolf essence should speed up the process.”
I swallowed down the lump that had been rising up my throat. Her blood smelled of iron and made my stomach flip. It was the worst scent I had ever experienced. My leg started to hurt like hers was hurt, as if my body was mimicking her pain.
My wolf curled around the healthy side of Lillian, as if protecting her as much as he could.
I turned away as the doctor started cutting Lillian’s pants to get at the wound. I shot a glare at Prime Beta for him to do the same, but he was paying little attention to anything taking place on the bed. Instead, he was inspecting the broken weaponry he carried, just before he handed an imploded rifle to me.
“What is this?” I asked.
“The rifle Lillian had been assigned,” Prime Beta said. “And this, her pistol.”
Both clearly had been tampered with, no broken beyond repair. Neither of these weapons would have worked in the moment.
“How did she kill a boar?” I asked.
“The knife,” Prime Beta said.
I remembered tying the knife to her belt, and was glad now that I had followed the impulse to see it properly secured. That act could have saved her life.
“Whoever did this is lucky she had enough skill and inner strength to survive,” I said. My anger surged like a blistering ice storm rising within me, cold and unyielding. “I want to know who did this. And they will pay for it.”
Lillian’s POV
I slept without dreaming, only to awaken some time later, my eyelids still heavy. I was warm, and more comfortable than I had ever been.
With horror, I realized that, in my sleep, I had fully entangled myself around Grayson, My arm was around his waist, my head on his shoulder, my torso pressed into his side. I had even lifted a leg and wrapped it around one of his, making it so he had to stretch out something like a starfish on the bed.
For a moment, I stayed entirely still, allowing the mortification of this position to fully wash over me. Was he asleep? Gods, I hoped so. He was going to kill me if he was awake.
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