The third elf raises his bow, and just as I think he’s too late to react, he lets loose an arrow. It strikes Vann in the shoulder, the force of it shoving him back. He falters, but his tail snaps out again, pushing him on.
My breath catches, and the elf holding me captive yanks me again, trying to force me to run.
I dig my heels in, watching as my companion growls. He rips the arrow from his shoulder with a savage roar. Blood pours from the wound and the Fuegorra flares to life in his chest. It is bright enough to shine through fabric, and it causes the exposed flesh knit back together.
Arrow in hand, Vann charges. With a single, brutal motion, he stabs the shaft directly into the elf’s face. The point sinks into his skull, and the elf crumples, lifeless, before he even hits the ground.
The final elf, the one yanking me on, is quick to react, pulling me into his arms as if he’s going to carry me away. I barely have time toregister the movement before I hear the sharp whoosh of metal cutting through the air. Vann is there—his cleaver flashing—and in a single, fluid motion, he decapitates the elf.
I flinch, but Vann’s strike is so precise that it misses me entirely. The man’s head falls with a sickening thud, and his body crumples beneath me.
I am unharmed but Vann immediately pulls me into his arms, lifting me effortlessly as though nothing had happened. The rush of adrenaline leaves my heart pounding.
Vann’s cleaver thuds to the ground and the clearing falls silent. His breath is heavy, and his Fuegorra still glowing though the wound in his shoulder is already closed. It leaves a faint, blue scar where the arrow once was.
His eyes meet mine, and he offers a look of reassurance that I don’t deserve but desperately need. Then he pulls me close. So tight he practically holds me together.
He is the exact shade of the sky right now. He is stunning.
“Are you all right?” he breathes. “I woke up and you were gone. I couldn’t… Fuck, I’m so glad I found you.”
I nod, breath still short, and hands still numb, but he looks like he’s falling apart.
“I am all right. I am here,” I say. “I am safe. With you, I am safe.”
He presses his lips to the top of my head. The action is rough.
“Always.”
I close my eyes at the word and sink into him.
We stay like that a moment longer.
Then I break the silence. “Arion spoke to me again. The curse forced me to kill a wolf. And then it made me walk until I met the elves. They tried to take me, but it doesn’t like them. The one—” I run out of breath. “Did you see what I did to that man?”
“You did what you had to do.”
“I hate this,” I sob.
“Don’t worry. We will stop this,” Vann murmurs.
The words strike me hard.
“We need to leave before someone else comes. But first, I must tend tothe bodies.”
I close my eyes. “Whatever you need to do.”
He walks me to a tree, but then hesitates. I can feel his gaze on my face. His arms tighten around me, and I feel the shift in him—the change from practicality to something deeper, something vulnerable. He doesn’t speak right away.
But then he says, “I don’t think I can let you go. Not like this.”
I blink. His words wrap around me like a warm blanket.
“It is all right, I am here.” I thread my dirty arms around his neck. He shifts me to one side as if I weigh nothing, then stabilizes my legs with his tail.
“Close your eyes if you don’t want to see the blood,” he murmurs.
“I am all right,” I reply.