Will watched her approach, until he spotted a sinuous, green length on the ground just before her. Oblivious, Laina’s hand reached for the grass that was hiding the viper.
“Look out!” shouted Will, leaping forward and shoving the smaller girl to push her back.
Laina stumbled and fell hard, several feet away, and after recovering from her first shock, began to scream.
Selene jumped up, dropping her wreath. “Don’t touch her!” she yelled, rushing forward to defend her companion. She produced a small dagger, which she held in front of her, though Will hadn’t noticed her wearing one previously.
Will’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the sharp steel pointed at him. “It was a snake!” he announced, trying to reassure them. Looking down, he spotted the viper near his feet, beginning to make an escape through the grass. Without pausing to think, he bent quickly, his hand snapping out to catch the reptile just behind its head. Straightening back up, he held it out to one side. “See? It would have bitten her.”
Laina, who had just begun to recover from her first fright, screamed again at the sight of the reptile. Selene’s response was more measured, though. The older girl’s eyes widened, but she stepped back and lowered her knife.
Grinning, Will twisted at the waist and threw the snake toward the far side of the clearing, where it couldn’t threaten them. “In another month they’ll be asleep, but it’s still warm enough right now that you have to be careful,” he told them, confident in his knowledge.
Then Will heard a crashing noise coming from behind him. The bushes shook and branches broke as the carriage driver charged into the clearing. Spotting Will, he ran forward. “Get away from them!” shouted the driver, his face red with anger.
“I was just—”
The world exploded with pain as the driver’s fist caught Will in the side of the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. Stunned, Will stared upward in confusion, trying to clear his head. In his ears he could hear the girls yelling, but he couldn’t make sense of their words.
“How dare you?” continued the driver. Then he raised his right arm, unfurling the coachwhip he carried and bringing it down in a long, sweeping stroke that caught Will across the face. He cried out in pain and rolled over, trying to shield his wounded cheek, then felt a second line of fire as the driver whipped his back.
Everyone was yelling, but the driver lashed him once more before the girls finally calmed the enraged man down. “There was a snake, you idiot!” yelled Selene, hanging onto the driver’s arm. “He saved Laina from being bitten.”
Selene continued to berate the driver while the younger girl cried, a reaction to both the shock of seeing the snake and the sudden violence she had witnessed. Will gradually pulled himself together and got to his feet, tears of pain running from his eyes and mixing with the blood of his cut cheek.
“We need to return,” said the driver coldly, taking Laina by the hand and leading the girl away.
Selene stayed still for a moment, then started to follow. “We can’t just leave him here!” she insisted. “He’s hurt.”
“He’s a peasant,” snapped the driver. “If you cared so much, you shouldn’t have left the carriage. Lord Nerrow will have my hide for letting you two slip away.”
Will watched them go, his vision blurry. “It’s all right,” he said. Taking a step forward to follow, the world spun around him, and his right leg collapsed under his weight. Crashing to the ground, he wondered what was wrong with his leg. It was throbbing with pain, but he couldn’t remember the whip striking him there. His heart was racing and beating so hard it felt as though it might burst from his chest. Why can’t I catch my breath?
“Something’s wrong!” said Selene loudly, running back to him.
Will tried to focus his eyes, but nothing seemed to work properly anymore. All he could see were the girl’s blue eyes staring down at him. She looked worried.
He felt cold fingers on his leg. “He’s been bitten.” His vision narrowed to a tunnel and then vanished entirely as his consciousness surrendered to darkness.
Chapter 2
“What happened to his face?” demanded a deep voice that Will didn’t recognize.
“My apologies, milord, I thought he had attacked your daughter,” said the driver apologetically.
Opening his eyes, Will recognized his surroundings; he was home, in bed. The unfamiliar voice had been that of the lord who had come to