Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,71
shook his head, his dark eyes glassy with fear.
“How could they do this to you?” I murmured as I took a few steps closer to it, my hands held up to show I was unarmed—which would help if the stag was as smart as I suspected it was.
I thought my Court was bad. These bloodthirsty monarchs are a new level of horrid.
With a perfect sense of timing, Fell and Birch popped out of the trees.
I heard the creak of wood, and I activated my prism and threw up a barrier.
An arrow pinged harmlessly off the surface.
“Leila, that’s cheating,” Fell said tauntingly. “You’re breaking the rules.”
“I was unaware you actually cared about that sort of thing, since you broke the rules by shooting at the prey I have cornered,” I said.
Fell and his hounds cantered closer to us, and I eyed Muffin and Whiskers, who were slowly closing in on the stag.
“Easy,” I warned them.
“Perhaps,” Fell called out to me. “But you can’t stop another monarch’s hounds or animals from approaching with magic,” Fell said. “You are about to lose control of the prey anyway.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” I said sweetly.
I waited until the hounds—who were now baying so loudly I couldn’t have heard anything the King of Autumn said—were about a horse-length away before I shouted. “HOLD!” I yelled, putting every ounce of strength I had in the command.
The night mares, glooms, and shades screamed, hissed, and snarled as they swung around. Facing out of the formation, they snapped and growled at the hounds.
The hounds pushed forward—driven by the bloodlust Fell had stupidly predicted in my animals.
Patches smacked a hound in the face with enough force to send it sprawling.
Larry—more than double the size of the hounds—grabbed another by the scruff of its neck and tossed it.
Two hounds tried to rush Nebula, and they narrowly avoided being crushed when the mare stomped at them.
The glooms screamed—their throaty howls made the hounds whine and turn away.
Even the sun stallions freaked. Birch almost fell off his as it burst sideways, fighting to get away from my pets.
“How?” Fell demanded as he fought to control his sun stallion. The way he glanced behind him as Solis and Verdant popped out of the woods underlined just how aware he was that the stallion’s true master was watching.
“Ahhh, King Fell. Sweet, simple King Fell.” Although I spoke to him, I was watching the stag.
It swung its head from the left to the right as it watched the night mares, glooms, and shades fighting to protect it.
Fell snarled and unsheathed a sword.
It didn’t have magic, but with the enraged glower he was giving me, I didn’t think the Autumn King intended to use any magic on me. He just wanted to kill me.
“Look out!” Solis shouted.
The sun stallions freaked.
Birch’s threw him with ease, popping him over his front shoulder before prancing away. Fell had to drop his sword and cling to his mount like a monkey as the stallion’s flaming tail and mane flared and grew so bright I could barely stand to peer at him.
Verdant’s horse surged up from behind him then screeched to a halt. Verdant slammed into its neck over the abrupt stop as the horse trumpeted.
Heck, Solis sounded so panicked and terrified, even I swung around to look at him.
The Day King was perfectly fine. He was sitting as calm as could be on the back of his mount, observing the chaos his cry had thrown the majority of the hunting mounts into.
“Oh my. I’m deeply embarrassed,” Solis said, his melodic voice unreadable. “I’m afraid the stallions still react to me when I have heightened emotions. How untimely.”
Birch wheezed on the ground, and Fell struggled to hold on as his horse continued to lose it.
I waved my thanks to the Sun King, then turned back to the stag.
He’s bought me time—I have to use it.
The stag was looking past Fell, but it finally swung its gaze toward me.
“I’m sorry,” I crooned to it as I carefully approached it. “I didn’t want to scare you, but I didn’t know how else to stop you. It’s going to be okay.”
I slowly approached him, aware my window of time to act was quickly closing.
“Solis!” Fell snarled. “What was that?!”
“What was what?” Solis asked, sounding bewildered.
I tuned out Fell’s sharp reply and stepped closer to the stag, stretching my hand out in front of me. “I’m here to help,” I said. “We’re going to get you out of here.”