King of the Wilds - Tasha Black Page 0,11
catch herself and keep singing.
Seeking the woman for a meal,
Though truly in your bones you feel,
She is made of city light,
Too easy to catch, too weak for a fight,
He lunged for Sara again.
This time she lost her footing and stopped singing.
Dorian was buried in the darkness he was bringing forth, so he didn’t see what was happening. And the others were too far away to grab her.
Miranda acted on instinct.
“STOP,” she cried, and power seemed to spill out of her like an invisible wave.
The whole world around them seemed to pause for an instant.
The big beast stopped mid-lunge as if gravity itself had commanded it.
Sara stopped falling.
In the heartbeat that followed she found her footing and hurriedly continued her song.
Back to your home you choose to go,
Where mountain caps are peaked in snow,
Where worthy prey is swiftly found,
And mortals to the land are bound.
The big beast bowed his head.
Dorian’s obsidian shadows fluttered in and closed around it.
Before Miranda’s eyes, she saw it melt down into smoke and disappear in to the shard of mirror in Sara’s trembling hands.
The forest was silent for a moment, except for their ragged breathing.
“What was that?” Tabitha asked Miranda after a moment.
She wasn’t talking about the creature. She was talking about whatever Miranda had done.
“I-I don’t know,” Miranda admitted.
Tabitha studied her suspiciously.
“She saved my life,” Sara said to Tabitha. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Miranda told her. “I’ve never done anything quite like that before.”
Dorian put an arm around Sara and smiled at Miranda. “I’m glad you did it when you did.”
“Does no one care how dangerous that kind of power is?” Tabitha asked.
“I would never do that if someone weren’t in danger,” Miranda said quickly. “I’m honestly not sure if I could do it again anyway. I don’t even know how I did it this time.”
“We’re all tired,” Bron said firmly. “Time for bed.”
“No one wants to talk about this?” Tabitha pleaded. “That was like something one of these monsters would do.”
Miranda felt tears sting her eyes.
Don’t give them the satisfaction.
“Is that really what you think I am?” she asked, letting her temper get the better of her. “So I’m just another creature to you, something for you to fear, something for you to hunt?”
She felt a strange sensation in the air around her.
Everyone had gone silent. They only stared at her, like she really was some monster.
“No, you’re not,” Bron said quickly. “Of course not.”
His voice was so soothing…
She shook her head and felt the anger leave her. After a breath, she felt like herself again.
“Holy cow!” Sara said, seeming genuinely surprised. “You looked just like the fachan for a second. How did you do that?”
Miranda had no idea what she was talking about.
“No,” Tabitha chimed in. “She looked just like that harpy we fought at the school.”
“You can change your appearance,” Dorian said, sounding impressed.
“No,” Bron corrected him. “She didn’t change what she looked like. She changed how we saw her.”
Had she really done that?
Miranda took a deep, slow breath. Her power had never taken on this dimension. It had certainly never been anywhere near this strong. She hoped she could control it.
“This is insane,” Tabitha said. “No offense, Miranda, but with that kind of power, and knowing where your loyalties lie, it’s really hard for us to trust you.”
“She helped us,” Tristan said quietly. “Let it go for now, my queen.”
Tabitha bit her lip, but allowed Tristan to lead her back up the path toward their cars.
“That really was amazing,” Sara said brightly to Miranda. “I was falling and my feet just… stopped.”
Miranda smiled grimly, but didn’t answer. She didn’t need to make Tabitha any angrier.
“Where did you learn to sing like that?” she asked instead.
“No idea,” Sara told her. “I’ve always had this weird feeling when I sing, but it’s grown stronger and stronger. Then Dorian came along and helped me realize I should use it instead of ignoring it.”
Dorian smiled and Miranda was amazed to see the big man with the dark expression looking momentarily sunny.
“I’ll go with the mortal for tonight,” Bron said suddenly.
“Oh, we got the fachan. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she said, though her heart beat a little faster at the idea of bringing him home again.
He scowled at her and then turned up his nose and marched ahead of them through the woods.
“He’s not good at talking about his feelings,” Sara confided softly. “But I think he really likes you.”
Miranda smiled in spite of herself.
“I like him, too,” she said. “But I