Prince of Cats - Tasha Black Page 0,9

her? Piper wasn’t about to start taking orders from him, even if she didn’t really have any idea where she was going. It was time for her to take the lead, and she was reasonably sure that if she started off, he would follow her.

And if the graveyard was on the border then going through it ought to get her closer to their destination. She was heading in the opposite direction of the dry grass that signified the Summer Court. Although the temperature did seem to dip substantially as soon as the trees closed in overhead.

She picked up her pace to a light jog, holding Kieran close. The soil was soft beneath her feet and the shaded cemetery was filled with a silence that was almost palpable.

She ran past a marble angel. The pedestal it sat on was covered in vines with tiny purple flowers. The angel’s arms extended toward heaven, but its chin was tilted downward, as if it were looking for something. Peculiar rusty stains on its brow gave it an angry expression.

Piper shivered. There was something super creepy about it, even for a cemetery.

Kieran clung to her quietly, as if he too sensed there was something off about this place.

It hit Piper suddenly that maybe the silence was the real issue. Killian should be following her by now.

She turned back to find nothing but empty graveyard as far as she could see. Even the lone bird’s nest in the nearby tree looked long-vacated.

“Coward,” she muttered to herself - Killian, that was, not the birds. She couldn’t blame them for getting out of this unsettling place.

At least she had managed to escape with Kieran. That was lucky. And maybe she didn’t really need Killian as much as he seemed to think. Maybe she could find some other faerie to help her get back to her own realm.

Never bargain with a faerie.

That was like the first rule in all of the children’s storybooks. But clearly Piper was well past that.

I had a baby with a fae man.

Did that really make Kieran half-fae? She wondered vaguely if her baby had the magic to get them home again.

Then she laughed at herself inwardly.

Her sweet baby boy was one hundred percent human. Of course he was. If he had any kind of magic, she would know it by now.

You can’t hide that kind of thing from your mom.

She had been jogging a long time now, but if Killian wasn’t following her, she figured she could slow down a bit. The baby was getting heavy and it wasn’t like she had brought a carrier with her.

She slowed to a brisk walk and spotted another statue not too far in front of her - another creepy angel. Great. This place certainly had a motif going.

As she drew closer, she noticed the rust stains on its brow and the purple-flowered vines climbing the pedestal.

It wasn’t another creepy angel.

This was the same one.

“That’s impossible,” she murmured to herself. She had been running in a straight line, definitely not a circle. She wasn’t that confused.

She looked back to find an identical view to what she’d seen before, right down to the abandoned bird’s nest.

This was definitely the same statue. And the sun was sinking in the sky, which showed she’d been walking for a while.

Suddenly, her legs were trembling from a combination of nerves and exhaustion, and she felt herself on the verge of tears.

She lowered herself to the edge of the pedestal.

Sit for a minute, catch your breath, don’t panic.

She sat and Kieran mercifully cuddled closer, letting her rest. The vines made such a soft cushiony seat.

I’ll just close my eyes for a minute…

Piper awoke to the sound of someone roaring and cursing.

She tried to jerk upright, but found she couldn’t move at all.

She had no idea how long she’d been out, but the vines had begun to grow all around her, lashing her to the marble angel statue. She peered out through the tangle of leaves, the perfume of the delicate purple blooms making her feel even sleepier than before.

Over her, Killian was tearing at the vines with all his strength, trying to free her.

“Dagger, in my boot,” she murmured groggily.

She felt him fighting through the vines, digging around near her foot.

Kieran was snoring softly in the crook of her neck, clearly unconcerned about the whole business.

At last, something slid out of her boot.

Then Killian was slashing the vines, grabbing her bodily, wrenching her with all his might until she felt herself finally pull free.

She