Page 44 of The Shrouded Queen
“It’s all right, baby,” Finan told her. “Go with the Gods-Chosen.”
A beckoning touch caressed my back, and I gasped. It was like the Shroud had tentacles and was trying to wrap them around me. Trying to reel me into the wall of night. I staggered back a step. The gentle tendrils weren’t cold, like I’d imagined, but soft. Coaxing. Like I could lean back and they would cushion me—
“Amunet!” I glanced up to see Rade several yards away, his horse shifting nervously. “We have to gonow!”
Terror clogging my throat, I mentally shook myself. I hooked my hands under the girl’s armpits, heaved her into my arms, and ran as fast as I could.
“Grandpa!” Milena screamed, reaching an arm over my shoulder.
I tucked her head into my neck, holding her even tighter. “Don’t look.”
She cried as she obeyed, tears burning into my skin, her doll held in a death grip. Rade vaulted off his horse, clutching the reins with one hand even as he extended his arms for the little girl. With a wild whinny, the horse reared back, wrenching the reins from Rade’s grip.
Rade swore viciously as the horse ran away, blind with panic. The two of us stood there, the little girl with her face buried in my shoulder, watching it disappear. We’d never catch up to it. I couldn’t help a glance at the darkness. Finan was gone. The darkness had devoured him, and he hadn’t even screamed. My arms tightened around Milena.
“Keir,” said Rade. I wrenched my eyes away from the darkness to see a bear barreling toward us. He reared up onto his hind legs, shrinking into the shape of a man. In a blink, I was staring up into Keir’s enraged face.
“Are you insane?” he snarled at me. But he took the little girl with surprising gentleness and nestled her against his chest.
He turned to the king next. “No,” Rade said in between pants. “Amunet first.”
“Rade—”
“Now, Keir!”
With a growl, Keir threw me over his shoulder. I yelped as the world turned upside down, clinging to his back as he ran with supernatural speed.
Even as the Shroud grew smaller, I could see it clawing farther over the settlement, swallowing homes, plants, claiming more and more of the land into its unnatural depths.
We rounded a bend, and suddenly I was on my feet again, head swimming as the blood rushed away.
Velka, back in human form, held Rade’s horse by the reins.
Keir ordered me, “Get on.”
I clambered into the saddle. Keir handed Milena to me, shifted, and took off back toward the Shroud. After several breathless moments, he returned with Rade riding atop him, as if Keir were another horse instead of a bear. Keir didn’t bother pausing to put Rade in the saddle behind me. He just kept running. Velka shifted, too, her paws thundering as she followed Keir, and my horse brought up the rear.
Milena clung to me, arms around my neck, squeezing hard. But I mumbled that it would be all right as I held her close with one hand and strangled the reins with the other. I’d never ridden a horse by myself, and we bounced horribly, the wind tearing at us.
When we reached Frostguard, I barely had time to stumble off the horse before one of the healers tried to take Milena from me. “No,” the girl shrieked, hands fisting in my hair.
“It’s okay,” I assured, smiling calmly. “Go with her. I’ll come check on you, okay? I promise.” Milena’s fingers relaxed slightly. “Go on. It’s okay.” Slowly, the little girl allowed the healer to lead her away.
I stared after her. So small, so vulnerable.
Suddenly, I was standing in the streets of Ketopolis. Men had appeared out of the shadows when Baba’s back was turned and had thrown a burlap sack over my head. I was brought to a room with other little girls, all of us trembling. Guards loomed over us, shoving uniforms into our hands and barking rules. They had whips and mean faces. No Mama, no Baba. When they gave me orders, I was too scared to move. A whip cracked as it came down on my back—
Shouts exploded out of the longhouse, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I was wrenched back to the present. Milena would be looked after. There were no men with burlap sacks here. No mean guards with whips. And I would look out for her. I wouldn’t forget her.
But first I had to deal with the bellowing inside.
I cringed and took tiny steps toward the door.
Rade’s cheeks were red with rage as he squared off against Keir. “Next time you want to force my hand, don’t do it feet away from the Shroud when the Gods-Chosen is right th—”
“She shouldn’t have been there!” Keir fired back. “That was your fault, not mine.”
“I promised to protect her, but your constant need to undermine me put her directly in harm’s way!”
