Page 5 of Stubborn as a Shadow

I inched closer to the cage, hoping for more clues. The door was ajar. It didn’t make any sense. All the interviews we’d conducted with others who’d been imprisoned with Morgan suggested he had been caged for a long time. Ogden, a localdragon shifter who’d actually met Morgan while imprisoned, described him as resigned to his fate.

So, if the damn unicorn could get out on his own, why hadn’t he done it before? What had changed?

Had this lock not been secure? The thin beam of light caught something reddish-brown smeared on the steel lock. I leaned closer. Ah shit. It was blood. My stomach churned.

Before I even realized what I was doing, I reached for it. My hand trembled before I could touch it. That bit of dried blood was drenched in magic. I yanked my hand away. It was better not to test it.

Was it Morgan’s or someone else’s? I hoped it wasn’t Morgan’s.

I wasn’t a stranger to violence or death. I’d killed people. It would have been impossible not to have killed people when, until recently, I’d belonged to an elite team who worked for the SC. So I wasn’t sure why a little blood was making me queasy.

I stared at that smudge for a long, long time.

Then I got to work searching for more clues, but there was nothing more to find. Morgan Russell was gone.

Now, a rookie SC agent might think that was the end of it, right? The unicorn was free. Everything should be right with the world.

Except I knew something that few others did: An oracle had foretold that the unicorn was in danger, and that I was destined to be the one to save him.

Which meant I wasn’t done yet.

Fuck my magic-cursed life.

2

HELP! SAVE ME FROM WILLOW LAKE

NELSON

By the time I returned to Willow Lake, the sun had run away for another day. It always went down early this time of year, so it wasn’t late, just dark. I still felt weary, though, both physically and mentally.

When I left town earlier, I was convinced I’d return victorious.

What a fucking joke.

I guided my bike down the road, winding along the lake. The low purr of the engine was loud along the quiet road and sent the few animals who hadn’t retreated to their dens or warmer climes for the winter scurrying away. Ahead and to the left, sat the Willow Lake Inn. Golden light glowed from the windows. I knew most people found that kind of thing welcoming, but I was more drawn to the shadows the light created.

Although technically the Willow Lake Inn, where I lived with my old team, wasn’t an inn anymore, I didn’t know what else to call it.

Home, maybe?

Yeah, no. Probably not that.

But I’d never really had one, so what did I know? My mother might have tried to create one, once upon a time, but she’d disappeared when I was a kid, so the memory might be faulty, overwritten by movies and books and other people’s stories.

Don’t get me wrong, the inn wasn’t all bad, since it was attached to a pub, which was its own blessing on a day like today. A drink or ten after my discovery—or rather my lack of one—would help. I didn’t even head to my room first to freshen up. I went directly through the big wooden doors on the right and straight into the pub.

Thank Magic the pub wasn’t busy, but I made my way to the second darkest corner anyway. The darkest one had already been claimed by Old Thom. The troll was an antisocial bastard, and I respected that. No one cared if his only expression was a scowl. Everyone left him to nurse his drink alone in peace.

I envied Old Thom.

“Hey, Nelson.” Jake approached, carrying a pint of dark stout. He set it in front of me, even though I hadn’t ordered it. He knew what I liked. “How did it go?”

Of course, he knew where I’d been.

I grunted.

Jake’s mouth twisted in a grimace. “Yeah. I figured it wasn’t good news when I saw you come in alone.”