Page 108 of Ruby Red Sky

No sooner had I said those words to Elijah than the unicorn let out a loud neigh. Selena glanced at me and then Elijah.

“Hold her back,” he instructed Selena. She tossed him her sword and he walked away.

She yanked my arms behind my back and grabbed my wrists, shoving them down. She wrapped one of her legs between one of mine, so I was stuck to her.

“This is fucked up,” I snarled at her. The temptation to slam my head back against her face was there, but I didn’t do it.

“Shush,” she whispered. “Listen. If I was you, I’d want to be out there too, but I don’t want your man hurting mine so deal with it.”

Groaning, I said, “At least move us in front of the door so we can see.”

Selena shuffled us to a better view, and we watched Elijah trot down the staircase, sword in hand. My heart thudded in my chest, praying nothing would happen to either man or unicorn.

The beast stomped his feet and swung his head my way. Elijah turned his head slightly, gazing at me with a look of sheer disbelief. I raised my eyebrows at him and tilted my head to the side.

Told you.

Selena snickered in my ear. “You’re even cooler than I thought.”

“Let go of me.”

“No.”

Elijah motioned to his wife. “Send her down here. Both of you come down here.”

She let go of me, and I shook out my arms, letting the blood flow back into my shoulders. I glared at her for the hell of it, and she rolled her eyes before grinning at me. I smiled back and hurried down the steps.

The unicorn was on the stone bridge, and Elijah shoved his arm out, not letting me go past him. “Look,” he said to both of us.

When I tore my eyes away from the magical creature, I saw what he was looking at. Bodies lay strewn across the road at the other end of the walkway, piled on top of each other.

“Are those Kakian demons?”

Now that I noticed them, I couldn’t figure out how we would have missed such a sight. There were probably hundreds, laying in the brush, under trees, and then I spotted some when I glanced over the side of the bridge. It was clear the animal gored them with its horn. I had to assume it had stomped them as well, going by their flattened legs and arms and other signs of trauma.

“They are,” Elijah answered, scanning the woods. “It seems the animal protected the castle. Or, I should say, Cassia. Doubt it gives a shit about the rest of us.”

The unicorn lifted its head gracefully and lightly shook its mane, eyeing me.

Slowly, I approached, hearing Selena suck in a breath. I stopped several feet away before I said, “Thank you.”

The unicorn nodded his head like he understood me and then walked up close, making a sighing sound. I lifted my hand and he nuzzled it.

“If I’d known, I would have brought you an apple or something,” I said quietly. It nibbled the side of my hand carefully, searching as if I had a hidden treat.

I turned my head. “Do you guys have apples here?”

Elijah smirked at Selena, and she answered, “Yeah, maybe. Somewhere. But I’m not going anywhere.”

I stroked the animal’s nose and said, “Maybe next time.”

Elijah took a couple steps closer to me. “No unicorn has ever come to the castle. Not while I’ve been here, nor that I’ve read about.”

“No?” I looked around. “You’d think it’d draw more attention.”

“Everyone is in hiding,” he twisted his neck and I followed his gaze, “some are watching.”

Heads poked out some of the windows above us; others had their foreheads pressed to glass.