Forsaken by the one person who was supposed to love her unconditionally, Red must brave the magic and monsters of the Wylds to find her true place in the world.
*****
Plague...
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We followed the cobblestone road for the better part of the afternoon, trading opinions on frivolous things, like which flower has the prettiest petals, and would you rather be eaten by a giant mantis or a giant toad? Needless to say, we'd both had enough of orchids -- of the flower and mantis varieties -- but it was a delight to see Lady Midnight's face scrunch up at the notion of either. Even more amusing was her callous claim that the latter question was pointless, because neither a toad nor a mantis could ever hope to bring down a wyvern, no matter how monstrously big.
I promptly reminded her, of course, that I'd saved her sorry ass from one just hours prior.
"That was different," she insisted, jutting out her chin. "I was injured and caught off guard."
"Oh I'm sorry," I said, raising my hands in mock surrender. "You were brought down by a baby horse. You're right, that's far more embarrassing."
"A baby Kirin horse!" she exclaimed, blushing furiously. "That lightning is no joke, you know. I've seen it swat some of our strongest warriors out of the sky like they were nothing more than buzzing gnats. Why else do you think we enforce our borders so carefully?"
I shrugged, even as I tucked that tidbit of information away. "To be honest, I didn't even realise wyverns could morph until you came crashing out of the sky," I admitted, frowning at the oversight of the Blood Moon Pack. Were the hunters really so quick to kill everything in sight that they'd never realised they were dealing with people?
Lady Midnight opened her mouth, as if tempted to school me right then and there, but her midnight eyes drifted over my shoulders to the wolf now padding at my side. They narrowed and she turned away, as if the very sight of him made her stomach turn. It would take time, I realised, before the trust she was already extending to me would extend to him. I felt guilty for wondering what she would have told me if he wasn't there.
"Would you rather lose your sense of sight or smell?" I asked abruptly, steering our conversation to less sensitive waters.
"Neither."
I rolled my eyes. Goddess, she was stubborn! "What if you were cursed by a witch and had no choice but to pick one?"
Lady Midnight made a show of mulling things over. "Then I would keep my sight, kill the witch to break the curse, and get my sense of smell back."
"That's cheating!"
Lady Midnight's laughter boomed through the trees, driving birds from their nests in terror. "You're only mad that you didn't think of it first. What would you choose, little lycan?"
"I'd give up my sense of smell. This thing has always been useless," I said, tapping my nose for emphasis. "I'm one sorry excuse for a lycan, huh?"
"That's not such a bad thing," she chuckled, lapsing into silence as she considered what her next question should be.
