It was only after Emilia got quiet that she realized she had been yelling loudly. The look on King’s face was that of pain and hurt, but Emilia didn’t care. She knew that she had been harsh and maybe unfair to him. While he had made mistakes, he wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t even frustrated with him.Unfortunately, she needed to let it all out, or she would go mad. And he was the one who was here, so she took it out on him. She turned him into the receiving end of all the unfair things life had thrown at her.King had taken it with equanimity, but Juniper could see that she had broken something in him. She didn’t care. She suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to be alone. She made to get out of the bed, but Rowan stopped her, placing a hand gently on her arm.“No. Stay. You should rest a little bit more. I’ll go instead.” He looked at her with sad eyes and without saying another word, he got up and left the room, shutting the door silently behind him.King watched the door and felt a

She thought about the little boy she had saved the last time she was out. She hadn’t really processed all he had said as she had healed him, and had passed out almost immediately. She felt fit and ready enough to return to her investigations.Not only did she need to distract herself from thinking about King, but the sooner she cracked the case, the sooner she could leave Moonwood behind. While she had spoken meanly to King, she had meant what she said about leaving the town behind.She had grown tired of loving a town which had shown that it had no desire or interest in loving her back. She had picked up the fact that the people were saying she had made everything up, from the young wolf’s testimony.Thinking about it filled her with bile and bitter anger. All she had done so far, she had done for them. She had left her safe haven and moved back to Moonwood, breaking her promise to herself. She had saved someone’s life. She had saved all their lives with her wards.And yet, all she g

Something speeds past us and slams into him. It hits him with so much force that it lifts him off his feet before slamming him back into the forest floor.We start barking furiously and then we rush forward at this thing that is attacking him. We lunge at its leg with sharp teeth, but can’t make a clean purchase. It lashes us and kicks us away.This thing is not like any animal in these woods. It doesn’t smell like a living thing should. We are afraid of it, but we won’t back down. It turns away from him, annoyed at us for our attack.It turns toward us and walks forward. It is the worst thing we have ever seen. Our tail goes limp looking at this monster. Its skin is whiter than our fur, much more pale than anything we have ever seen.Its eyes are red and very old, and its canines extend far longer than they have any right to. It looks like a human, but we have never seen a human that looks like that. Its long, white hair is tattered, sweeping in a tangled mess below its thin waist.E

King had been so shocked and confused, he had just watched it happen. She wrapped her arms around him, ripping the clothes off his back. He noticed that her eyes were both completely black, and that she was not herself.He shook out of his shock and held Emilia. She was stronger than she looked, but not nearly half as strong as he was. Calmly, as if he was asking for the time, Emilia asked the healer who watched with wonder, “Care to tell me what’s going on, and why she attacked me?”“Amazing!” he exclaimed. “She’s not attacking you. Well, not in the sense that you think. She’s completely out of mana, and is feeling the withdrawal.”“In English?” King asked calmly, stifling his irritation.“It’s dangerous for mana users to be out of mana. It’s part of their biology and their makeup. When I saydangerous, I mean lethal. They die when they run out. She’s out of mana, and I’d dare say she doesn’t have much time left.”King watched him with irritation. “What the hell are you talking about?

On one hand, she was grateful to King for saving her life. As the healer had said, death was a sure thing if King had chosen not to indulge her. She wouldn’t have blamed him, given how she had treated him the last time they were together.On the other hand, she felt ashamed for being so needy with someone who she was supposed to be angry at. King had not gloated, nor rubbed her face in it, but still it chafed at her.She needed to get out of here. Maybe if she snuck out quietly and ignored King again, they could both pretend like the previous night had never happened.She sat up as carefully as she could, gathering the sheet around her torso, and scanned around for her clothes. She found them in a heap by the bed and bore another wave of embarrassment.She could not take the sheets as they covered King as well, and she had no desire to wake him. She got out of the bed naked and tiptoed quickly toward her pile of clothes.She wondered how awkward it would be if King woke up now, while