Andras POV
The Mother was in my favor. A doe, not yet scrawny from the battering of winter yet desperate enough to be ripping bark off a gnarled tree, stood fifteen paces upwind of me. A small grin tugged at my animalistic lips. A week without food had let the animal side take over - an I was going to use it.
A faint rustling in the nearby trees alerted me of another being. A hunter - no. A huntress. All thoughts of fun, of home, dropped out of my mind. There was just one thing - her. She was all that mattered.
She could be the one to save us all.
And she needed to kill me.
I could see it. There was a long ash arrow in her quiver. My very bones were repelled from it. And her stance⦠she held herself like an experienced killer. Her face was devoid of emotion. She focused only on her prey, sizing it up, measuring how long it would last.
For once I cursed my silver and grey pelt, which, while striking and noticeable in my fae form, blended perfectly into the twinkling snow.
Suddenly I felt grief as I had only felt once before.
I was going to die.
I was giving up my life to save my people. I was leaving me friends, my makeshift family for real. I was the sacrifice that would start or end a war.
But she needed to notice me first.
Heart heavy, I continued my stalk of the doe. She wanted it - she'd do whatever possible to make sure it stayed hers.
Even take on a faery.
Cauldron save me.
Tears threatened to break past my lupine eyes, but I kept my gaze on my prey.
Mother hold me.
My paws shook slightly, undetectable to a mortal eye, but enough that I cracked a twig on the way down.
Guide me to you.
The girl snapped her gaze toward me as the doe froze up and glanced around nervously. I kept my eyes away from hers.
Let me pass through the gates.
My senses went into overdrive. I smelled the fear and grief emitting from my own body.
The pure hatred radiating from hers.
Let me smell that immortal land of milk and honey.
I laughed softly to myself as I sank low onto my haunches. Oh, she'd do quite well. I pitied Tamlin and Lucien for trying to deal with her.
Let me fear no evil.
Ah, I was so hungry. So hungry, so tired, so sad.
Let me feel no pain.
I shot out of the underbrush, jaws crunching the weak neck of the doe. Warmth filled my mouth before searing pain stabbed through my side. I released the doe with a bark of pain, recognizing the ash wood embedded in my flank.
I whirled towards the girl, letting the beast take over for a moment. A low growl ripped out of my maw, hackles raised. Fear and that pungent hatred invaded my nostrils.
She stood, arrow drawn and aimed. I just looked.
Kill me. Let it be done. I was ready to leave.
And yet, I felt guilt. The girl, no matter how old of a soul she was, couldn't be over twenty years old. She was desperate enough to take on a faery. She had a family to support, if she was even willing to challenge a wolf for the doe.
I looked, and she looked back.
Her arrow flew straight and true, spearing through my eye. I dropped to the ground with a whine.
Pain as I had never experienced before ripped through my body, roared through my blood.
I was dying.
I could never come back from this.
I pawed at the ground, a tear slipping from my eye. I doubted the girl saw. Whimpers forced themselves out of my body. I wasn't ready. Not now, please, not now.
I felt something lift out of my body, like I had been unburdened by all worry and fear.
I wasn't afraid. My eyes fluttered as I tried to make out the snow one last time.
As I tried to make out one of the most beautiful sights possible.
And I breathed my last breath. And my heart beat its last beat.
Let me enter eternity.
