“Get her!”

Fucking hell. I jumped forward, and the three women in front of me scattered like chickens, squawking that I’d attacked them. Tiomon leapt toward me and I pulled myself onto her back. Or at least, I tried to.

Hands yanked at me, pulling my hair, legs and arms in all directions. “Let me the fuck go!”

“Hang onto her, Orion said he would deal with her himself.”

Rylee, we must get you out of here. No matter the cost. Tiomon’s voice was full of sorrow as she spun and reared up on her hind legs. The golden horn on her head glittered in the light, and she let out a battle cry that made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

Plunging downward, she drove her horn through two of the humans who held me at the same time, skewering them clean through. Lightning fast, her hooves shot out, breaking bones and sending bodies flying until I was free of the hands that held me. Scrambling upward, I was on her back in a flash. She spun half a circle and stopped.

The little girl who’d first noticed her lay on the ground, trampled by the mob. Her mother held her, rocking and crying. But all that had gone unseen in the push to take me down for Orion.

Ah! My heart is breaking, Rylee. This is why we don’t let the humans see us. Tiomon shook her head and trotted forward, slowly lowering her muzzle until it brushed against the girl’s hair. She blew out a quick breath and the girl stirred, taking a deep breath. “Momma? I dreamed a saw a unicorn and she was so beautiful I cried.”

Tiomon backed away, reared up, and we were off and running. Behind us the crowd screamed, but as Tiomon said, there would be no catching her. She was far too fast.

I held tightly to her; we’d gotten what we came for.

I only hoped it would be the payment he wanted. Burying my face into Tiomon’s neck, I let the rhythm of her body roll through me. There was no sound to her steps, but there was still a motion that felt like it fit in with the beat of my heart.

Slayer, it is because there are only a few creatures who could ride with you into battle against the demons. Dragons are one. Unicorns are the other.

“What are you saying?”

I will remain after the battle. I believe I am meant to stay with you. But for another rider. One that is very young yet.

Her words hit me like a bolt out of the blue. “You mean Marcella, don’t you?”

Yes. She will be a Slayer too; it is in her blood. And I already feel drawn to her through you. So I will stay and watch over her from a distance. When she is ready, I will let her ride me.

“You’re going to make her work for your bond, aren’t you?”

We are not like dragons. We do not crave a rider, and yet when the time comes, we will not deny it.

“Does that mean you can tell she will survive?” That had been the reason for the second stuffed animal. A Reading for Marcella.

She went silent as we skimmed along, the minutes ticking by. I cannot see the future, Rylee. But I know I must stay here with you. Perhaps it isn’t for her . . . there is another child, one that will need a companion as well. A companion who would understand him completely.

Now she spoke of Zane. I tightened my grip on her mane and forced myself not to ask any more questions.

Sliding to a stop in front of the barn, a billow of dust rose around us, obscuring my vision for a moment. I all but fell off Tiomon’s back, my muscles aching and legs wobbly while I got them under me again. “Thank you.”

It was my honor, Rylee. As it will be to go into battle with you against the horde.

She turned and trotted away, to where the rest of the herd waited, as though she hadn’t run several hundred miles in a matter of hours.

I strode to the barn, untying the stuffed bear from my back. Stepping from the bright light to the dim interior of the barn, I took a moment to let my eyes adjust. Doran sat on one side of Jonathan and Deanna on the other. Will was nowhere to be seen, and from the dark part of the barn I caught a glimmer of two blonde heads: Berget and Liam.

Holding the bear out in front of me, I headed straight to Jonathan. “Will this do as payment for Reading me?”

Jonathan tipped his head to the side and Deanna choked out a laugh. “Rylee, you went all the way to town and got a stuffed animal?”

I didn’t look at her, but kept my eyes on the kid. He reached for the bear and I let him have it. Curling his arms around the stuffed animal, he buried his face in the fur and drew in a slow breath. “It smells like the wind.”

“Well, the wind certainly whipped through the fur.” I squatted in front of him. “Will the payment suffice?”

He grinned at me. “Only if you tell me how you knew what I wanted.”

Doran grunted. “Yeah, I’d like to know that too.”

A half-grin tugged at my lips. “My mentor, Giselle, was a Reader. Whenever I asked her to read my palms, I brought her a gift. She loved the stuffed animals when I first moved in with her. It seemed natural to bring them to her as a thank you, since she wouldn’t accept money or any other gifts.”

Doran laughed and shook his head. “Damn.”

Jonathan leaned toward me. “I can’t truly read you with your Immunity intact, you know that, don’t you?”

This was where things got tricky. “Yes, I know.”

His strange eyes darted around the room. “They will have to protect you, the demons will come when they sense your Immunity slip away.”

Cold chills rippled through me. “But you will show me what I need to see?”

He grabbed a book covered in scales I hadn’t noticed and a thick piece of charcoal, scribbling with a mad fervor that shook his whole body. “Two paths, with no right choice, only the choice you must make.”