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To my relief, he replied, "Not far"
Of course, "not far" was a subjective term "Not far" to Bastien translated into another two or three hours of this buh more woodland I was sure that by the tiot out of this hly sick of forests and trees
The sun was aled fro We had arrived near the foot of a range of towering graysuddenly labored His eyes ide again, his ears perked and alert I could only i to this place was for hi the air "Though I do not detect them It’s possible, I suppose, that they have somehow made their scent undetectable to wolves… I know these hunters to be capable of such witchcraft We ue with that Now that he had slowed down, I was able to sit upright and stretchof clothes, discarded on the ground--clothes that belonged to men and women alike Pants, dresses, shirts, all of them torn and ripped This appeared to be a spot where many shifters had transformed into their wolf forms at once To my surprise, Bastien lowered his head and collected between his teeth several tattered shirts and pairs of pants Then he retreated with me behind a wide bush
"Slide offlike jelly as ripped the bush for support
"Wait here," he whispered "I’ll be back in aas he left oing to do Still, I did not follow him I did as he had requested and waited
Bastien returned within a few minutes, but not in his wolf form He stood before odlike physique, I realized why he had picked up the garments He had tied them around his body in a makeshift fashion for modesty He had also fastened a strip of pant fabric around his wounded shoulder
As he approached ain It felt almost like he was a different person, disjointed from the one I’d just spent the last half a day with Now that he was cleaned up by the river water, and he stood before ht, I could better h everything else physical about hied in his metamorphosis, the expression in his eyes remained the same; the same look of care, of concern that I still didn’t understand I was still as coer to him as he was to me
I felt the blood rise to my cheeks a little as he reached out his hand for me to take I slid my palm into his and he pulled me close to him as he led me around the bush and back toward the e’s border until we reached a large wooden door etched into the stone
He lefta few feet away as he ainst it His eyes narrowed as he listened, and then his lips parted, surprise flashing across his face I was burning to knohat he could hear
"What is it?" I whispered
When he backed away from the door and returned to me, his thick broere knotted in confusion He tookhis right hand into a fist, he banged against the door
Footsteps sounded on the other side The iron handle twisted The door groaned open Standing before us was another man--another olf, I could only assuray, appearing around his mid-forties in human years His jaw dropped open as he laid eyes on Bastien
"Prince?" he gasped He looked like he had just seen a ghost, and perhaps that was exactly what he thought, given that Bastien should have never escaped the hunters
Bastien did not look any less shocked to see hiuard’s mouth opened and closed like a fish He appeared speechless "I… I… Let me take you to your cousin!"
"My cousin?" Bastien deuard said, grabbing hold of Bastien’s hand, before realizing that I stood next to him His eyes had passed over me briefly when he’d first opened the door, but he’d see so consu into a surprisingly beautiful entrance chamber The floors were made of sanded black stone, and rich, deep-colored tapestries hung frouard hurried us toward a wide staircase Even as Bastien harassed hiive any answers, si Bastien that he needed to speak with his cousin
"Who else is alive?" Bastien growled
"Just couard sped up, and I was no longer able to keep up with therabbed me by the waist and hauledforward at full speed I was grateful that he was conscientious enough to not bang
I couldn’t seeto my head did not help hdozens of other olves along the way Bastien also called out questions to these people--like, "How are you all still here?" and "What in the name of The Woodlands happened?"--but all of the to Bastien’s