Bitterness consumed her as she left Kvarsheim, heading now for the mountains she'd often glimpsed beyond the valley. She would cross them, she figured, and see what was on the other side. She would leave all of this bullshit behind her, go somewhere no one knew her name or her father or all that followed her. She didn't need any of it. She didn't need Arric or Skáld, either.

Mae only needed herself.

As the mountains loomed ever closer, she heard Moss calling to her from the swamp.

"You can't run from death, Mae."

Her lips peeled away from her teeth in a silent snarl, head lowering, but she did not falter as she stalked through the meadow. Watch me.

Sylianos was a little further from home than usual today.

He'd had no luck tracking down the creature that harmed his brother in the mountains, so it was time to expand the search. Frustration dogged his every step down the mountainside and out into a sea of golden autumn grass. He knew for a fact his twin had dealt as much damage as he took. Saleem was strong and would settle for no less. Why, then, was this creature so impossible to find?

It was not a creature Sylianos found in the field, but a wolf. From a distance, he could tell almost nothing about her but that she was black and approaching him in a way that made his hackles lift along his back. Even from here, he could see the glint of teeth, the hunch of her shoulders as she stalked on. Hers was the march of war, and from his perspective, he was the target.

Sylianos bared his own teeth in warning, baffled by just what he had done to deserve such a threatening display.

It was as if one of her nightmares had materialized before her eyes. The boy who'd attacked her — or at least, that was what Mae thought when she laid eyes on him. She snarled aloud this time, tensing all over as the fur along her spine rose.

This time she wasn't hurt. This time she wouldn't let him flee. Mae's pace picked up into a sprint, but she didn't aim to engage just yet. Instead she meant to sail by him with a rough shoulder check; whether she made contact or not, Mae whipped around with teeth bared, rumbling her challenge.

This time she meant to kill him.

Too late to ask what her problem is now, Sylianos thought when Mae's snarl broke the uneasy silence. So he had been right to be on his guard, a fact which became readily apparent when she picked up her pace.

The boy hunched his shoulders and dropped his head low. It was one of the few defense maneuvers Arsenio had taught that really sank into his thick skull. Suddenly, he wished he had paid more attention. How foolish of him to search for the creature that attacked Saleem without committing every single one of his father's lessons to memory; now he was being threatened by one of his own kind and felt terribly unprepared. He would have to trust his instincts.

When Mae brushed past him, Sylianos wasted no time waiting to see what she would do. He had read the threat in both her voice and her body language and needed no further information; he was already wild-eyed with both adrenaline and unexpected fright. He parted his jaws and snapped for her exposed flank as she wheeled, seeking not to hold but to slice flesh and release.

The feint didn't confuse him as much as she'd hoped, but that didn't matter so much to Mae. He went for her flank and she made no attempt to sidestep the blow. Instead she lunged for the exposed side of his neck, pouring every ounce of her fury into her assault.

And when she felt that bolt of pain in her flank, the warm rush that must be her blood, it only fueled the fire. She shook her head violently, not caring if the action broke her grasp on him. All she cared about was hurting him as much as possible; if she couldn't kill him, then she would make sure that he would think twice before he attacked anyone the way he would attack her.

The minutes shot by in a blur of red and metallic tang in her mouth; later she would remember nothing but the struggle of it, the bloom of agony across her body and the breathless desperation. It was over quickly. It felt like it was. They broke apart and blood scattered across the ground. Hers, his. Mae was only vaguely aware of running, and of seeing him run too, only for a moment. And then he was gone.