Arrow Lake and drew daggers over the curve of her throat

Stag had been present for only one other hunt, the elk he and the other cubs had watched from the ridge. The basilisk's first-born was all to eager to prove his mettle, and was one of the first to arrive following Blodreina's howl.

In the coolest manner he was capable of, Stag aligned himself near Praimfaya -- to outsiders it may have looked he was indifferent (or that it was happenstance he stood alongside her) but those that knew him would have known he drew a quiet reassurance from his eager compatriot, and sought her gaze only once before turning carefully to the girl's mother and leader of the hunt.