Dame of Owls Read Free Page B

Chris.
                  Unicorns were the enforcers of choice for brutal houses like Lily. Once upon a time, Sid supposed, unicorns might have been something other than barely coherent beings of pure, vitriolic rage. Then humans had discovered the many exciting configurations of their various bits and pieces, and unicorns had never quite gotten over the lack of good virgins. A rather commendable lack, in Sid’s opinion, but unicorns were nature’s killjoys.
                  The unicorn screamed again, a disquieting combination of panicked horse and hungry mountain lion. Sid sprinted forward, following the convenient sound of Chris’s continued cursing now. The unicorn had him cornered against a half-eroded hillside, crumbling soil at his back and underbrush tangling his feet. He had armed himself with a tree branch. Industrious.
                  The unicorn was far larger than any mortal horse, dainty on its spindly feet and cloven hooves. Its lion’s mane and whipcord tail shimmered independent of light, and where it stepped it left flowers in its wake, blooming in a full and vibrant rainbow. Its horn was razor sharp, and rage lathered its mouth.
                  Chris swung his tree branch at its head. It reared back, trumpeting madly. Sid gave Chris points for dodging under its silver hooves as it came crashing back down to the earth, but he was mortal, terrified, and visibly dragging. Sid knelt just long enough to pull a long iron knife out of her boot, then drew her gun and emptied the rest of her clip into the unicorn’s ass. It wheeled to face her, and its eyes were like diamonds in the sunlight.
                  Even if it had orders not to kill Chris, it would never hold back for Sid’s sake. The Lily Knight she hadn’t feared, but a unicorn didn’t need to spread her ashes to promise her death. She dropped the useless gun, turned her knife in her hand, and hoped Chris wouldn’t try to help.
                  It charged. Sid held her ground as long as she could before sweeping sideways, gouging a long line down the unicorn's ribs as it ran past her. She wished, desperately, for a sword with good reach and a heavy shield. Of the whole Court and its handful of half-mortals, she was the only one permitted to keep weapons forged of iron. With all of her resources available, she could have laid this thing low in minutes. What she had was one knife and a panicked mortal.
                  Sid darted in, aiming for those crystal eyes, and achieved approximately fuck all before it lashed out with its front hooves and caught her in the chest. A mortal would have died; Sid backed the hell off.
                  They circled each other, wary. Out of the corner of her eye, Sid could see Chris setting his shoulders, steeling himself to be brave and heroic. Time to end it, before her mission ended with him in an unfortunate pulpy state. She stopped, stood still with her back straight and stared the unicorn down. It lowered its horn and charged, roses springing to life in its wake. At the last possible second, she fisted a hand in its mane and pulled herself onto its back.
                  On the way up, it got its teeth around her ankle. She ignored the sickening pop as her own momentum pulled her bones out of joint. Pain seared up her leg and burned in her chest as her cracked ribs ground against the unicorn’s shoulder blades. She pulled herself up along the unicorn’s neck and, steadying herself with her good leg, grabbed for its horn.
                  The horn glittered. It sang when she touched it, the high ringing of a bell. It cut so deeply into her hand that she felt it grinding against bone. Sid screamed through her teeth and cursed all the beautiful animals of the forest. The unicorn bucked, trying to throw her off, and nearly succeeded. If she let go of her knife to hold on, she was