Her tattoos coiled across her arms. She raised her fist, prepared to slam it into his face.

"Maev, no!"

Lavender wings fluttered, and Alina landed upon the hill. She resumed human form and grabbed Maev's wrist, holding her fist back.

"Let go of me, Alina," Maev said softly, staring down at Dorvin. "The boy needs to learn a lesson."

Lying beneath her, Dorvin managed to grin. "Teach me. Let's see how hard you cry once I—"

Growls sounded to their side.

They froze.

Dorvin bit his lip. "Maev, is that your stomach growling?"

She leaped off him, drew her sword, and stared down the hill. Standing beside her, Alina gasped and took a step back. Dorvin struggled to his feet, rubbed his sore shoulders, and stared downhill with them. He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, bloody stars." He cracked his neck. "Some entertainment at last."

A pack of hairless wolves crept up the hill, foaming at the mouth. Each was large as a bear, and warty, spiked tails hung between their legs, dragging along the ground. Human limbs grew from their backs like fins, twitching like antennae. Dorvin counted six of them.

"Bet I can kill them without becoming a dragon," he said to Maev and hefted his spear.

She spat and raised her short, leaf-shaped sword. "Bet I can kill all six."

Face pale, Alina took a step back and raised her staff. "Stars of Requiem, protect your children, shine your light upon—"

Dorvin did not wait to hear the rest of her prayer. He flashed Maev a grin and burst into a run, racing downhill toward the wolves. They howled and ran up toward him, kicking up dust. Dorvin leaped onto a boulder, vaulted off its top, and tossed his spear from midair. The projectile flew and sank into a wolf's neck. The creature yowled and fell, and Dorvin unstrapped his second spear off his back.

"That's one, Maev!"

She was still running downhill, her hair streaming in the wind. Two wolves reached her, snapping their teeth. Maev dropped to slide downhill on her backside, moving between a wolf's legs. She thrust up her blade, driving the sword through its jaw and into its head. The second animal pounced. Maev leaped onto the corpse of the wolf she had killed, hurtled herself into the air, and slammed into the second demon. Her blade drove into naked, warty flesh, and the creature snapped its teeth, whimpered, and fell dead too.

"Two, Dorvin!" she shouted back. "With no dragon magic."