Shifter by Kailin Gow Page A

for you either. You must slay me, Briony, Queen of Palisor. You must take the knife, take my life, and take my horn. My horn shall be your weapon against the vampires. It will give you the power to be the greatest slayer of their kind who has lived. It will give you a way to do what you must do to protect your people.”
                Briony tried to stall, asking the obvious question. “I thought I had to marry Josh. The scepter chose him. Why would it lead me to you if it chose him?”
                “This ‘Josh’ is a werewolf?” the unicorn asked.
                Briony nodded.
                “Then it would have singled him out according to the temperature of his blood. Vampires are cool in their death. Werewolves run hot. They are opposites. The scepter has enough of the power of the dead kings in it to sense that, and to sense that a powerful werewolf would be enough to stand beside you.”
                “So it’s an accident?” Briony asked. “It could have been any werewolf? But why didn’t I feel that with Kevin? He’s… um… another werewolf.”
                “One you like better than this ‘Josh’.” It wasn’t a question. “Did you stand in Palisor with this other werewolf while you held the scepter?”
                Briony tried to think, and then shook her head. “No. I don’t think so.”
                “Then that is the difference.”
                “So I have a choice about who I marry?”
                “Of course you do,” the unicorn said. “I’m doing this largely so that you do have a choice. Though you should know that even for the full power of my horn to be revealed, you will need to be married to one powerful enough to be worthy of it, whoever that is.”
                Briony didn’t know what to say to that, or what to feel in that moment. There was relief, definitely, that she didn’t have to marry Josh. There was a kind of gratitude for what the unicorn was trying to give her, and maybe excitement at the possibility of having something that would make it easier to deal with Pietre. Yet to get all that, she would still have to kill this magnificent, intelligent, powerful creature.
                “I don’t want to hurt you,” Briony said to it.
                The unicorn dipped its head. “I know that, and that is part of what makes you worthy to do it. You are not like the first slayer of vampires. You do not kill easily. You protect those around you. If any must take my horn, then I would have it be you. It will bring peace to Palisor and to the Wicked Woods. That is my purpose now, so take the knife, use it, and make me proud.”
                “I can’t,” Briony started to say, but she found her hand reaching out for the stone of the dagger. She ran her thumb down the blade without even thinking about it, watching a bead of blood well up almost like it didn’t belong to her.
                The scepter. The scepter was doing this, because Briony could feel the power of it pulsing through her in a compulsion she wasn’t sure that she could fight. And she could feel another power with it, a power that seemed in her mind to glow as golden as the unicorn’s horn.
                “I’m sorry,” the unicorn said, “but I can’t let you shy away from this.” Briony felt a force grab hold of her arm, willing her to strike out at the unicorn.
                Her arm swept out, holding the dagger, which she plunged into the unicorn’s heart. It toppled, collapsing onto its side, staring up at her. “I’m so sorry,” Briony cried, tears running down her cheeks, as her body was led by the scepter to complete her task. Briony was sure that she felt the moment when it died, something changing in the pull of the scepter, but that didn’t stop her from doing what she had to do next, no matter how