The statement catches us all by surprise, but me most of all. Hadn’t my plan just this morning been to leave this life behind? And here I am talking as if my reign is still inevitable.
I shake the worrying notion aside. My royal status and my intentions to claim it hardly matter right now.
Renee’s stony disposition is resilient, but eventually my words reach her. By her standards, she softens, and with a roll of her eyes she stands down. "Fine. I believe you. So the Shadow Crusade is back, they killed Rhain, and now Ursulette is chasing after two of their Crusaders. Do we think they’re leading her into a trap?"
“Maybe,” I reply.
"Well," Caz adds, "If their goal is to take down the king, they couldn't have asked for a better bargaining chip than his beloved niece—no offense," he says to me.
"None taken."
With a smirk, Caz raises his hand. "All in favor of running after her to try to stop her from doing anything reckless?"
Each of us puts one hand in the air.
"I'm impressed." Renee flashes him a condescending smile. "Suggesting we avoid recklessness? How very mature of you."
The mischief in Caz’s eyes dazzles. "Oh, I didn't say it wouldn't be reckless."
25
BITTEN
"She's got Sable!" I tell Rowland, even though the information hardly comes at a surprise. I have something more useful though. I point in the distance, to a village that I can just barely make out through the trees. "There! The shot came from over there.”
What I don’t tell him is that either she lucked out with that shot or her aim is either as good as mine.
"She has to be somewhere in that town, in a tower or something."
Even thoughI still can't actually see her, I know my way around a crossbow. I know that if Julian had been hit straight-on, given where the quarrel struck him in the shoulder, his body would've spun more. But instead of being tossed around like a rag-doll, he fell backward, as hard as a sack of rocks. The force that an arbalest puts into her nocked bolt can of course make the difference between her prey stumbling slightly or falling all the way back on their ass. But Sable was designed for a petite woman who'd never had to fight a day in her life. My father had it made as a precaution, and he carefully instructed the bowyer to make the string easy enough to work with that even my mother could do it. Gods, it was even manageable for me, an eight-year-old girl at the time when I first drew back the string—not easy, but manageable. Elison always said she thought it was because it was made from shadowood.
Thinking of Elison, one of the few women I've ever been close to, reignites a fire inside me.
It would be so easy to run. Running is what I've done all of my life. When the female noctis started chasing after us, it was common sense to try to run for our lives, just like it was common sense to run from the bull-of-a-male-noctis. Surviving to see another day. That's always been the goal.
But now?
Harland pushes his way through the bushes, pinning us in between him and the village.
I've lost most of my sense of direction, but I think we've gone farther north than I ever intended. How far, I'm not sure, but the air feels crisper, fresher here than it had when we’d first entered the Shadowthorn.
Perhaps we're near the edge of the forest already—I have no idea how deep this place goes.
"Don't kill any of them just yet, Harland!" the female noctis hollers in the distance.
She keeps herself concealed, but I can tell from the sound of her voice that my previous estimation was correct. She's somewhere high, hidden in one of the buildings.
If I could just get a better look...
Harland scoffs, his scarred lip tugging up to yell back, "Tell me how to enjoy my Hunt again, and it'll be your throat I rip out next."
Without another word, Harland advances. Each corded muscle ripples and bulges, his menacing gaze fixed upon all of us with a look that says he could kill everyone here with the flick of his pinky finger.
I look around at the people beside me.
To Rowland, a man who has, for his entire life, committed himself to protecting others.
To Mira, who's shown more strength and resilience than I thought most ordinary people capable of.
