The boy looks sheepish, swallows, and then says, “I overheard him talking to one of his guards after she left. He sent her back to the well to look for the girl you took.”
The grin that creeps up my face is more malicious than joyful.
“You hear that, Harland?” I shout over my shoulder and over their grunting. “It looks like we’ll get you your justice yet.”
He releases the headlock he has Caz stuck in. I’ve never seen him stand so eager, so willing to listen. At least not to me.
I speak loud enough so that everyone can hear. I want them all to understand the plan without me having to explain it, in case there are listening-ears nearby. “We head to the well.”
8
SPIDERS AND THEIR WEBS
As we begin our trek across town, Davorin adjusts his black chest plate and leans in close, his words meant only for my ears. “Should we summon the others to join us? In case the prisoners are being less than forthcoming.”
Contorting my features, I give Lewis a once over. “I doubt he’s trying to deceive us. But if it’ll make you feel better…”
I raise my wrist up, my lips lightly dusting the blood oath tattoo where I whisper the instructions to our team. Ahead of us, Caz jolts for half of a second, startled when the message reaches him. Harland, too, tilts his head as if there’s an annoying bug buzzing around him.
Davorin tugs on my arm. “And perhaps have Ursulette retrieve The Fox.”
I stiffen, my cool demeanor falling, if only for a fraction of a moment. I recover too slowly for Davorin not to see.
“This is the way it has to be. It’s not your fault, Malachi. And she won’t be harmed.”
I give him a derisive scoff. “Yeah, not today.”
He quiets, but his beseeching, dark eyes don’t leave mine until I acquiesce and raise my wrist to my lips again. Though the message is meant for Ursulette only and I am plenty capable of sending it directly to her, I allow it to permeate into the other’s minds. It’ll save me having to explain the plan later.
Within an hour, we’ve located the well.
Within another, Ursulette and Renee arrive with The Fox, though I can hardly recognize her with the burlap sack tied over her head. Her hands though, the fingers that were hacked off at awful angles and left to heal horribly on their own, those I recognize. A twinge of guilt settles in my belly the way it always does when I lay eyes on her or remember she’s in our possession. For all the talk my father shares of the importance of family, he has shown no such loyalty or respect for my aunt.
“Good,” I say, summoning the calm and cold tone of my prince facade. “Get her into position.”
Ursulette jerks Fox steady when her knees go weak, nothing even close to resembling empathy reflecting in her pale gray eyes, the eyes of a Devonshire.
“And then what?” she asks with a voice as pleasant as a honeycomb, but as dangerous as the horde of hornets guarding it. “How long will we be sitting here waiting for one measly human to wander by?”
As if on cue, Caz’s voice reverberates in my skull.
“Not long,” I tell her. “I think our mark has just been spotted.
* * *
From my vantage point atop the roof, I’m impressed to say that the place still looks and feels deserted, despite the half dozen noctis hiding about.
I suppose I shouldn’t be worried. With the moon high, we’re in our element. The night makes us deadly.
As we wait for the girl to make her way through the narrow Gravenburg streets, I let my mind drift to what our welcoming will be like when we reach Nigh with—not one, not two, not even three, but—four human donations for the Hunt. I find it highly unlikely that any of the other teams scouring the lands right now will find their efforts half as fruitful, and my father will have no choice but to commend our efforts—for once in his life—and praisemefor a job well done.
“Do I dare ask what’s brought that terrifying grin to your face?” Caz asks, nudging my shoulder with his own.
My smile collapses so that I can glare at him instead.
“Ah, that’s better.” He moves to give me a hearty pat to my back but seeing the sharp points of my cape and remembering the pain they caused him last time, he settles for a faltering tap of my shoulder. “There’s the brooding prince I know and love. Why don’t you leave the random acts of smiling to me, yeah?”
“Keep it down, Caz,” I say casually, not a hint of the royal power I could muster anywhere in my tone. “We don’t know when the girl will arrive, and it would be a huge disappointment to give away our location prematurely.”
