"And this is why my father is always so insistent on the Devonshires continuing to rule. You're being simple-minded,Ms. Vanderbilt. Don't you worry that pretty little head of yours.” The knife cuts deep. I can see it in her swelling eyes. But I push forward. “I know what I'm doing, and everything will be well-prepared for you and the others upon their return. In fact, I'll have things running so smoothly here, that I'll likely be joining the rest of the Hunt before lunch, and before any of you can make your first kill."
Caz catches on, notices his opportunity, and seizes it. "Did I just hear a challenge? The Vanderbilts versus the Devonshires?"
The possibility of a competition has all but wiped clean the worry he'd been feeling before, as if the conversation hadn't even occurred.
"Hey!" Rhain turns his outraged but pleading eyes on Ursulette. "What about me? I'm neither Vanderbilt nor Devonshire. Whose team will I be on?"
"Don't worry, my love," she reassures him, a long, pointed nail tracing the curve of his perfect jawline. "I'll take no part in any game if you're not by my side. This is between the three of them."
“Aww,” he whines. “But I love a good challenge.”
She pats his head. “Not as much as you love a good chase, which you’ll still get.”
His grin becomes predatorial. “The best part of the Hunt is the chase.”
"Two versus one, then?” Caz says, his smile just as wicked. “This keeps getting better and better."
I ease into the light-hearted nature of the conversation like I'm scaling a cliffside over a chasm full of spears. It's difficult to muster an adequate laugh, but I manage what I can and hope no one notices.
"Could just make it four on one," I say. "Might even the odds out."
Caz's robust laughter buckles him while Ursulette rolls her silver eyes. But she and Rhain consider the challenge silently, the math seeming too much in their favor to turn down.
"I feel like you're going to regret this," Rhain says, laughing.
"Regret? I'm not sure I'm familiar with the word."
He gives my shoulder a shove. "Soon, my friend. Soon."
"Fine." Renee's sharp voice cleaves through the heart of our collective laughter. "It's a deal. We'll see if any of us can claim a kill before you wrap up your princely duties and return to the Shadowthorn. You said you'd be joining us midday, correct? Where should we meet? At the border or—"
"No." The word splurges out of me like the first drain of a tapped wine barrel, and when it does, it makes one of Renee's eyebrows stand ready. "I mean," I try sounding more casual, "That won't give me any time to try to get my kill. You'd be meeting me right when I entered the Hunt. That's hardly fair."
"What about at that abandoned camp that used to belong to the—whoever they were?" Caz suggests. His youthful enthusiasm has returned so completely that I'm beginning to wonder if he’s already forgotten that this conversation only started because I needed to cover up his accidental slip.
Regardless, I'm grateful for his ability to bounce back. It makes all of this that much more convincing.
"The Warden's Camp," Renee corrects him, cunning eyes not leaving mine. "What do you say, Malachi? Does that work for you and your busy schedule?"
“Yeah." I swallow, throat as dry as a desert. "That should work."
"Alright then, it's settled." There's no toast when Renee lifts her glass, nor are there any words. Before any of us can follow suit, she's already dumping the sangwine into her mouth.
The whole time, she watches me, and I'm too afraid to move for fear of making the mask of casual arrogance that I've plastered over my panic fall or shift, even in the slightest. It's like I'm balancing on a tightrope with a bucket of sand on either shoulder. The slightest breeze could make me lose it all.
"Good," she says, tongue tasting the last droplet of sangwine from the rim of her glass. "I'll see you at the Hunt then."
19
THE HUNT
By Mira's calculations, today marks the Hunt.
How anyone was able to sleep last night is beyond me. Not a single one of them tossed and turned for more than an hour, except Elison who only made it up that long because she was feeling sick to her stomach.
Once she finally fell asleep, it was just me.
I lay there awake, frightened. No matter how much we analyzed, no matter how many times we watched the guards and reviewed our options, no other opportunity had presented itself for escape.
