Aspen twined her fingers in mine. "I am now. Tired." She groaned. "Oh, I feel like even standing is more than I want to try, but I am ok, Rain." She leaned a bit, catching my eyes. "Thanks to you."
"You kinda used the T-word," I teased.
She laughed, but it was weak and hollow. "Admit it, you like it."
"I actually do," I said. "To me, that word is like acknowledgement of my effort."
"Humans!" she joked. "You're so weird!"
I tried to laugh. In truth, I wanted to, but things felt too heavy right now. The weak jokes we were trying to make all fell flat, so I simplygave up.
"We were trying to find you, Aspen. Hawke saw you heading out there, and then the cold front hit, and Jack screamed it was the Hunt, and things were just crazy. After I got my weapons, the whole world was grey!"
"The freezing rain," she explained. "The Wild Hunt rides on a storm, but there wasn't any bad weather predicted for today."
"So they made it?" I asked.
Aspen could only shrug. "I hope not, because we've been counting on them needing the weather to move - notmakingit."
"Oh." I shifted a bit to face her better. "But seeing the Huntsman holding you? I'd just been thinking I didn't know where he was, and then I saw that and freaked out!"
"I begged," she said, the words almost too soft to hear. "I know what they do, and I was begging him to let me go, to just loosen his grip, and that I wouldn't tell." She grimaced, showing her shame.
"But that's the right thing," I insisted. "You have to do everything you can, right? Magic, and begging, and anything that might work, because I can't lose you, Aspen!"
"I tried magic," she admitted. "I unleashed everything I had on him, but he didn't care. Hawke said they're immune, and Tor said that's how they're made, but..." She shook her head. "I didn't even try to control it, Rain. I did like Harper, and I just lashed out, but he didn't even slow down! Not until he saw you."
"Am I what they're hunting for?"
"No," she assured me. "They came before you were here. The Hunt is like mandatory police service. Fae warriors are enchanted into it, made invulnerable, and then sent to track down criminals."
"So, bounty hunters?"
"Kinda, but more like cops," she explained. "It's just that the laws are different. There's no 'innocent until proven guilty.' There's the monarch's decision, and possibly a chance to prove them wrong. So if we could get into Faerie, I'd be hauled to a court of sorts, and I could plead my reasons. It never works, though. Rain, that's the whole thing. The Hunt is the last line of our legal system. It's what happens when nothing else works. Usually, they only bring back a token to prove their job is done."
"I stabbed one," I admitted.
"The Huntsman?"
I shook my head. "Just a hunter. He fell off his horse, and the three of us were hacking at him. Hawke lunged for his neck, he blocked, so Keir and I stabbed. My blade went in, but Keir's didn't."
"Yours is iron."
"Steel," I corrected. "It still went in."
"Oh, Rain," she whispered, realizing what I was saying. Then she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close. "But you did the right thing. You really did!"
"I can't forget how it felt!" I mumbled. "There's a pop. A fucking pop!"
"And you saved me," she said, putting force into her words. "You, Rain, kept me from dying!"
Her voice cracked. I looked over to see tears hanging in those big blue eyes. Her lower lip was trembling, so she clenched it, trying to hide it. Not knowing what else to do, I leaned in, pressing my face into her neck.
"And the guys helped," I said. "We're all ok now. It sucked, and I don't ever want it to happen again, but we take care of each other, right?" I leaned back to see her face. "All of us, but I would've stood between you and the Huntsman alone."
"I know," she assured me. "You ran without waiting for the guys. And when I saw your shadows stop, I gave you all the magic I could."
"Is that why you're so tired now?" I asked, not wanting to use the word weak.
