41. Huntyr
Chapter 41
Huntyr
“ W here is he?” I screamed at Jessiah, who was now ushering Rummy and me into the trees and away from the chaos. “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?” I fought against him, not wanting to leave that damn riverbank.
Not without Wolf.
“Don’t worry about him,” Jessiah ushered. “He can take care of himself. They’re not after him.”
“What the fuck are they after, then?”
Hells. It all snapped into place so quickly, the pieces finally fitting together in my mind.
The attack at the wedding. This. It was all part of Wolf’s plan.
He was working with the attackers and they were here to follow through.
Jessiah watched me as I realized all of this. “Exactly,” he hissed. “So we need to get you two as far away from here as possible.”
Asmodeus, Luseyar, and Lord stumbled forward ahead of us. They yelled something about the arrows being harmful to angels, but I could only hear half of what they rambled about as chaos spread through the group.
“Get her!” someone yelled. “Get Huntyr!”
Fuck. I looked at Jessiah, then at Rummy.
Wolf was on the other side of that fucking river, trying to figure out how they were going to kill Asmodeus, and Asmodeus wanted me more than anything.
The decision was already made in my mind. “Take care of her,” I said to Jessiah. I kissed Rummy’s cheek before running as fast as I could toward the water.
I launched myself into the air before my wings fully expanded.
Someone screamed behind me. Maybe it was Rummy.
But as my toes began to skim the cold water beneath me, my wings caught against the wind, launching me up a foot, then another.
Thank the fucking goddess.
I could see the outline of Wolf’s body in the trees as I crossed the center of the river. He turned from whoever he spoke with to face me.
Then he ran.
He was only a few paces from me when I landed. My wings grazed the tall grass as I caught myself on solid ground.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he yelled.
“You think I’m going to let you do this alone? You’ve lost your fucking mind if you thought I was going to leave you!”
I felt Wolf’s emotions through the bond, as raw and unfiltered as they came. Anger. Relief. Love.
“There’s no time to fight about this,” Wolf’s friend—Nathan—said.
Voiler stepped out of the forest behind him.
“Voiler?”
She held a weapon in her hand, one that buzzed with energy, with magic. It was Luseyar’s sword—the angel’s weapon practically radiated magic.
She smiled, holding it up. “I come with gifts.”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled in my chest. Arrows stopped flying above, but chaos still ripped through the air. Rebels yelled, emerging from the trees. Ones with wings began to fly to the other side while some dove into the river.
“This is really happening?” I asked.
Wolf’s face broke into a wicked grin. “Oh, it’s happening, Huntress.”
I nodded, taking as big of a breath as I could to manage my nerves. “Great. What do I need to do?”
“ N o fucking way,” Wolf argued a minute later. “It’s too dangerous.”
“This entire damn thing is dangerous,” I argued. “We’re killing an archangel! We need my magic and we need this sword. There’s no time to sit around and think about this, Wolf!”
Nathan interrupted us. “They’re already moving deep into the forest. If we’re going to do this before they disappear, we have to move. Now.”
Wolf wanted Asmodeus dead just as badly as I did. I knew it was true. It was why he was willing to risk all of this just to get the rebels near him.
“The plan will work,” Voiler said, handing me the sword. “It’s the only way we’re going to get close enough to Asmodeus without being slaughtered.”
“He’ll know by now that we’re working together,” Wolf said.
“It won’t matter. He needs me to gain power over the vampyres. He won’t hurt me.”
Wolf’s jaw tightened. He knew I was right. The plan was dangerous, but everything was dangerous with Asmodeus still breathing. I was willing to risk it.
I placed a hand on him and felt his heart race rapidly beneath my touch. “We’re going to survive this, okay? Let me do this for you.” His eyebrows drew together. “Let me do this for us.”
A few seconds passed, though it felt like hours. “Fine,” he answered. “But if you’re hurt for even one fucking second, I’m stepping in.”
Protective as always. “Deal.”
Then we were moving, catapulting ourselves to the other side of the river to catch up with the archangel. Everyone else—Wolf included—swam across the river, but my wings were summoned and ready to fight. I flew across quickly, not bothering to wait.
They were all leaving, anyway. Nathan, Voiler, and the rest of the rebels would push forward toward Scarlata to prepare the vampyres there. Our plan to kill Asmodeus was too dangerous for them to stick around, especially when my magic was involved.
It would be Wolf and I facing him in the forest alone.
For being a powerful archangel, Asmodeus was humorously slow. The trees created too many obstacles to fly through with any real speed. I was the first to catch up with him. Lord was already running as fast as possible ahead of them, not waiting around to discover his own fate.
Him, I would deal with later.
I dropped to the ground in front of Asmodeus with a thud.
He stopped immediately as he smiled through labored breaths. “Come to play more games, Huntyraina? Unfortunately, I’m not interested.”
He moved to keep walking, but I held my hand up to stop him. “Wait.” He halted. Luseyar, too. “I can help you. I can get us both what we want.”
His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “And why would I believe a single thing you say?”
“Because I would do anything to save the people I love.” It wasn’t a total lie, which is what made it believable. “If I give you what you want, will you let my friends go?” I stepped closer to him, just a few paces away now.
“You’d give me your power now, after all this time?” He laughed, the sound of it making me flinch. “You are a smart, smart girl, Huntyraina. You always have been.”
A chill filled the air.
“Which is why it will be such a shame to have to kill you.”
Before I could flinch, Asmodeus’s power lashed out at me. Pain erupted through the very depths of my mind, paralyzing me as he moved behind me. He gripped my throat with one hand and held a blade to my chest with the other.
By the time his power released me, Wolf caught up to us.
He breathed heavily with nothing but rage on his face. “Get your fucking hands off my wife.”
Luseyar finally stepped forward and aimed a small dagger at Wolf’s chest. “That sword does not belong to you,” he growled. “I thought I warned you not to do anything stupid.”
I stiffened.
Asmodeus held me in front of him like a barrier, like a protective shield against his own body. I wanted to shiver from the closeness of him, from the sheer proximity of this monster.
Desperation leaked from his every pore.
“After all I did for you!” he yelled. “After everything I sacrificed so you two could stand in power!”
“You did nothing for us,” Wolf argued. “You forced us to act. All you ever wanted was power, and you didn’t care who got hurt in the process!”
Asmodeus laughed again behind me. I shut my eyes, blocking out the sound. “Huntyr is a queen, dammit! She is meant for power!”
Tension dripped from the air around us. Nobody moved a damn muscle, not even Wolf. “She’ll still be a queen, but she’ll rule Scarlata like it was always meant to be ruled: with grace and loyalty.”
“And what do you know of loyalty?” Asmodeus argued. “Did you not betray your new wife time and time again? Did you not lie to her about why you met in Moira, about what you wanted from her?”
Wolf’s hand was still tight on the angel killer weapon, still ready to fight, ready to end it all.
“This isn’t worth it,” I whispered. Asmodeus tightened his grip on my shoulders, and I couldn’t stop the whimper of pain that escaped.
Wolf roared in anger as Luseyar tensed.
“So protective,” Asmodeus tsked. “You’ve always been loyal, I see,” he continued. “Just never to the same person. Do you really think these rebels will protect you? Do you really think they have your best interests at heart?”
Again, I tried to catch his gaze.
Look at me. Focus on me.
But his eyes locked on Asmodeus, blinded with anger, hatred, fear.
“Well, I hate to break it to you,” Asmodeus pushed, “but if you want to kill your own father, you’ll have to kill her, too.”