47. Huntyr
Chapter 47
Huntyr
M y mother?
I stared at this stranger dumbfounded, waiting for someone to explain.
“I’m sorry,” Rummy jumped in, “you knew Huntyr’s mother? You knew the queen?”
The man smiled softly and nodded. “It was a long time ago, but yes. I knew her well. She was one of the strongest women I ever met. Brave, too. And she looked just like you when she was your age.”
There weren’t many survivors that lived long enough to remember my mother, especially when she was my age. My hands shook as nerves began to take over, but I didn’t let them control me. This man likely knew more about my mother than anyone else here. I suppressed my questions for long enough. It was time to get some answers.
“Can you tell me about her?” I asked. “What was she like?”
The man smiled again as his gaze got lost in the distance and his mind wandered in thought. “Claudia was very strong. Stupid at times, too, but always protecting what was right. She was everything this kingdom needed. She had a dream of uniting everyone, of fae and angels living in peace. Her and your father both wished for that.”
Even the fire seemed to quiet as he spoke.
“My father?” I asked. I felt someone moving closer and I half-expected it to be Wolf, but relief flooded me when Rummy’s hand slipped into mine and squeezed. “Is he still alive?”
The man’s smile faded. “No, he isn’t. Your father was a good man. He was a powerful fae who lived here with us, proving that the fae and the vampyres really could live together. He fought for your mother until the war. Even then, he still fought.”
I said nothing. Rummy squeezed my hand again. “That sounds a lot like Huntyr.”
“We all thought you were killed in the war,” he started. “If any of us knew you were still alive, we would have fought to get you back. We would have fought for you, Huntyraina.”
“Just Huntyr,” I corrected. His eyes widened and I instantly regretted the correction, but he wasn’t offended. Not in the slightest. His gaze glistened with a pride that made my knees weak. How could someone who knew so little about me support me this much?
“I see them both in you, Huntyr ,” he added. “They would be proud of you. They would be proud of everything you’re doing to fight.”
I shook my head. “I’ve been gone for so long. Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real. I feel so disconnected from them.”
The man reached for my free hand and squeezed it gently between both of his. “Look around you, child. Look at all the people who love you. Look at all the people who are fighting for you.” My throat tightened, but I looked around, taking in the hundreds of people littered throughout Scarlata, surrounding the fire, sharing food. “Let this place reconnect you,” he said. “Let this place remind you of who you were born to be.”
R ummy and I lay back on the roof with our feet dangling over the edge, exactly like all those nights in Midgrave. The clouds that typically covered Scarlata during the day disappeared, leaving a beautiful sea of stars glittering above us.
I took a deep breath, sucking in the smell of Rummy’s leather jacket and smoke from the fires below us. “I never thought I would see you again,” I whispered.
Her hand found mine in the darkness and squeezed hard. “Please. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she joked.
I smiled, but my stomach clenched. Any words in my mind vanished at the thought of actually losing her.
My body had been in fighting mode since we left the wedding. Since before that, even. I had been in shock for quite some time now, still deciphering everything that happened to me. To us.
But I was alive. Rummy was alive. Wolf, by a fucking miracle, was alive.
And apparently, the entire fallen blood kingdom was alive, too.
“Hey,” Rummy said, turning her head to face me. “Don’t lose it now, Hunt. You’re so close to being free. Keep it together until then, okay?”
A fist tightened around my lungs. “I’m trying, but hells, this all feels like a fever dream sometimes.”
“I can’t even imagine what you’ve been going through. Being held captive by that crazy bastard while you were transitioning into a vampyre?” She huffed a breath. “You deserve an award. You really do.”
“I thought they were all losing their minds at first. It wasn’t until the cravings started to hit me that I believed I might actually be one of them.”
A few beats passed.
“You’re okay, though, right?” she asked. Her voice sounded so young, so vulnerable. The fierce, tough friend I knew rarely showed this soft side. “I mean, you’re doing okay with everything? With who you are?”
I shut my eyes and squeezed them tight. I couldn’t look at Rummy, couldn’t look at the fear and worry I knew would be lingering on her face. I couldn’t look at the stars, either. They were the same stars Rummy and I used to stare at when I was a lowly, magicless fae in Midgrave.
“I’m surviving,” I admitted. “Wolf’s been helping me get through it. Without him, I—” I stopped myself before my voice cracked and took a long breath to settle the rush of emotions that followed. “I’ll get through this. These people are counting on me now. That’s what I have to focus on. I’ll figure out the rest of it later, once these people are safe.”
She squeezed my hand again. We remained like that for minutes—maybe hours—before I finally asked, “Do you really think they would be proud of me?”
“Your parents?”
I nodded.
“I don’t doubt it for even a second.”
“I never really questioned who my father was. I grew up with Lord, and even though I knew he wasn’t actually my father, he felt like one to me. It’s actually a relief hearing that my real father wasn’t a monster.”
“Lord was nothing but a pest, Hunt. The fact that you turned out so amazing after everything he put you through is a damn miracle. You are the daughter of greatness. You’re a good fucking person, and I know both of your parents would be beaming with pride if they saw you.”
Tears threatened my eyes. “You honestly believe that?”
She moved beside me, reaching into her leather jacket and pulling out a new flask. “Well, they might not be proud of this .”
Hells, I loved Rummy.
We spent the next hour laughing and talking about our lives, passing the flask back and forth as we reminisced on our late nights in Midgrave.
The two of us came so far. We endured so much together. I hated that Lord dragged her here for leverage, but I was so fucking happy she was here with me.
We only shut up when we heard the rustling of movement on the roof behind us.
“Do you think they’re sleeping like that?” Jessiah whispered, though not nearly quiet enough.
“Wouldn’t surprise me if they were,” Wolf replied. “Rummy is just as insane as Huntyr. They probably slept like that every night in Midgrave.”
“I can hear you, assholes!” Rummy yelled from beside me.
I laughed then, a real laugh. A laugh that filled my whole stomach. A laugh that wasn’t covering dread or fear or grief.
“No offense,” Wolf replied. “Can you two maybe not sleep with half your bodies over the edge of the roof?”
Rummy and I looked at each other a second longer before crawling backward a few feet in unison. Wolf approached us and threw me a blanket. “Take this,” he said. “We’re all sleeping here tonight.”
Rummy quickly covered both our bodies with the thick fabric. Wolf sat himself down a few feet to my right while Jessiah settled on the other side of Rummy.
“Are they always this clingy?” Rummy whispered.
I nearly snorted. “Actually, yes, they are.”
“I prefer the term protective,” Wolf grumbled.
“Or stoic,” Jessiah chimed in.
Rummy and I both laughed again. I knew the two wouldn’t leave us alone for more than a few minutes, not when we were entirely surrounded by vampyres.
But even though it was dangerous, even though I spent my entire damn life learning to hate these people—to kill them—I felt safe, safer than I had in my entire life.
Because, vampyre or not, these were our people. Rummy’s too. Jessiah’s. Wolf’s.
I pressed myself close to Rummy’s side, letting my heart fill with this moment.
Tonight, we were safe.
Even if just for a moment.
T he sun had yet to fully rise when I blinked my eyes open.
I was no longer sharing a blanket with Rummy; rather, I had rolled to my right and somehow ended up splayed over Wolf’s chest.
His eyes were still closed, but the second I tried to gently lift myself away, his hand around my waist tightened, trapping me to him. “Not so fast, wife,” he mumbled, eyes still closed. I felt every vibration of his groggy voice. “I’m keeping you here forever.”
Rummy had our blanket to herself now, though she ended up much closer to Jessiah than before.
“The sun is rising.” I returned my attention to Wolf. “We should get up before the others start to wake.”
He growled his objection before pulling me even closer, nuzzling into the mess of my curls. Fuck, I could have stayed there all damn day. Weeks, even. Months. Here on this roof with Rummy, Jessiah, and Wolf was everything I ever needed.
The people I cared about were safe.
And they were here.
For now, at least. I pushed myself up and ignored Wolf’s groan of protest. We were safe, yes, but that wouldn’t last. Not without preparing to fight.
Wolf followed me off the roof and down the stairs to meet the rest of the waking crew below. I spotted Voiler instantly, speaking in hushed tones to a couple other women I hadn’t met yet, and Nathan, who I was beginning to recognize as one of Wolf’s trusted leaders in this rebellion.
“Rise and shine!” Nathan greeted us as we approached. “You two sleep well?”
“Like a fucking rock,” Wolf replied from behind me.
Voiler flashed me a smile.
“Good, because we have a busy day ahead of us.”
And he wasn’t wrong. Within the hour, everyone was awake, working their asses off to prepare for what we all knew deep in our bones was coming.
First, we prepared a bunker for the untrained vampyres and the children. Keeping them safe would be a priority if Scarlata was attacked. It wasn’t hard to find a partially underground room with enough space for all of them. We secured it with a few large stones at the entrance then moved our spare water and supplies into the back.
Then, we gathered weapons, preparing for the fight. Wolf acquainted himself with the other soldiers, got to know their history and their expertise while I took Rummy and Voiler with me to help distribute the extra weapons. We didn’t have much, but a welder had been living with the surviving vampyres here in Scarlata, and he managed to build a decent supply of swords and daggers.
The angels would have more—much, much more—but thinking about that was a waste of our time.
Around midday, Wolf sent two scouts into the forest to track the movement of our enemies. It all started to feel very real, like we were all sitting around, waiting for doom to strike.
But when I glanced around the fire later that night, I didn’t see scared faces. I didn’t see doom or terror or death.
The fire in the center of the ruins blazed bright enough to light up everyone’s faces. Children ran around the perimeter, laughing and screaming as they chased each other. A group of males—Wolf included—exchanged war stories to my right. They stood around, sharing cooked meat and listening intently to one another as the light flickered among their features. It didn’t matter that they weren’t all vampyres. Nathan was fae, Wolf part angel, but they accepted each other fully, understanding that we all fought for the same thing here.
And then, there was Rummy and Voiler, who sat on the ground beside me, whispering to each other about the atrocities of The Golden City.
The two of them had a lot in common. I barely knew Voiler in Moira, but I was glad she was here now. I felt safe around her. Calm. Neither of them left my side for two days, almost as if they knew I would crumble entirely without them.
I started to actually feel at peace here, like this was all supposed to happen. Like we all belonged here, just like this.
That peace stayed with me until the scouts returned from the forest.
The entire group fell silent as the two men stumbled toward the fire, catching their breaths.
“Two days,” one on the right muttered. “We have two days until they’re here.”