The Hunter #2
“No, you have to answer the question fully, princess. How did you escape? Why did you stay away? There’s too much unanswered.”
When she said nothing, I glanced over my shoulder at her. She was chewing on her bottom lip, her eyes gleaming in a frustratingly familiar way.
She was scheming. Damn her.
“When I stole the object, Calista tried to stop me. Then she tried to kill me. I used fae magic to get away. And I’ve stayed away because I don’t want to risk her taking the object back. It’s the only leverage I have against her.”
Shock rippled through me. Blood and ice, she was telling the truth. Leverage against Calista? That truly could turn the tides in favor of the Snow Princess.
Was this why Calista hunted her? Not to rid the court of her nuisance of a stepdaughter, but to silence her forever? To keep her secrets?
Now it made sense. This was why Calista hadn’t ordered me to kill Eira until now. She hadn’t wanted to risk me finding out what the princess knew.
“What is Calista hiding?” I asked.
Eira said nothing.
I tried again. “What fae magic did you use? And how?”
“That, dear hunter, is another secret you haven’t earned.”
I exhaled in frustration. “If you have leverage over the queen, why won’t you use it? Keeping her secrets is only serving her. If you spread those secrets, then she won’t be able to silence you.”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
“How?”
“Well, for starters, who would believe me?” she snapped, her tone sharpening. “I’m half human. Most of the fae folk believe half breeds like me can lie. That I would say anything to win back my father’s crown.”
“So you’re waiting for proof,” I guessed.
“Proof. An army. A sure victory. Every piece needs to be aligned when I make my move, or it’s all over.”
She wanted a foolproof plan. I could respect that. Especially if she was dying. She wanted to make sure her one attempt was successful. Just in case she only had one shot.
“Your turn,” she said, her tone cheerful once more.
Shit. Steeling myself, I said, “What’s your question?”
“What were you thinking about when you stumbled just now?”
Damn. Of course she would ask that.
No omissions. No hedging. If I dodged the question, she would call me on it, and the fae bond would pull the truth from me by force.
I would tell her as much of the truth as I could muster. With the answers she’d given me, I owed her that much.
“I was thinking of my father,” I said quietly.
The very air seemed to go still with my confession. I hadn’t spoken of the man since he’d died so many years ago. Since I’d sworn never to think or speak of him again.
“What about him?” Eira asked.
“His death wrecked me in more ways than one,” I said. “He was not a kind man.” I paused. “It’s because of him that I am contracted to the queen.”
The bastard had been Calista’s strongest supporter. He was her commander long before she’d married King Judas. His greatest ambition was to rid the court of all half breeds. He believed in a pure seelie fae bloodline.
“Why?” Eira asked. “What does he have to do with the queen?”
I paused. “That’s another question.”
“Bullshit. I answered more than that, and you know it. Tell me.”
Fire burned in my blood, and I clenched my teeth against the pain of the fae bond. “Fine,” I bit out. “He was in service to her, and he died before his contract was up. By law, I had to take his debt upon myself.”
Eira was silent for a long moment. Then, she muttered, “Damn. That’s harsh.”
For some reason, hearing her so casually affirm the cruelty of the situation was more of a comfort than her suffocating pity from earlier. It made the situation light, which was what I needed right now.
“Yes,” I agreed. “Fae law is a bitch.”
She chuckled wryly. “So, why were you thinking of your father?”
I pressed my lips together. This was a truth I couldn’t reveal because I didn’t fully understand it myself. “Because my thoughts are a mess right now. And the last time my mind was this frazzled was just after his death when I had no purpose. No plan.”
“Your mind is frazzled?” Eira asked. Something unreadable crept into her tone. Something I’d never heard in her voice before. “Why?”
I was torn between saying, Because of you, and I don’t know. Both were the truth. I stopped walking and turned to look at her. Her ice-blue eyes were wide with curiosity, her expression open and earnest. No hint of scorn or taunting in her face. This, right now, was the true Eira.
Perhaps that was why I felt the need to be honest with her. I probably could have avoided the question, claiming I’d answered enough to fulfill our bargain. But something in her eyes drew the truth out of me.
“I already told you. You aren’t what I expected, princess. And it’s shaken what I thought I knew.”
Her lips parted in surprise, and I held her gaze as understanding passed between us. No hatred, no animosity. No playful banter. Nothing but open acceptance. We still didn’t know everything about each other. There were plenty of secrets we still kept.
But we weren’t enemies in this moment. Perhaps we would be tomorrow. Or even an hour from now. But here in this space, we understood each other.
“I hate to break up this lovely chat, but I have bad news.”
I blinked and turned to find Frisk approaching from the opposite direction. I wasn’t sure when he had disappeared, but wherever he’d gone, he was now out of breath, his dark eyes full of apprehension.
“What is it?” Eira asked.
“I scouted ahead to the outskirts of Tolston,” said the fox. “Ordinarily, it would be easy to sneak through undetected. But the area is crawling with the queen’s soldiers. They caught wind that the Snow Princess was nearby. They know you’re here, Eira.”