Chapter 7 #2
“Whoa,” Vander said, slowing the horses as he reached us. He faced Rasimir and bowed at the waist. “Majesty.” He offered another bow toward Lorcan and me. “Your Highnesses.”
“Captain,” Rasimir acknowledged. “Are you certain that mare is a reliable mount for my daughter? The hunt can be challenging for a first-time rider.”
Vander didn’t look at me. “I’m confident, Majesty. I trained her myself.”
“How reassuring,” Lorcan murmured, his eyes on the courtiers.
Vander’s nostrils flared. I held my breath, waiting for him to respond, but he merely rubbed the mare’s nose.
“Very good,” Rasimir said. He clapped his hands once, then swept an arm toward the group of courtiers.
“Come, you three. Let us join the rest of the hunt. I’ve kept them waiting long enough.
” He gave me a conspiratorial smile. “They’ve been buzzing about you since I announced your arrival.
But I told them to leave you alone. I wanted to be the first to introduce you. ”
My throat tightened with nerves. I managed a weak smile as I lifted my skirts and moved over the grass.
The vampires fell silent at our approach, and dozens of eyes fixed on me.
The courtiers were a mix of men and women.
Like Rasimir and Lorcan, they were tall and lithely built, with an aura of stillness that made me shiver.
Predators. Monsters in pretty clothes. The monster within me lifted its head, recognition pumping through my veins.
But these monsters were different. They lay just under the surface of a thin veneer.
Memories of Cyprio’s warehouse rushed me.
In my mind’s eye, a richly dressed duchess lifted a pair of binoculars.
The wind picked up, making the pennants snap as we reached the tents. Vander stayed just behind Rasimir. Lorcan stopped at my shoulder and folded his arms over his chest. As one, the courtiers sank into a bow, the movement performed in eerie, perfect coordination.
“Rise, all of you,” Rasimir said. He took my hand and raised his voice. “My beloved daughter is returned to us at last. We rejoice at her safe arrival, and we celebrate her with a hunt. Nocta welcomes its heir!”
The courtiers cheered. Lorcan kept silent, his gaze on the crowd.
My cheeks burned. As the clapping and cheering continued, I sank into what I hoped was a passable curtsy. Rasimir beamed at me. The courtiers bowed and curtsied back.
Rasimir laughed. “Well, let’s not waste time. Mount up, everyone!”
The second he said it, servants streamed from the tents and began readying the horses.
Bridles jangled. Leather creaked as courtiers swung into their saddles.
Servants helped the women adjust their skirts.
Several courtiers strapped quivers of arrows to their backs.
A few accepted goblets of blood-wine, which they downed amid good-natured chatter.
Vander appeared at my elbow. “I’ll help you mount, Your Highness.” Once again, his expression was inscrutable, with no sign of the amiable knight who’d teased me on the road to the Drakhold.
Questions hovered on my tongue. Before I could voice them, he gripped my waist and lifted me into the saddle. As he guided my foot into the stirrup, he bent his head and spoke against the folds of my riding dress.
“Not here.”
My questions died in my throat, and worry settled around me as he mounted Maddox and then nodded greetings to a few passing courtiers. Once everyone was mounted, the vampires began forming a long line, their horses pointed toward the forest.
“This way, Princess,” Lorcan said, taking my reins.
I was too numb to protest as he led my horse to the end of the row.
Wind tugged at my hair. Atop the tents, the crimson pennants flickered like long tongues.
Beside me, Lorcan’s demeanor was bored as he pulled on a pair of black gloves.
Vander appeared astride Maddox on my other side.
I looked between the men, last night’s scene before the fountain playing through my head.
Neither man said anything, but a muscle twitched in Vander’s jaw.
Rasimir guided his horse between a break in the line. The circlet on his head gleamed in the diffused light as he rode a few paces ahead and then stopped with his back to us. Silence fell over the clearing. Ahead, the forest seemed to hold its breath.
And then everything changed.
Around me, courtiers eased their bodies forward in their saddles. Their eyes glittered. Lips parted, and fangs appeared. The air shifted, filling with…hunger.
Rasimir raised his arm. For one tense moment, he held it aloft. Then he dropped it.
A hunting horn split the air.
Alon burst from somewhere and took off for the trees. His loose shirt flapped behind him as he pumped his arms, his long legs eating up the grassy clearing.
My stomach dropped. Between the meeting and all the cheering, I’d forgotten about Alon. And now he…he ran like he…
No. I gripped my reins, nausea roiling my gut. No, this wasn’t happening.
“They should have dressed him in darker colors,” a male courtier said in a voice heavy with disappointment. “This will be far too easy.”
“Oh hush,” a woman next to him said. “This way, we can play a bit more.”
Bile burned my throat, and my breakfast croissants threatened to make a second appearance. My horse shied as I gripped my reins in shaking hands.
Vander’s thigh brushed mine. “Steady,” he murmured.
I jerked my head toward him.
“Eyes forward,” he said, his lips barely moving. When I didn’t immediately obey, the muscle in his jaw twitched again. “Do as I say.”
I swung my gaze back to the forest in time to see Alon disappear among the trees. Around me, the courtiers bared their fangs and hissed.
Rasimir gave a delighted-sounding laugh, then barked over his shoulder. “Lord Seldare, get us started!”
A courtier farther down the line of horses put a horn to his lips and blew. The mournful blast sounded again. As one, the courtiers spurred their horses into a gallop.
I can’t do this. I couldn’t hunt Alon for sport. He wasn’t an animal. He had thoughts and dreams. I’d conversed with him. I couldn’t—
“Go!” Vander shouted, slapping my horse’s rump.
The mare lurched forward, and we were off, racing across the clearing.
The horses’ hooves and my own heartbeat thundered in my ears.
The wind tore at my hair. Lorcan and Vander flanked me, their bodies low over their horses’ necks.
Ahead, courtiers plunged into the trees.
Too fast. I was going too fast to enter safely. I tugged on the mare’s reins, but she continued her breakneck pace. The tree line sped toward me, the trunks blurring. I cringed…held my breath…
My stomach dropped out from under me as the mare leaped a fallen tree trunk and sailed into the forest. She landed without slowing, and my teeth clicked together as I clung to the reins.
The impact jogged my memory of racing through Sausberg’s streets on Maddox.
Apparently, Vander trained all of his horses to ignore their riders and run like a crowd of angry nobles was chasing them.
Shouts and whoops of laughter rang through the trees.
Branches cracked as horses crashed over the ground.
My mare continued her bruising pace, her steps light and agile.
Occasionally she jumped an obstacle, and I whimpered as my body went weightless.
Sweat trickled down my back. Trees whipped past in a brown-and-green blur.
Vander kept pace with me, his russet waves plastered to his head by the wind. There was no sign of Lorcan.
The trees thinned, and sunlight fell to the forest floor in thick shafts. The air sparkled like spun sugar. With every breath, the sweet scent of Nocta filled my lungs.
Gripping my reins, I scanned ahead for Alon. Maybe he’d outrun the courtiers. Maybe he knew a hiding place in the forest. Or maybe the courtiers would simply feed from him and then let him go.
Ahead, white flashed among the green.
“There!” someone shouted. More shouts rang out. Horses flew past me. Courtiers appeared from all sides, their eyes glowing like they were lit from within. A woman laughed as she streaked forward. Gripping her horse’s reins in one hand, she pulled an arrow from the quiver on her back.
Alon burst from behind a tree, his white shirt like a flag. His feet kicked up dirt as he ran faster. But it didn’t matter. The woman drew her bow and fired.
The arrow slammed into Alon’s back.
I cried out as he went down. More arrows thunked into the ground beside him, the feathers quivering. A second arrow caught him behind the knee. Alon screamed hoarsely, then clawed at the ground like he meant to get up. A third arrow whistled and struck him in the buttock. Alon went limp.
“Stop!” I screamed, yanking hard on my reins. My horse reared, and I slid backward in the saddle. Just as I squeezed my eyes shut and prepared to fall, the mare slammed down her front legs. Vander appeared out of nowhere, his big hand snatching my reins from me before I could recover.
“Let go,” I growled, trying to slide from the saddle.
Silver eyes glinted. Vander’s mouth was a thin slash in his pale face. “Corinthe, listen to me.”
“No!”
Twigs snapped, and Rasimir trotted into view with Lorcan at his side. A dozen breathless courtiers emerged from the trees, and suddenly I was surrounded by vampires. Bright eyes bored into me.
My father walked his horse forward, his narrowed gaze traveling from Vander’s grip on my reins to my sweaty face. His lips curved in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You seem eager to claim your quarry, Daughter.” He tipped his head toward Alon. “Go ahead.”
“What?” My voice emerged as a whimper as I looked from Rasimir to Alon. The servant writhed on the ground, his pitiful cries drifting back to us.
“This hunt is for you,” Rasimir said. “We held it in your honor. The quarry is yours to claim.” The smile dropped from his face. “So go claim it.”