Chapter 20 #2
“You can’t come with me.” I shake my head. “It’ll ruin everything. Your entire life.”
Hunter steps forward with a fierceness that takes me off guard. He pins me against the wall with his gaze. “Do you know what I thought while you were locked away in that place?”
I just stare into his fierce brown eyes.
“I thought they’d killed you.” He steps even closer. There’s barely a foot of space between our bodies now. I don’t move away.
“I thought my life was over, Sienna. Because I realized all of this,” he gestures to the armor strapped to the back of the mare, “was just a way to get back to you. I understand why you don’t want to marry me, but that doesn’t change me.
It doesn’t change how I feel about you. It doesn’t change that you are my life. ”
His chest rises and falls with each truth-fueled breath. I’ve never seen this side of Hunter before. His boyish charm has vanished, replaced with a man who knows what he wants. And what he wants is me. That realization is the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever felt.
I know it’s wrong. I know I shouldn’t want this, shouldn’t want him … but I do.
I throw my arms around his shoulders and press my mouth to his, fierce and unthinking.
His hand tangles in my hair and he moans from deep in his chest, like he’s been holding back for far too long.
Hunter pulls my hips against his, his mouth trailing heat down my neck.
When he pauses at my scar and kisses it slowly, something in me falters.
My heart pounds too hard, too fast, and behind my eyelids, everything flashes white-hot.
There’s no space for self-consciousness or fear between us. We are two people playing with fire on the edge of a cliff. We may burn. We will probably fall. But what is the promise of death when you’ve just glimpsed heaven?
Hunter breaks away reluctantly. He runs a thumb over my swollen lips.
“We have to go.”
I nod, breathless.
He grabs my waist to help me onto the black horse.
My legs are still a little shaky from my imprisonment, or maybe it was the thrill of passion.
Either way, I’m glad to be astride. Hunter mounts his mare, then leans forward in his saddle to unlock the gate.
Slowly, he leads us forward, out of the stables and onto the dark, mist-covered road.
When we’re far enough that pounding hoofbeats won’t wake too many people, we accelerate into a gallop.
“Wait,” I call out when we hit the first crossroad. “We need to go to the cemetery first.”
It will haunt me forever if I never check to see if the Wolf waited for me. After years of unanswered questions, I can’t let this opportunity slide away. I don’t want to grow old always wondering, always regretting.
“We can’t.” Hunter’s eyes are wild as he glances behind us.
I turn to look, too. No sign of pursuit yet. “Please. It’s important.”
Hunter huffs, but pulls his reins toward the northeastern side of the palace grounds. “We’d better hurry.”
When we speed through the gates of the cemetery, the gravestones greet us with shadow and curling mist. I don’t need to see the Wolf to know he’s still here. Something in the air makes my skin prickle with knowing, like a message sent from the old gods.
Hunter and I gallop at full speed until we reach the little pond and my mother’s mausoleum. We stop, listening as the water laps against the stones along the pond’s shore. Wind blows dried leaves across the grass. Then, as silent as the night, the Wolf steps out from behind the mausoleum.
His dark hair hangs over his gray eyes but I can still see the relief in them.
Somehow, he’s acquired new, black clothes and cleaned himself up.
He seems a little further from death’s door now, even though he has the rumpled look of a dog who swam in a pond.
At least the mud and the crusted blood are gone.
He looks more like the wolf I spotted at the engagement ball, though this shirt hangs loose.
But he’s alive.
A weight lifts from my chest. “I thought I’d never see you again. Why didn’t you leave?”
He shakes his head slowly. “Not without you. A promise is a promise.”
We both look at Hunter, whose face is twisted in confusion. I nod toward the Wolf.
“No,” Hunter says, his lips set in a firm line.
“Oh, yes,” the Wolf replies. He leaps up onto the back of my horse, then wraps his arms around my waist. A thrill travels up my spine at the close contact with someone so dangerous.
“What are we supposed to do with him?” Hunter speaks to me, but his eyes are on the Wolf at my back.
“I promised to get him to the border.”
“Why?”
“He owes me a favor.”
“Then why are you the one risking your neck?”
In the silence that follows his accusation, a breeze blows the nearby willow branches like a whispered warning.
“It’s … complicated,” I say.
Hunter shakes his head. “I only brought provisions for two.”
Tristan leans into the conversation. “I’ll fend for myself.”
Hunter’s eyes are dark with emotion, though I’m not sure what kind. Jealousy? Outrage? He turns to me, his eyes begging me to reconsider.
“Please, Hunter, I need you to trust me.”
He doesn’t look happy about it, but he finally grants me a curt nod, then turns his horse back toward the gate.
“Wait.” Tristan’s voice is sharp, like he’s a man used to giving orders.
Hunter’s exasperation is evident. “We can’t! We’ve already wasted too much time.”
Behind me, I feel the Wolf shake his head. He points toward the lumpy armor strapped to the back of Hunter’s mare. “You can’t bring that.”
Hunter’s eyes narrow. “I really don’t think you’re in any position to tell me what I can or can’t bring.”
The Wolf shakes his head again. “No. It’s too conspicuous.”
“This,” Hunter pats the bulk of copper and bronze behind him. “Might just save our lives someday.”
“Not if it gets us killed first.”
Hunter’s face is growing purple.
“Enough!” I yell. The two men look at me.
I shake my head at Hunter. “I’m sorry, but he’s right.”
Hunter’s jaw drops in indignation.
“It’s heavy. It’ll slow us down. And if people see it, they’ll talk. There aren’t any other King’s Guard on the road.”
Hunter gestures to the lumps of gleaming copper. “This armor could get us favors. We don’t have much to travel on.”
“Then we’ll have to ration our supplies. Spend as little as possible until we get to the border.”
Hunter shakes his head slowly. “I can’t just leave it here in the middle of a cemetery. You have no idea what it cost me to earn this copper.”
My heart aches for him, truly. He traded his freedom, his love of books, and his entire identity for swords, copper armor, and the begrudging respect of his father. That armor cost him everything. And we’re making him leave it behind.
I scan the crooked trees and pond reeds before I see our solution. “My mother will watch it for you. No one will find it. I’m the only one who ever visits her.”
Hunter’s face falls as he looks forlornly at the mausoleum. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” My stomach clenches at the lie, but there’s no better option.
With a dramatic sigh, Hunter jumps down from his mare and unties his armor. The clanking sets my teeth on edge. I get the sense that he’s biting his tongue to keep from wasting more time on bickering.
While Hunter heaves open the mausoleum door and places his pile of armor lovingly at the foot of my mother’s statue, my eyes scan the rest of the garden. Still no pursuers.
Hunter closes the heavy door and returns to his gray mare. He’s still wearing his gauntlets and has his sword strapped into an ornate copper scabbard. It’s not worth wasting more time to fight about.
I click at my horse to usher him forward. “Let’s go.”
We leave the cemetery and ride true north, toward the wretched borderlands. Toward the Kingdom of Corpses. Toward answers.
Secrets. Theft. Escapes. I’ve slipped through locked doors, assisted deadly criminals, and told so many lies I’ve lost count. Foxes are tricksters by nature—sly, silent, always one step ahead. For once, I almost live up to my family’s reputation.