Chapter 29 #2
“Let me?” His father tilts his head, like it was a curious thing to say.
“I doubt there’s much you can do about it.
” He raises an eyebrow. “You’ve always been the poorest student in the classroom.
Barely scraping by. Dragging our good name through the mud.
” He shakes his head. “You are no son of mine.” He spits at the ground.
Even now, Hunter flinches.
I step forward and put a hand on Hunter’s arm. “You’ve always been a better man than him. He’s a fool if he can’t see it.”
Hunter doesn’t say anything in response.
“Still listening to the Little Fox, I see.” His father leans forward on his horse. “She’s always been a bad influence.”
“You’d better watch your tongue,” I hiss. “Speaking about the heir to Llwyn like that.”
He just laughs. “Former, my girl. Former heir to Llwyn. And a thorn in the king’s side since the day you were born.”
“At least I was a true-born heir,” I snap. “Unlike the boy your people are passing off as my brother.”
This gets a reaction out of him. His cool-headed mask falls. Doubtless he thought his ruse was still a secret. He sits up, his face growing dark. “What do you know of anything beyond storybooks and borderland camps?”
I smile the most sinister grin I can manage. “A lot more than you’d like, I’d wager.”
Next to me Hunter grabs my wrist. “Don’t, Sienna. He lashes out when he’s angry.”
Tristan leans into the huddle. “He’s already angry.”
“Well goading him never helps,” Hunter snaps.
“I’m waiting,” his father calls. “Come quietly, or we will have to use force.”
All around us, archers draw their bowstrings and soldiers unsheathe bronze swords.
Tristan’s eyes meet mine, urgency blazing. Hunter’s lips tighten into a thin line. He nods, a silent understanding forming between them. Then he draws his sword and steps forward, facing his father with a stance I’m sure he’s practiced a thousand times in the training yard.
“We will not.”
“Wonderful,” Malen says flatly. “We’ve travelled too far from the palace to go back without a little fun.” He nods to his men and they begin inching toward us.
“Run,” Hunter says to me, bracing himself for the fight.
“Not without you.” Panic rises in my chest.
He doesn’t take his eyes off the approaching enemy. “I love you, Sienna. Let me do this for you.”
Tristan grabs my hand, pulling, but I can’t leave my only friend.
“Hunter, no. Come with us!”
“You will have a crown someday.” Hunter’s eyes burn with intensity. “And I’ll do my part to get it for you.” He turns and charges toward the oncoming soldiers.
In a flash, our world turns black with shadow. I blink several times before I realize Tristan blanketed us in darkness. I can’t see Hunter anymore. I can barely see a foot in front of me. Beyond the shadows, I hear the clang of swords and the whoosh of arrows as archers shoot toward us.
“Let’s go,” Tristan says urgently.
“No!” I turn and push him full in the chest, but he doesn’t budge. An arrow pierces the ground, barely a foot away from my boot.
“This shadow won’t last forever, Red. We leave, now!” He grabs my arm and I wrench it free in my attempt to run toward Hunter, to help him.
With unrestrained strength, the Wolf picks me up and throws me over his broad shoulder.
“Put me down!” I pound on his back with my fists.
He only holds me tighter as he runs in the wrong direction.
Over the clash of metal and pounding footsteps, I hear Hunter’s voice. “Take care of her, Tristan!”
Tristan sprints toward the city ruins with me kicking and screaming. True to his word, the further we run from the fight, the more the shadow dissipates. At the crumbling wall, he skids to a halt and drops me to my feet.
“I need you to run, Red. You understand?”
My eyes keep searching for Hunter in the chaos behind us.
Tristan grabs my chin roughly, forcing me to look at him. “If you can’t focus, they’ll kill you.”
“But Hunter—”
“Will die for nothing if you don’t escape.”
Tears prick my eyes, but I know he’s right. I nod.
As we scramble up the city wall, I can’t help but glance back one last time.
My heart sinks. The shadow is little more than whisps of smoke now.
Hunter is surrounded, fighting the knights who used to be his brothers.
It’s a losing battle and we all know it.
But that’s not the point. Hunter, with his noble sensibilities and courageous heart, is sacrificing himself so that Tristan and I have a chance to escape.
“Focus!” Tristan yells. His hand clamps around my wrist.
“But we can’t leave him!”
“Yes, we can.” His eyes bore into mine. “And we will.”
A soldier catches up to us and Tristan swings his bronze sword. The man falls over the side of the wall and his armor makes a sickening crunch on the rubble below. The sound of battle fades behind us as we plunge deeper into the ruinous labyrinth of Ellyll.
“In here.” Tristan practically pushes me through a narrow alley hidden by tree roots and overgrown bushes. We crouch low, trying to catch our breath. The sound of clanking armor grows louder, then fainter as soldiers run past.
Now that I have a moment to think, to breathe, a sudden fury ignites in me. We were so close! I can’t give up now. I draw my knife from the ankle of my boot. In the span of a breath, I whirl on Tristan, pushing him into the stone wall, my silver blade at his chest.
After the momentary shock, he lets out a low laugh. “Here we are again, Red. Isn’t this how we met?”
“Tell me,” I demand, pressing my blade higher, up toward his throat. “I held up my end of the bargain. I got you to the border.” I nod toward the mountain. “You saw it with your own eyes.”
“Saw,” he repeats. “I have not stepped on Annwyn soil yet, as you recall.”
“Tell me!” Tears of desperation prickle at the corners of my eyes.
The Wolf stares at me for a long moment. “No.”
My face twists in rage. “You promised you’d tell me what happened to my grandmother if I helped you escape. You promised!” I bang on his chest with my fist.
“I promised I’d tell you what I know.” Tristan says. He leans in toward my ear. “All I know is she’s dead and the queen knows who killed her.”
Numbness crystalizes over me like ice. “So, it was murder.” My voice is frail. I knew it was true. Deep in my core, I knew Grandmother’s death wasn’t an accident. Fury blazes anew in my chest. I was right all along.
My gaze travels back up to the Wolf’s cold, gray eyes.
“Come with me,” he says.
The bluntness of his request catches me off guard. “What?”