Chapter 18
“Iwas taught to fight, Father.” I swung a wooden sword around his personal office. At eight, I thought myself a very skilled warrior. “Why do you want me to run? I can beat them all!”
Father strolled over to me, plucking the toy easily from my grip. His bigger-than-life presence lowered down to my view.
“You know I always want you to fight, Wrennlyn. It is your duty.” His expression grave.
“But if you see that symbol, it is already too late. You run if you can. You understand me?” I nodded at his severity.
“The Night Ravens are a heartless civilization, their soldiers ruthless . . .but the Night Hunters . . .the king handpicks them especially for their brutality. They enjoy it. Finding you would be their ultimate prize.”
I had always assumed Onyx was a Night Shield, but my mind had never associated him with the Hunters. I never thought them capable of any emotion except when they killed.
Cold heat coated my skin, the blade squeezing between my fingers, my feet inching back. My eyes danced over the group, noticing the same insignia on all their leathers.
These were the infamous Night Hunters. The gang who rapes, tortures, and brutalizes their victims.
And they called Onyx their Hersir.
The man who had been by my side this entire journey, the one who gently cut my hair the night before, had washed my wounds.
Though he had also tattooed and chained me up.
In comparison to the brutality out there, the depravity we had run across, I couldn’t merge the image I had in my head of the murderous warriors to the man who had shown moments of kindness, humor, and morals.
All eyes were on me, as if they finally noticed my presence, but it was his dark eyes I could feel on every inch of my body. His force tingling the marks along my neck.
He could sense the change in me when I eased back further.
“Kanin.” So low, it was only meant for me.
“You’re one of them.” My head shook in denial. “You’re not just part of the Night Hunters. You lead them.”
He didn’t answer, but I wasn’t really asking.
“Why didn’t you just kill me the first night?”
“I wasn’t sent to kill you.”
As a woman, if they didn’t kill you, it was because you were meant for something far worse than death.
“Huginn-Muninn.” A chuckle came over from the fire.
“King spends years trying to infiltrate Stallard’s castle with top-tier spies to get her .
. .” Bj?rn cackled louder. “But leave it to you to do it in a few months!” He rubbed his belly, his genuine humor feeling at complete odds with my situation.
“And clearly getting her to come willingly!” His laughter boomed, shaking his whole body, motioning toward me.
“Not even tied up, standing by your side, ready to fight with that tiny thing when you thought we were thieves!” He roared. “You are a fucking legend, brother!”
My gaze darted to Onyx’s, swallowing back the feeling of humiliation, realizing he was right. I stood with my own kidnapper like we were a team.
Allies.
“Don’t take it too hard, lille ravn.” Bj?rn winked at me, his open friendliness extremely jarring. “Stronger women by far have fallen for this stoic bastard.”
“Can you shut up, Bj?rn.” Brynn folded her arms, her jaw tightening in irritation. “Let’s set up camp and eat, so we can get an early start tomorrow.”
“Oooo . . . think I touched a nerve.” Bj?rn winked at me, the smile not leaving his face.
His unguarded happiness was hard to associate with what I had in my mind as a Night Hunter.
Someone malicious and deadly, devoid of any personality except cruelty.
Not this huge guy, who like his namesake bear seemed cuddlier than savage.
She glared at him, stomping off.
“Don’t leave us again, Onyx,” Bj?rn pleaded. “She likes ordering us around too much.”
“Why I left her in charge,” Onyx replied. “Otherwise, you assholes would still be drunk in a pub, missing your clothes and money.”
“Sounds like a good time to me.” Bj?rn snickered. “And that only happened once . . . okay maybe four times.”
“In a month,” Onyx scoffed. “Go, help Brynn out.”
“The Sjef is back.” Boss. Bj?rn winked again at me before retreating after Brynn.
“You too, Sven,” he ordered the younger man.
“Yes, Hersir.” He responded, running off after the others.
Onyx and I were alone.
He slowly turned to face me, taking a step toward me. “Wren . . .” My name was a stab in the heart, dragging down to my gut with the force of a knife.
“No.” I retreated, keeping the same distance, my head wagging back and forth, still fighting the truth. I needed to hear him say it. “You’re a Night Hunter?”
“Yes.”
“The hersir of the Night Hunters.”
“Yes,” he repeated in the same monotone voice.
Biting down, I tried to hide the emotion clogging my throat. “You didn’t tell me.”
“Why would I?”
“Right,” I whispered, realizing how little we actually knew about each other. “I’m just a prisoner to you.”
“Wren—”
“No!” I belted, shaking off the intimacy of my moniker. “You don’t get to use my name! Not now. That’s not what we are. You are a Night Hunter and I’m just the prey, right?”
“Yes!” He huffed, his arms going out. “What else do you think this is? That we are lovers venturing north on holiday?”
I sucked in, stepping back more, the hurt and embarrassment digging in deeper.
“I was sent to retrieve you for the king,” he spat, moving up to me, his frame looming over mine. He seized the blade from my grip. “That is all there was. My duty.”
“Your duty?” I spat back, inching even closer, my hands undoing the cloak ties, letting the fabric slip off my shoulders to the ground. “This was part of your duty?” I trailed my hand down my inked neck, his throat bobbing as his gaze followed the healing symbols. “Making me yours?”
A loud gasp startled both of us, jerking our heads to the side. Brynn stood with horse reins in one hand and a blanket roll under the other, her wide eyes locked on his crafty work. Her wild gaze snapped back and forth between me, my tattoo, and Onyx.
“What did you do?”
“Fuck, I’m starving!” Bj?rn came barreling in, his own large horse behind him. He stopped, noticing the mood change, his regard darting from Brynn to me, pausing on my ink. “What the fuck, Sjef . . .you marked her?”
“I had to!” Anger threaded in Onyx’s tone. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Brynn’s mouth gaped. “You inked her with your mark. That’s a huge—”
“I’m sure he can alter it. Change it to his mark when I hand her over.” Onyx clomped to the fire, throwing more wood on the blaze. “It was a necessary evil. Now drop it.”
“Onyx . . .” Brynn started, dumbfounded.
“I said drop it,” he snapped at her. “That’s an order.”
“I couldn’t find Renyx, but I retrieved his horse.” Sven strolled in with two stunning Friesian horses with dead rabbits hanging off their saddles. His forehead wrinkled, picking up on the tension straining between his friends. “What?”
“I’ll find him,” Onyx muttered, rotating around and vanishing into the darkness. Leaving me alone with the notorious Night Hunters.
All eyes were directed at me, making me feel that I was the next rabbit being stalked.
Brynn glared at me like another Frida, her dislike not hidden on her features, her assessment of me clear. While Bj?rn watched me critically for a moment, then his head tipped back and a booming laugh echoed off the trees.
“Shut up,” Brynn hissed.
“What?” He wiped at his eyes. “You’re not finding this as funny as I am? I’m so shocked.” He grinned cheekily at her. “Probably should pretend to mourn like a loving wife for a bit before you try to hop sacks.”
“Fuck you, Bj?rn!” She whirled on him. “You are such an asshole.” She stomped into the dark in the same direction as Onyx, only making Bj?rn laugh louder.
“A wife?” I repeated, blinking in confusion.
Bj?rn tipped his head to the side, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Her husband was Raelis.”
“Husband? But . . .” I peered out where the two figures disappeared, my intuition telling me she had feelings for Onyx.
“Yes, it can get awkward.” Bj?rn chuckled. “When you’re married, but in love with his best friend, while your husband’s twin is in love with you.”
The smell of cooked rabbit still clung to the air, the fire popping and snapping loudly against the dark cloudy sky.
Onyx, Brynn, and Renyx had returned, but tension hovered over the group.
The Night Hunters openly watched me with a mix of curiosity, aversion, and resentment as we wordlessly ate.
Onyx sat close, but didn’t look or speak a word to me, adding to a heaviness in my gut.
As if we knew something had been lost. Whatever alliance we had made was gone.
While Bj?rn acted oblivious to it all, or just didn’t care.
“To my brothers and sisters, do not stand at my grave, for I am not there. I died with honor and fly free with Huginn and will live forever in Muninn.” Bj?rn lifted his cup, the rest of the crew following suit. “To Raelis!”
“Raelis!” They all cheered his name.
“Bastard . . . you still owed me ten marks,” Bj?rn muttered as he drank.
Renyx stared blankly at the fire, drinking heavily, his eyes blurring with alcohol and emotion. With every sip his dislike of me seemed to expand, his glower crawling over my skin, screaming animosity and vengeance. And from the other side of the fire, Brynn’s abhorrence claimed the same.
There was no one here I could trust. Not even the man next to me.
And there was my problem. I could never trust him. He was the enemy, but somewhere along the way I started to believe differently, which made me even more na?ve and stupid than I was when I started. I was free of bindings, yet I let him lead me.
Earlier tonight I was on my knees . . . for one of Sarina’s killers. For the man who abducted me and would turn me over to the Night King like goods.
The cooked rabbit I barely got down threatened to come back up, the need to cry burning my nose. I would never let him see me break. He would never have that victory.
I stood up, the entire camp jolted at my sudden movement.