He didn’t even flinch. “I’m not talking about this exact second. How are you finding the trials?”
My lips parted in surprise. “Well, apart from the constant fear of failing and being ripped away from my friends, fantastic. How are you?”
Pure sarcasm.
“You have friends now?” he asked with a sad smile. “That’s good.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “That’s what you decide to focus on?” Something in his slumped posture made me hesitate and soften. “What is this about? What’s wrong?”
He stepped into my shadow. With a quick glance over my shoulder, he whispered in my ear, “Just get through the trials, Serena. Please. I can’t protect you anymore.”
Fear and desperation broke his voice.
“What are you talking about?” I muttered.
His hot breath tickled my ear. “D’you remember what Hilda said on your first day? That other camps wouldn’t take you on, and it was a new policy?”
He leaned back slightly so he could look me in the eye. An intense stare endured.
“Of course …”
Hunter didn’t wait for me to finish. “Well, there have been a lot of changes in Diana’s policies regarding humans lately. That was just one in a long list. D’you remember what I said about Morgan’s fears of conflict with the east?”
I was already nodding. “Yes. Hunter, what—”
“The rumors among the Hunt suggest something’s triggered Morgan into speeding up preparations for war. That’s why she’s started interfering more with the Riverlands Court. First, by getting Diana to break her laws on buying and training slaves—”
I’d heard this last bit before. I stopped him with a wave of my hand. “What’s this got to do with you thinking you need to protect me?”
Hunter wet his lips. A hoarse whisper followed. “In the past, the recruits that fail the trials more than once were re-sold in the Riverlands, and often went on to be domestics in high born houses or the court.”
A cold spike barreled down my spine at the thought.
He went on quickly, quietly, “But Diana’s changed her laws again. All to accommodate Morgan’s war efforts. So now, the Hunt is getting called in to escort the failures to the Solar Court, where we hand them over to the spiders.”
I swayed, and the earth moved with me. I fought to calm my thoughts, to clear my mind. “What would Morgan want with Diana’s castoffs?”
His reply was barely audible. “Officially, the Wild Hunt doesn’t ask questions. We take orders.”
A pause, during which my skin crawled. “What about unofficially?” I prompted.
Hunter went impossibly stiff. “Morgan thinks Diana’s camps create soft soldiers, and she’s grown impatient. It’s why she pushed for no second chances and for the weaker recruits to be brought to Solar. From there, Morgan plans to transform the humans into real warriors and re-conscript them for the Solar armies. Hilda only handed out an opportunity to come back today because Dianna ordered her to. My guess is she wanted to make sure her daughter got through to the end.”
My core tightened in response. Stars, Adrianna wouldn’t like that.
Hunter looked away. Shit. He seemed … shifty. Guilty.
“There’s more?” I urged.
Hunter’s pained eyes drifted to mine again. “The Solar camps aren’t kind to humans. They’re segregated from fae recruits so that friendships, like the ones you’ve developed, don’t happen. Then, they’re forced into harsh training cycles. Harsher than at Kasi, anyway.”
I blinked. Harsher.
Suddenly he gripped my elbow, pinning me with a wide-eyed stare that had the look of a cornered animal. I’d seen such fear before in the game my father would trap, in the rabbits that would spot the knife intended for their throats. The sight had always made me nauseous, and now that same horror claimed my gut.
Hunter began, “Morgan’s decreed that it’s too wasteful for humans to become domestics now that the east is stirring again. It won’t be long before she declares all humans to be the property of the army. All except the witches, who’ll form their own units. D’you understand what I’m saying? The Riverland’s camps—their armies—they’re the only safe place left for you. And I pulled in every favor, every string, to be the one to come here on escort duty. All so I could warn you. If you lose a trial, run.”
It took a few stunned blinks before something finally clicked. “What about Cassandra?”
His wings twitched. Although, it could’ve been a tremor. “There’s nothing to be done. I can’t do what she wants. We’ll both be killed.”
That resigned tone. He’d lied.
Disgust made me break away and push him back. I was about to turn, to scream at Cassandra to run, but he pulled me in again, his grip biting down. Hissing under his breath, he said, “Don’t you understand? I’m risking everything just by telling you. All I’ve thought about over the past couple of months is trying to find out what I can. I’ve lied. I’ve—” He cut himself off, his face crumpling.
Enough. I was done. “No more excuses.”
A low growl reverberated. A one-word warning. Flame and shadow guttered in his eyes, his grip tightened, and I realized he’d never let me see this side before. This was his other face—the one with no mercy. Where had my friend gone? Had he ever existed?
“Aren’t you even going to warn her?” My voice was soft, so soft.
That’s when the darkness in him snuffed out. He released me, and his arms fell to his sides. A haunting emptiness echoed in his voice. “A good hunter knows that it’s better if the prey doesn’t see the knife coming.”
I blinked and blurted out, “You’re sick.”
Hunter looked like he’d been speared through the gut. “I’m trying, Serena. I want to be worthy …”
“Try harder.”
I whirled around to tell Cassandra. She deserved a rutting chance.
My blood crystallized in my veins. Dimitri was there, speaking to her. Then his malevolent eyes shifted to us. He made straight for us.
“What’s this?” he drawled as he stopped. “Surely not another one of your fae lovers?”
His voice was mocking and oily. I resisted the urge to hit him square in his smirking mouth, and tried to sound light and pleasant in my reply. “Sorry—I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No?” he crooned. “What about poor Wilder? Or have you finally spurned him? I suppose now that you no longer get any perks as his student, whoring yourself out to him isn’t worth the effort.”
He’s goading you. Keep calm, Auntie warned.
My chin went up a jot. “There was never anything between us.”
His lazy smile had my eyes narrowing. Bastard.
He prowled close; I didn’t budge an inch. He studied me for a moment, pure disdain written into every line of his face. Then he spat on the ground next to me. “What about your wingless protector?” he snarled. “You’re clearly lovers, given your scents, but his reaction to you in the arena wasn’t right or normal.”
“Normal?” I voiced delicately.
A mistake to tease the snake; he bit back. “He cares for you too much.”
I smothered the abuse I so longed to hurl at him. And managed a polite response—barely. “We’re lovers and allies. It’s not against the law.”
He bared his teeth and loosened a breath, which made an odd rattling noise as it hit the gap in his front teeth. And yet, he said nothing.
Hunter silently moved to my side. I could only guess what was going through his head right now. I wasn’t sure that I cared. Let him think I was a whore. He obviously didn’t mind throwing the word around.
Dimitri’s eyes darted between Hunter and me as if seeking revelation. He twisted the knife deeper by saying, “You have some very interesting friends for a perfectly normal human. You’ve not only won the affections of a seasoned and previously celibate Warrior …”
I nearly choked. Celibate?
“… but you’ve also bedded a wingless deviant who can’t seem to stop himself running to your rescue. And by the hurt looks this one’s been shooting you during our conversation,” Dimitri gestured to Hunter, “I suppose you’re somehow involved too?”