“What d’you even want with us?” I blurted out. As if I couldn’t already guess.
Tysion’s leering gaze moved from Hunter to me. Hate and disgust fueled his words. “We don’t want you. But there is someone who wants to restore Wilder to the fae he used to be. The male that used to fell armies before breakfast and cut males down like stalks of wheat.” Angling his sword back to Wilder, he added, “Not this pathetic husk that allows himself to mope over a bitch who’s so desperate for advantage, she fucks a debased fae. You’re not even good enough to scrape the mud off his boots. Once he’s come to his senses, he’ll see it too.”
My fury broke free from its reins. Hunter’s arm tightened as if he’d heard the snap of the leash. My voice was a taunting whisper. “It sounds like you’re in love with Wilder. Or maybe, you just have a problem with females? I wouldn’t be surprised if you were feeling bitter.”
Such reckless words.
Wrath contorted his face at the implication. “What are you talking about?”
“Adrianna,” I sang lightly. “A female fae beat and humiliated you in front of hundreds of people. So if anyone’s the bitch here, it’s you.”
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Tysion closed the distance between us in two bounds, his fangs going for my throat.
Then I was eating dirt—literally. Hunter had shoved me aside. Coughing, spitting out earth, I looked up to see Hunter had strung his bow. His arrowhead marked for Tysion’s chest. “Enough,” he commanded. “You’ve had your fun. No one ordered you to damage the hostages or stand around gloating.”
Tysion snarled in his face, but he didn’t go for me again. “She’d have healed by the time we got to court. Besides, what’s one more bruise? She’ll have far worse once she realizes how deep his attachment goes.”
She? Shit. Of course, Morgan.
Hunter was quiet, thoughtful. “I know. That’s why you’re going to take Wilder and leave us behind. He’s the prize, not her.”
I scrambled to a kneeling position, my mind racing, trying to order his actions into a chain of events that made sense.
Tysion’s shock mirrored my own. “She’s the key to controlling him.”
Hunter lifted his chin a touch, but otherwise, he was unmoved. “Perhaps. You’re still going to leave her behind.”
A wicked snarl came from Tysion as he dipped his head, his eyes darkening. It was an all too familiar fae stance. A threat, plain and simple. “Why would I do that?”
Hunter looked down the length of the arrow. Almost exasperated. “Isn’t the arrow pointed at your chest a good enough motivator? If you want to keep pushing me, take another step.”
“You’ll shoot me?” Tysion asked, his words a lethal embrace.
Hunter cocked his head. “Obviously. But I won’t shoot to kill. I’ll leave you to bleed. I’m sure one of the sprites haunting this place would be very happy to eat you alive.”
My gut spurred with dread. I’d never seen true cruelty in him before. Just infamous fae arrogance.
Tysion’s hooded eyes focused in on the arrow’s tip, and suddenly widened in stark realization. “You missed your shot at her on purpose, didn’t you?”
Hunter’s huffed in polite incredulity. “Finally got there, did you?”
Tysion just scowled. “You’re a fucking idiot. D’you have any idea what she’ll do to you?”
Hunter’s shoulders jerked up in an attempt at a casual shrug, but he couldn’t hide the despair that shadowed his face. “Force a blood oath? Make me into a spider? Torture me for years? Who can really say with her?”
“You’re risking damnation for that?” Tysion jabbed a finger down at me. “For a human—for a woman? What use is she? She’ll grow old. You’ll be stuck with sagging teats and a graying bush.”
I almost snorted aloud, but things were already on a knife edge.
Hunter sounded soft and deadly as he responded. “That doesn’t matter to me. Now, take him and go.”
I stopped breathing.
Tysion hissed through an adder’s tongue, “You’re making a mistake—”
“Go!” Hunter roared.
The sound made my knees wobble as I stood. Tysion tossed me one final filthy look before slinking back to Wilder and lifting him. I let out an agonized groan as he fled with his prize. The firelights seemed agitated and confused, but they didn’t follow Tysion. They stayed with me, circling above.
Hunter released a held breath and relaxed the bow string. He stowed the arrow in the quiver at his back. Finally, his tortured eyes found mine. Before he could speak or make excuses, the black wrath that had been building now fixated on him. I drew my Utem? and advanced. Two paces. My blade went to his neck. Hunter made no move to defend himself. It didn’t matter; I was one step from opening his throat onto the ground. “Go after him. Get him back.”
No movement. Not even a blink.
I screamed so savagely, so wildly, it was as if my throat had been torn asunder. “DO IT! DO IT NOW! Or I swear, I’ll kill you.”
My voice broke. Damn.
“No, you won’t,” he said quietly. So assured. So rutting confident.
My sword-arm twitched, but I didn’t strike. I needed him. “I can’t track them, and I can’t beat Tysion. But you can.”
“Probably. But I won’t go after them,” Hunter whispered.
“Fine.”
I lowered the blade to my side. I’d had my chance. He was right: I didn’t want his blood on my hands.
I made a move to pass him, to go after Wilder. Hunter blocked me, spreading his gray wings wide. I made another move that he also stopped. My fists curling, nails biting into palms, I spat, “Get out of the way!”
Hunter shook his head. Just once. “Tysion would only capture you, and then both our lives would be over.”
I swallowed the rage roiling beneath my skin with monumental effort. “Explain.”
Hunter hurried on. “After Dimitri saw us together, Morgan sent me a summons. And she got inside, Serena.” He tapped the side of his head; a grimace of remembered pain flashed across his face. “She saw you through my eyes.”
“What d’you mean she got inside? Got inside how?”
Eyes shuttering, he answered. “Morgan can break minds, hear thoughts. She extracted my memories of you. The cage. Your attacker. The knowledge I’d shared … My feelings. Our friendship.”
I tried to hide my disgust, my contempt. As if I could feel anything for him. All I could think was Wilder, Wilder, Wilder.
“Serena?” Hunter whispered my name. Like it meant a damned thing. Like we were still friends. As though he cared for me.
A creeping suspicion bloomed into a question. “Why would she send you? If she saw that you had feelings for me, why trust you to capture me?”
Hunter shook his head; a slow, sad movement. “She doesn’t trust me. She doesn’t trust anyone. Picking me to capture you was a test and a punishment. If I proved disloyal, she promised to make me into one of her spiders. Enslaved to her for all eternity.” A tremor had made its way into his voice.
Emotion swelled and closed my throat. I pushed it down to where it belonged. I needed answers, not excuses. “Why risk that to save me then? You’re more than willing to sacrifice Wilder.”
His wings collapsed a little. As if some great weight settled on his shoulders. “I can’t hand you over knowing what she’d do. You’re the only friend I’ve got.”
I blinked. Anger met grief in a violent outburst. “Well, then, you’ve got nobody!”
“Serena …”
“No—no excuses! You betrayed me! You’ve lied to me! You never told me how bad things were in the Solar camps. And you sold Cassandra out because it was easier than fighting back. And you’re doing the same thing now!” A sob got caught in my throat as the truth of what he’d done really sunk in. I kept on. “You sacrificed Wilder! You shot at him. At his wings—his wings!”
Hunter’s eyes twitched in a wince. “I had to.”
I clenched my jaw so hard it hurt. Treacherous, lying …