Luke comes running with Hank fluttering and clucking on his heels. “Where have you been?”
“We fell asleep,” Jules replies honestly, too distracted to feel shy. “What’s happened? Where is everyone?”
“They’re in the orchard,” Luke spits. “Waiting on the edges of the forest. The poisoners and the queen, Queen Katharine, she challenged them to a hunt!”
“A hunt?” Joseph repeats, and his brow furrows. “Luke, where is Arsinoe?”
“I don’t know! She went into the woods first with Braddock. Both of them are after her now. Especially that poisoner. She kept staring at Queen Arsinoe the whole time!”
“Where?” Jules demands, and when Luke starts to sputter, she reaches out and shakes him. “Where?”
“The southern edge, near the creek. But she could have gone anywhere. Where were you, Jules? Why weren’t you here?”
Jules does not answer. She runs for the forest, not near the orchard where the crowd would see her, but up the hill and off the road to follow the stream. Camden sprints ahead, her pink nose twitching and scenting the air. In her panic and haste, Arsinoe may have gone anywhere. But she will not have left Braddock behind, and the scent of the bear will be easy for Camden to pick up.
“Jules, wait,” Joseph calls out. He is right on her heels, but even his long stride is no match for her short one when her blood is up.
“Wait for what?” she snaps, frustrated. She pauses for one step and turns. “I know that we can’t interfere. But I can’t let her be hunted out there alone, Joseph. Can you?”
“No.” He grabs her arm and they start to run again. “We have to find her.”
THE QUEENS’ HUNT
The poisoners see Braddock first. His enormous, shaggy form is impossible to hide. Arsinoe hears the cries and then the hoofbeats. She looks at her bear.
“Run!”
But a great brown’s instinct is not to run. It is to fight. He turns toward their pursuers, still far off in the trees. He sniffs the air curiously and stands up on his hind legs.
“No,” Arsinoe pleads. She pats his side desperately and motions with her hands toward where they must go, deeper into the trees, into the dense growth where the horses will not have speed. “Please, Braddock, please come! They’ll kill you!”
They cannot kill him. The big sweet bear. The poisoners will remember the havoc he wreaked the night of the Quickening. They will not take any chances. They will not give Arsinoe any time to tell them that he is not mean-tempered; that it was all her fault.
“Come on, Braddock, come on!” Her feet move in place, and her eyes dart between him and the approaching riders. Katharine is in the lead, her crossbow raised.
“Please!” Arsinoe hisses, and then cries out with relief when he drops to all fours and follows her into the underbrush.
Mirabella stiffens at the sound of running horses. They are close, but she is safe enough, high in her tree. She presses against the trunk and braces her legs, her feet stuck firmly into the V of a branch. Bree and Elizabeth left to run decoy only a short time ago. She lost track of them almost immediately. Will she see them run past with Katharine on their heels? Or a bear? She clenches and unclenches her fists. Her lightning is stronger than her fire, but the fire is faster. And more accurate.
The shouting and hoofbeats grow louder, and she twists to see whether she can spot movement. The noises are violent. Crashing. But Elizabeth and Bree set off in the opposite direction. They should be safe unless they have circled back.
It is terrible, waiting there, listening to her sisters hunting each other. Wondering what is happening. Not knowing what to hope for. The clever thing to do would be to remain right where she is. To wait for it to be over and for Bree and Elizabeth to return.
Mirabella climbs down from her tree and drops to the ground.
Her sister and her bear have heard them coming and darted into the foliage like frightened rabbits, but it will not save them. The distance covered by Half Moon’s legs is much greater than the distance covered by Arsinoe’s. If Arsinoe were smart, she would ride the bear. Or perhaps there are limits to even what a familiar will allow.
“Don’t lose them!” Nicolas calls, exhilarated, his eyes bright. Even Pietyr has gotten into the spirit of things and rides as focused as a diving hawk.
The bear comes into view, and Katharine holds her crossbow at the ready. But she is not after it. The others, with their weapons edged with sleeping draught, may have their fun with him. She wants only Arsinoe. It was always going to be Arsinoe she hunted, the one from Wolf Spring, the one who would die here, in front of her own city. It seems only fitting.
Half Moon thunders through the ferns and shrubs, and the bear grows larger ahead, dwarfing the black-dressed queen running by its side. Katharine should have painted poison onto Half Moon’s shoes so she could simply ride Arsinoe into the ground. Oh well. Perhaps she will save that for Mirabella.
She smiles until the bear turns to fight.
“No, Braddock, no!” Arsinoe shouts, and stomps her feet, but he will not obey. He is tired of running. The hoofbeats and unfamiliar voices coming closer and closer make him angry. He stands on his hind legs and roars so they will go away. He will not swat them unless he has to.
Arsinoe does not know what to do. They cannot stop, but he will not come. She shakes her head and turns to run on alone but stops after only a few strides. He is her bear. She cannot leave him.
“Go!” Mirabella shouts.
Arsinoe freezes. She searches the trees and sees Mirabella ducked behind a fat trunk, her hood pulled over her hair.
“Go!” Mirabella orders again, eyes wild. “Go now! Run, Arsinoe! You must run!”
“I can’t!” she cries as Braddock drops to his feet and charges the horses. She can only stand and watch as the knives and arrows fly. She can only listen to him bellow as they sink deep into his soft, brown coat.
She looks at Mirabella through blurry eyes.
“You run,” Arsinoe says. “Save yourself. They have already caught me.” She turns and cups her hands to yell. “Come and get me, you poisoner cowards! If you’re brave enough to go where your horses can’t follow!”
She does not wait to see if they will take the bait. She knows that they will. And she knows where she is. It is not far to the deer thicket, where she can drop to the ground and hide. If she is lucky, Katharine will pass by unaware. Perhaps even close enough that Arsinoe can grab her and slit her throat.
“Stay here!” Katharine orders. She bares her teeth and urges Half Moon past the stumbling, wounded bear, into the bushes after Arsinoe. When Half Moon breaks through the undergrowth, they are well within range, and Katharine takes aim.