We rode hard side by side, no longer concerned with the amount of sound we made. Alerting the dwellers to our presence was the least of our worries. We moved at breakneck speed, running away from a greater threat than those monsters.
I followed Fowler, keeping pace. If there was even a chance he was correct, then we needed to move. The barking grew closer, right on our heels, but we kept pushing. An arrow hissed on the air and my horse cried out, tumbling out from under me and sending me flying. I landed hard, all the air escaping me in a pained whoosh. I lay on the ground for a stunned moment.
“Luna!” Fowler’s shout rose over the thunder of hooves.
I blinked, chasing away the shock of my fall. Hands grabbed me, hauling me to my feet. I whipped my head around, trying to process the flurry of voices, horses, men, and scurrying dogs. It was an overwhelming din. Even the air tasted musky and sweat-laced. Bitter with fear. My fear.
“Luna! Luna! Are you hurt? Let her go! Let her go, you bastards!”
I shook my head, searching for my voice, trying to filter through the chaos of sensations bombarding me.
“Fowler.” A gruff, scratchy voice rose over all other sounds. “You look well, if not a little rough at the edges. Don’t tell me that King Tebald was not hospitable to you.”
My skin shivered with an innate, gut-deep knowledge. My voice welled up, a thick, jumbled lump of words in my throat. This was Cullan. The man who had murdered my parents. Untold, innumerable lives had died at his command. I’d waited my entire life to confront him. True, I’d hoped to have more leverage when that day arrived, but here I was.
My chance was now.
THIRTY-THREE
Fowler
I FACED MY father. I wasn’t certain the last time I had seen him. Days weren’t something one counted in this life. There were no seasons to mark the passing of time. No birthdays to celebrate—but it felt as if I’d lived a lifetime since the last time I stood before him.
He traveled with over a score of soldiers, all armed to the teeth. A dozen dogs circled the group impatiently, excited over their recent chase. I should have known if anything would rouse my father from the protection of Relhok City, news of Luna would do it.
He looked the same. The years had been good to him. Only faint lines fanned out from his face. His well-trimmed beard was lightly peppered with gray. He still wore his hair long, pulled back in a single plait. I had hoped that age and disease might take hold of him and spare the world, but that clearly wasn’t the case. I reached inside myself, searching for the familiar hate, but there was only dispassion—emptiness when I stared at this man who had failed me in every way.
“So this is the princess.” Cullan’s white teeth flashed in a smile as he dismounted to stand before Luna, where she dangled between two soldiers. “She is the spitting image of her mother, but I’m sure Tebald told you that already. He was rather obsessed with the woman. Pathetic man. Weak, losing his head over any female.” He tapped his temple. “That’s the difference between us. I use my head. That old fool thinks with other parts.” Cullan laughed and the rest of his men joined in.
I struggled against the hands that held me back. In the distance a dweller cried out—not surprisingly, given the noise we were making—but the sound hardly alarmed me. Right now I faced a far greater menace.
“Don’t touch her,” I warned, glaring at my father, staring at green eyes so similar to my own and yet not. These eyes were dead inside. Impossible to breach. They felt nothing for no one.
Cullan laughed. “Speaking of weak men, you, my son, always did pick the worst girls to attach yourself to.” He shook his head with a tsking sound.
His words made me think of Bethan and what he did to her. And that had not been personal to him. That had been about me. Luna was personal to him. She was a threat to everything he held important.
My father continued, “I blame your mother and that nurse of yours. They made you soft.” His voice turned hard and accusing. “Such a disappointment. I should have taken you in hand from the start and made a man of you.”
The dweller that had cried out moments ago called out again. It was close. I scanned the horizon, spotting it, visible now. Its pale body shuffled toward our group. It was only one. It didn’t concern anyone. My father’s men would dispatch it quickly.
Cullan followed my gaze to the lone dweller. A slow smile eased over his features. “Ah. What do we have here? A friend come to join us?”
An icy finger of dread scraped down my spine as my father turned to face the creature. Cullan studied it as it shuffled closer and then looked back to me. He turned his gaze to Luna, arching an eyebrow in consideration.
She hung between two burly soldiers, shaking, her face pale. I wondered what was going through her mind. She’d heard about this man all her life. Cullan had taken everything from her. Her parents. Her home. Her very identity was something she’d had to hide for fear of him.
A soldier started toward the dweller, sword drawn.