Agnes reaches the door first, but before she can push it open, the cold metal of a blade presses against my throat.
“Did you really think we wouldn’t know what she was?” the hunter behind me says.
My skin heats as my mother turns, her eyes blown wide. The blade digs against my throat as I turn to face the hunter, a few drops of blood trickling down onto my shirt. From my peripherals, Sam is in the same predicament. A blade tucked under her chin. And behind her, Jarek as well.
Shite. Shite. Shite.
“Let’s all just calm down,” Park says from behind the counter.
“Stay out of this, barkeep,” the hunter holding Sam barks. “This Enchantress is the one breaking the law.” He removes his blade from Sam’s throat and points it at Agnes. “You are under arrest for the use of magick and to be handed over to?—”
A loud guttural sound releases from Jarek as he flings his head backward, colliding it into the hutner’s nose. Blood spews, coating the ground and the hunter’s face. Screams erupt from inside the pub as patrons flee for the back door.
Here we go, then.
I follow suit, elbowing the hunter holding me in his gut. As he doubles over, the blade slips enough from my throat for me to maneuver away.
Park is up and over the counter before I can scream his name. His wooden club smashes into the back of the hunter who still holds Sam. She spins, now free from the hunter’s grip, as her boot lands in the man’s chest. He topples to the ground, and she kicks him again until his eyes roll to the back of his head. She goes to kick him again, but I take a step forward and grab her arm.
“Enough, Sam.” Her eyes flare, fire igniting. Hatred and whatever pent up anger she has is letting loose on this man who dignifies hunting innocent Enchantresses. I share her rage, but now is not the time to linger. Jarek’s fist collides with the last hunter’s jaw, the final blow landing him face down on the floor.
“Jarek,” Sam gasps, running to his side. Blood spills from his nose, but otherwise he seems to be okay.
“Drop your weapons.”
My stomach curdles. I spin around, and my heart slams against my chest, the ache ricocheting deep into my bones.
“I said drop them.” The third hunter, the one that was holding me, stands shakily with a dagger to Agnes’ neck.
One by one, our weapons clatter to the floor. The two disabled hunters groan from the floor. Their faces and bodies, bloodied and bruised by the hands of my family.
But I didn’t do my part.
I let this man stand and now he holds a blade to my mother’s throat.
“It’s my job to take this woman to the king. Anyone who stands in my way will be arrested for treason,” the hunter says, his blade pressing deeper into my mother’s skin.
Treason.
As if what Roman has been doing isn’t treason itself.
“Arrested by who?” Jarek says from behind me. “Looks like you’re out of men.”
The hunter’s lips turn up in a smile, and as if on cue, the door swings open and in comes not one, but five more hunters.
Eleven
Samaria
Everything in lifeseems to happen either very quickly, or very slowly. And at this moment, everything happens so very, very quickly.
One minute, I grasp Jarek in a hug, thankful he is alive; the next, I’m gripping my chest, terrified that I’m about to witness my mother be taken from me.
“This can be easy,” the hunter holding Agnes says. The five other hunters now surround us completely. “Let us take the Enchantresses, and you men are free to go.”
Jarek tenses behind me, his grip firm upon my shoulders, but the hunters have their weapons drawn. I glance at our weapons on the floor, but they’re just out of reach.
Think, Sam.How do we get out of this?
