“I don’t know about you, but I’ve got no appetite for hunting,” says Sandria, with an abrupt yawn. She taps one cousin on the shoulder, signaling for the pair to follow her. “Have fun without me.”
I watch her go, feeling perplexed. I assumed she’d be keen to enjoy the merriment as long as it lasted. The princess strikes me as the type who’d squeeze all the revelry out of life that she can.
I’m very aware of the whooping and hollering as the princes and their cohorts hype themselves up for the hunt.
Daisy snatches my hand. Her face is alight with the same excitement as the crowd’s. “Come on! Let’s try to get a good spot,” she says, tugging me forward.
Half of me wants to follow Sandria to our rooms. But the other half feels duty bound to witness this. So I let Daisy drag me with the throng of partygoers onto the lawn.
Wrong. This is wrong.The injustice blasts through me like flashes of lightning. Can I reach the fyrehound before the hunters and intercede? I know the land better. The hills in Easton are not dissimilar to the Ironwoods. I know how to cross the narrow canyons and become invisible in the labyrinth of pines. The smell of the forest and the cold east wind around me are aching reminders of the home I ran away from. The stars are spectacular, but I have no heart to appreciate them.
A crowd has gathered, and stable hands have brought up a dozen horses for Sebastian and his friends. Finn is among them, naturally. So is Damien. Everyone’s grinning. Everyone’s excited to be doing this.
What in the hell am I doing here?
I feel like I’m burning to death.
Fyrehounds are peaceful creatures. They don’t hunt like normal hounds or wolves. They burrow and eat coal, and can have near-immortal lifespans. Queen Soleste’s bonded hound is said to have lived for five hundred years. To see one bound in a cage like this…apup…
Something inside me is breaking, rending.
Will it be Finn who deals the final blow? Could I ever touch him again after that?
I’m only distantly aware of my surroundings as Daisy chatters excitedly by my side. Then comes the countdown, when the crowd roars with one accord: “FIVE! FOUR!”
I am silent. Petrified.Do something, that voice inside me roars.Save it!But I feel rooted to the spot. Powerless.
The stars pitch around me.
“THREE! TWO! ONE!”
The cage door crashes open.The fyrehound streaks into the fading twilight, disappearing into the forest just as a great explosion of light and color erupts overhead. Fireworks.
The hunters shoot off, Finn among them. I lose sight of him within the horde. Their excitement is audible for a long while after they’ve disappeared.
And the fyrehound’s howls soar above me, on and on.
knock wrenches me from sleep.
It takes me a panic-filled moment to get my bearings. I’m upstairs in my chambers at Easton, where I fled after the hunt started. Many of the partygoers stayed outside to wait for the hunters’ return, but I told Daisy that the wine had made me sick and I needed to retire early. I was so exhausted from the day that I fell asleep in my party dress, the corset still drawn tight.
Blearily, I look around. It’s too dark to be morning. Another knock sounds, more urgently.
I throw on a robe, murmuring the charm to conceal my ears and double-knotting my kerchief to be safe. Then I hurry to answer. I don’t know who to expect on the other side of the door. Odessa, here to threaten me again? Daisy, hoping togossip? Sandria with another confusing invitation? I’m not sure I trust anyone anymore. But it’s enough to jolt me awake when I wrench the door open and find the last face I expected.
Finn.
Something’s wrong.
He’s drenched in rain and reeks like a swamp. I don’t smell blood on him, thank the Gods, but there’s an ominous energy around him nonetheless. Something has happened to him. Something has shifted. He looks pale and more wan than I’ve ever seen him, except when he was half dead.
After weeks of being ignored, I’m torn between slamming the door in his face or collapsing into his arms straightaway. I have strong urges toward both. But, instead, I usher him in before I can stop myself.
As he steps past, I poke my head out the door and glance down the hall for onlookers. I don’t need more trouble. But I find the hall dark and empty. After scanning with my Talent, I determine we’re the only ones awake on this floor. Everything is still. Eerily silent.
I turn back to Finn with my heart pounding. He’s standing stiff in the middle of the chamber, looking childishly marooned.
“I’m sorry for coming so late,” he mumbles. “I just needed to talk.”
