She dragged me up by my top, and I yelped as the hooves approached. A small cart pony shook his head, lifting his sad brown gaze to meet mine. He shook out his shaggy blonde mane, so stark against the russet of his coat.
‘Prove it.’
Gritting my teeth, I thought of Matthias, my desperation to ensure his safety. I reached inside and found the silver tethers of my faltering gift. The pony turned his head.
‘It’ll work better if I ride him,’ I said.
She snorted. ‘Fuck off. You’ll stand here and get that little bugger to rear up.’
Issuing a silent apology to Pumpkin, he rose up on his tired hind legs. There was a temptation to get him to strike the hunter, but I wouldn’t risk them punishing the pony.
‘Nice trick,’ she said, crossing her arms. ‘Now make him stand on his front legs.’
‘He’s not a circus horse,’ I snarled. ‘He’ll walk in a figure of eight.’
Pumpkin obeyed, leaving a perfect trail in the dusty ground.
She nodded, before craning her neck to the hunter behind her, a tall, lean female with short black hair and empty eyes.
‘You thinking what I’m thinking?’
A wide grin split up the other hunter’s face. I swiped another trickle of blood from my upper lip, grimacing. Hunters who’d just run across a lone Anomaly who could summon the beasts? I was a living, breathing pot of gold.
‘It won’t work,’ I cried, my voice breaking. ‘How do you think I ended up like this?’
‘And yet, you’re still alive after facing one of those cursed buggers.’ She turned to the hunter behind her, slapping her hand on the woman’s shoulder before striding off.
‘Tie the witch up, then heal her, all except that battered ankle of hers. We don’t want her running off. We’ve got ourselves a new weapon, lads. One we can beat if it fails.’
‘Shit,’ I muttered as rough hands grabbed my face and blessed relief flooded my torn body.
Pissing off the hunters was the only thing keeping me going as they dragged me closer and closer to Graig Du. The land was increasingly barren as the black mound of rock jutted like a poisoned thorn from the ashy earth.
‘Two days, witch,’ Hettie, the hunters’ troll of a leader spat at me. ‘Two days and you ain’t even brought one paltry ’fol our way?’
I wriggled against the tight ropes around my wrists, desperate to scratch the itch. ‘It may have escaped your notice, but we’re the only pricks out here.’
She slapped my raw cheek, and I winced.
‘You’ve got one day to bring me a diafol or I’ll take my dagger to that pretty little face of yours. See how much your precious husband loves you then.’
I bit down on the side of my cheek to stop myself from answering the bitch back. She shoved me to the ground, while she and the other hunters set up camp. I glared at hermassive back, watching her huge muscles roll as she gathered the remnants of wood from the wagon to get a fire going. I’d no chance of beating her and the others, and although they hadn’t worked out I was partially sighted, I was at a massive disadvantage.
My nostrils flared as I imagined the look on her face when I had her stripped from the Guild. Who did they think they were protecting out here? From watching them, I realised these were no fearless fighters offering salvation from the corrupted beasts to the villages and towns hounded by Vyrus’s demons. They were chancers. Greed-filled mercenaries who came to the middle of nowhere, where they were more likely to come across a diafol. Cashing in on the skins, while protecting no one.
Darkness fell and sleep evaded me for the third night on the run. I turned onto my side, tears fighting their way out, and stared into the inky void. The frigid air filled with their snores and wheezes. Whoever was on guard duty hacked and spat.
As far as I knew, I was travelling further and further away from Matthias. The old familiar emptiness cracked and widened in my chest once more as I lay there, wondering if I’d ever see him again. I closed my eyes, swallowing hard as a sob rose up my throat. For all I knew, he’d given up, returned to his palace. Or perhaps he was at Graig Du right now, terrifyingly close, mourning my death while searching for Vyrium. I bit my bottom lip hard as I thought of Ifan. Was his attack personal, or, as I suspected, were his aims to remove Matthias from the throne? He’d already tried to kill the queen. Was he prepared to kill his brother and king? Maybe he’d already got to him. I swallowed the tears back. I’d know if he were dead. Surely I’d know?
Closing my eyes, I pictured his beautiful face. Had I ever told him how I could spend eternity watching the gold flecks in his eyes flicker in the sunlight? Or how I used to spend half our childhood stealing glances, wondering if he’d even noticedI loved him? I sighed, sending the words out to the sliver of moon, praying to Evella he was looking up at the same light now, sensing my thoughts.
I needed him to understand how the mere whisper of his fingers sent a force greater than lightning through my blood. Did he have the slightest clue how much I regretted how we’d been denied the time to give in to the desire blazing through me whenever his lips found mine? That my final thought on this cursed planet would be of him and him alone.
Did he know how I craved him? Admired him? How he’d held my heart and soul from our first moment?
‘I love you, Matthias Elmswood,’ I whispered, closing my eyes and speeding my words to the fading silver crescent.
A tear broke free, hitting the ground, and I sighed, before a hunter scratched, letting out wind. Gods, could this get any worse? I stared into the darkness, waiting for the new dawn.
