Page 70 of The Dead Queen

Hunter lowers his eyes at him, a wheel of wax-covered cheese in his hand. “Only a criminal would think that way.”

Tristan shrugs and sits down on a grassy patch of earth, resting his back against the trunk of a tall tree.

I’m not convinced. “Aren’t you afraid we’ll be recognizable? If Father sent word about our escape …” I let the implications hang in the air, unsaid.

Hunter continues pulling out provisions: strings of dried sausages, fruit, a squished loaf of bread. “News travels slowly outside of Caerwen. As long as we keep moving, we can stay ahead of the warnings.” He turns and hands me an apple.

I reach out to take it, but Hunter grabs my hand. He gives me a meaningful look.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he whispers. He nods toward Tristan. At the fear etched around his eyes, I soften.

“I do,” I tell him, even though I’m not entirely sure it’s true.

He bends down to pull a knife out of his boot, then slices chunks of cheese from the wheel. I watch with curiosity as he sets the cheese on a plate and removes a small jar of jam from the saddlebag.

“So, what is your plan?” I ask. “Will we wander the forests and valleys of our kingdom, waiting for my new little brother to fall out of favor?”

For the first time since our breakup, Hunter’s smile returns.

“Oh, I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I thought maybe we could become peasants for a little while. Play man and wife—or even just friends—in a land far away from here. No one to make threats or demands upon us anymore.” He sighs, like he’s imagined this fantasy for a long time.

“That sounds like a beautiful dream.”

He nods. “Maybe someday, when we’re old and gray, you’ll learn to love me again.”

My heart clenches in my chest.

He grins, teasing. “I don’t want to be off with some other woman with a dozen grandchildren on my knee when that day comes.”

“I don’t see why not. That sounds like a lovely life.” I take a bite of the apple in my hands.

He grows quiet. “Not without you, it doesn’t.”

Over by the tree, Tristan chuckles.

Hunter glowers in his direction, then leans closer to me so the Wolf can’t hear. “How far is it to the borderlands again?”

I give him a chiding look, but smile. Something about the Wolf gets Hunter all out of sorts in a way that I find mildly funny. Usually nothing rattles Hunter like this.

“If we ride quickly and head straight north, we could probably be there in a couple of weeks.”

Hunter nods, thinking. “Then we’ll need to eat something.” He rips off a chunk of bread and uses his knife to spread blackberry jam over it. Then he hands me the first piece.

I’m positively salivating. I shove the entire chunk into my mouth. Hunter passes me a waterskin to wash it down, a worried look in his eyes.

“Better?” he asks.

I nod, then grab more.

“What, nothing for me?” Tristan calls out from where he’s dozing in the shade.

Hunter raises an eyebrow. “I thought you were some master hunter who could fend for himself?”

“I am.” Tristan crosses his arms over his chest and slumps further against the tree. “I’m just not feeling up to it at the moment.”

The look on Hunter’s face is enough to make me full belly laugh, in spite of everything.

After I catch my breath again, I take a moment to close my eyes. I drink in the waning sunshine as it trickles through the bare branches on the trees. There’s a strong chance that, without Hunter, I’d still be in that cold, damp cell far beneath the palace where no one would ever find me. My heart fills with gratitude alongside a new sense of fear. This ongoing battle between my father and I isn’t just a petty family squabble anymore. It’s life or death. He absolutely would have left me to die.