It was a lame cover-up. Both of us knew there was more to this than just friendship, even if we hadn’t wanted to admit it just yet. At the very least, we wanted to get to know each other. And at the most—
I couldn’t think about that just yet.
“I did,” Hunter sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.
I watched as his skin caught on his unruly beard. It was an unusual sight on Hunter. I was used to seeing him with perfectly trimmed hair and neatly pressed clothes.
It was then that I took him in for the first time. And I mean, really took him in. His clothes were dirty, and there was a hole in his button-down, plaid shirt, right on the left side of his torso. There were dark patches on the knees of his jeans, and ragged old sneakers that seemed to be made for running, not hunting replaced the boots he normally wore.
And he was skinny.
Hunter had never been fat, but he was always muscular and a little bulky. Now, I could see where the muscles had started to lose a little bit of their strength. His cheeks were slightly sallow, and dark-purple circles lingered under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days.
He looked exhausted.
“What happened?” I asked suddenly.
All the fire fled from my tone, but I didn’t want to try and bring it back. Something was wrong. It twisted my stomach up in a million knots and made me want to vomit, for the second time in as many weeks.
As for Hunter, all the fight seemed to drain out of him, too. He looked away from me, off into the distance where his eyes could focus on nothing.
Abruptly, he sat down on a nearby tree stump. But it was almost as if his legs had just given out underneath him, and he’d known that if he didn’t sit, he’d fall right to the ground.
“The Council knows about you.” His words hung in the air, thickening it, making it start to close in on me like quicksand.
I thought back to Rudolfo’s account, to the pages in his diary that detailed the many horrific things he knew they’d do to Alessandra if they found her, simply because she was a halfling. Thoughts rocketed through my head, unwelcome guests to accompany my fear. Thoughts of experiments and mad scientists, tortures and hangings.
All of the things they’d do to me.
“They hate halflings,” I murmured, more to myself than to Hunter; he already knew they hated my kind.
“What do you mean?” he demanded, his head snapping up in confusion.
“They’ve been hunting us for centuries,” I reminded him. “They hate us all, just because we’re different.”
“There’s more of you?” Hunter demanded. “How do you know that?” The look on his face was one of genuine shock. He really had no idea.
“I found a diary,” I explained to him slowly. “A hunter from the eighteenth century had been sent after a halfling. The Council wanted her dead. But the hunter, Rudolfo, fell in love with her. He tried to save her and bring her to others of her kind, but the Council captured him. He’s dead.”
Sadness rolled over me in waves at the thought of Rudolfo’s death. All he’d wanted to do was save the woman he loved, and he’d ended up nothing better than a prisoner of war. I could see in Hunter’s eyes that all of this was completely new information to him.
“They’ve been lying to us,” he finally sighed. “All these years. We’ve all just been following them blindly. And I can’t do it anymore.”
“So leave them,” I whispered. I stepped forward to kneel in front of Hunter, urging him to meet my eyes.
But he shook his head, recoiling from my touch like it burned his skin. “I can’t,” he growled. “You don’t understand, Shannon. They’re not just some job at the DA’s office that I can up and leave anytime I want. They’ve given me everything I am. My magic, my life force, my skills. Everything is tied into the Council, and when they give an order, I have to follow it.”
“That’s just what you’ve been told,” I reasoned. “It’s not the truth. You don’t know what happens if you leave. Rudolfo did it.”
I left out the part where Rudolfo was also ruthlessly hunted until he was found and imprisoned by the Council. I figured that wasn’t the best anecdote to boost Hunter’s morale at the moment.
“You don’t understand,” Hunter repeated, shaking his head and biting down on his lip so hard I saw him draw blood.
“Okay,” I agreed. “You’re right. I don’t understand. This world is still so new to me. But I want to understand, Hunter. I’m trying.”
“You are,” he nodded, more to himself than to me. “Shannon, I can’t possibly explain everything to you in five minutes. But I want you to know that when I left you, it was because I wanted to keep you safe. If I could have stayed there with you, I would have done it in a heartbeat.”
“Keep me safe from what?” I asked. “You? I know you’d never hurt me, Hunter.” I reached out to grab his hands in mine, but he shook his head and pulled away.
“Don’t say that,” he murmured. “I’m under orders.”
“Ignore them.”
“It’s not so simple,” he cried out.
I pulled back at the outburst but stayed looking at him, letting him know that I was right there for him.
“The Council compelled me. When they give a hunter a compelled order, there’s nothing he can do about it. Eventually, he has to go through with it, whether he wants to or not.”
“That’s barbaric!” I hissed, anger clouding my vision for a moment.
The complete destruction of free will by the Hunter’s Council disgusted me more and more every day. They were supposed to be on the side of the witches, but it seemed more and more like there was a third side in this war, one that belonged to the Council.
“Barbaric or not, it is what it is,” Hunter laughed humorlessly.
“What order did they give you?” I didn’t want to ask. I had a feeling I already knew. But I needed to hear the words come out of his mouth.
Hunter sucked in a breath, obviously dreading the moment I would ask that question. He stood abruptly from the stump, traipsing around the little clearing we’d found, looking at the trees and the leaves as a distraction from what he really wanted to look at.
Me.
“They compelled me to kill you,” he finally said.
Even though I’d known it was coming, I still felt like all the oxygen had just been sucked out of the air. For the first time in my life, I felt like I knew what the dark depths of space must feel like, vacuous and airless, with things closing in around you and, at the exact same time, empty space everywhere.
Of course they’d compelled him to kill me.
It seemed ruthless, really. Not only did they want me dead for no apparent reason, but they were forcing this kind, loving man to do it. They seemed to be playing some sick game, and we were nothing but their pawns.
“Say something,” Hunter urged, turning around when I’d stayed silent for a few moments too long.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” I shrugged. “Rudolfo didn’t exactly paint the nicest picture of the Council.”
“I’d expect not,” Hunter replied grimly. “But I have a plan. That’s why I’m working with Nemius.”
“What sort of plan involves evil fae?” I demanded.
“They’ve got your grimoire,” he replied. “And, if I’m correct, that grimoire has a spell that will destroy my bond with the Council once and for all. I won’t be a hunter anymore, Shannon, and I won’t be filled with the overwhelming urge to rip your throat out every time I see you.”
18
He wasn’t lying to me. I could tell. It wasn’t just a facial thing, or some superpower from my years spent as a DA, or even a magical witch thing.
It was more like I just knew Hunter and could tell when what he was saying was real.
And he was absolutely telling me the truth.
I thought back to that night in the woods, how I had run down there with some sort of idiotic schoolgirl crush, thinking we’d defeated the big, bad, evil lady, and Hunter w
ould sweep me up in his arms and plant a kiss on my lips the moment he saw me.
And then I thought about how betrayed I’d felt. How sad and heartbroken I had been, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not.
Of course, Deedee had still called me out on it a few weeks later.
But then, I thought about what could have been different. How that night could have gone if Hunter hadn’t received orders from that horrible Council of his. Maybe he wouldn’t have kissed me, anyways. Maybe we would have just shared a nice, polite handshake like two old war veterans from the same combat unit.
But maybe we would have gotten together.
It suddenly felt like this Council was the only thing standing in our way. If there were a way to break Hunter’s bond with them so we could at least explore the option of being together, I wanted to do it and fast.
“Okay, great,” I replied, nearly hyperventilating as the wheels started turning in my head. “So, we knock Nemius out, get the grimoire, and you do the spell. Problem solved.” I could tell from his expression that, no, the problem was not solved just yet.
I hated how far out of my depth I felt. This world was familiar and yet new to me all at the same time. There were things I knew from childhood, like how to make a charm or to stay away from mischievous little pixies.
And then there were things like Hunter’s Councils and bonds, magic that had been given and could be taken away, and deadly creatures who wouldn’t hesitate to kill. Those were the things that made me feel like pulling out my hair.
“It’s not that simple,” Hunter sighed. “I don’t even know what the spell looks like. Honestly, Shannon, for all I know, I’m wrong and a spell like that doesn’t exist. I just know that if it were real, your Grams would be the witch to have it.”
“We can at least grab the grimoire and look through it,” I reasoned with him. “The fae can face Elrind on his own, and maybe she’ll give up. Maybe all she wanted was to try to lure me out here, anyway.”
Hunter cocked an eyebrow at me, and I knew that my thoughts were completely off base. There was something more going on here, and both of us knew it.
“We can’t kill Nemius anyways,” Hunter sighed.
“Why not?” I demanded. “He’s a fae. Isn’t that your job?”
“You know, there was a time when you would have thought that a barbaric statement to make,” Hunter pointed out, the ghost of his normal devilish smirk twisting at his lips.
“Maybe,” I shrugged. “But that was before my family’s grimoire was stolen, my employee was knocked out, and I was scared out of my mind.”
“Touché,” Hunter chuckled.
For a moment, it felt like the world was normal between us, like everything had gone back to the way it had been when we first met.
But then, electric magic danced at my fingertips, begging to loose itself on the fae who was in the forest with us, and I remembered that things were very, very different than they had been when we’d first met.
“So then what do we do?” I asked, turning my face toward the sky like I might find some answers there.
All I saw was black, though, with a few glittering stars dotted here and there.
“I teamed up with Nemius because he had the grimoire,” Hunter responded. “I’m hoping that Elrind will show her face soon enough. Maybe if she thinks she can get a hunter on her side, she’ll be willing to help me find the spell.”
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?” I asked.
“Not if I can break my bond and keep my magic,” Hunter replied cheekily. “Lose the bad and keep the good. It’s a win-win situation.”
“Are you really willing to let her get to our grimoire if it means you can break the bond?” I demanded. “Hunter, we don’t even know what she wants with it. What if there’s some sinister plan to take over the entire world, and all she needs is that grimoire?”
“Because I won’t let her,” Hunter replied. “Do you trust me?”
I hated it, but I paused before I answered. I wanted to trust him. If he’d asked me that, the answer would have been easy enough. But I still didn’t know if I actually did. The suspicious woman I used to be still lived in my mind, and she liked to make a bold reappearance every once in a while.
Like tonight.
“Come on, Shannon,” Hunter breathed.
“I don’t know,” I finally sighed. “I wish I could say yes, Hunter, I really do. But you have to admit, you haven’t exactly proven to be the most trustworthy guy I know. And I’m a divorcee thanks to a cheating scandal, remember.”
“I know,” Hunter groaned, shoving his face into his hands and rubbing his temples. “I wish I could have done this differently. I didn’t know what to do. This feeling is all new to me. I’d never been wrong about a mark before. And I’d never met someone like me before.”
“Maybe that’s good,” I pointed out. “You have this narrow view of the world of magic because it’s been given to you. Maybe—”
“Wait!” Hunter hissed, suddenly alert. His eyes were wide as he stared out over the clearing and into the forest behind me, looking for something.
Confusion swept over me, but I kept quiet, listening hard.
Then I heard it. Footsteps. Still a ways away, but there was no doubt that someone was coming.
In a flash, Hunter was at my side. “You need to hide,” he murmured in my ear. Suddenly, he was pushing me toward a large tree with a hollow in the middle, shoving me down into it until I was out of sight. “Stay quiet.”
He left me with that order before he quickly dashed back over to the stump and plopped down on it, tilting his face to look up at the sky serenely.
A second later, Nemius entered the clearing, his face thunderous with anger.
“What are you doing?” the fae demanded, staring down at Hunter like he was a dog who’d just spilled the trash all over the house.
Hunter, to his credit, remained calm and looked back up at Nemius with a confused, but innocent, expression. “What do you mean?” he asked, raising a brow. “I’m looking up at the stars. Haven’t you ever done that?”
Nemius stared down at him for a second and then followed Hunter’s gaze up to the sky. “Not with these ugly ones.”
“Huh,” Hunter harrumphed. “Careful with how you’re talking about my world, Nemius. What makes yours so much better?”
“To start with, we don’t have any of those nasty, bush-tailed creatures I’ve been eating for the last four days,” Nemius growled.
“Squirrels,” Hunter supplied. “Look, I was having a quiet moment to myself over here. Unless the grimoire’s suddenly caught fire and exploded, do you mind letting me have my peace?”
“I heard voices,” Nemius barked. “You got someone out here?”
In another life, I was absolutely convinced that Hunter had been a soap opera actor. He gaped as he stared at the clearing, spreading his arms wide to indicate the very empty space.
“Does it look like there’s someone out here?” Hunter demanded. “Nothing but the wind and the trees to keep me company. Unless, of course, you’re seeing things. Are you seeing things, Nemius?”
“No,” Nemius snapped, glaring at Hunter with enough rage to burn him right up. “I just thought I heard voices, is all. You’d tell me if someone came, right?”
“Of course I would,” Hunter nodded earnestly. “We’re on the same team here, aren’t we?”
“Only because Elrind wants it that way,” Nemius groaned.
Hunter shot Nemius a devilish wink, one that would have made most people melt. Nemius, though, clearly wasn’t most people. He squinted at Hunter for a moment longer before he shook his head and turned around.
“This world is far too strange,” he grumbled as he stomped out of the clearing, back to his campfire.
Hunter waited until the sound of Nemius’s footsteps disappeared. And then, he waited another few moments longer before he shot over to the tree where I was hiding. I was already climbing out when he reached me, fear
covering his face.
“You need to go, Shannon,” he hissed. “Now. If Nemius had found out you were here…”
“But he didn’t,” I assured Hunter.
“This time,” he growled. “I need you to trust me. I can handle this. I’ll get your grimoire back to you.”
I could tell that there was no room for argument with Hunter, and frankly, I didn’t want to start one. He was right. With how unpredictable my magic was, I couldn’t take Nemius on my own.
But I could do it if I had backup.
“Okay,” I told him. I could see how terrified he was, and I wanted to do almost anything to wipe that look from his face. “Look, I’ll go. But I need you to promise me that you won’t let Elrind get to that grimoire.”
“I can’t do that,” Hunter replied. “If she can help me, then I’m willing to do anything it takes. I’m saving your life, Shannon, don’t you see that?”
“You’ll save my life only for her to take it,” I hissed. “I don’t care what sort of horrible thing you think you’ll do to me. I have a feeling what she has planned is a lot worse. And if she gets her hands on me, Hunter, I won’t be the only one who suffers. She told me I was more powerful than anything. Do you know what that power can do?”
It was only as the words were coming out of my mouth that I realized how true they were. Neither of us knew what that sort of power could do. We didn’t even know what sort of power I actually had.
But whatever it was, Elrind clearly had some sort of plan for it. And I was dead serious. I would have rather died than let her put her plan into action.
“Fine,” Hunter sighed. “I’ll get the grimoire back to you. Even if it means I kill you in the process.”
“Hey,” I whispered, stepping forward and placing a hand on his cheek. Hot embarrassment flashed through me for a second before it disappeared, replaced with complete and total calm. It felt nice to touch him like this. “I trust you. You wouldn’t ever hurt me.”
I could see in his eyes that he wanted to disagree but thought better of it. Instead, he clutched my hand in his, holding it for a brief moment before he let it go and pushed me away.
Divorce, Divination and Destiny Page 11