by Brenna Lyons
Hunter felt his jaw tighten, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “The choice is hers,” he decided.
“I am still her lord,” Kaufmann reminded him. “Though not born of my house, she is my daughter in every other sense of the word. Sarah has autonomy, but I control her movements.”
“Not if I terminate your claim on her,” he warned.
“You can’t.”
“Try me. The council of lords will listen when König speaks, and all of König will speak for Sarah.”
Kaufmann looked at him in shock. “Why? Why would you do this?”
Hunter considered that carefully, afraid of the automatic answer that sprang to mind. He wanted Sarah to choose to stay with him. He wanted it desperately. “I want her to have a choice,” he managed.
* * * *
Erin watched the truck pull up through the front window of the Crossbearer training house. She’d recognize Hunter’s midnight blue Dodge anywhere. “He’s here,” she shouted, racing to the door. Ever since Piers called and told them Hunter was coming and why he was, she had been waiting for him impatiently.
Hunter reached the door just after she threw it wide, hurrying in with Sarah of Kaufmann cradled to his chest. Blutjagd lit his eyes, and Erin stepped back at the unusual sight of it in this setting.
“Erin,” he ordered, “I’ll need your help.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Of course,” she replied quickly, following her brother and the bounce of ebony hair that cascaded over Hunter’s arm to his hip. Erin barely noticed the angry Warrior that stormed in after them, but her parents shot to the door.
“Don’t try it, Kaufmann,” Hunter warned. “There will be no discussion of Sarah until I come back to join in it.”
“You’re not caring for her,” the old lord thundered.
“I promised her I would. Erin will take care of her personal needs. I have no wish to take advantage.”
Erin glanced back at the furious man and shook her head as she followed Hunter up the stairs. To her surprise, he turned right instead of left at the top. “The guest room,” she reminded him.
“Is for Lord Kaufmann,” he finished bitterly, as if he loathed saying the man’s name. “Sarah will occupy the room I typically use. It shares a bathroom with you, and I’ll sleep on your floor in case she needs me — if you don’t mind, that is.”
“I don’t mind.”
Hunter was confusing her, but he seemed set on his course.
He swept the young woman into his room and laid her gently on the bed. Hunter dragged one of his button-down shirts from the closet and handed it to Erin with a pained expression. “Dress her for bed, please. I’ll be in the hall, if she needs anything.” He left with one last, longing look at the woman on the bed.
Erin took a deep breath and stripped off Sarah’s shoes and coat before pulling off the jeans and sweatshirt beneath.
Sarah’s arms were halfway into the sleeves of Hunter’s shirt when she groaned. Her green eyes fluttered open. She looked at Erin blearily in something between fear and confusion.
“It’s all right, Sarah,” she soothed the older woman. “I’m Erin, and I’m just dressing you for bed.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as if she were in pain. “Erin… Too bright,” she breathed.
Erin nodded, crossing to switch off the overhead light. She tucked Sarah into the oversized shirt and buttoned it up. “The lights are off, Sarah. Do you need anything? The bathroom, maybe?”
Sarah groaned and nodded her fevered head. “Yes, please.” She leaned heavily on Erin and fumbled to complete her bathroom routine with her eyes squeezed shut.
“The lights are out,” Erin reminded her gently.
“The lights aren’t too bright,” she panted, heaving herself unsteadily back to her feet and almost falling against Erin. “You are.”
Erin nodded. It was what Sarah sensed that was overpowering. “I understand. Let’s get you into bed again, and you can sleep it off.”
Sarah hung her head as if it were too heavy to lift. She collapsed on the bed in a heap, and Erin lifted her lightly into the center. She covered the tortured psychic with a heavy quilt and left the room with the armload of her clothes.
Hunter leapt at her as soon as she closed the door. “Is she all right?” he asked urgently.
Erin smirked at him. “She’s fine — or she will be. She was hurting, but she was making sense. She’s sleeping again.”
He relaxed visibly and nodded, making her wonder what he had seen to elicit this response. “Good. Then, I have to go deal with Kaufmann. I owe him a few for tonight.”
“Deal with what?”
“Tag along. You’re about to see fireworks.”
Erin raised an eyebrow at him. It had been a long time since she had seen Hunter so fired up about anything, right about the time he had started training to be house lord of Crossbearer. She nodded and followed him back downstairs, dropping the clothing to be washed on the table in the front hall.
In the library, Hunter glared at Lord Kaufmann.
The man was complaining to their parents loudly. “I tell you Hunter overstepped his bounds. This is not his concern.”
“And I told you,” Jayde assured him, “we will not discuss this until Hunter is present to tell his side.”
“Hunter is present,” he growled, “and I warned you not to try to get them to decide against me before I tell my side.”
“Sit down, Hunter,” Talon ordered. “We’ll discuss this.”
“Send the child away,” Kaufmann dismissed Erin.
Hunter placed a restraining hand on her shoulder, before Erin could retaliate. “This affects all of König. Even though Erin won’t have her autonomy for another few weeks, she has been fully cursed for well over three years and drove Lorian to ground unassisted before that. I want her here, and I want her input.”
“I agree,” Talon added. “If the discussion affects König, Erin will have her say in it.”
Kaufmann looked put out, but he dropped into a chair and grumbled his acceptance.
Hunter settled into the couch and drew Erin down beside him. “I want you to be brutally honest,” her brother warned her.
Kaufmann scowled. “If we’re quite through, I’d like to discuss this matter.”
“Go on,” Jayde invited as if there was no tension involved.
“Sarah is my child,” he began.
“Not Kaufmann born,” Hunter countered.
“Hunter,” Talon warned. “You’ll get your turn.”
Hunter nodded his agreement and leaned back into the rich upholstery behind him, brown velvet that tantalized the senses.
“She is my daughter. She is of Kaufmann, no matter how she came to me. Sarah was only five when she was gifted to me, and she barely remembers her birth family. I gave her autonomy, because I felt she deserved as much for the risks she takes, but like any Warrior, I control her movements.
“I need to know she’s as safe as she can be. That is my duty to her, and I couldn’t live with myself as a father if I did less for her. Though Hunter has offered his personal protection, he is not as capable of protecting Sarah long term as the system already in place to safeguard the young princess.”
“I hate that term,” Erin grumbled.
Jayde hid a smile behind her hand. “All right. Hunter, what is your side of this argument?”
“Sarah is not Kaufmann born. She deserves more than simple autonomy. It was kind of Kohl to raise her, but she isn’t of his blood. He hasn’t sealed her curse back onto himself, because she wasn’t a cursed daughter to be freed. Sarah is a protected woman, but she isn’t Warrior born. He has no right to order an adult human woman to live by his whims.
“Sarah is accustomed to being of a range. She may not want to accept the wandering life of a König.” He paused, and Erin could hear the edited part of the statement. Hunter hadn’t wanted to leave the wandering life of their family to be of a range, but had no choice.
“I’m not de
manding she stay with me. I’m offering her an option. If Sarah chooses that option, she will have my personal protection.”
Kaufmann shook his head and groaned. “Lorian is after her. I told you that.”
Erin stiffened. “So what?” she demanded. “Hunter has been solely responsible for me many times. Lorian is after me, too.”
“But, the one time Lorian attacked, he failed you. Trusting Hunter again is foolhardy.”
Erin launched at him in a rage, and Hunter dragged her back to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Release it,” he breathed. “It’s not worth it. He’s right.”
She shuddered as she forced the bloodlust back. “He’s wrong,” she decided. “Let go of me.”
Hunter released her slowly, and Erin sank to the couch beside him.
“He’s right, but that was almost four years ago. I wasn’t a true night Warrior yet. Even my father almost died the first time he faced an elder. He was an elder killer less than six months later. I’d like to think I’m capable of the same.”
“You’d like to think it, but you can’t be sure,” Kohl countered.
Jayde’s jaw tightened. “I was already an elder killer, and I failed to kill Draden. When Carstol attacked, neither Talon nor I could kill him alone. My point is, you will never have a guarantee. If Lorian attacked tonight, I couldn’t say for certain that I would kill him. Talon can’t make that promise. We might. Erin might. Hunter might. Both of them are already stronger than we are despite having less experience than Talon. I dare say Hunter has more practical experience than I do already.”
“So, you’re trying to convince me that Sarah may be safer with Hunter than with you?” Kaufmann asked archly.
Talon shook his head. “What she’s saying is that every elder is different. Every encounter is different. There are no guarantees for Sarah either way. We can’t even guarantee Erin.”
“You think I should allow this choice,” he exploded.
“Absolutely,” Erin replied hotly.
Kaufmann looked at her in a rage, and Hunter bit back his amusement. He did say he wanted her brutal honesty, and damned if Erin wasn’t going to give it with both blades!
Jayde cleared her throat but didn’t quite clear the tension in the air. “Maybe you should explain your reasons,” she suggested.
“Fine. I will. I’m not given the choice of where I’ll be. All my life, I’ve been told I have no choice because I was born to it. The stone chose me,” she spat sarcastically. “Sarah wasn’t born to a Warrior. The stone didn’t choose her.
“She has a tremendous gift that I wish I had sometimes, though not after seeing the price she pays for it,” Erin admitted. “That power allowed her to evade the beast that took her parents. It saved her, and you took her in.
“Maybe Sarah was lucky a Warrior took her in. You obviously realized her inherent power. But realize this. You were lucky to be gifted with her. Sarah could just as easily have been found by humans and raised by humans. Humans would have given her every freedom society allows. I don’t think she should be deprived of that freedom. Hunter is right. You’re making her suffer for your whims.”
Talon nodded. “Corwyn hated what Jayde had to give up when she returned to us. What you’re dealing with here is the opposite question. Jayde surrendered many of her freedoms because she was born to it. Should Sarah surrender hers because a Warrior chose to offer his personal attention in addition to his protection?”
“Sarah isn’t asking for freedom,” Kaufmann stormed.
“Isn’t she?” Hunter countered in a cold voice.
The two men regarded each other warily for several long seconds.
“Explain, Hunter,” Jayde requested.
“I heard her asking for the freedom over her own gifts and Kaufmann denying her that freedom. I heard Sarah beg him to leave before she was forced through another battle cycle she was too tired and mentally bruised to endure. He refused her that too.
“He called her sloppy for allowing the beast to touch her. What was the line Gunther used, Dad? Pain is an excellent teacher? He told Sarah that her pain was her own fault, because as a human, she simply wasn’t fast enough.
“He ordered me not to coddle her. He claimed she wasn’t injured and required no aid then admitted later that this night will leave her bedridden for several days. He denied Sarah the medication that would allow her peace and relieve her pain, because in a battle, she would be dead weight. I had to threaten him to allow her that simple courtesy. I had to threaten him, while Sarah cried for relief.
“I won’t even go into all the short-sighted, uncaring things he did — all supposedly for her own good. He dragged her into battle, knowing each touch is worse for her.”
“She usually doesn’t get touched,” Kaufmann argued.
“He left her medication behind and only carried one dose on him.”
“There’s a reason for that. If she’s ever captured, Sarah would rather die or go insane than live with being taken by a beast. If they have medication, they can hold off the inevitable and torture her for much longer.”
Hunter paused. “I think that’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said tonight. Let me guess. It was Sarah’s idea?”
Kaufmann turned deep crimson, but he didn’t deny the charge.
“Thought so.”
Talon put up a hand for silence. “I’ll make you a deal, Kohl. We just got here. Barring an outright siege, we’ll remain on Cross land for between two and four months. Sarah will remain with König for that long. When we leave, she’ll have the choice of continuing on with König or remaining in Cross. Her only two choices will be König or Cross. If she weds, Sarah’s husband will join her in one of those two places. She will not be permitted to live in any other range. Is that acceptable to you?”
Kaufmann looked at Hunter suspiciously. “I’ll agree on one condition. Sarah is not to be influenced in her decision. Do I have your word, Talon?”
“You do. No one will influence her decision. Right, Erin?”
She smiled sweetly. “As you wish, mi’lord.”
Kaufmann sighed and shot Hunter a look that said he was worried more about her brother’s interference than hers. Erin found herself strangely offended. If any of the Königs were known for being a pain in the butt, it was her.
Chapter Six
Sarah felt the evil coming. She tried to warn her Mum about the red mist streaming through the trees, but Mum told her it was just her imagination and tried to send her back to her cot in the tent. Sarah watched as the mist took shape into the figure of a man without color. He was all red fire shot through with black floaters like dust motes on a ray of sunlight.
“Look, Daddy,” she cried, pointing to the new arrival. “Who is he?”
Her father — Charles was his name, she recalled — looked around in confusion then looked at her Mum in concern. “Is she sleepwalking, Eleanor?” he asked.
“I don’t think so. She seems lucid.”
Sarah turned to watch the man move closer to her Daddy. No one could see him. Why couldn’t anyone see him?
“Is she ill?” Daddy continued.
Her Mum’s hand touched her forehead. Sarah pushed it away. It blocked her view of the figure.
“No fever. Sarah, talk to me,” she pleaded, trying to draw the child from her examination of the man by waving her hand in front of her face.
The red man turned his eyes toward her. Black, fathomless pits burned where normal eyes should be. His laughter sounded in her mind, intended for only her to hear.
“Ghost,” Sarah breathed. “He’s a ghost.”
Her Daddy leaned toward her. “Sarah?”
She screamed as the ghost raised something that looked like a knife and struck at her Daddy. Warm droplets of blood sprayed Sarah’s face and outstretched hands. The red ghost dropped his face to the gush of blood and – ate. Her stomach rebelled at the sight.
Sarah ran to her Mum and grabbed her hand, pleading with her
to help, to take them both away. Mum’s eyes remained empty and cold, but Sarah’s mind could hear the silent screaming from within her, the plea for Sarah to run before it was too late and the unseen enemy came for her.
She is mine, little one. You will be mine, too. His voice sounded in her mind, dark and amused.
Sarah turned and ran, his laughter following her into the night. Tears streamed down her face as her legs pushed her small body up the mountainside. Rocks cut into her feet through her thick, wet socks, and branches whipped at her face. At some point, Sarah realized that she lost one of her socks. A snag that tripped her had pulled it off, but she kept moving. Taking time for that was out of the question.
Behind her, her Mum screamed in terror and loss. Sarah tried to push the image out of her mind, but it was burned there for her to see. The red ghost came at her, and Mum’s scream was cut off. Her stomach turned as Sarah pictured the thing eating Mum, too.
You’re next, little one. Will you lead me a merry chase?
Sarah sobbed at the spike of pain that sliced through the block she tried to use against him, the block she used when her parents were fighting in their room at night.
Is that the extent of your strength, little one? He was taunting her, and he was coming!
Her lungs burned and her body ached when she finally caught sight of the crevice. It was just a crack in the rock face, but it was big enough for her to squeeze into. Sarah pushed all the way back into the blackness, a good four meters and all of it too narrow for a man to follow. But, he was a ghost.
It wasn’t long before she heard sounds outside the hole. A long, red arm snaked in, but it couldn’t reach her. She heard his grumbling of displeasure.
Come out here, and it will be painless for you.
You lie!
Laughter. Very good, precious. Come out now, or I will make it very painful for you indeed. You will beg me to die.
No.