Valiant Heart

by Angela Addams

  “Did you see that?” Greer said.

  “Yes.” They were farther north than I thought.

  “I’m going to send Harper to you but you need to give me some kind of marker. She’ll be traveling blind, might take her a few tries.”

  “We’re situated just at the stem of the stream. Barely a current flowing. Maybe a foot wide, if that.”

  “Okay, she’ll follow the stream. Get yourselves ready.”

  I shook Lance gently but urgently, eager to get him up so we could pack up the bags and be ready for Harper when she arrived.

  He groaned again, his arms coming around my waist and latching on.

  “Lance.” I shook him again. “You have to wake up. Greer needs us.”

  He opened his eyes, confusion evident as he tried to focus on what I was saying. “Greer?”

  I shifted his arms away, trying to detach myself without hurting him. He grunted when I helped him to sit, swapping spots as I propped him against the tree.

  “Ugh, I’m dizzy and thirsty.” He reached for one of the packs but I jumped up and swatted his hands away. I pulled out a water bottle and opened it before handing it to him with a frustrated look.

  “You’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to conserve your energy.”

  He examined his arm, rotating it to look at all of the lacerations, cringing as he did. “It doesn’t look great.”

  No, it doesn’t. I sucked in a deep breath, realizing with sinking guilt what Greer needed me for, knowing I wouldn’t be able to deliver. Failing my Huntresses once again.

  “What’s going on?” Lance was frowning. “Don’t even try to lie, Ariana. Something is very wrong. I can see it all over your face.”

  “Greer says they were attacked, that Ella is injured really bad.”

  “Is Kelly okay?”

  I felt a jolt of jealousy and tried to tamp it down. Kelly, again. Always Kelly first to his mind.

  “No, just Ella,” I snapped.

  “It bothers you that I care about her, doesn’t it?” His tone wasn’t the usual teasing kind. This time it was laced with pity.

  Like he felt sorry for me because he loved another woman.

  I wanted to rid that woman from his heart. And what a thought that was. For someone I didn’t want a future with.

  Ugh!

  Fuck him. And fuck his feelings for Kelly.

  “We don’t have time for this.” I shook my head, no way I wanted to have this conversation…ever. “Ella is hurt and I can’t help her.”

  He opened his mouth and I cut him off.

  “No amount of kissing is going to give me what I need. My powers are not there for me to save lives. How the hell can I be a leader when I don’t have the ability to take care of my own tribe?”

  “Greer shackled you. She’s the reason you’re like this.”

  My frustration flared. He was right. Fine. But I was responsible for my punishment. If I hadn’t—

  “The more I get to know you, the more I can read when you’re traveling down a path of self-criticism.” He pushed himself forward, pity still shining strong in his eyes. “You beat yourself up when you’re not to blame. What Greer did was barbaric.”

  “She did her duty to our Queen and her tribe.”

  “That’s horseshit.” Lance snorted. “Fuck, Ariana, you’re so brainwashed it isn’t funny. And you think the Order is bad.”

  Conversation over.

  “Harper is on her way to us.” My tone was cold, words measured as I readjusted the sword on my back.

  “Harper again?” He groaned and slumped back. “I can’t travel that way.”

  I smiled, taking some pleasure in the idea of him barfing, despite the fact that I’d be in the same boat.

  “Trying to find their camp in the dark would be impossible and you’re in no shape to walk for hours.” I pulled everything into my pack and zipped it up.

  He grunted in response.

  “It’s a good thing you haven’t eaten in a while. It’ll make things less messy.”

  Harper found us within the hour. She was covered in blood and unsteady on her feet when she appeared out of the air.

  “For the love of…oh fuck, I’m so happy I found you two.” She stumbled to the ground, panting as she wiped her brow.

  I handed her a water bottle, which she guzzled in a minute flat.

  “Been bouncing around all over this stream. You know it motherfucking forks, right?”

  I shook my head. “How bad is Ella?”

  Harper’s shoulders slumped even more. “Bad. She got attacked by a beast claiming to be her mate. You know, as in a mate we killed six months ago.”

  I snapped my gaze to Lance, whose eyebrows were sky high as well.

  “What the hell is going on?” Lance stood, gripping one of the backpacks in his good hand.

  I gathered up my sickles, quickly slipping the holster over my shoulder then snatched up the other pack. “I have my suspicions. I need to speak with Greer. Let’s go.”

  Harper blew out a long breath and stood. “Hang on tight.”

  I left Lance on his hands and knees, dry heaving and bitching about Harper. I wasn’t feeling too hot myself but I battled it back, intent on getting to Greer.

  “She’s over there,” Greer said as she rounded the corner of the large oak marking the small enclosed camp.

  “I can’t help her.” I put my packs down and motioned for Greer to follow me away from any curious ears.

  “I told you I’d unshackle your powers. There’s no time to talk now, Ariana.”

  I grabbed Greer’s arm as she tried to turn away from me. “My powers are already unshackled, but they aren’t working.”

  Greer froze, turned toward me, eyes sparking with confusion, anger, even helplessness. She yanked her arm from my grasp. “What?”

  I motioned again for her to walk away from the camp and this time she did.

  “While I was unconscious, Artemis came to me.” I pulled my sword from its sheath on my back and showed it to her. “She unshackled my powers and gave me this. It amplifies the Huntress poison.” I pointed to the bronzed side. “It also will sever the Huntress/Hunter bond without injury to either. For those of us who want out.”

  Greer took the sword, her eyes wide. “It’s powerful, I can feel it.”

  “It is?” I frowned. I hadn’t felt any power from it. Not at all.

  Greer nodded, awe clear on her face. “It’s humming, don’t you hear that?” She took a swipe, bringing the sword down in an arc.

  I shook my head. No, I didn’t hear a damn thing. “That’s what I mean, Greer, I’m unshackled but my powers haven’t returned. Not really. Not enough to heal Ella.”

  As if my words were just sinking in, Greer frowned. “She’ll die.”

  Helplessness crashed through me. “I—”

  “Greer, Ariana, come,” Harper shouted.

  We rushed to follow, running into the camp, seeing Ella, blood everywhere, unconscious. Lance was kneeling next to her, hands moving over her wounds, healing her right before our eyes.

  No, he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough. But even though that thought raced through my head, I didn’t step forward to stop him. Not when he was saving a life that I couldn’t. He, a Hunter, with no reason to do this. Especially after the way I’d treated him.

  Minutes seemed to take forever but with each one that passed, Ella’s skin began to look less pale. The blood flowing from her wounds slowed, maybe even stopped.

  Lance, on the other hand, didn’t look too great. His body was slumping, like he could barely hold himself up. But he didn’t pause. Not until the worst of Ella’s injury was mended. Not until her breathing seemed less labored, her eyelids fluttering as if in sleep, her lips changing from blue to pink.

  Lance opened his eyes and spear
ed me with a look of utter and complete exhaustion.

  And my heart…my heart felt like it was going to burst.

  “She’ll live,” he said before collapsing in a heap on the ground, no energy left to brace himself for impact.

  “Lance!” I jumped to his side, heaving him off the ground and onto my lap. He’d used up too much of his powers. Given what he needed for himself. His own wounds had reopened, blood seeping once again. What he’d given to Ella had cost him. “I need bandages.”

  “Your Hunter sacrificed himself for one of ours.” Greer stood over me, her expression shuttered as usual, all trace of her awe, worry, confusion gone. The sword from Artemis was still in her hand.

  For a minute I felt vulnerable, knowing what it did, knowing even though she couldn’t sever my bond to Lance, she wanted to. She didn’t understand the sacrifice that came with the sword—that a Huntress had to give up her mate, which Greer had already done many years ago. She had nothing to sacrifice in order to claim the weapon as her own. But a sword like that, well, it was the ultimate boon for Greer. With it in her hand, she could decide the fate of Hunter and Huntress alike. Power like she had never known.

  But it wasn’t hers to wield. She hadn’t been chosen. And yet, she still held the sword like she owned it. Like she expected me to give it to her.

  Ten minutes ago, I would have accepted that possibility as her law over me. I would have let her keep it and helped her find a way to claim it. But things had changed.

  “Put my sword down and get me some fucking bandages, Greer.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Everything Has a Price

  Surprisingly, Greer did what I’d asked and once everyone had been cleaned up, bandaged up, things settled into a calming lull. I left Lance sleeping in a thicket of nettles and brush, a cozy little bed I’d found one of the times I’d stopped here on a hunt. It was away from the camp, had given me solitude when I’d needed it. And right now, that was what Lance needed. Peace. Silence. Rest.

  I found Greer standing sentry, eyes alert to any movement within the forest.

  “Things are not as they seem.” She nodded in my direction. “You have some holes to fill in.”

  “We’re being attacked by beasts who have died.” I crossed my arms as I came to her side, looking straight ahead as she did. “I was attacked by mine, Ella by hers, and Cat by hers. I’m wondering if Paige wasn’t attacked by hers as well.”

  “But how?” Greer bit her bottom lip.

  “Someone is bringing them through. Someone with bigger plans.”

  Greer looked at me finally. “What do you know?”

  I shifted to the side, finding a log to sit on, my body weary, needing rest while my brain had other ideas. “Artemis called me to her realm. She told me that she is unhappy with how fragmented all of our factions are. The Order, the Hunters, our tribe; our segregation from one another is making us weak.”

  “We live to serve her.” Greer turned to face the trees again, eyes scanning. “What else did she say?”

  “She wants more Huntresses to bond with their Hunters. She wants unity.”

  Greer scoffed. “Are you sure you were talking to Artemis? Goddess of Independence?”

  I nodded. “It was her.” I reached over my shoulder and pulled my sword from its sheath. “She gave me this, remember?”

  Greer’s eyes snapped to the blade, awe once again clearly written on her face. She wanted it and I didn’t blame her.

  “She gave me this sword to sever the bonds of Huntresses who are trapped in dangerous unions. She says that the Huntress/Hunter bond should be one that builds and gives strength. It should not be something that is detrimental to anyone.”

  And now that I thought about it, she had been far more sentimental than I would expect for a Goddess of the hunt, of wild freedom, unencumbered by any man.

  “Oh?”

  I frowned as I looked down at the sword, twisting it to the side. “She told me that when the bond is severed by this blade, by this side—” I pointed to the bronzed edge “—the Huntress will be free of her bond, retaining all her powers, leaving her open to find love again I suppose.”

  But only the love of her beast. My frown deepened. It had all made sense when Artemis said it but now, my words rang with uncertainty.

  “And she chose you to wield it?” Greer’s tone suggested incredulity.

  It kind of pissed me off, shifting my doubtful thoughts away from Artemis’s unusual behavior.

  “Yes, she did.” I slid the weapon back into its sheath. Damn right she had. A natural born leader, that’s what she’d said. One craving a position of authority, suited to it, in fact.

  “So we can use it on Kelly once she has found Andrew. After we neutralize him.”

  “No, we can’t. Artemis said that Kelly has a prophecy in her that can only be accessed with Andrew’s help.” I sighed when Greer shot me a confused look. “It’s a prophecy that can change things in a bad way according to Artemis, and I’m beginning to wonder if these beasts coming back from the dead are connected to that.”

  “How so?” Greer frowned. “What does Andrew have to do with all this?”

  “I have no idea but my gut is saying it’s all tied together somehow.”

  Greer ran her hand over her lips, her brow furrowed. “If someone is bringing beasts back, we’ve got bigger problems than Andrew. One or two isn’t an issue, but fuck, they could bring a whole damn army back and then we’d be screwed. The current numbers of beasts are hard to manage as it is.”

  “Artemis said that the prophecy was a game changer in some way,” I said as I nodded in the direction of camp. “So Kelly needs to keep the bond with Andrew, at least until she has that prophecy.”

  “And then, once she does, we can sever the bond and initiate her fully into the tribe. Artemis’s desire for unity will come with our Amazon tribes. Andrew abused Kelly’s trust, he deserves punishment for that.” Greer speared me with a hard look. “You’ve been chosen as a champion but nothing comes without a price. What’s yours?”

  I gulped, shifted my eyes away. “I have to sever my bond with Lance, rid myself of any feelings for him.” I shifted my stance, ready to put the sword back into its sheath.

  “And?” Greer snorted. “Isn’t that the plan anyway? I don’t really see the problem with that. Here.” She reached for the sword. “Give it to me, I’ll sever it for you right now.”

  “No!” I sidestepped and pulled away. “There’s another price.”

  Greer smirked. “Not surprised.”

  “Lance will become human again. He’ll lose his Hunter mark.” I took another step back. “I don’t think I can do that to him.”

  “So you’re willing to disobey Artemis for your Hunter? You’re willing to turn down an appointed role as champion to wronged Huntresses for this man? What the hell has happened to you?” Greer’s tone was bitter.

  I felt the brunt of her disapproval, her disappointment.

  “Artemis wasn’t clear about what she wanted me to do. She said I could be a role model for bonded Huntresses as well. She said I had a choice to make. That she wouldn’t force me into anything.”

  “Yes, the Gods do love to give choices. I think it makes their eternal existence more exciting or something.” Greer snickered cruelly. “The fact that you’re even considering it is disturbing.”

  “She said that I need Lance to regain my powers fully. That he would make me stronger.” Why was I arguing this with her? Like I was trying to convince her…or convince myself, perhaps.

  “Well, that could mean the immediate trouble you’re having, Ariana, not a long term expectation. So, go, regain your powers, and then become the champion. You’ve vowed yourself to Queen Val, you’ve coveted leadership. You’ve been wronged by a Hunter, your own father. This is your role to take. So grasp it fully and with a clear cons
cience. This is what Artemis wants you to do.”

  Or this is what you want me to do, I thought angrily. Lead by someone else’s agenda, that was also what Artemis has said—governed by vengeance and anger.

  “Go to your Hunter, regain your powers. It’s your duty to your tribe. You’re useless to me without them.” She dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

  You’re useless to me without them.

  Ironic, considering she’d been the one to take them in the first place.

  But I didn’t argue. With a nod I turned from her, heading back to do my duty.

  At least, that was the plan. I couldn’t do it though. One look at Lance sleeping so soundly and I couldn’t bear to wake him, even if it was in the guise of pleasure. I dragged myself into the little cove, finding my own energy finally waning beyond endurance. This gorgeous man was sleeping in my space, and creeping into my heart inch by inch. I ran my fingers along his brow, easing the frown that was etched there. With a deep sigh, I curled into myself, back to him so I wouldn’t touch him again, and willed myself to sleep.

  Lance awoke feeling okay.

  Not great but recovering. He groaned, raised his arms above his head to stretch, winced as the wounds on his arm pulled. He brought them back down to examine. Not too bad. The tracks from the beast’s claws were raw looking, red, weeping some lymph but not bleeding and no longer gaping. He might actually end up with scars this time.

  Scars were hot, right?

  He looked at Ariana curled up next to him, her body removed from his though, like she’d moved away on purpose. She was so damn closed to him. So resistant to their bond. It was almost enough to give a guy a complex.

  He rolled over, snuggling his body up against hers, curling along her spine as he slipped his arm around her waist. She mumbled in her sleep but didn’t pull away. Good sign.

  He slipped his hand under her shirt, just to touch her skin. His hand flattened against her stomach, fingers registering how silky soft it was, itching to stroke, but he kept his hand still and enjoyed her closeness, her warmth.

  “You looking for another injury, Hunter?” Her voice was gruff, still edged by sleep.