Another hit of fresh bread. God, that smelled divine. Had I eaten some yet? No, they hadn’t cooked it. The guys looked like they were having fun with their card game, and the locals were joining in. Logan threw back his head and laughed, and Sage patted him on the back. Elias was grinning, showcasing his slightly elongated incisors, and Ash was shaking his head while studying his cards with a small smile. Jace was frowning. He caught my eye and canted his head as if in question, and then he inhaled and smiled, his gaze returning to the game.
“So, you should visit the court,” Alaron said. “I would love to host the Hunt. It would be an honor.” His icy blue eyes crinkled pleasantly. “I can’t recall the last time I was so untethered.”
Neither could I, but I did need the toilet. “I’ll be back.” I patted him on the shoulder and left the table in search of the washroom.
Shafts of sunlight spilled in through the windows and cut across my path. A niggling sensation tugged at the back of my mind, but then I was rounding the bar and ducking into the washroom. The door swung closed behind me, and I quickly locked myself in a cubicle to do my business. I had drunk way too much ale.
Back in the main washroom, I washed my hands and peered at my pale face in the mirror. My eyes looked overly bright, and my hair had come loose of its braid, leaving tendrils to frame my face. I didn’t look at myself often since the change, but I took a moment to do so now. To see what the others saw when they looked at me. There was no softness in my face any longer, just sharp lines and a hardness that, despite my trials, hadn’t been there before. I made to turn away—the others would be waiting—but something caught my eye. A seething darkness behind me, visible through the reflection of the window in the mirror.
Fog.
I turned to face the window and saw only sunlight, but the mirror…the mirror showed darkness and fog.
Fog.
The haze I hadn’t even known had been clouding my mind lifted. The fog. The fucking fog and the dark power. It had the Hunt, and it had…Oh, shit, this was all a thrall. A fucking thrall. Not chaos, as the queen’s scholar had believed, but compliance. But why? How could it feed off that? Unless…Unless this wasn’t about feeding.
The voice from the fog filled my head, its words coming back to haunt me now.
“I’ve been waiting for you. The ticking heart of Faerie. The souls that never die. The souls that siphon power. You will be my hands.”
Oh, God, this had never been about Berrywell, or causing chaos; this had been about gathering an army. This had been about capturing the Hunt.
The power had been poisoning us for weeks now. Every death we reaped had been tainted…the black veins I’d seen on Dia’s face, the taint on Caister’s arms. That was the start of the infection, a softening up so that when it finally had us in the fog it could claim us. But it had failed. It didn’t have Caister, and it didn’t have me.
I pulled up my sleeve and sucked in a breath at the sight of the inky veins crawling up my arm. It was inside me. This fucking power was working on me while I sat out there laughing and drinking.
So why these people? A power source of some kind? Or simply a means to an end? And how the hell did I stop it?
The mirror had broken the thrall, but what had kept the thrall active?
The door swung open and Jace entered, bringing the aroma of bread with him, his smile almost loopy. I slammed the door shut, hand over my nose and mouth.
The bread, the fucking smell of fresh bread. Every time it had hit me, I’d lost my train of thought. I needed to get everyone out of the tavern. I needed to break the power’s hold on them. If my suspicions were right, that would weaken it.
I opened the window and sucked in air, then rounded on Jace. “What are you doing in here?”
He frowned and looked back at the door. “I don’t know.”
I’d seen his frown earlier. He had been waking up, and the thrall had pushed him back under. “You came in here for a reason, Jace.” I turned him to face the window and the scene outside, which I could now see was dark and foggy, but to him it would look sunny and clear. “Look.” I pointed him toward the mirror. “See the difference?”
He blinked at the reflection, then turned to look behind him before facing the mirror again. “Fuck.” He pressed his fingers to his temples. “We have to get out of here.”
He remembered. “It wants the Hunt.” I grasped his hand and squeezed. “That’s what it’s wanted all along. I’ll explain later, but first we need to wake everyone up. I think…I think if we do that, we’ll weaken it somehow.”
“But what about the chaos Baron said it fed on?”
“There’s no chaos. Baron was either wrong, or this thing…this thing is more adaptable than they know.” I headed to the window. “We can’t risk going back through the tavern. We’ve woken up, but we could be pulled back under the thrall if we do. We’ll exit through the window and knock on the door, and we will not, under any circumstances, go inside.”
He nodded.
I pushed open the window and climbed out.
Chapter Nine
The fog pressed in on us, and it felt like a multitude of eyes were raking over me.
“Hurry.” Jace led the way around the building. “Stay close to the tavern. I don’t think it will come closer.”
No, he was right. The tavern seemed to be a safe zone. The phantoms had backed off when we’d neared it. We should be safe.
My skin crawled and my arm tingled. The infection? Was it spreading? No, don’t look. You don’t need to see. We’d get the others out of here and then…what? Was there even a way to tear the Hunt from its grasp? The only way to stop the infection was to escape the fog and avoid reaping any power tainted by its influence, but that would mean leaving the Hunt behind.
We approached the doors.
Jace knocked.
The doors opened and Alaron stood there, grinning. “What are you doing outside?” he asked. “You’re missing the fun. Come in.”
Something tugged inside me.
Jace took a step forward, but I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him away. “No. You need to come out.” I gave Alaron a cheerful smile. “I have something to show you.”
His brow furrowed slightly. “I don’t think so.” He inhaled. “No, I think here is perfect.” He made to close the door but Jace slammed a hand on the wood.
“Ash! Sage! Elias! Logan!” he called, loud enough to cut through the music. “Eva’s in trouble. She’s hurt. You need to come with me.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed. Of course. The guys would come out for me. They wouldn’t sit by if I was in trouble.
“Get back,” Jace said to me.
I stepped away from the entrance and pressed myself to the side of the tavern.
“What are you talking about?” Alaron said. “I just saw her and she’s fine.”
“What’s wrong with Eva?” Logan asked. “Where is she?”
“Out here,” Jace said.
“Shit,” Logan groaned.
“What the hell?” Elias said.
A series of exclamations was followed by a scuffle. I stepped forward to see Ash holding Alaron in a headlock and tugging him out of the tavern. The king was gasping and clutching Ash’s waist as he acclimatized.
Ash slowly released him, and the king stood and stared at me in disbelief. “How long?”
“A week, I think.”
His jaw tightened. “I need to get these people to safety.”
“This thing wants me. It wants the Hunt. You and the people of this village were just a means to get us here, and this tavern was either a distraction or a way for it to draw power.”
Alaron stood, hands on hips, chin tucked in. “When we arrived to search for the queen’s men, we only saw the fog. The fog and the tavern, and once we were inside, everything was perfect.”
The power had used the fog to create an illusion of threat, then trapped the villagers in one place and waited for the queen to send in the big guns—t
he Hunt. And now it had us, but not me, and not Caister.
“You need to order them to come out,” Logan said. “You’re a king, they’ll listen to you.”
He nodded and turned to the entrance. “People of Berrywell. Your king requests your company outdoors.”
No one listened; the music got louder, and the door slammed in his face.
Alaron banged on the door with his fist, but no one answered.
The thrall must have intensified inside. The power must have known what was happening, meaning we didn’t have much time.
“We’ll have to get out of here,” Jace said. “Regroup and figure out a different strategy.”
“The queen has scholars who may be able to help,” Alaron said.
“We already spoke to Baron, but you’re right—he could dig up more information.”
Dammit, running away was the last thing I wanted to do, but the tingle had reached my shoulder now—the infection was spreading, and my connection to the Hunt was getting stronger.
If I stayed in the fog, I’d be at risk, and despite what I’d told Caister, I had no idea if he could tether me enough that I could resist the dark power’s influence.
Come to me. Step closer. Join me.
“We stay together, and we move fast.” I made to head up the group, but Logan pulled me back.
“You stay between us,” he said.
Yes, yes, of course.
The Fangs, Sage, and Elias surrounded me. Alaron took the lead, his sword held ready to counter-attack, and then the tavern was falling away.
“You abandoned us. You promised to try.”
Dia?
“You promised you’d be with us, that you’d be the Hunt.”
I felt them before I saw them. Dia and the others bloomed to life around us, eyes gleaming green in the darkness. Each was accompanied by a phantom beast.
“You belong with us,” Dia said.
Logan growled menacingly.
Dia kept her emerald gaze fixed on me. “This world is cruel, it’s unfair, but we can change that. We can cleanse it of pain, and there will be no more death. We no longer have to be the eaters of death. We can bring a new life to the land. But you need to join us. We are one; together we are stronger.”
Her words held a clue, but my brain was foggy, unable to focus enough to decipher it.
Dia held out her arms and the others followed suit, imploring me to join them. The power that bound us flared to life. Our power, not the dark power’s influence. The green power was all Hunt.
Crimson was the dark power’s signature.
Wait!
Oh, God, I had the solution… but if I was wrong, my next move would fuck everything up.
“Yes.” I placed a hand on Ash’s back. He turned his head to look at me.
“Yes, I’ll join you.” My words were for the power, but my hands said something different, something for Ash’s eyes only, and yes, I was putting the responsibility of my plan’s success on his shoulders, but there was no other way.
Logan growled a warning and stepped forward to block me as I made to step out of the circle of protection. But Ash rammed into him, clearing a path for me.
I ignored Alaron’s cry of alarm, Sage’s and Elias’s yells, and the Fangs’ snarls as Ash did what I’d asked of him. My focus was on Dia as she held out her hand. Her cool fingers wrapped around my palm and her lips curled in a satisfied smile. Her eyes flared red and fire ants flooded my veins. The infection. Oh, God. It had me. Inky darkness surrounded me, but I reached out to the others. I pushed against the darkness, finding the threads of green power that bound me to the Hunt and latching on to them, tugging and urging them to fight.
Together we were stronger. Together we could fight this thing. The Hunt was mine. Mine.
The darkness began to retreat, to ebb, and Dia’s face lost the sly smile. Her hand tightened around mine.
“Eva.”
“I’m here. Fight it. Fight the darkness.”
The others moved closer, clawing away from the power’s influence.
No. Mine.
The voice was saturated with menace, with determination. Mine.
Pain tore through my head, and talons dug into my mind. And then the world fell away, and I was in a circle of light.
Darkness hovered on the outskirts, formless but dreadful in its intention. It wanted the light. It wanted me.
“Stop fighting.” The words were a seductive purr.
“Never.”
“Let me in.”
“No.”
“Your soul has layers. I need to peel them back. I need to see. What worlds have you lived in? I see a glimpse, but I need to know more.”
The darkness pressed itself to the barrier of light, slipping over it, around me, closing in. The light began to shrink, and as the darkness looked into me, I found a crack to peer into. I saw stars and planets, black holes and supernovas, worlds collapse and reborn, and through it all, the darkness persisted. Not darkness, no. This was something else. Its name hovered on the tip of my tongue and then bloomed like a stain in my mind.
Oblivion.
My light shrank beneath the magnitude of my attacker.
No. Oh, God. There was no doubt in my mind that if the light winked out, I’d be lost.
“Eva!”
Caister?
My light flared a little.
“No. Get away from her.”
His voice was close, yet too far away. He shouldn’t have come, he—
“Together we are stronger,” Dia’s voice whispered in the back of my mind.
And then arms wound around me. “I got you,” Caister whispered in my ear.
The light around me pulsed, once, twice, and exploded in a shower of green sparks. The darkness screamed as it shattered under the assault, and the power of the Hunt flooded my veins, burning away the taint that had infected it.
The world came back into focus and the fog melted away, leaving nothing but fluffy white clouds and blue skies. The afternoon sun bathed the cobbles as the Hunt materialized in front of me.
The power that bound us pulsed and glowed bright, stealing my vision for one moment, and then the guys joined the Hunt, standing with Dia and the others.
Together, we are stronger.
Epilogue
“You are so cheating,” Jace said with a grin.
Caister looked offended. “I can’t help that I’m excellent at this game.”
Logan snorted. “He’s probably using some Hunt power we don’t know about to X-ray the cards.” He sounded annoyed, but the twinkle in his eyes belied his tone.
Ash and Dia were deep in conversation by the dining room window. She’d picked up the sign language super-fast. It turned out that she’d been a scholar in her previous life, which was how she’d met Caister. They may have even been lovers for a while. But now…Now Caister was mine.
I caught his eye, and he gave me a slow blink and a smile that made my blood heat before he returned his attention to the game.
Elias and Sage entered a moment later carrying trays of food, and the room was filled with delicious aromas.
I didn’t need to eat, but like hell was I going to turn my nose up at the offerings on the trays—pie and bread, and tiny parcels of pastry. The Hunt descended on the trays the moment the guys set them on the dining room table.
And then someone demanded music.
What had started off as a gathering had turned into a celebration, and why the fuck not? We’d fought too long and too hard not to enjoy every moment of peace we got. Tomorrow Alaron could darken my doorstep asking for help, or the queen might summon us for assistance. Tomorrow there could be more deaths tainted by Oblivion, but we would not siphon that power. We’d resist, and eventually Oblivion would learn that we could not be harnessed.
I wished this could be the end. That happily ever after could be written in the stars, but the threat we’d averted was still out there. Its taint was still on our lands, and there was no doubt in my mind
that it would find me again. But for now, and for as long as I could, I would hold on to the ones who were dear to me. The Hunt and my guys. For now, together we were strongest. Together, we’d be unstoppable.
The End
If you enjoyed Eva’s story, then check out the Heart of Darkness series, where the story of the fey realm continues.
Captive of Darkness, book one in the Heart of Darkness series. Grab it Here!
A century-old curse forgotten by time. A sleepy town cut off from the world by an ominous chasm. And a girl with the heart of a warrior.
Nothing can stop the silver riders from reaping once they’ve marked their prey. I should know. I tried, and I failed…
The silver riders come in the dead of winter. They ride out of the chasm beyond the woods and take the Marked. No one sees, but me. No one remembers, but me. It’s the town’s curse to forget, and I do my best to forget along with them. I almost succeed.
Until the day I can no longer turn a blind eye. Until the day the man I love is taken.
Now there is nothing I won’t do to get him back, even if that means climbing into the pit of hell itself, even if it means taking Death’s hand and accepting his heated kisses. I will do what it takes to find the man I love, and I will brave the monsters to bring him home. And if I fail…If I fail, I’d have died trying…
My name is Wynter Ashfall, and I am not afraid…
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Coauthored with Jasmine Walt
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magick
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
For the Hunt Page 7