Hunted. Ella blinked at him, fighting to follow that, to turn it in a way that made sense. Hunted. For nine years.
“Hunted,” she repeated, the word strange, awful on her tongue. “By — men? For nine wholeyears?”
There was a twitchy nod of Natt’s head, his hand again clenching on hers, tight enough to be almost painful. As if to say, now that you know this of me, don’t run,pleasedon’t run —
But Ella couldn’t even move. Could only stare at him, and fight to pull the pieces together.Hunted. No, it was impossible for any man to be so cruel, surely, and yet she’d seen it with her own eyes today, and…
“Who, Natt?” she whispered, through the sudden, menacing thud of her heartbeat. “Who is hunting you?Tell me.”
But his eyes, the look in his eyes, she knew, sheknew. Before he even spoke.
“I am sorry, lass,” he said, every quiet word a deafening thud. “The man who hunts me is Alfred, of Tlaxca. The man you are to wed.”
14
The man who hunts me is Alfred. The man you are to wed.
“Alfred,” Ella heard her voice say, faint, shaken, “ishuntingyou? But he wasn’t — he wasn’t one ofthem, was he?”
And dear gods, maybe Alfred trulyhadbeen one of those horrible men earlier today, and somehow Ella had entirely missed him — but Natt gave a curt shake of his head. “No,” he said. “He rode east last night, for this council. But these men hunt at his command, and he oft rides with them. If they had defeated me, they should have bound me, and taken me back for him to kill.”
Ella’s hand had clamped over her mouth, while the appalling visions of that marched across her thoughts. ”Butwhy,” she pleaded, through her fingers. “Why would anyonedosuch a thing.”
Natt’s eyes seemed to shutter, and something jumped in his jaw. “For men like this,” he said slowly, “with these high titles and lands, hunting an orc has long been a — feat. A proof of strength. It is akin to” — his eyes closed — “killing the largest mountain-lion. Or the buck with the greatest antlers.”
Ella was about to protest, to argue, to say that she’d never heard Alfredhintat such a thing — but then, far too strong, there were the sudden memories of Alfred’s disparate, offhand comments of hunting-parties, tracking prey, using bloodhounds. Of his kennel, which he’d spoken of with pride, claiming it to be one of the finest in the realm.
And Ella had just assumed, of course, that he was hunting deer. Foxes. Boars. Not orcs. Not —Natt.
“But there arethousandsof orcs out there,” she said, almost desperate. “Why is he huntingyou?!”
Natt took another heavy breath, his eyes fluttering open to fix on something beyond her. “They found — things, of mine. Clothes. An orc’s scent does not soon fade from such things. And thus, these men can teach these dogs an orc’s scent, and then seek until it is found.”
“For nine wholeyears?!” Ella demanded, her voice shrill. “Butwhy?”
Natt’s chest heaved again, his breath coming out thick. “It is better —sport, to chase worthy prey,” he said, his voice flat. “And it seems, for this man, I am now a — thorn. A sign of weakness. A thing that must be conquered, for his pride.”
Ella could only keep gaping at him, the revulsion rising in her throat. “But — the newtreaty, Natt. Isn’t that breaking thelaw?!”
His mouth grimaced, and he made a sound that might have been a laugh. “He is a lord,” he said, bitter. “The law means naught, for him. He shall do all that he wishes.”
The vision of Alfred and that woman in her drawing-room swarmed across Ella’s thoughts, and she squeezed her eyes shut, shook her head. “So how have yousurvivedall these years?” her choked voice whispered. “What did youdo?!”
“I hid, at first,” came Natt’s answer, slow and deliberate. “I sought refuge in our mountain, and in the tunnels deep beneath it. My brothers hoped that mayhap, with time, the men should forget my scent. But the first day I went out into the forest, these dogs again found me, one new dog among them, and I was almost killed.”
Ella flinched, her gaze darting back to Natt’s scarred, battered body, to the way his eyes glittered in the faint light. “After this I went far to the south,” he continued. “To the badlands, where these men would not follow. I lived with my Clan Bautul brothers there for many moons. But I did not belong there with them, and as such, there was much to pay, for the safety they granted me.”
Ella could only stare at Natt, trying and failing to follow the implications of that, and he took another breath, gave a harsh exhale. “When I could no longer bear this,” he said, “I came back, and spent many moons only running over the land, giving these men the sport they wished for. But I yet had to rest, and thus I was caught four times, and almost killed each time.”
“And you couldn’t have fought back?” Ella countered. “You couldn’t have killed them? Attacked them in the dark, or something? Iknowhow fast and strong you are, Natt!”
It came out sounding accusing, somehow, but Natt only took another thick breath, his head slowly shaking, saying no. “Even before this peace,” he said, “killing a lord’s sole heir should have brought down great wrath upon my head. Not only from the men, but from my own kin. I could not risk losing what safety I did have, from them.”
Ella’s heart was lurching, and she belatedly realized that she was clasping Natt’s hand with both of hers, gripping it as tightly as she could. “So what now?” she demanded. “What are you doing now?”
And suddenly Natt just looked tired, worn, his eyes staring blank at the stone behind her. “Now, I stay in the mountain,” he said dully. “I come out, for a time, once I can no longer bear this. Then I am almost caught, and I run back, and stay again, until the next time.”
Good gods in heaven. It sounded like pure and utterhell, especially for someone who’d always loved being outdoors as he had, running and roaming and exploring. He’d been so — playful, back then, so wild and carefree, and to think of him cornered, imprisoned, trapped underground for years on end, it was cruel, appalling, utterly unconscionable.
