Now, she’s . . . something else.
Hedran’s eyes narrow. “You’d fight me overher?” Disbelief rings in his voice. “A Marked One?”
He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know the little bird like I do; he hasn’t looked into her violet eyes, seen her captivating smile, or felt pulled towards her.
And I will make sure it stays that way.
“Yes,” I say plainly, lifting my sword. “I will.”
It turns out, it doesn’t matter why I’m drawn to Wren. I just know that I need to keep her out of harm’s way. Even, it seems, from my fellow Hunters.
Hedran studies me for a long moment, then shrugs. “So be it. I’ll kill you, then I’ll take her. Myprize.”
No sooner has the last word left his lips than he lunges towards me. I spin on my heels with ease, evading his blow.
A black blur catches the corner of my eye as Mist dives towards Slate. Hedran’s sword swings in my direction, and our weapons meet with a thunderous clash.
I lose myself in the fight.
9
A HUNTER, HUNTED
WREN
In Grenbloom, the village where I grew up, the blacksmith’s forge is located a short distance from the small school I attended until my eighteenth birthday.
Sometimes, on particularly warm spring and summer afternoons, the forge’s yard would be a popular gathering place. The smithy’s apprentice, Jonathon Howard, and his friends would be outside, shirtless and sparring with old swords.
The clash of metal against metal would often draw a crowd, most of them women. I’m not ashamed to admit Amelia and I were often among them. We would lean against the wooden fence, a little away from everyone else, and admire the young men with their glistening chests and rippling muscles.
I always thought Jonathon and his friends were rather skilled, but it turns out, they were boys playing at being men.
But Gabriel . . .
Suns save me, he is not a boy, and he isn’t playing at anything. His movements are fluid, infused with power and grace, and they are as captivating as they are lethal.
My core warms as Gabriel swings his sword in an arch above his head before bringing it down on the other Hunter’s weapon. The clash is so loud, it reverberates in my bones.
Hunter Erlet, Gabriel called his opponent.
Hedran.
Even the man’s name makes me feel queasy. My blood chilled as soon as Gabriel had told me to hide, and a sickening feeling had settled in my stomach when the other man began speaking. When my Mark flared, the blue blindingly bright, I nearly threw up.
There had been a moment when I’d wondered whether Gabriel would change his mind and let this man take me.
My concerns had been for nothing.
Gabriel is fighting his fellow Hunter for me, and it means something that I’ll have to address later...
If there is a later.
There might not be. At least not for me.
Hedran knows I’m here, and he seems intent on getting past Gabriel to me.
I may not know many things about this world, thanks to my guarded upbringing, but there is no doubt in my mind that this man is dangerous. There’s a dark gleam in his eyes that speaks of death and darkness and pain, and I already know I’d rather die than go anywhere with him.
