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I swallowed, and my eyes swept over him, then the room. With a huff, I peered beneath the foot of the bed and counted the weapons. Once satisfied, I glanced back at the huntsman, whose eyes were closed.
Well, shit. This was not how my night was supposed to go. But honestly, it might have gone worse if he hadn’t shown up.
Sighing, I stepped around him and got into bed. It was strange to think that a man I barely knew would sleep on the floor beside me. What an insane turn of events. I didn’t even know where to begin or what to feel about everything leading up to this moment, never mind this moment itself.
My mind stuttered on one thing, though.Safe. I felt safe. I shouldn’t—Idefinitelyshouldn’t. But I did.
As I drifted to sleep, I realized I had never told the huntsman my name.
Up For Interpretation
This woman. My eyes brushed over her as she slept. She had no reason to trust me. I didn’t even trust myself. Yet she had slept soundly with me beside her on the floor.
I had felt something from the healer's quarters last night and needed to be out in the moonlight. To take a walk despite still feeling the ache in my throat and the drowsiness from the pain treatment the healer had given me. I had come upon the back of the inn and looked up to see a window open. Even with the cool temperatures, the window open shouldn’t have been a clue. There were plenty of reasons for someone to need fresh air—lovemaking or too much ale, to name a few. But, for an unknown reason, I’d felt uneasy when I’d seen it and had to investigate.
I’m glad I had. Not that Autumn needed my help physically, but she was a new person in an old town, and they would believe whatever story the guard presented, regardless of the woman’s version.
When I’d come in through the window, I had been unsure whether the guard had tried to take Autumn unwillingly or steal her weapons, but rage consumed me. Autumn could certainly hold her own against anything life presented her. She was resilient and dangerous with a blade.
I won’t deny as my eyes swept over her rumpled brown hair and the way her lashes swept her cheeks in slumber, she awed me.
She must have felt my gaze because those golden eyes fluttered open, and panic swept through them a second before the night’s events settled into her. She slowly lifted her torso, pushed the hair from her face, and rubbed her eyes. Morning light filtered across the bed, setting her hair shining, and swept through the tunic she wore. I had noticed last night—and wished I hadn’t; that was all she wore. Her long, shapely legs were on display, and that image had snuck into my thoughts well into the night when I should have been sleeping. Damn this woman.
Her sharp eyes grazed over me before looking at the window. “I expected you to be gone already, Huntsman.”
“Not so lucky, I’m afraid.”
Her lips quirked, but she glared at me as she stood. Light filtered through the loose tunic, displaying the tantalizing cut of her figure.
My mouth went dry, and I tried to stop my eyes from roaming. “I’m coming with you on your journey.”
A sarcastic laugh escaped her lips, and it quaked over me. “No, thank you.”
“You could use the protection.” Not really, but still.
She scoffed as she rummaged through her pack. “Excuse me? I savedyou. I am not the one that needs protection here.”
Autumn glanced at me over her shoulder, and her eyes lingered on my neck. I swallowed at her glance.
“I’m not quite ready to face the queen.” The honest words wavered in the air around us, and I was surprised I’d even uttered them aloud.
Autumn bit her lip, assessing the offer and my words. I knew she was nervous about the Winterwood after what happened with the wolf, never mind what had happened with the brigands. I’d come uponthatsituation too late but had killed a man with a shoulder wound for what they’d done. I didn't particularly appreciate stealing. Not that I was any better. I fucking murdered young girls for the queen. I was ten shades of fucked up in my self-righteous acts.
I had tried to catch up with Autumn, figuring her wounded friend and the dead body of the other would slow her down, but I was mistaken. I had hoped to murder Autumn on the road, but she’d made it to Cashore before I had the chance. Fate had impeded every opportunity I had to kill her, and now I’m glad it had. Even if I had to kill her in the end, she made me feel something I hadn’t for a long time. Something buried by the contract with the queen, something I had only ever felt with Bereille. I didn’t dare shed light on that feeling.
“So you can kill me the first chance you get? I don’t think so.”
“We have a debt. A deal.”
“They've been broken before.”
That’s true. Shrewd girl. “You have my word. I will not harm you in any way while we are on this journey.” I stuck out my hand.
She cocked her head, assessing my words. “I want your word that you will not attack or harm meeverunless I give you a damn good reason to do so.”
Fair enough. It was a binding way to show her good intentions. Not that they were, because I could work around her words. I had learned how to act around deals, even the queen’s—in a way. Everything was up for interpretation.
When she took my hand, I felt the magic tremble over our hands, up my arm, to wrap around my chest. It squeezed and tugged against my heart. I was not breaking any other contracts with this one, but I felt an unexplainable lightness. Something about making deals withherwas different.
