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Shadow’s lips peeled back in a snarl. “The ward of Tritonia. But she insists we call her ‘the queen’.”
“How did you come into her service?” Grimm dug deeper.
Shadow’s chains rattled again. “She seized control of my plantation and the neighboring one. She let it be known she was the new owner, and anyone who opposed her would be put to death.”
“And you,” Grimm said with a nod to Flare.
“Got caught in one of the bitch’s traps,” Flare said.
Well. He certainly spoke it like it was, didn’t he?
Shadow shot his fellow shifter a glare. “Flare lives in the jungles of Tritonia.”
Many panthers lived in the humid regions of Tritonia, as well as in the mountains of Wildfire due the constant stream of work available to them in the rich farming lands.
“Why does the queen want Snow dead?” Grimm already knew the answer. I presumed he played dumb to gather more intelligence on the matter.
“She didn’t exactly tell us why she wanted the little sweetheart dead,” Flare said, a cocky grin plastering his face.
Anger simmered inside me. The new Snow was no sweetheart and should have killed this jerk when she’d had the chance.
“Must have really pissed her off to be worthy of sending ten hunters after you,” Flare said. “Aye, sweetheart?”
I swore, if he called me that one more time, I’d punch him in the face.
He blew me a mocking kiss.
I tried to remain calm, but I gulped a little too hard and loudly to hide it. Ten hunters.Flipping hell.What if they tracked us to the resistance compound and entered? Hadn’t enough people died or been enslaved because of me?
Phantom placed a hand on the small of my back. “You’re safe here.” He sounded overly self-assured for someone who’d had his ass kicked by Flare.
Despite his confident façade, I didn’t believe him. Panthers were the best hunters in Haven. If anyone could find me, they would. Two already had. Given enough time, more would come, and I no longer felt safe. I wrapped my arms across my waist.
Phantom rubbed my lower back.
The old Snow reveled in his touch and wrangled with me for control, delighting in the comforting stroke of his hand. Me…? Well, I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t jolt each time he touched me…but the protector within me wanted to maintain a professional distance and move away. The old Snow moaned really loudly and cursed at me, making her displeasure clear as I slid back into my chair.
Shut the apple fudge up,I told her.
Out of the two of us, I’d become the stronger and more dominant personality, but she had her moments when she knocked me aside. From time to time, I didn’t mind letting her out to run the ship for a while. It gave me a chance to rest.
Two pairs of eyes burned into me. Phantom’s and Shadow’s. The first demanding answers, the second glaring at me like I was some sort of witch who had entranced him, and now he’d come to his senses, he wanted nothing more to do with me.
Trust Snow to kick the rusty remains of my heart. It rattled in my chest.
Grimm continued his line of questioning. “Tell us what you know of the slave camps.”
“She’s turned plantations and local farms into slave camps,” Shadow replied. “That way, she can strangle Haven, and cut off its supply of tea, apples, oranges, vegetables, and beef.”
Grimm squeezed one of the iron bars of the cell. “What kind of protection does she have?”
“A personal guard of panthers, all with collars like mine that will kill us if we defy her or fail to return with Snow’s heart within seven days.”
Shadow’s revelations chilled me to the core.
Seven days.That didn’t give me long to figure out how to get the collars off. It might take a day or two to summon a blacksmith. Even that might not work if the collars were enchanted.
“What reinforcements are at the slave camps?” Grimm kept grilling.
