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His wild thoughts had him kicking in the door instead of knocking.
Surely, Tenah thought him a maniac at this point as she sat quietly atop the horse. He needed to be quick. Hunters would arrive soon.
As he entered the dark, narrow hallway, the scent of ginger tea hit him. He reached out to touch the wobbly spindles of the stair railing. He didn’t allow himself a glance into the adjacent sitting room, where his mother had often lurked. He could smell the thick layer of dust there.
Creeping down the hall, he didn’t expect to find a grown male sitting at the dining table. Still far too lean but now considerably tall, Aeyis was hunched over one of their mother’s ceramic teacups, laughably small in his massive hand. A mess of white curls hid most of his boyish face.
Silver-ringed white irises flicked up to search Renton in silent assessment.
Renton’s chest swelled with a mixture of pride and shame. Pride for the brother who had survived these past eleven years without him. Shame for not having come home sooner, exile be damned.
You’re long overdue,Aeyis spoke into his mind.
Renton struggled for the words to span the gap between them when something rested against his back, warm even through his armor. He softened a bit, recognizing Tenah’s heat. He liked her touching him. What did that say about him as a hunter?
He didn’t have time to delve into that thought as voices flooded in from the open door. Renton cursed, reaching back to grasp his father’s blade as Councilman Boedworth stepped out of the connected bedroom, his smile as pristine as his tailored suit. Flanking him were two bulky, stone-faced hunters.
“I had a hunch you’d break the rules, Mr. Murfell. My hunters spotted you on the road near Temporra, turning the wrong direction. And here I’d thought breaking your bones after your last indiscretion would purge you of these sinful ways.”
Renton stretched an arm back to push Tenah toward the front door. “Run.”
All this did was move her closer to another hunter wearing black-and-gold armor.
“Our contract was for the lord and his offspring. Clearly, your skills are lacking.” Boedworth frowned, handing a rolled piece of parchment—their contract—to the hunter on his right. A thin jet of flame shot from the hunter’s bracer. Soon, it was nothing more than a pile of ashes on the checkered floor.
“I still have time,” Renton argued, to which he felt the singe of two ruby eyes on the back of his head. Her yelp had him spinning around. Fury overtook him as the hunter dragged Tenah outside by her hair. By her fuckinghair.
Renton squeezed his eyes shut, always one to overthink when he stood on the precipice of a life-changing decision. Should he jump, his actions today might be unforgivable in the eyes of the High Court. Everything he’d worked for these past couple of years would be for naught.
But if he stepped back, he would lose the shadow that had awakened something inside of him beyond rage all these years.
No. She was Corrupt. It waswrongto want to save her. It went against everything he’d been taught.
So why did it feel like something was gripping his insides and twisting, eager to break off another piece of his soul when there wasn’t much left to give?
“Would it have made a difference, Mr. Murfell?” Boedworth asked. “Some claim you’re a Corrupt worshipper. They haven’t forgotten the state you were in when you crawled home from the desert that day, covered in the blood of your spineless father and reeking of that dark magic.”
The last fiber of Renton’s self-control snapped, and adrenaline coursed through him, wicked hot.
Fuck it.He was done.
His blade sang through the air, slashing at Boedworth’s neck. One of his hunters parried the attack, throwing Renton back. He used the momentum to bolt for the front door.
It didn’t even occur to him until he was out on the street that Aeyis hadn’t moved from the dining table. Wrath nearly turned his vision red as he spotted the hunter throwing Tenah, thrashing and spitting, into the back of a windowless prison cart, her wrists bound in shackles. Their eyes met briefly before the doors clanged shut, and in that look, she’d burned every bit of her hatred and pain.
He’d made a horrible mistake bringing her into Mire. He should have left her in the swamps. He should have left her at The Indigo to heal. Stolen a horse for her and sent her off to her kingdom. He never should have pulled her out of the ruins of her home.
His blade arced toward the head of the hunter in black-and-gold armor. The hunter dodged it and slammed a boot into Renton’s stomach. Renton grunted but held his ground.
Four more hunters appeared behind him. Fighting one was difficult enough, but five? Why could nothing ever go right for him? He’d fought against all odds. Not once had something turned in his favor. All he’d ever wanted was a better life for Aeyis.
Now, he wanted Tenah’s freedom too.
The hunter that had assaulted Tenah struck with a dagger. Renton sidestepped the blade but took a gauntlet to the chin from another hunter. He hit the street hard. Pinned by a knee to the back of his neck, he clenched his throbbing jaw as he heard the jangle of shackles.
“I still had time, damn it,” Renton growled, unable to turn his head and glare at the councilman that had leveled his world. “If you imprison me, you’re allowing that Chaos lord to carry on killing innocents.”
“He’s already done that, from what I’ve heard,” Boedworth said. “You’ve failed, Mr. Murfell. Accept it. There’s always another hunter to replace a dead one.”
