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“Animals get scared of the monster folk,” Gethin said, his eyes darting past the camp and focusing on the forest behind it. “The surrounding area is becoming sparse for hunting day by day. I think they can smell us.”
“We need a constant source of food,” Brigid replied. “The camp is growing.”
“We can venture deeper into the forest to hunt,” Dearen offered.
A man huffed by us, carrying a deer carcass that should have been too heavy for him to carry. He gave me a nod as our eyes met and moved without hesitation toward the food tent. No one approached him to offer help as he moved quickly; no one thought it was odd for a man to carry a carcass triple his size, all by himself.
He was one of the hunters, I believed his name was Bryce. He had been among the group who had arrived on the first day Gethin brought us into the in-between realms a week ago.
“We can use the horses for meat,” Brigid offered. “They are spooked by the monster folk, which means they’re basically useless.”
Often, Brigid would say something that took me off guard. This was one of those instances. I met her gaze to see if she was joking.
“That’s not an option,” Gethin replied calmly as though Brigid’s suggestion was a sensible proposition. “We need the horses. And that is not a long-term plan...”
“What will we do then?” Brigid asked.
She was looking at me. They did that often.
I met her gaze but did not say anything.
“We can steal tools from nearby settlements to work the land,” Dearen offered in my stead.
If he had said that a month ago, I would think it a twisted joke. The Prince of the Unseelie did not steal plows and hoes to farm a piece of untouched forest in the in-between lands.
But I was not a prince, not anymore.
“Working the land would take too long,” I said. I immediately regretted speaking as soon as I did, but something made me keep going. “And the closest settlement is three days on horseback.”
“And it is within Seelie grounds,” Gethin added.
“I can sneak in and get as much as I can,” Dearen said. “I can grab one of the horses and carry...”
“We are not going to settle here,” I said.
Regret followed quickly.
They listened. I hated that they listened to me, whenever I gave in to the urge to try and tell them what to do.
That was not me. Not anymore...
“Or perhaps we can...” I tried to take it back.
“Kieran is right,” Dearen intervened, ignoring my hesitation. "We should stay on our feet, in case...”
He did not have to finish that sentence. We all knew why.
We were stuck in the in-between realms, between two countries whose rulers sought to kill all of us. The Seelie Queen had always been our enemy, but now, it was just as important to avoid the Unseelie.
A week ago, we had barely escaped the clutches of the Seelie Queen, only because Cari had changed sides at the last moment after luring us into the queen’s trap. Still, the queen managed to take Fiona, claiming she was going to marry her off to Lugh in an attempt to secure his rule over the Unseelie.
She claimed our father had lost his throne to Lugh in a coup. Although I did not want to believe her, the news we received from the monster folk coming from the Unseelie lands confirmed her claims.
The only reason I wasn’t back in Qam, demanding the release of my father and the return of the crown to him, was because if all of those claims were true and Lugh had Father and Fiona, my freedom was the only thing keeping him from killing both of them and claiming the throne as the next one in line.
I was certain that Lugh was cruel enough to do so. He wouldn’t bat an eye as he killed both Father and Fiona if he didn’t know that killing them would pass the crown to me. My freedom ensured their safety. Thus, I had to be careful about it.
It had taken some persuasion for me to come to that conclusion, but Dearen and Brigid had been adamant about it. And they were right.
