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Carefully, I tied the silk and velvet ribbon to the end of my braid. I glanced down at the result. Against my dark-brown hair, it looked pretty. The color complemented my blue clothes and the red ribbon of my cape.
“Sahlyn… This is lovely. Thank you.” It was the first time I had ever used his name.
His eyes flashed on mine, and the corners of his lips lifted into a smile. His mouth was generous and looked dangerously soft. I realized I was staring and shook myself. His grin deepened into something I didn’t want to understand, and I glanced away. I fidgeted with the ribbon. It was a small, silly thing, but I loved it instantly.
“It suits you,” he stated, voice low and soft. It was a tone I’d never heard him use, and I glanced back at him. His features had relaxed, and he looked… Damn him to the Underworld, but the man was handsome. Ineededto hate him. But instead, I was attracted to him.
I was losing my mind. What was wrong with me?
“We should get back,” I said with disappointment. That kind of emotion would get me into trouble. Maybe the huntsman was trying to gain my trust so I would make it easier for him to kill me. I needed to be more careful around him.
Something felt light between us as we made our way back to the inn. The chill outside had gone straight through us; to remain outside any longer would require thicker layers. Winter was making a stand against autumn—and winning the battle. We ate in companionable silence again, but I caught him glancing at me a few times throughout our meal, and I did the same to him. We were dancing around something dangerous for both of us, and it needed to end. But I didn’t think I could just stop feeling comfortable around him. Maybe if he attempted to kill me again, I could stop feeling whatever this was.
When we made our way up to our room, we moved around each other as easily as we had the night before, but I crept closer to him when we passed, and he touched my lower back gently when we went through doorways. Such slight yet significant things. Like my ribbon.
How could I possibly feel attracted to a man that had almost killed me? It was absurd.
Sahlyn pulled his tunic over his head in our room, and I averted my eyes too late. I had gotten a full glimpse of golden, muscled flesh and what appeared to be dark inking.
“You could have warned me,” I grumbled as my cheeks heated, and I had to resist the urge to look over my shoulder to see more of him.
When he finished, I turned back around. His smile lifted one side of his sensual mouth more than the other in an annoyingly charming way. The hunter stepped close, so close that his presence consumed me. He was an imposing man, with solid muscle and a large frame.
I could get lost in the blue-gray of his eyes if I weren’t careful, and Ineededto be careful.
I looked away, stepped aside from him, and changed quickly.
We slid into our beds, and I couldn’t help but watch him. He met my gaze, and we stared at each other across the space.
I needed to end this moment, to get back to our animosity for each other. I needed to remind myself of who he was, who he worked for, and what he had tried to do to me.
“How many women have you killed for the queen?”
He sucked in a long breath, and the pregnant pause felt heavy in the air. “Four.”
For some reason, that number didn’t bother me. I had assumed it was many—hundreds, even. My mind had catapulted to an awful place. Murder was horrible, unforgivable, no matter what, but I had thought that number was… more.
“Four?”
“Yes.”
His answer was so tortured, so sorrowful. I knew those girls' deaths would forever wear on his soul and heart. This hunter didn’t kill because he wanted to. The queen's power was that great, her contract that solid. It made me pity him and his situation. He didn’t seem like a killer, and I was sure that’s not the life he would have chosen without the queen's involvement. But I also understood that he had allowed himself to get there, to get to this point, so he was still responsible.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I do not deserve kindness. Whatever punishment I receive, I deserve it. I deserve the most brutal death for what I have done. I will mourn those girls for the rest of my days and the girls to come that she forces me to end undeservingly.”
“Can’t you end the contract?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Contracts are like curses; there are always loopholes.”
“I think the queen’s death is the only way to break it before the decade is done.”
“You’ll find a way, Sa—” Damn it, if his remorse didn’t hit a note in my heart. “Murdering women—it’s not you. It's not who you are meant to be.”
His eyes brightened in the dim moonlight. The gray glinted like the silver blades I made.
