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I stepped closer to her. “I’ll be fine, love. Don’t worry about me.” I pushed a wayward lock of hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering on the sensitive skin. Then my finger slowly dragged down the side of her neck to her collarbone and shoulder. I couldn’t get enough of touching her. If I died, I wanted the memory of her soft skin against my fingertips.
“Sahl, ple—”
I silenced her with a crushing kiss. All the emotion—the good and bad—seared through me. I didn’t want to unload my intense emotions on her right now, but I also wanted her to understand how much she meant to me. This could be the end of everything, and I knew sending us all to that fate without her knowing what she meant to me was unfair, but I didn’t have the words. When it came to my emotions, I couldn’t find the words, so I tried to show her instead. I cupped her neck with one hand, and the other yanked her closer until our bodies were flush. I branded us with a kiss, scorching and thorough. She met me with just as much enthusiasm, and I relished that she could give and take with the same amount of heat.
If I died today, I would know what it felt like to feel what my parents had.
Prowling through the palace like I owned the place was something I’d had to grow into and find in a dark place inside myself. Now, sulking around the palace, hiding from everyone in the shadows, was my speed.
But when I rounded the corner and discovered a guard against the wall with a tiny red-haired female in his arms, my heart raced, and I knew my cover was blown here and now.
“Please, don’t. If she catches you—”
The man growled, and it was disturbingly inhuman. “What the fuck is she going to do?”
“Please. I can’t get into trouble again. She’ll kill me.”
“I don’t fucking care what she does to you. If you suck my dick, I won’t kill your useless—”
I groaned. This was the perfect chance to get away, scuttle down the hall, and make my way to the door, but I couldn’t leave the woman there.
Fuckme. “Hey! You there! Assbag! The lady said to leave her be. I suggest you listen.”
The man’s eyes whipped to mine. I’d never seen him before. Apparently, the queen widened her employ in my absence. This man was bulky, and his eyes were obsidian and depthless. Something vaguely familiar about him was there, but I couldn’t place it.
“And what the fuck are you going to do about it, pretty boy?”
“Youare going to back off and leave the lady be. Scuttle back to whatever dark corner your mangy ass crawled out of.”
That got his full attention. “Who the fuck are you?”
I swallowed but didn’t let the man see my nerves quivering. Selling myself out so soon would be disastrous for our plans, but I couldn’t leave this woman. Autumn wouldkillme. The thought sent a smile over me, and I let it twist my lips maliciously.
The man’s eyes widened just a bit. “You’re the Huntsman. The one, the queen, is searching for.”
Fuck. Amira was searching for me. That could not be good. But in his distraction, the tiny wisp of a girl scurried out from under the large man’s arm. Her eyes met mine briefly, and something flashed in hers. Recognition and I recognized her too. She had been caught stealing an apple from the queen’s garden a year ago to feed her impoverished family. Instead of killing her as the queen usually did, Amira turned the poor girl into a slave. The queen did not treat her kindly. A few times, I had helped her clean dagger and burn wounds the queen had inflicted and had often helped her carry things that were far too heavy for her malnourished frame. I knew her face well, and she knew mine. She said nothing but her dipped chin said volumes. I would likely need her help now, so I prayed she remained close.
“What are you, some guard recruit?”
“Something like that,” the man said but offered no other explanation.
I shook my head and hooked my thumbs in my vest, going for a swagger I didn’t feel. “Well, if that’s all, I have places to be.”
I attempted to stroll passed him, but he grabbed my arm, spinning me to face him.
“I’m your replacement. It’ll be nice to watch her ruin you. Get your affairs in order, boy.”
Boy? He looked only a few years older than me. I sent him a withering glare, and he dropped his arm after a moment. Then, he gave me a toothy grin that looked disturbingly predatory, and he turned on his heel and stalked away.
I randomly picked a hall and waited to hear his boots clip down the hall. I doubled back and caught the maid sneaking her head out the door. She jumped when she noticed me in the shadows. “Huntsman—"
“There's no time. Please unlock the fourth window from the door of the stone bathing chamber. I beg of you.”
Her widened eyes glistened with a strength no one would have known existed in the tiny girl, and Autumn would have been proud. She would appreciate this whip of a girl.
“Anything you require of me, my lord.”
“None of that. Is it Brienne?” I only knew because I had been in the throne room when the girl had been dragged in for questioning the night she’d been caught in the garden.
