I know you are curious, so I will add only that I have read four books since your departure, and while every page was a delight, they are nothing compared to having you home.
I miss you.
Nadia
I read through the letter twice more as a torrent of emotion tore through me. I was caught between a deep sense of guilt and a strange pain borne of my father’s sadness. I had not completely abandoned my mission. I was still trying to discover Adrian’s past, hoping it would lead to some great revelation, but this was the first time I let myself acknowledge it wasn’t with the intention of defeat. I wanted to know him, which seemed even more ridiculous given what Gesalac had suggested last night. What if Adrian really was only trying to win my loyalty by manipulating the crimson mist? Hadn’t he told me more than once that he was a monster?
The worst part about it all was that it had almost worked. I had begun to let his kindness and the things I’d learned about High Coven and Dragos overshadow the reality at hand—Adrian was still the conqueror of my people.
I stowed the letter, hiding it beneath the book I’d taken from the library last night. Then I shrugged on my cloak and pulled on my riding gloves.
Tonight, I would hunt.
I left my room and found Adrian and his council of noblesse assembled in the courtyard, scattered around the blazing pyre. I kept my distance, halting at the end of the steps, though I could still feel the heat of the fire on my face. It wasn’t until the noblesse began to bow that Adrian turned, eyes sparking at the sight of me.
“My queen,” he said. “What are you doing?”
“Joining the hunt,” I said.
Behind them, a few of the noblesse laughed.
“Is something funny?” I asked.
Their humor abruptly ended.
“It will be a long night,” Adrian said.
“I’ve had many of those.”
His lips twitched, and he handed me Shadow’s reins. “Mount up, my queen.”
Once I was seated, Adrian followed, and his body pressed heavily into mine. I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or if it was because his presence had more force since I’d been distant from him for the last three days. I let out a slow breath to release the tightness in my stomach.
It didn’t work.
“Comfortable?” he asked, mouth near my ear.
I turned toward him, a heady flush rushing from my head and into my throat.
“Not a word I would choose,” I said.
“Hmm.” I felt him hum against my back, and in the next second, he signaled Shadow forward, and we departed through the gates of the Red Palace, into the village of Cel Ceredi, followed by Daroc and the noblesse.
The night was fading, and as we descended, fires raged in the village. Some were from the pyres, but there were others, smaller ones dotting the landscape. As we drew closer, I realized they were villagers holding torches.
“Will they join the hunt?” I asked, recalling how Adrian had instructed the noblesse to light fires around their villages to keep the mist at bay.
“They will watch from the gate,” he said.
As we passed them, they joined the crowd, and as we came to the edge of Cel Ceredi, the gates groaned open, parting to reveal a wall of dark woods. As we approached, Adrian drew his arm tightly around my waist, and I realized I’d unconsciously leaned into him.
“It is unlike you to be afraid,” he said.
“I am not afraid,” I said.
“Am I to assume, then, that you find comfort in my arms?”
There was a note of amusement in his voice. I thought about grinding my ass into his raging erection to prove a point. This wasn’t about comfort; it was about the fact that we had not fucked in three days, and I was angry and needy, and I wanted to take my rage out on his body the way we had on our way to Cel Ceredi.
That was where I wanted to be, unwavering in my hatred for my enemy, not here in this space where I hoped he was…sincere.
“What are we hunting?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Now that you’re here, the question is what will hunt us?”
Right. I was the one with blood worth draining and flesh worth eating.
Adrian guided us into the woods. There was little light, only a muted, haunting red that made the sky look like a storm. Still, Shadow and Adrian navigated well enough. Behind us, the noblesse fanned out, taking their own paths through the woods.
“Sorin says he is hunting for Ravena,” I said. “Did you give those orders after Sadovea too?”
“Did you come on this trip to fight with me or to hunt?” he asked.