Holt approached the gates, sitting astride his unearthly steed and leaving no doubt to the fact that he was anything but human. The Wild Hunt could not conceal what they were, so they would not even be bothered to try.
He pulled his sword from the sheath, letting it hang at his side as he tilted his head in that animalistic way the Fae had. “I promise you, I cannot die. But you can, and you will, if you choose to engage in this fight.”
His words echoed over the plain outside the keep, bouncing off the stone behind the guards’ backs as they exchanged frenzied looks with one another. I hated the knowledge that their deaths loomed, and even knowing their cause was not just, nothing could stop me from regretting the fact that they had to choose between life and what they believed in.
That was no choice at all.
The first guard laid down his spear, shaking his head at the others as he moved toward the gates. He spoke to someone on the inside, and I could just imagine the panic in his voice when he asked them to open the gates. To allow us passage, because the Wild Hunt would go through that city even if they had to scale the walls.
Caldris guided Azra forward, and I saw the moment of recognition when another one of the guards laid eyes upon him. He too dropped his sword, smacking his fellow guard in the chest and pointing with horror on his face.
“If you lay down your weapons, we will not kill you. We have no quarrel with those who do not wish us harm,” my mate said, his voice ringing with command. Everything inside of me warmed, knowing without a doubt that he would hold true to his word. Loving him for the show of mercy that others would not have given him.
He would never go back on his word like that, and if he tried, I’d gut him myself.
“We wish no one in the city any harm. We are merely passing through on our way to the boundary,” Holt called.
“You know we cannot allow you to reach the boundary!” a voice called from the top of the stone walls. The guard in question held a bow and arrow in his grasp, the quiver pulled taut and an arrow notched at the ready.
“Don’t throw away your life for someone else’s war. Life is about the choices you make, and you always have free will,” Holt said, something bitter entering his voice. I thought of all of those here who were cursed to ride for eternity, and of Caldris, who was enslaved to a woman who made him do all manner of things he didn’t believe in.
Would she make him hurt me? Force him to be the one to peel the flesh from my bones?
I swallowed back my nausea, wishing with every passing day there was another place we could go. That he was not bound to return to Mab’s side with her daughter in tow.
The gates opened and Holt hung his head forward. My body tensed, preparing for a trap as he guided his horse into the open city. We followed behind him, and Caldris wrapped his body around mine more tightly so that he could shield me from any attacks that came from above.
I couldn’t breathe, just thinking of what would happen and the innocent people who might be hurt if it came to a fight. Children raced through the courtyard, their mothers chasing after them as they caught sight of the Wild Hunt entering the gates.
A guard stepped forward, walking into our path as he tried desperately to keep his hand off his sword. His fingers twitched at his side, ready for anything, but Holt smiled.
Kindly, if not a little painfully, as if he wasn’t entirely used to offering human pleasantries.
“If you’ll follow me, we would like to see you through the city before the Lord awakes and realizes what we’ve done,” he said, his gaze darting around nervously.
“I do have one condition for our quick passage,” Caldris said, speaking up from behind me. The guard’s eyes shifted, tracking over me and the mark on my neck. He grimaced, closing his eyes as if he realized just how disastrous the legendary Caldris increasing his power could be for anyone who made themselves his enemy.
“What would that be?” the guard asked, his voice a low murmur.
“Cut down the dead and bury them in the earth,” Caldris commanded. He hesitated, as if he knew I would not like whatever he had to say next. “Except for that one,” he added, pointing toward Jensen’s desecrated corpse.
The guard hesitated, studying Caldris as he tried to figure out the motivation for such a request. We did not bury our dead. We did not treat them with the respect they were due, only burning their bodies in the way of the religion we’d had shoved down our throats forcefully since the time we were born. “It will be done. I’ll see to it personally,” the guard said finally, turning and walking the winding path through the city.
The Wild Hunt walked forward, following after him as I sat in shock and tried to come to terms with the declaration my mate had just made. “I thought everyone deserved a burial?” I asked, turning to look at Caldris over my shoulder.
His eyes were dark as he met my gaze, flurries of a winter storm floating through them. “Everyone but him,” he growled.
22
ESTRELLA
I’d thought we were the entirety of the Wild Hunt.
I’d been wrong.
We marched toward the Hollow Mountains, our group forming a single line as we navigated the narrow paths through the trees. The carts jostled from side to side all too often, the underbrush and leaves on the forest floor disguising the tree roots and stones that made for a rough journey.
I knew the moment we stopped at the cave entrance that something was wrong. The stillness of the air around us made it impossible to suspect otherwise. “Come on, Little One,” Caldris said, dismounting behind me. He helped me down as I stared at the opening, swallowing down my discomfort of all that was to come.
These people knew me. They would recognize me and with my association with Caldris at my side, they would quickly realize that he and Caelum were one and the same. This was the moment when I faced the reckoning for my own ignorance. The people in the carts hated me even though they didn’t know I’d been the one to stand up for the Fae at my side.
These people would despise me, and I deserved it. I’d had the opportunity to kill him, and I hadn’t been able to do it.
“I don’t want to go in there,” I said, shaking my head as Caldris reached out to take my hand. Night was beginning to fall all over again, the air cooling around us. The daylight hours grew shorter and shorter with every day that passed, costing us valuable time on our journey.
“It's a warm place to sleep for the night. A place that can offer us all baths and comfort in the middle of our journey. You know we cannot miss that opportunity when it presents itself,” he said, but his eyes were soft with the sadness he knew I felt.
“Don’t you want a group to go in and fight first at least?” I asked, watching as they were unloaded from the carts and led into the caves. Their eyes were wide, their expressions tormented as they made their way into the dark caverns. “I can’t imagine you want to put the Fae Marked at risk if they decide to fight, and surely you have to be aware that they will fight.”
“Holt sent a regiment ahead of us. As soon as he received word from me that you knew my secret, he sent a team to infiltrate the tunnels. We couldn’t risk the people here realizing they’d been compromised, and I didn’t know how long they would go without word from Melian before they grew wary,” he admitted, and a shock rolled through me.