“I thought we were friendly enough that you could call me Byron. And forgive me for startling you, Your Highness. I just came from seeing Apollo. He was speaking with the Guild of Heroes over there, right next to where his camp actually is.” Byron indicated the opposite direction, past a row of food tents, where Evangeline spied a valley of dark green tents, surrounded by clusters of men and women who all seemed to either have a pet dog or bird of prey.
“That’s impossible,” said Aurora, a sudden flush rising to her cheeks. “The prince along with his royal camp are in the other direction. I was just there a few minutes ago, before I found Princess Evangeline here.”
“Your Highness,” said Byron calmly, “forgive me for insulting your friend, but I fear she’s either addled or lying. The prince is not that way.”
“I am not—”
Da-da-da-da! A host of trumpets sounded in the distance, interrupting Aurora’s protests. A moment later, a nearby herald dressed in royal colors cried:
“Attention! Attention! The Hunt will officially commence in ten minutes. Ten minutes until the Hunt begins!”
Evangeline was running out of time.
“Well then, it looks like we should all be off,” said Aurora, as if the argument had never even happened.
Joff and Hale immediately started to follow her with their heads held high and their shoulders back. They would have probably followed her into a volcano if she asked.
Byron was not as dazzled. He gave Evangeline a quick pleading look. “You’re making a mistake if you go with her,” he said quietly.
Evangeline quickly peered around the closest campsite, hoping to ask a passerby if they had seen the prince. But everyone was heading in the opposite direction toward the misty edge of the Cursed Forest, and Apollo was probably doing the same. She needed to make a decision if she wanted to tell him about Jacks before the Hunt began and Apollo entered the forest.
“I’m sure one of you must be simply mistaken,” Evangeline said sweetly.
Although she didn’t actually believe this. One of them was lying.
Both of them looked offended.
Aurora had stopped walking away. She looked as if she wanted to swear that she was virtuous and would never tell a lie, but then she simply pursed her lips and gave Byron a venomous look that turned her face from lovely to ugly in an instant.
Evangeline didn’t trust her. Something about Aurora just didn’t sit right with her. She’d started to feel suspicious after she’d drawn attention to Evangeline’s knife and then waylaid her in the hall with accusations of an affair.
She wasn’t sure she trusted Byron, either. After all that had happened within the last few days, Evangeline was feeling rather distrustful of everyone. But the young lord also hadn’t given her a reason not to trust him.
“Joff, why don’t you go with Aurora,” Evangeline said. “If you find the prince first, tell him I’m looking for him and not to join the Hunt until I find him. It’s important. Hale and I will head the other way with Lord Belleflower.”
Hale looked dejected at having to leave Aurora.
“I’m sure we’ll see her again,” said Evangeline as they followed Byron toward the food tents, which actually appeared to serve far more ale than food.
Torches illuminated the people who lingered around them. Evangeline watched as a group clinked their glasses together and cheered, “To the Hunt!”
“Good luck, my friends!” said Byron with a wave.
The men and women all lifted their glasses and cheered again.
“Five minutes!” cried a herald in the distance. “Five minutes until the Hunt begins!”
This herald was farther away than the last one. Evangeline didn’t even see him appear. She just heard his voice, fainter than earlier, before it trailed off entirely.
The tents they walked by now, apparently belonging to the Guild of Heroes, were quiet as well. It seemed all the heroes had already started toward the forest. All that lingered was a thin spiral of smoke from a freshly doused fire. The chatter, the laughter, the sharpening of swords had stopped.
Evangeline hoped they weren’t too late. She didn’t want to chase Apollo into the actual Cursed Forest, especially now that the sun was setting.
“Are we almost there?” she asked.
“It’s just a little farther,” said Byron confidently.
But as the sky darkened and tendrils of fog crept in around them, it seemed that they were moving closer to the edge of the Cursed Forest instead of toward a camp.
Evangeline feared she’d perhaps made a mistake to go with him. She pulled away, moving closer to Hale.
“You should stay by me.” Byron took Evangeline’s wrist, bringing her back toward him. The fog had grown thicker, turning from mere tendrils to a dense mist that came up to their knees, but it was Byron’s hold that now made her nervous.
“Please, let me go,” she said, and she tried to tear away. But Byron held on tighter.
“Lord Belleflower.” Hale’s hand hovered over the hilt of his sword as he spoke. “Princess Evangeline asked you to release her.”
Byron’s mouth tipped into a smile. It was one of those moments that moved slow and fast all at once. As Byron’s smile slid slowly into place, he reached for his knife so quickly that Evangeline didn’t even see it until it shot through the air and buried itself in Hale’s throat.
Hale dropped to the ground and blood poured from his neck.
“No! Hale!” she screamed. “Hale!”
Byron quickly cut her off. He clamped one hand over her mouth and wrapped his other arm around her tightly. “Time to pay for what you did to Petra.”
“Who is Petra?” Evangeline cried, not that the words came out. She thrashed, but Byron only constricted his grip on her and dragged her backward through the dirt. There were no more tents now, just heavy fog and the two of them—alone.
She tried to kick, to step out—to do everything Archer had taught her—but her feet were barely on the ground. Only the tips of her toes were scraping the dirt. She had no leverage.
She did, however, have a hand that was just close enough to grab the dagger wedged in her belt. She imagined she had only one chance to use it, one chance to save her own life.
She grabbed the dagger and thrust it up, slicing through Byron’s wrist.
“You bitch!”
“That was for Hale!” Evangeline yelled as Byron’s hands fell away.
Then she ran.
Chapter 24
Apollo
Apollo wasn’t a murderer—he didn’t kill unless it was absolutely necessary.
But he was tempted to take his sword and run it through Joff’s stomach.
There was no one else in the tent with them, and on a day like this, it would be easy to dispose of the body by simply leaving it in the Cursed Forest. Accidents always happened during the Hunt.
But Apollo needed answers, not more bloodshed. He leveled a cool look at the soldier. “Where is my wife?”
“She’s with Lord Belleflower, Your Highness.”
“Why on earth would you leave her with him?”
“She told me to, Your Highness. Princess Evangeline wasn’t sure where your camp was, so she had Hale and I split up.”
“Your job is to stay by her side,” Apollo interrupted. “Regardless of what she wants.”