Page 64 of The Dead Queen

He nods. “I’m rescuing you, my darling. Haven’t you realized that yet?”

We run through the passageways, then slow once we emerge onto the main level. It’s nighttime; late based on the empty halls and low lights along the walls.

“How did you find me?” I whisper to Hunter.

“It took longer than I’d hoped,” he whispers back. “But I eventually made a deal with one of the other King’s Guards. He owed me a favor.”

“Pretty big favor,” I say as we pause to peek around a corner. It’s abandoned. We rush forward.

“It helps to know people in high places.”

“Like your father?”

Hunter just shrugs. It’s all the acknowledgement I need. He’s learned to use his political favor to the best advantage. I can’t blame him for that, seeing as it’s my neck he’s saving now.

When we reach the stables, we pass darkened stalls with horses snorting with curiosity. Their big brown eyes watch us from the shadows. They’re not used to midnight visitors. Hunter leads me to a paddock with two horses already saddled.

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Stealing horseflesh is a crime punishable by death.”

He gives me a wicked grin. “What’s one more crime against the king?” He pats one horse on her strong neck.

The horses’ ears flicker as they listen to us. They have warm blankets and packs strapped to their rears. The gray mare has an additional lumpy pack with copper armor sticking out the side. Hunter isn’t just saving me. He’s leaving with me.

It strikes me now that Hunter intends to abandon the life he’s worked so hard for. There’s no way the King’s Guard will welcome him back after helping a prisoner escape. Especially not me.

“Wait.” I catch his arm as he kneels to help me mount the black horse.

“We don’t have time,” he whispers.

“You can’t do this.”

“What are you talking about?” He stands straight and glances over the paddock door to make sure we’re still alone.

“Your father …”

“He will call me a disgrace like he always has.”

“You can’t come with me.” I shake my head. “It’ll ruin everything. Your entire life.”

Hunter steps forward with a fierceness that takes me off guard. He pins me against the wall with his gaze. “Do you know what I thought while you were locked away in that place?”

I just stare into his fierce brown eyes.

“I thought they’d killed you.” He steps even closer. There’s barely a foot of space between our bodies now. I don’t move away.

“I thought my life was over, Sienna. Because I realized all of this,” he gestures to the armor strapped to the back of the mare, “was just a way to get back to you. I understand why you don’t want to marry me, but that doesn’t change me. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. It doesn’t change that you are my life.”

His chest rises and falls with each truth-fueled breath. I’ve never seen this side of Hunter before. His boyish charm has vanished, replaced with a man who knows what he wants. And what he wants is me. That realization is the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever felt.

I know it’s wrong. I know I shouldn’t want this, shouldn’t want him … but I do.

I throw my arms around his shoulders and press my mouth to his, fierce and unthinking. His hand tangles in my hair and he moans from deep in his chest, like he’s been holding back for far too long. Hunter pulls my hips against his, his mouth trailing heat down my neck. When he pauses at my scar and kisses it slowly, something in me falters. My heart pounds too hard, too fast, and behind my eyelids, everything flashes white-hot.

There’s no space for self-consciousness or fear between us. We are two people playing with fire on the edge of a cliff. We may burn. We will probably fall. But what is the promise of death when you’ve just glimpsed heaven?

Hunter breaks away reluctantly. He runs a thumb over my swollen lips.

“We have to go.”