Page 26 of The Hunted

Everything.

Instead, all he said was, “The mermaid. I want her dead.”

“Will that make you feel better?”

Eryx laughed.

The sound was entirely bitter.

And violent, too.

Like the urges he felt inside his heart, and how dark his mind turned at the thought of having that mermaid in his hands in that moment. Oh, he’d choke the very life right out of her. Slowly, and all too happily. He couldn’t even be sure she was the one who killed his mother, but she’d dared to come back. She’d stared at him in his pain for just a second too long, and he wanted her to die for it, too.

“I don’t know if it would make this better, but it would certainly make me happy.”

Mattue made a noise under his breath. “Perhaps you’re just too angry right now. I don’t think you truly understand what you’re saying, Eryx. All for a … well, I won’t call your mother a slave, but nonetheless, why kill for her? Why do something that might threaten your place—your spot on the throne? You’re irrational.”

Not at all.

“I’d give anything to have that mermaid.”

To kill her.

“I don’t think you would,” his advisor replied.

Eryx met the man’s gaze in what remained of the shattered mirror. “Name your price.”

Because he knew …

If there was ever anyone in this realm who could see something like this done—capturing that mermaid—it would be Mattue. His reach went farther than the king could possibly know, but Eryx did. And he didn’t mind making a deal for his soul with Mattue to get what he wanted, either.

“You know what it would cost you,” the man replied quietly. “Your father expects you to take your banishment with dignity and come back to royal life ready to marry and behave. He’s not going to accept anything else from you, Eryx, and if you cause him more issues, but especially where it might concern the people—”

Right.

He would be dead.

“My crown. That’s what it would mean.”

“—but I wouldn’t mind taking it in your place.”

Eryx didn’t drop the man’s stare. “You are next in the succession, seeing as how I’ve not produced an heir with a woman yet.”

Mattue smiled.

It seemed far too pleased.

“It appears I am.” Mattue shrugged. “I could find someone to catch your little mermaid … if that’s the deal you want to make, Eryx.”

Was it?

He didn’t even need to ask the question of himself, really.

“It is.”

In the mirror, he met his own stare. Mattue faded away in the background of the jagged reflection.

Let the hunt begin.