Page 36 of Royal Hunt
“It’s just a pair of breeches,” I insisted.
Nessian shot a look at Ellis. I frowned, and let go of his hand.
“What?” I demanded.
He shook his head, then I was being pulled away. “Why did you do that?” Gregory hissed. He hustled us both back toward the back of our side, close to the small box outlined as our prison.
I slapped his hands away. “Stop manhandling me! I don’t need your protection!”
Gregory laughed, a touch of madness bubbling up in the sound. “Protection? Are you insane? We all need protection, and you were over there stripping for his royal highness!”
That was it. I was officially done. Gregory may think he was the big man in charge thanks to his father’s cowardice, but he was not in charge of me. He never had been, and he never would be.
I stuck one finger in his chest. “Let’s clear the air. You are not my betrothed. You are not my fiancé. You are not my husband. And lately, I’m wondering if you’re even my friend.” His mouth opened, his brows furrowing in anger. I rushed forward, making a decision. “I will not marry you. Not if we survive this. Not even if we weren’t in this situation. I don’t think we would ever be happy together.”
Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that. His face went slack with shock, then tightened with resolve. “My father was right; the prince got to you. He seduced you into helping him out of the forest, and now he’s stolen you to his side. I hope it was good, because—”
I didn’t let him finish, the force of my blow to his face leaving both of us gasping. I only wished I’d worn rings, because then it would have left little red lines that I could have savored.
Horror and disbelief gathered in his eyes. “You bitch,” he mumbled in shock, gingerly touching his face. “You utter bitch—”
“Piss off. Don’t you have some cowering to do with the rest of your lot?” Viana spit at him, putting herself between both of us. Before he could answer, she gripped my elbow and steered me toward the heirs.
“Stay to the back of our line with Ellis. He isn’t exactly in top form, so you can watch each other’s backs. Did you take one of the weapons we gave you?”
I shot her a wry look and her eyes narrowed.
Ellis came up behind her, and shoved the jeweled dagger from before at me. I must have dropped it when I took my breeches off. He smirked and held out his hand expectedly, confident despite the exhaustion in his eyes. Viana tutted at him and handed over one of her short swords.
“Don’t lose it. You do remember how to duel, don’t you?”
Ellis didn’t have a chance to respond, instead snatching the sword and turning toward the boundary line. Lily stood at the edge of the line, face-to-face with a fae woman no taller than she was, but wiry with toned muscles. The fae gave Lily a sarcastic wave, her skin a deep magenta and her pixie-cut hair bright pink. Lily gave a tentative smile back, fluttering her fingers ever so slightly.
I didn’t blame her. The spritely-looking fae looked fast and confident.
“Prisoners, enter your prisons.”
The pink fae winked at Lyra as they brushed shoulders, taking careful and measured steps across the boundary line. Nessian made a distressed sound in his throat, and one of the triplets was there to put a steadying hand on his shoulder. Maven? Matthias? I didn’t know them well enough yet to tell them apart.
The fae girl made it past the first line of heirs, drawing level with me. She shot me a glance, her golden eyes delving deeply into my own. Her head tilted to the side, and I felt unnerved. I broke contact first, instead choosing to watch Lyra’s progress to the fae prison.
Once both prisoners entered their respective prisons, the boundary lines all around us flashed gold. Cassus’s voice boomed overhead, and the cheers and shouts from the crowd in the bleachers as well as those in the sky were almost deafening.
Panic leached into my veins. The heirs would be outnumbered immediately. I turned toward the humans in the back, appalled as they stood in awkward bunches, no strategy or attempt to plan in sight. “HEY! Don’t just stand there, group around the prison! Make it impossible for them to easily get to her!”
George and a few of the men glared daggers at me, but moved to comply. So did Anna, and another woman. The rest stood stock still, and a few of them panicked and made a run for it.
“It appears we have some early action!” Boomed Cassus. The crowd roared in response, and we all watched in horrified fascination as three women from our side ran for the back boundary line like their lives depended on it. Movement in front of me caught my attention, and I saw a blue-skinned fae attempting the same on his side.
The women hurtled over the line, and nothing immediately happened. They shrieked with victory, tears of relief streaming down their faces. They kept running, then stumbled.
“HELP ME!” one of them screamed, reaching forward to try and crawl across the ground. Her legs turned black from her toes to her waist, skin splitting open to reveal rancid, dead muscles underneath. Black blood soaked the ground under her. In moments it was over, and their bodies were nothing more than black smears of rancid bodily fluids. I turned away, hoping the fae had fared better.
He hadn’t.
Rather than try to escape, he laid down on his back the moment he crossed the finish line. He stretched his arms out to the side, his face tilted up toward the sun.
“Suicide,” Ellis muttered next to me.
